More than 60 neuropeptides that inhibit juvenile hormone synthesis by the corpora allata have been isolated from the brains of various insect species. Most of them are characterized by a common C-terminal pentapeptide sequence Y/FXFGL/I/V (allatostatin A family, allatostatin superfamily). Besides the allatostatin A family, allatostatic neuropeptides belonging to other two peptide families (W2W9)-allatostatins or allatostatin B family; lepidopteran allatostatin) were reported. So far, only one allatotropin has been identified. Here we discuss latest literature on the multiplicity and multifunctionality of the allatoregulating neuropeptides, their physiological significance as well as their evolutionary conservation in structure and function., Klaus H. Hoffmann, Martina Meyering-Vos, Matthias W. Lorenz, and Lit
Lepeophtheirus simplex Ho, Gómez et Fajer-Avila, 2001 is a parasite of Sphoeroides annulatus (Jenyns), an economically important fish species, with potential for aquaculture, in northwestern Mexico. The goal of this study was to describe the developmental stages under experimental conditions and seasonal fecundity of this parasite on wild fish. There are two naupliar, one copepodid, two chalimus and two pre-adult stages preceding the adult of L. simplex. The results support previous findings, which point out that the life cycle of the caligid copepods includes only six post-naupliar stages. The generation time from egg extrusion to adult for L. simplex was approximately 10 days at 22 °C. The body length of the ovigerous females ranged between 2.2 and 4.1 mm, and its fecundity between 12 and 36 eggs per string. Fecundity was negatively correlated with the egg size and positively correlated with the egg string length. Our data did not reveal significant differences in fecundity among sampling months, but ovigerous females were significantly larger in March (when water temperature was 22 °C) than in June and July (when water temperature was 30 °C). To some extent, our fecundity results contrast with those found in species of sea lice from higher latitudes. Undoubtedly, biological information on different species of sea lice from different environmental conditions will enhance our understanding of their infection strategies and will be valuable, given the increasing interest in marine fish farming in Mexico., Francisco Neptalí Morales-Serna, Ana Inés Rivas-Salas, Samuel Gómez, Emma Josefina Fajer-Ávila., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Despite the importance of saprophagous macroarthropods as key facilitators of plant litter decomposition within ecosystems and their likely sensitivity to global climate change and land-use change, a lack of ecological data has precluded attempts to explain their distribution patterns in terms of traits. Using an extensive set of large-scale and long-term biological records, the distribution patterns of 33 woodlice (Crustacea: Oniscidea) species in Britain were characterised by their range size (area of occupancy) and aggregation (degree to which occupied squares are clustered across the range). Body size and seven ecological traits were examined as correlates of range size and fill, while controlling for phylogeny and recording intensity, and comparing fine and broad-scale measures of habitat heterogeneity. Species that used a greater diversity of habitats had larger range sizes. Broad categorisation of habitats (by dominant vegetation) alongside other traits was less accurate in predicting range size than fine-scale habitat (microsites where individuals were discovered) data. The latter explained 25% more variance than broad-scale habitat data, highlighting the value of coupling biological recording of species with data on micro-habitat. Habitat use is an important trait in explaining distribution patterns and we conclude that ensuring land cover heterogeneity will favour conservation of saprophagous macro-arthropod diversity., Bethan V. Purse ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam lileratury
V návaznosti na výzkum botaniků a malakozoologů se na unikátních prameništních mokřadech Západních Karpat rozběhlo v posledních letech také intenzivní studium vodních bezobratlých zaměřených rovněž na skupiny mikroskopických korýšů - lasturnatek (Ostracoda) a plazivek (Harpacticoida). Podařilo se nám objasnit jejich distribuci na prameništích, nalézt 8 nových druhů pro Českou a Slovenskou republiku a rozšířit znalosti o jejich ekologii., In connection with research by botanists and malacozoologists at unique spring areas in Western Carpathian marshland, intensive study has taken place over the last few years into water invertebrates and groups of microscopic crustaceans - ostracodes (Ostracoda) and Harpacticoida. We have succeeded in clarifying their distribution in the spring areas, finding eight new species for the Czech and Slovak Republics and expanding knowledge of their ecology., and Marie Zhai, Dana Hřívová, David Výravský.
Caligus brevicaudatus Scott, 1901, a common but poorly known species of parasitic copepod, is redescribed from newly collected specimens of both sexes. The new material was collected from the body surface of tub gurnards, Chelidonichthys lucerna (Linnaeus), caught in eastern Mediterranean waters off the Turkish coast. Inadequately described female structures from earlier descriptions are redescribed and illustrated in detail and the male of C. brevicaudatus is described for the first time. The new material of C. brevicaudatus is compared with material collected by A. Scott and stored in the collections of the Natural History Museum, London. In addition, a voucher specimen of Caligus uranoscopi Vaissière, 1955, stored in the collections of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris is re-examined. Caligus uranoscopi is recognised as a junior subjective synonym of C. brevicaudatus since it does not differ in any substantive characters., İbrahim Demirkale, Argun Akif Özak, Geoffrey Allan Boxshall., and Obsahuje bibliografii