Metamorphosis is a crucial life-history event that can change an organism's form, function, behavior, and ecological interactions. In the Mollusca, several neurotransmitters and neuromodulators play inductive or inhibitory roles in the pathways that govern larval metamorphosis. Nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in developmental processes in vertebrates and arthropods, but not previously in ...

five oppiid mite species (oribatida: oppiidae) belonging to three genera (corynoppia, ramusella and rhinoppia) are reported as new records for the mite fauna of iran. some of their morphological features and distributions in the world are presented. a key to the subfamilies, genera and species of all iranian oppiid mites is given.

We investigated benefits of polyandry and phenotypic correlates of male mating success in black ratsnakes. We used 10 microsatellite loci to identify the sires of 375 hatchlings from 34 clutches with known mothers. Multiple paternity occurred in 88% of clutches, despite the fact that ratsnakes mate when dispersed. The incidence of multiple paternity did not vary with female size or with clutch ...