A description is provided of Longidorus cholevae sp. n., a bisexual species associated with wild cherry (Prunus avium L.) from the Rila Mountains, Bulgaria. The position of L. cholevae sp. n. among other species of the genus was elucidated by using morphological and molecular data. Phylogenetic analyses were performed of D2-D3 expansion domains of the 28S rRNA and the partial ITS1 containing re...

Two analyses conclude that Sts 19 cannot be accommodated within the Australopithecus africanus hypodigm (Kimbel and Rak [1993] In Kimbel and Martin [eds.]: Species, Species Concepts, and Primate Evolution. New York: Plenum, pp. 461-484; Sarmiento [1993] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. [Suppl.] 16:173). Both studies exclude Sts 19 because it possesses synapomorphies with Homo. Furthermore, according to ...

Dagger and needle nematodes included in the family Longidoridae (viz. Longidorus, Paralongidorus, and Xiphinema) are highly polyphagous plant-parasitic nematodes in wild and cultivated plants and some of them are plant-virus vectors (nepovirus). The mitochondrial (mt) genomes of the dagger and needle nematodes, Xiphinema rivesi, Xiphinema pachtaicum, Longidorus vineacola and Paralongidorus lito...

We describe and illustrate a new needle nematode, Longidorus americanum n. sp., associated with patches of severely stunted and chlorotic loblolly pine, (Pinus taeda L.) seedlings in seedbeds at the Flint River Nursery (Byromville, GA). It is characterized by having females with a body length of 5.4-9.0 mm; lip region slightly swollen, anteriorly flattened, giving the anterior end a truncate ap...

Early hominid brain morphology is reassessed from endocasts of Australopithecus africanus and three species of Paranthropus, and new endocast reconstructions and cranial capacities are reported for four key specimens from the Paranthropus clade. The brain morphology of Australopithecus africanus appears more human like than that of Paranthropus in terms of overall frontal and temporal lobe shap...

Previous analyses have suggested that Australopithecus africanus possessed more apelike limb proportions than Australopithecus afarensis. However, due to the errors involved in estimating limb length and body size, support for this conclusion has been limited. In this study, we use a new Monte Carlo method to (1) test the hypothesis that A. africanus had greater upper:lower limb-size proportion...

Aside from use as estimates of body mass dimorphism and fore to hind limb joint size comparisons, postcranial elements have not often contributed to assessments of variation in Australopithecus africanus. Meanwhile, cranial, facial, and dental size variation is interpreted to be high or moderately high. Further, the cranial base and face express patterns of structural (shape) variation, which a...

Volvox is a very interesting oogamous organism that exhibits various types of sexuality and/or sexual spheroids depending upon species or strains. However, molecular bases of such sexual reproduction characteristics have not been studied in this genus. In the model species V. carteri, an ortholog of the minus mating type-determining or minus dominance gene (MID) of isogamous Chlamydomonas reinh...

Longidorus elongatus (de Man) was always found in soil from patches in raspberry and strawberry plantations where the plants were infected with the beet ringspot (Scottish) strain of tomato black ring virus but rarely elsewhere in the same plantations. L. elongatus hand-picked from virus-containing field soil transmitted the virus to sugar beet, turnip, and spinach seedlings, but did so less of...

We studied the usefulness of wood- and cellulose-based diets for L. africanus Lesne. Three diets were prepared which differed on the base ingredients; wood particles (Diet 1), cellulose powder (Diet 2), and alpha-cellulose (Diet 3). The diets were provided to adult L. africanus and the number of larvae, as well as the number of adults that emerged sex ratio, and body weight of the progeny was d...