samplings were done in different locations of northeastern iran and different specimens were collected during two years. the specimens belong to 26 different species attributing to 6 families: scuridae (spermophilus fulvus), cricetidae (microtus transcaspicus, microtus paradoxus, blanfordimys afghanus, chionomys nivalis, ellobius talpinus, ellobius fuscocapillus, cricetulus migratorius), calomy...

Sexual conflict theory suggests that female breeding success is strongly influenced by individual life history and environmental conditions and is much less affected by mate availability. Female mating failure due to a shortage of males remains poorly studied and understood. We present data on the effects of male availability on female breeding success in a wild colony of yellow ground squirrel...

Trypanosoma spp. of ground squirrels and most other rodents belong to the 3ubgenus Herpetosoma and have been recorded from approximately 80 to 90 different species of rodents throughout the world (Davis, 1952). They are often designated as leurisi-like after the type species, Trypanosoma (Herpetosoma) lewisi (Kent) Laveran & Mesnil. All are very similar in appearance and cannot be differentiate...

Myxococcus fulvus HW-1 (ATCC BAA-855) is a halotolerant marine myxobacterium. This strain exhibits complex social behaviors in the presence of low concentrations of seawater but adopts an asocial living pattern under oceanic conditions. The whole genome of M. fulvus HW-1 will enable us to further investigate the details of its evolution.

The larva of Tricholeon relictus, a Spanish endemic antlion of Afrotropical affinities, is described and illustrated for the first time also providing a comparison with the only other European member of the tribe Dendroleontini, Dendroleon pantherinus. The larva of this species is synanthropic but probably originally lived in cave-like habitats.

Spermophilus spilosoma and Spermophilus mexicanus are closely related species with a low degree of sociality. They are sympatric in the Bolson de Mapimi (Chihuahua Desert, Mexico), where they occupy similar ecological niches. In Sciurid rodents, advanced social structures may have evolved through the formation of sedentary female groups. The purpose of this study is to compare the ability of S....