共查询到20条相似文献,搜索用时 31 毫秒
1.
Johannes Kroiss Erhard Strohm Cédric Vandenbem Jean-Pol Vigneron 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2009,96(8):983-986
Chrysidid wasps in the subfamily Chrysidinae are brood parasitoids or cleptoparasites of other insects and famous for their
cuticular iridescence. In this study, we examine the dorsal abdominal cuticle of the chrysidid wasp Hedychrum rutilans to identify the underlying color mechanism. Using scanning electron microscopy, reflectance spectral analysis, and theoretical
calculations, we demonstrate the presence of an epicuticular multilayer reflector consisting of six lamellae with a thickness
of 185 nm each. The lamellae exhibit a rough surface probably functioning as spacers between the individual layers. The reflector
has a measured reflectance maximum at λ = 630 nm, i.e., in the red part of the visible spectrum of light at normal incidence and the reflectance maximum shifts to
green as the angle of incidence increases. Complementary theoretical modeling corroborates the view that the epicuticular
multilayer generates the iridescent color of the chrysidid cuticle.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
2.
Ivelize C. Tannure-Nascimento Fabio S. Nascimento José O. Dantas Ronaldo Zucchi 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2009,96(7):857-861
The capacity to distinguish colony members from strangers is a key component in social life. In social insects, this extends
to the brood and involves discrimination of queen eggs. Chemical substances communicate colony affiliation for both adults
and brood; thus, in theory, all colony members should be able to recognize fellow nestmates. In this study, we investigate
the ability of Dinoponera quadriceps workers to discriminate nestmate and non-nestmate eggs based on cuticular hydrocarbon composition. We analyzed whether cuticular
hydrocarbons present on the eggs provide cues of discrimination. The results show that egg recognition in D. quadriceps is related to both age and the functional role of workers. Brood care workers were able to distinguish nestmate from non-nestmate
eggs, while callow and forager workers were unable to do so.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
3.
Kevin Lam Kelsie Thu Michelle Tsang Margo Moore Gerhard Gries 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2009,96(9):1127-1132
Female houseflies, Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae), lay their eggs in ephemeral resources such as animal manure. Hatching larvae compete for essential nutrients
with fungi that also colonize such resources. Both the well-known antagonistic relationship between bacteria and fungi and
the consistent presence of the bacterium Klebsiella oxytoca on housefly eggs led us to hypothesize (1) that K. oxytoca, and possibly other bacteria on housefly eggs, help curtail the growth of fungal resource competitors and (2) that such fungi
indeed adversely affect the development of housefly larvae. Bacteria washed from housefly eggs significantly reduced the growth
of fungi in chicken manure. Nineteen bacterial strains and ten fungal strains were isolated from housefly eggs or chicken
manure, respectively. Co-culturing each of all the possible bacterium–fungus pairs revealed that the bacteria as a group,
but no single bacterium, significantly suppressed the growth of all fungal strains tested. The bacteria's adverse effect on
fungi is due to resource nutrient depletion and/or the release of antifungal chemicals. Well-established fungi in resources
significantly reduced the number of larval offspring that completed development to adult flies.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
4.
Kevin L. Woo Maree Hunt David Harper Nicola J. Nelson Charles H. Daugherty Ben D. Bell 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2009,96(3):415-419
By investigating the mechanisms that underlie the perception of environmental cues, we may begin to understand how the sensory
system governs behavioral responses. This is the first empirical study to examine learning and visual sensitivity in a reptile
species, the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus). We established a non-intrusive psychophysical method by employing an instrumental paradigm in order to examine discrimination
learning and the ability to distinguish different flicker frequencies in the tuatara. Seventeen tuatara were trained under
an operant conditioning task to respond to various discriminative stimuli flickering between 2.65 and 65.09 Hz. Tuatara were
able to learn the operant task and discriminate between a constant light and flicker frequency rates between 2.65 and 45.61 Hz,
but not at 65.09 Hz. We demonstrated a reliable psychophysical method where these reptiles could learn a basic operant task
and discriminate visual stimuli in the form of flicker frequency rates. The tuatara’s ability to perceive flickering light
is comparable to that of avian, mammalian, and other reptilian species. This method is thus suitable for more comprehensive
examinations of vision and additional sensory abilities in other reptiles.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
5.
Laura Domingo Stephen T. Grimes M. Soledad Domingo M. Teresa Alberdi 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2009,96(4):503-511
Expansion of C4 grasses during Late Miocene and Early Pliocene constitutes one of the most remarkable biotic events of the Cenozoic era.
The Teruel–Alfambra region (northeastern Spain) contains one of the most complete Miocene–Pliocene sequences of mammalian
fossil sites in the world. In this study, stable isotope (δ
13C and δ
18O) analyses have been performed on the tooth enamel from the equid Hipparion from 19 localities spanning a time interval from approximately 10.9 to 2.7 Ma. This time range starts with the first appearance
of this genus in Spain and ends at its extinction. An increase in δ
13C at about 4.2 Ma has been observed, indicative of a shift toward a more open habitat. This shift may be related to a large
scale vegetation change which occurred across the Miocene–Pliocene boundary when C4 grasses expanded. This expansion might in turn be linked to global tectonic events such as the uplift of the Himalaya and/or
the closure of the Panama Isthmus. However, other more regional factors may have ultimately enhanced the trend toward more
open habitats in the Western Mediterranean Basin. The Messinian Salinity Crisis was a major environmental event that may have
been responsible for the isotopic changes seen in the equid Hipparion from the Iberian Peninsula along with an increase in the aridity detected ~4.6 Ma ago in the Sahara. Even though the exact
factor triggering the isotopic change observed in the Hipparion enamel remains mostly unknown, this study demonstrates that the global environmental changes detected across the Miocene–Pliocene
boundary are also recorded in the realm of the Iberian Peninsula.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
6.
The distribution of air-filled structures in the craniofacial and neurocranial bones of the oviraptorid ZPAL MgD-I/95, discovered
at the Hermiin Tsav locality, Mongolia, is restored. Based on the complete obliteration of most of the cranial sutures, the
specimen is identified as an adult individual of Conchoraptor gracilis Barsbold 1986. Except for the orbitosphenoids and epipterygoids, the preserved bones of the neurocranium are hollow. Three
types of tympanic recess are present in Conchoraptor, a characteristic shared with troodontids, dromaeosaurids, and avian theropods. The contralateral middle ear cavities are
interconnected by the supraencephalic pathway that passes through the dorsal tympanic recesses, the posterodorsal prootic
sinuses and the parietal sinus. The spatial arrangements of the middle ear cavity and a derived neurocranial pneumatic system
in Conchoraptor indicate enhancements of acoustic perception in the lower-frequency registers and of auditory directionality. We further
speculate that this improvement of binaural hearing could be explained as an adaptation required for accurate detection of
prey and/or predators under conditions of low illumination. The other potentially pneumatic structures of the Conchoraptor cranium include (1) recessus-like irregularities on the dorsal surface of the nasal and frontal bones (a putative oviraptorid
synapomorphy; pos); (2) a subotic recess; (3) a sub-condylar recess; and (4) a posterior condylar recess (pos).
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
7.
Dong W 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2008,95(11):1079-1083
Recent development of computed tomography and three-dimensional visualization techniques has enabled the non-destructive inspection
of the endocast morphology of fossil neurocranium, the basic material for paleoneurological study. A virtual cranial endocast
was reconstructed based on the first skull of the oldest giant panda, Ailuropoda microta, discovered recently and dated at more than 2 Myr (million years) ago. It was compared with that of the extant giant panda
(A. melanoleuca) and that of the polar bear (Ursus maritimus), as well as CT slices of the late Pleistocene A. baconi. The overall endocast morphology of A. microta is more similar to that of A. baconi and A. melanoleuca than to that of U. maritimus. The absolute endocast size is the smallest in A. microta, largest in A. baconi, and intermediate in A. melanoleuca. However, the proportion of cerebral volume to total endocast size is very close to each other between the oldest and extant
giant panda, as well as the sulcal length per unit area of cerebral endocast surface.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
8.
Tiedemann R Moll K Paulus KB Scheer M Williot P Bartel R Gessner J Kirschbaum F 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2007,94(3):213-217
Recent molecular data on the maternally inherited mitochondrial (mt) DNA have challenged the traditional view that the now
extinct Baltic sturgeon population belonged to the European sturgeon Acipenser sturio. Instead, there is evidence that American sea sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus historically immigrated into the Baltic Sea. In this study, we test the hypothesis that A. oxyrinchus introgressed into, rather than replaced, the A. sturio population in the Baltic. We established four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the nuclear MHC II antigen gene with
a species-specific SNP pattern. Using an ancient DNA approach and two independent lines of molecular evidence (sequencing
of allele-specific clones, SNaPshot), we detected both A. sturio and A. oxyrinchus alleles in the available museum material of the now extinct Baltic sturgeon population. The hybrid nature of the Baltic population
was further confirmed by very high levels of heterozygosity. It had been previously postulated that the immigration of the
cold-adapted A. oxyrinchus into the Baltic occurred during the Medieval Little Ice Age, when temperature likely dropped below the degree inducing spawning
in A. sturio. Under this scenario, our new findings suggest that the genetic mosaic pattern in the Baltic sturgeon population (oxyrinchus mtDNA, sturio and oxyrinchus MHC alleles) is possibly caused by sex-biased introgression where spawning was largely restricted to immigrating American
females, while fertilization was predominantly achieved by abundant local European males. The hybrid nature of the former
Baltic sturgeon population should be taken into account in the current reintroduction measures.
Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorized users. 相似文献
9.
Flowers adapted for hummingbird pollination are typically red. This correlation is usually explained by the assertion that
nectar- or pollen-stealing bees are “blind” to red flowers. However, laboratory studies have shown that bees are capable of
locating artificial red flowers and often show no innate preference for blue over red. We hypothesised that these findings
might be artefacts of the simplified laboratory environment. Using bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) that had been trained to visit red and blue artificial flowers, we tested whether colour preference was influenced by complexity
of the background on which they were foraging. Many bees were indifferent to flower colour when tested using a uniform green
background like those commonly used in laboratory studies, but all bees showed strong colour preferences (usually for blue)
when flowers were presented against a photograph of real foliage. Overall, preference for blue flowers was significantly greater
on the more realistic, complex background. These results support the notion that the red of “hummingbird syndrome” flowers
can function to reduce bee visits despite the ability of bees to detect red and highlight the need to consider context when
drawing inferences about pollinator preferences from laboratory data.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
10.
Juan I. Canale Carlos A. Scanferla Federico L. Agnolin Fernando E. Novas 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2009,96(3):409-414
A nearly complete skeleton of the new abelisaurid Skorpiovenator bustingorryi is reported here. The holotype was found in Late Cenomanian–Early Turonian outcrops of NW Patagonia, Argentina. This new
taxon is deeply nested within a new clade of South American abelisaurids, named Brachyrostra. Within brachyrostrans, the skull
shortening and hyperossification of the skull roof appear to be correlated with a progressive enclosure of the orbit, a set
of features possibly related to shock-absorbing capabilities. Moreover, the development of horn-like structures and differential
cranial thickening appear to be convergently acquired within Abelisauridae. Based on the similarities between Skorpiovenator and carcharodontosaurid tooth morphology, we suggest that isolated teeth originally referred as post-Cenomanian Carcharodontosauridae
most probably belong to abelisaurids.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
11.
Male cockroaches of the species Elliptorhina chopardi expel air through a pair of modified abdominal spiracles during courtship. This air expulsion simultaneously produces air and substrate-borne vibrations. We described and compared in details these two types of vibrations. Our analysis of the air-borne signals shows that males can produce three categories of signals with distinct temporal and frequency parameters. “Pure whistles” consist of two independent harmonic series fast frequency modulated with independent harmonics that can cross each other. “Noisy whistles” also possess two independent voices but include a noisy broad-band frequency part in the middle. Hiss sounds are more noise-like, being made of a broad-band frequency spectrum. All three call types are unusually high in dominant frequency (>5 kHz) for cockroaches. The substrate-borne signals are categorised similarly. Some harmonics of the substrate-borne signals were filtered out, however, making the acoustic energy centered on fewer frequency bands. Our analysis shows that cockroach signals are complex, with fast frequency modulations and two distinct voices. These results also readdress the question of what system could potentially receive and decode the information contained within such complex sounds.Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available for this article at and is accessible for authorized users. 相似文献
12.
Polistes wasps engage in many behavioral interactions. Although there has been debate over the meaning of these interactions, these
stereotypical behaviors can be used to determine a colony’s linear dominance hierarchy. Due to the implicit relationship between
behavioral and reproductive dominance, behavioral interactions are commonly used to distinguish the reproductively dominant
alpha foundress from the beta foundress. It has been suggested that in order to maintain reproductive control, the alpha foundress
is forced to remain at a physiologically constrained activity limit. This, in turn, may allow aggressive interactions to be
used as determinants influencing reproductive partitioning between cooperating individuals. Energetic costs can place important
limitations on behavior, but the energetic cost of the interactions has not previously been measured. To address this, we
measured the CO2 production of 19 non-nestmate pairs displaying interactive and noninteractive behavior. The rate of energy used during interaction
behavior was positively associated with published rankings of aggression. However, our results indicate that interactions
are not very energetically costly in Polistes, particularly when compared to the likely cost of foraging. These data suggest that maintaining reproductive dominance is
not very energetically expensive for the dominant and that the dominant foundress expends energy at a lower rate than the
subordinate foundress.
Electronic Supplementary Material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
13.
The predatory pliosaurs were among the largest creatures ever to inhabit the oceans, some reaching gigantic proportions greater
than 15 m in length. Fossils of this subclade of plesiosaurs are known from sediments all over the world, ranging in age from
the Hettangian (approximately 198 Myr) to the Turonian (approximately 92 Myr). However, due to a lack of detailed studies
and because only incomplete specimens are usually reported, pliosaur evolution remains poorly understood. In this paper, we
describe the three dimensionally preserved skull of the giant Jurassic pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni. The first phylogenetic analysis dedicated to in-group relationships of pliosaurs allows us to hypothesise a number of well-supported
lineages that correlate with marine biogeography and the palaeoecology of these reptiles. Rhomaleosaurids comprised a short-lived
and early diverging lineage within pliosaurs, whose open-water top-predator niche was filled by other pliosaur taxa by the
mid-late Jurassic.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
14.
15.
Gunga HC Suthau T Bellmann A Friedrich A Schwanebeck T Stoinski S Trippel T Kirsch K Hellwich O 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2007,94(8):623-630
Both body mass and surface area are factors determining the essence of any living organism. This should also hold true for
an extinct organism such as a dinosaur. The present report discusses the use of a new 3D laser scanner method to establish
body masses and surface areas of an Asian elephant (Zoological Museum of Copenhagen, Denmark) and of Plateosaurus engelhardti, a prosauropod from the Upper Triassic, exhibited at the Paleontological Museum in Tübingen (Germany). This method was used
to study the effect that slight changes in body shape had on body mass for P. engelhardti. It was established that body volumes varied between 0.79 m3 (slim version) and 1.14 m3 (robust version), resulting in a presumable body mass of 630 and 912 kg, respectively. The total body surface areas ranged
between 8.8 and 10.2 m2, of which, in both reconstructions of P. engelhardti, ∼33% account for the thorax area alone. The main difference between the two models is in the tail and hind limb reconstruction.
The tail of the slim version has a surface area of 1.98 m2, whereas that of the robust version has a surface area of 2.73 m2. The body volumes calculated for the slim version were as follows: head 0.006 m3, neck 0.016 m3, fore limbs 0.020 m3, hind limbs 0.08 m3, thoracic cavity 0.533 m3, and tail 0.136 m3. For the robust model, the following volumes were established: 0.01 m3 head, neck 0.026 m3, fore limbs 0.025 m3, hind limbs 0.18 m3, thoracic cavity 0.616 m3, and finally, tail 0.28 m3. Based on these body volumes, scaling equations were used to assess the size that the organs of this extinct dinosaur have. 相似文献
16.
Caterpillars have many natural enemies and, therefore, have evolved a diversity of antipredator strategies. Most research
focuses on those strategies (crypsis, countershading, and warning coloration) targeting visually guided predators. In contrast,
defensive sounds, although documented for more than a century, have been poorly studied. We report on a novel form of sound
production—chirping—in caterpillars of the common European Great Peacock moth (Saturnia pyri). Chirps are broadband, with dominant peaks ranging between the sonic (3.7 kHz) and ultrasonic (55.1 kHz) and are generated
by a rapid succession of mandibular “tooth strikes.” Chirp trains are induced by simulated predator attacks and precede or
accompany the secretion of a defensive chemical from integumental bristles, supporting our hypothesis that these sounds function
in acoustic aposematism. We propose that these caterpillars generate multimodal warning signals (visual, chemical, and acoustic)
to target the dominant sensory modalities of different predators, including birds, bats, and invertebrates.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
17.
The first definitive carcharodontosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from Asia and the delayed ascent of tyrannosaurids 总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2
Stephen L. Brusatte Roger B. J. Benson Daniel J. Chure Xing Xu Corwin Sullivan David W. E. Hone 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2009,96(9):1051-1058
Little is known about the evolution of large-bodied theropod dinosaurs during the Early to mid Cretaceous in Asia. Prior to
this time, Asia was home to an endemic fauna of basal tetanurans, whereas terminal Cretaceous ecosystems were dominated by
tyrannosaurids, but the intervening 60 million years left a sparse fossil record. Here, we redescribe the enigmatic large-bodied
Chilantaisaurus maortuensis from the Turonian of Inner Mongolia, China. We refer this species to a new genus, Shaochilong, and analyze its systematic affinities. Although Shaochilong has previously been allied with several disparate theropod groups (Megalosauridae, Allosauridae, Tyrannosauroidea, Maniraptora),
we find strong support for a derived carcharodontosaurid placement. As such, Shaochilong is the first unequivocal Asian member of Carcharodontosauridae, which was once thought to be restricted to Gondwana. The
discovery of an Asian carcharodontosaurid indicates that this clade was cosmopolitan in the Early to mid Cretaceous and that
Asian large-bodied theropod faunas were no longer endemic at this time. It may also suggest that the ascent of tyrannosaurids
into the large-bodied dinosaurian predator niche was a late event that occurred towards the end of the Cretaceous, between
the Turonian and the Campanian.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
18.
Keeping the blood flowing—plasminogen activator genes and feeding behavior in vampire bats 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
Tellgren-Roth A Dittmar K Massey SE Kemi C Tellgren-Roth C Savolainen P Lyons LA Liberles DA 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2009,96(1):39-47
The blood feeding vampire bats emerged from New World leaf-nosed bats that fed on fruit and insects. Plasminogen activator,
a serine protease that regulates blood coagulation, is known to be expressed in the saliva of Desmodus rotundus (common vampire bat) and is thought to be a key enzyme for the emergence of blood feeding in vampire bats. To better understand
the evolution of this biological function, we studied the plasminogen activator (PA) genes from all vampire bat species in
light of their feeding transition to bird and subsequently mammalian blood. We include the rare species Diphylla ecaudata and Diaemus youngi, where plasminogen activator had not previously been studied and demonstrate that PA gene duplication observed in Desmodus is not essential to the vampire phenotype, but relates to the emergence of predominant mammalian blood feeding in this species.
Plasminogen activator has evolved through gene duplication, domain loss, and sequence evolution leading to change in fibrin-specificity
and susceptibility to plasminogen activator inhibitor-1. Before undertaking this study, only the four plasminogen activator
isoforms from Desmodus were known. The evolution of vampire bat plasminogen activators can now be linked phylogenetically to the transition in feeding
behavior among vampire bat species from bird to mammalian blood.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
19.
Earliest zygodactyl bird feet: evidence from Early Cretaceous roadrunner-like tracks 总被引:2,自引:2,他引:0
Fossil footprints are important in understanding Cretaceous avian diversity because they constitute evidence of paleodiversity
and paleoecology that is not always apparent from skeletal remains. Early Cretaceous bird tracks have demonstrated the existence
of wading birds in East Asia, but some pedal morphotypes, such as zygodactyly, common in modern and earlier Cenozoic birds
(Neornithes) were unknown in the Cretaceous. We, herein, discuss the implications of a recently reported, Early Cretaceous
(120–110 million years old) trackway of a large, zygodactyl bird from China that predates skeletal evidence of this foot morphology
by at least 50 million years and includes the only known fossil zygodactyl footprints. The tracks demonstrate the existence
of a Cretaceous bird not currently represented in the body fossil record that occupied a roadrunner (Geococcyx)-like niche, indicating a previously unknown degree of Cretaceous avian morphological and behavioral diversity that presaged
later Cenozoic patterns.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
相似文献
Masaki MatsukawaEmail: |
20.
Field observations of the Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) mating behavior in China suggested that a female-produced contact pheromone was almost certainly involved in sex recognition. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of A. glabripennis adults' whole body cuticular extracts indicates that a series of long-chain hydrocarbons comprise the cuticular waxes of both sexes. Although for the most part the GC profiles are similar for the two sexes, five monounsaturated compounds were consistently more abundant in samples from females than in those from males. These compounds were identified as (Z)-9-tricosene, (Z)-9-pentacosene, (Z)-7-pentacosene, (Z)-9-heptacosene, and (Z)-7-heptacosene in the approximate ratio of 1:2:2:8:1, respectively. Antennal and palpi contact to a polypropylene micro-centrifuge tube coated with a synthetic mixture of the five compounds stimulated copulatory behavior in males.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article if you access the article at . A link in the frame on the left on that page takes you directly to the supplementary material. 相似文献