Ceratophysella comosa sp. nov. was collected from ascomata of Ciborinia canielliae in Japan and the morphological and molecular characteristics of the species are described here. The species has 3 + 3 cephalic spines as in Ceratophysella loricata and Ceratophysella pilosa, but a plurichaetosis intermediate between C. loricata (absent) and C. pilosa (strong). The new species can be distinguished...

Even for well-established insect model systems, such as the yellow dung fly Scathophaga stercoraria (Linnaeus) (Diptera: Scathophagidae), there may be hidden systematic ambiguities that require clarification. Dung flies from the Afrotropical Region have been considered (i) as con-specific and not different from all the other Holarctic Scathophaga stercoraria; (ii) as a local and peculiar Africa...

In the strictly aerobic, gram-negative bacterium Vitreoscilla strain C1, oxygen-limited growth conditions create a more than 50-fold increase in the expression of a homodimeric heme protein which was recognized as the first bacterial hemoglobin (Hb). The recently determined crystal structure of Vitreoscilla Hb has indicated that the heme pocket of microbial globins differs from that of eukaryot...

Hypogastrura gracilis Folsom is redescribed from cotypes and Chinese specimens, and a lectotype and 4 paralectotypes are designated. Specimens referable to Ceratophysella adexilis Stach are described. Ceratophysella quinidentis (Jia, Shi & Chen) is reevaluated from type specimens and recognized as a new junior synonym of C. duplicispinosa (Yosii).

Recent work suggests that the yellow dung fly mating system may include alternative patroller-competitor mating tactics in which large males compete for gravid females on dung, whereas small, non-competitive males search for females at foraging sites. Small males obtain most matings off pasture, yet the behavioural mechanism(s) giving rise to this pattern are unknown. We investigated the male a...