Understanding how crop species spread and are introduced to new areas provides insights into the nature of species range expansions. The domesticated species Oryza sativa or Asian rice is one of the key domesticated crop species in the world. The island of Madagascar off the coast of East Africa was one of the last major Old World areas of introduction of rice after the domestication of this cr...

Recent survey work in Madagascar has led to significant changes in the systematics of Madagascan Phelruma. A new species from the Masoala Peninsula in northeastern Madagascar is described, which has a nostril position typical of Phelsuma from Mauritius, Reunion and Rodriguez islands. Phelsuma breviceps was rediscovered in extreme southern Madagascar and is resurrected from the synonymy of P. mu...

The colonization of Madagascar by Austronesian-speaking people during AD 50-500 represents the most westerly point of the greatest diaspora in prehistory. A range of economically important plants and animals may have accompanied the Austronesians. Domestic chickens (Gallus gallus) are found in Madagascar, but it is unclear how they arrived there. Did they accompany the initial Austronesian-spea...

The Austronesian settlement of the remote island of Madagascar remains one of the great puzzles of Indo-Pacific prehistory. Although linguistic, ethnographic, and genetic evidence points clearly to a colonization of Madagascar by Austronesian language-speaking people from Island Southeast Asia, decades of archaeological research have failed to locate evidence for a Southeast Asian signature in ...

Cohort Profile: The Madagascar Health and Environmental Research (MAHERY) study in North-eastern Madagascar Christopher D Golden,* Evelin Jean Gasta Anjaranirina, Lia C H Fernald, Daniel L Hartl, Claire Kremen, Danny A Milner Jr, Dera H. Ralalason, Herlyne Ramihantaniarivo, Hervet Randriamady, Benjamin L Rice, Bapu Vaitla, Sarah K Volkman, Miadana Arisoa Vonona and Samuel S Myers Department of ...

West Nile fever (WNF) is a zoonotic disease, occurring nearly globally. In Madagascar, West Nile virus (WNV) was first detected in 1978 from wild birds and the virus is currently distributed across the island, but no epidemic or epizootic period has been recorded. One fatal human case of WNV infection was reported in 2011, suggesting a "tip of the iceberg" phenomenon of a possible WNF epidemic/...

Rhabdias blommersiae sp. n. (Nematoda: Rhabdiasidae) is described from the lungs of Domergue's Madagascar frog, Blommersia domerguei (Guibé) (Amphibia: Mantellidae), in Madagascar. The new species differs from congeners parasitizing amphibians in having a smaller body and buccal capsule, six equal lips, large excretory glands of unequal length and a posteriorly inflated body vesicle. A combinat...

In this study we provide an update to the taxonomy of the ant genus Tetramorium Mayr in Madagascar. We report the first record of the Tetramoriumsetigerum species group in Madagascar and describe the only Malagasy representative as Tetramoriumcavernicola sp. n., which is known only from a cave in Ankarana. In addition, we provide an overview of the 19 proposed Malagasy species groups, and discu...

Ophiotaenia georgievi sp. n. (Proteocephalidea: Proteocephalinae) is described from the intestine of endemic colubrid snake Leioheterodon geayi Mocquard (Colubridae) from Antananarivo in Madagascar. The new species is the first species of Ophiotaenia La Rue, 1911 reported from Madagascar. It differs from all Ophiotaenia species parasitic in African snakes in the possession of a three-layered em...

Species of the Afrotropical genus Dudaia Hedicke, 1923 of the subfamily Copromyzinae are revised. The status of Afroborborus Curran, 1931 as a junior synonym of Dudaia is corroborated. Twelve species have been described hitherto, two of them are proposed here to be junior synonyms: Copromyza (Dudaia) simulatilis Richards, 1980, and the name it replaced, Borborus (Dudaia) similis Vanschuytbroeck...