The maternal manipulation hypothesis states that ectothermic females modify thermal conditions during embryonic development to benefit their offspring (anticipatory maternal effect). However, the recent theory suggests that the ultimate currency of an adaptive maternal effect is female fitness that can be maximized also by decreasing mean fitness of individual offspring. We evaluated benefits o...

Current theories on the evolution of paedomorphosis suppose that several ontogenetic pathways have appeared according to different selective pressures. The aim of this study was to find out whether two distinct processes can lead to paedomorphosis in the Alpine newt, Triturus alpestris. In this respect, we compared age structures of paedomorphic and metamorphic individuals in two newt populatio...

The generic-level taxa included in Pterostichini and Loxandrini from New Caledonia are reviewed and a key to genera and species provided. Two new genera are described, Paniestichus and Abacophrastus, with the following new species: Paniestichus subsolianus, Abacophrastus millei, Abacophrastus chapes, Abacophrastus carnifex, Abacophrastus hobbit, Abacophrastus megalops, Abacophrastus reflexus an...

sarcoma.s in Triturus cristatus, and the experiments result ing in the induction of lymphosarcoma in Xenopus laevi@ laevis (2) have a number of similarities. Methylchol anth.rene as carcinogen and urethan as anesthetic are common features of these experiments, but whereas spontaneous lymphoid tumors are known in Xenopus, none have yet been reported in Triturus (1). Thus, the role of urethan in ...

Early observations on the morphology of total exogastrulae from urodeles (Axolotl) had provided evidence for essential vertical signalling mechanisms in the process of neural induction. Conversely, more recent studies with anurans (Xenopus laevis) making use of molecular markers for neural-specific gene expression appear to support the idea of planar signalling as providing sufficient informati...

Studies of the sedimentation properties of RNP(1) material from the nucleus of the amphibian oocyte have indicated (1) that there are few, if any, 78S ribosomes in the nucleus, (2) that there are smaller particles sedimenting at 50-55S and 30S, and (3) that the larger of these is the precursor of the 60S subunit of the cytoplasmic ribosomes. Although the nature of the 30S material is not comple...

Pond-breeding amphibians are deme-structured organisms with a population genetic structure particularly susceptible to demographic threats. We estimated the effective number of breeding adults (Nb) and the effective population size (Ne) of the European urodele amphibians Triturus cristatus (the crested newt) and T. marmoratus (the marbled newt), using temporal shifts in microsatellite allele fr...