Search results for "Behavior"
showing 10 items of 13975 documents
Limonium poimenum (Plumbaginaceae), a new chasmophyte species from Sicily
2014
Limonium poimenum is here proposed as a new species for Science. It is a very peculiar and extremely localized species, growing on a calcareous mountain of NW Sicily (southern Italy), where it grows on rupestrian places together with many other rare chasmophytic endemics. Iconography, morphological features, ecology and conservation status are provided, as well as a morphological comparison with L. todaroanum.
<p><strong>Towards resolving a problem of the identity of the <em>Aethus</em> species (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Cydnidae) occu…
2014
The genus Aethus in Cambodia is known only from a single species collected in the 1950s that was originally identified as A. indicus. However, what was regarded as A. indicus in the Oriental and Australian regions appeared to consist of three sibling species, recognizable only on the basis of male genital structures, i.e., A. philippinensis, A. pseudindicus, and true A. indicus. To date, the lack of males representing this genus from Cambodia made it impossible to verify which species actually occur in this country. The present study, based on eight males collected at the same locality in Cambodia where the specimens were originally identified as A. indicus more than 50 years ago (i.e., Sie…
Evolutionary significance of the invasion of introduced populations into the native range of Meconopsis cambrica
2011
The long history of the deliberate or accidental and human-mediated dispersal of flowering plants has led to the introduction of foreign genotypes of many species into areas of Europe hitherto occupied by potentially distinct native populations. Studies of the genetic and evolutionary consequences of such changes are handicapped by the difficulty of identifying the surviving native populations of many species in the absence of clear morphological differences. We investigated the relationship between putative native and introduced populations of the herbaceous perennial Meconopsis cambrica (Papaveraceae), as the isolated native populations of this species can be identified by historical and …
WEASELS’ (MUSTELA NIVALIS NIVALIS) PREFERENCE FOR OLFACTORY CUES OF THE VOLE (CLETHRIONOMYS GLAREOLUS)
2003
Many studies on life history strategies of small mammals under predation risk are based on assumptions that mammalian predators use scent marking from prey in searching and hunting. This is especially true for small mustelids hunting in the tunnels and cavities of their prey. It is assumed that weasels use the estrous signs of female voles as hunting cues, which exposes such females to a more pronounced risk of predation. We studied the preferences of 57 least weasels (Mustela nivalis nivalis) toward odor cues from four different reproductive categories of the bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus). In the first experiment, weasels selected clearly for vole odors over clean bedding in a Y-maze…
Temporal variation in reproductive allocation in a shield bug Elasmostethus interstinctus
1996
We investigated changes in the reproductive output and the effect of female phenotype on reproductive parameters in a shield bug Elasmostethus interstinctus (L.) (Heteroptera: Acanthosomatidae) over the whole reproductive period. At the beginning and the middle of the reproductive period eggs were smaller than at the end of the period. Clutch mass and number of eggs per clutch decreased in laying sequence, first clutches being much larger than any of the later ones. Lifetime fecundity correlated positively with female size: large females produced more eggs and lived longer than small ones. Egg size did not vary with female size. Offspring survival until adulthood increased with egg weight. …
Sex-specific transgenerational effects of early developmental conditions in a passerine
2007
Most studies dealing with the trade-off between offspring number and quality have overlooked the long-term consequences for the progeny. High investment in offspring number usually results in an increased competition among nest mates. The deterioration of the early developmental conditions, due to this increased competition, can impair individual quality over the long term, and subsequently affect survival and lifetime fecundity. Moreover, the consequences of the allocation rule to offspring number vs. quality can extend across generations and give raise to grandparental effects. These transgenerational trade-offs have been explored rarely. In the present study, we manipulated the breeding …
New species, records and synonymies of West Palaearctic Pamphaginae (Orthoptera: Caelifera: Pamphagidae)
2012
The author analyses the species of some West Palaearctic genera of Pamphaginae, namely Euryparyphes, Paraeuryparyphes, Glauia, Pseudoglauia, Glauvarovia, Prionosthenus, Lativertex, Ocnerosthenus, establishing the following synonymies: Euryparyphes olcesei (Bolivar 1907) = Euryparyphes bolivari (Stål 1876); Euryparyphes paraflexuosus La Greca 1993 = Euryparyphes flexuosus Uvarov 1927; Glauia durieui rubripes Morales Agacino & Descamps 1968 = Glauia durieui durieui (Bolivar 1878); Prionosthenus lebanicus Dirsh 1950 = Prionosthenus femoralis Werner 1938; Prionosthenus (Lativertex) Koçak & Kemal 2011 = Paranothrotes Mishchenko 1951. Further, the author confirms the synonymies: Euryparyphes vauc…
Acoustic differentiation reflects mitochondrial lineages in Blyth's leaf warbler and white-tailed leaf warbler complexes (Aves: Phylloscopus reguloid…
2009
The present study evaluated the degree of differentiation between closely-related species of Blyth's leaf warbler complex (Phylloscopus reguloides s.l.) and white-tailed leaf warbler complex (Phylloscopus davisoni s.l.) by molecular (cytochrome b and 16S rRNA) and bioacoustic markers (sonagraphic analysis of songs). Molecular phylogenetic results corroborate the recently suggested splittings of the two former taxa into three and two species, respectively. By contrast to previous opinion, differentiation of territorial songs parallels the genetic diversification in both groups. In the P. reguloides group, all recently established species can be distinguished by a characteristic song pattern.…
A new look atOrthotrichum scanicumGrönvall (Orthotrichaceae, Bryophyta)
2009
Abstract Orthotrichum scanicum Gronvall has been considered a European endemic whose main range corresponded to the central and northern region of the continent, and it is currently included in the 2007 IUCN World Red List as Vulnerable. However, a large number of recent reports and the examination of herbarium specimens have remarkably expanded the limits of its area in the Mediterranean and Caucasian regions. Additionally, the revision of the original collections of Orthotrichum holmenii from Kazakhstan shows that this taxon is conspecific with O. scanicum. An updated description of the species comprising the known range of its morphological variability is provided, and its exclusion from…
Effect of starvation on parasite-induced mortality in a freshwater snail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum).
1999
The level of host exploitation is expected, under theory, to be selected to maximise (subject to constraints) the lifetime reproductive success of the parasite. Here we studied the effect of two castrating trematode species on their intermediate snail host, Potamopyrgus antipodarum. One of the trematode species, Microphallus sp., encysts in the snail host and the encysted larvae “hatch” following ingestion of infected snails by birds. The other species, Notocotylus gippyensis, by contrast, releases swimming larvae; ingestion of the snail host is not required for, and does not aid, transmission to the final host. We isolated field-collected snails for 3 months in the laboratory, and followed…