First report of developmental changes inside the eggs of the Chinese freshwater crab, Sinopotamon yangtsekiense Bott, 1967 (Potamoidea, Potamidae), with comments on its evolutionary significance

2010 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junzeng Xue ◽  
Yan Liu ◽  
Neil Cumberlidge ◽  
Huixian Wu

This paper focuses on the developmental changes that take place inside the eggs of the semi-terrestrial freshwater crab, Sinopotamon yangtsekiense, from Qiantang River in Zhejiang Province, China. The egg consists of two layers, a thick outer membrane and a thin inner membrane that encloses the fluidfilled embryonic sac. Development in this species took up to 77 days, after which the free-living juvenile hatchling crab emerged from the egg. During development the embryo underwent a series of morphological changes that corresponded to the free-living larval stages of marine crabs, and the yolk mass decreased in size and changed color (from creamy pale yellow, to orange, and finally grey). The eggs remained attached to the pleopods in the female’s abdominal brood pouch during development and showed a great deal of independence from water. Embryos developed normally whether they were immersed in water or in air. The implications of this adaptation for freshwater crab evolution are discussed.

Author(s):  
Yume Imada

Abstract Different physical structures play a central role in animal camouflage. However, in evolutionary studies of mimicry, the ecological and evolutionary significance of such structures has been poorly investigated. Larvae of long-bodied craneflies, Cylindrotominae, are all obligate herbivores and resemble plants. They are distinctively characterized by possessing numerous elongated cuticular lobes on the integument. A comprehensive overview of the biology and morphology of cylindrotomids, particularly their larval stages, is laid out, providing original data on nine species. To explore the ecological background of moss resemblance, host-plants of most examined species are clarified, revealing that terrestrial moss-feeding species tend to use specific groups of mosses, either belonging to Bryales or Hypnales. However, the evolution of cryptic forms remains paradoxical, due to the apparent absence of visual predators. Based on histological examinations, extensive internal musculatures within the cuticular lobes on the lateral side are discovered, shedding new light on their function in locomotion. Traditional functional explanations for these lobes, particularly as devices for respiration, locomotion and attachment, are challenged. This study promotes our understanding of the ecomorphology of mimicry devices, which is an angle often dismissed in evolutionary studies of mimicry.


Author(s):  
A. J. Southward

SUMMARYThe jelly-fish Aurelia aurita possesses external and internal ciliary currents that play a large part in food collection and in the transport of food, reproductive products and excretory matter.Adults feed on relatively small organisms, which are collected in mucus on all external surfaces and eventually passed to the inner surfaces of the oral arms.The inner surfaces of the oral arms bear two ciliated tracts which operate simultaneously in opposite directions. The lateral tract carries food materials proximally towards the gastric pouches, but is capable of rejecting inedible matter. The basal tract carries excretory matter distally, away from the gastric pouches and canals to the exterior.Rejection reactions are also found in the gastric pouches and radial canals, parts of which have currents moving in opposite directions on the roof and on the floor. These opposing currents appear to be derived from the system in the ephyra stage, where the circulation in the wide gastric cavity and blind-ending canals is maintained partly by centripetal currents on the floor and centrifugal currents on the roof.The directions of the main currents remain constant throughout the larval stages to the adult, although slight variations are introduced by morphological changes. The currents also remain the same during spawning, when the eggs and sperm leave the gastric pouches by the normal excretory path.Many of the ciliary currents found in Aurelia are present in other semaeostome and rhizostome medusae, but only in Aurelia do the umbrella surfaces and currents play a large part in food collection.


1958 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Premvati

The optimum temperature for the complete development of the free-living and the infective larvae of Strongyloides fülleborni is 25 °C. Morphological changes are seen at higher or lower temperatures.


1976 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 427-434
Author(s):  
F. Mazet ◽  
J. Cartaud

The freeze-fracturing technique was used to characterize the junctional devices involved in the electrical coupling of frog atrial fibres. These fibres are connected by a type of junction which can be interpreted as a morphological variant of the “gap junction” or “nexus”. The most characteristic features are rows of 9-nm junctional particles forming single or anastomosed circular profiles on the inner membrane face, and corresponding pits on the outer membrane face. Very seldom aggregates consisting of few geometrically disposed 9-nm particles are found. The significance of the junctional structures in the atrial fibres is discussed, with respect to present knowledge about junctional features of gap junctions in various tissues, including embryonic ones.


2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 839-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clóvis de Paula Santos ◽  
Terezinha Padilha ◽  
Maria de Lurdes de Azevedo Rodrigues

The effect of different temperatures on the predatory activity of Arthrobotrys oligospora and Duddingtonia flagrans on the free-living larval stages of cyathostomes were evaluated in an experiment where feces of horses containing the parasites’ eggs were treated with these fungi and incubated under different constant temperatures (10°C, 15°C, 20°C, 25°C and 30°C ). The results indicated that the optimum temperature for egg development was 25°C. At 10°C the number of L3 recovered was practically zero, and at 15°C and 20°C, the percentage of larvae recovered was less than 3% of the total number of eggs per gram of feces. When these cultures subsequently were incubated for an additional period of 14 days at 27°C, they allowed the development of L3. In all the cultures inoculated with fungi a significant reduction in the number of larvae was observed. When incubated at 25°C or 30°C, the fungi caused reductions above 90%, in the number of L3. The samples cultivated at 10°C, 15°C, 20°C, 25°C and 30°C, when incubated for an additional period of 14 days at 27°C the reduction percentage of larvae was above 90% for A. oligospora. However, the same did not occur for D. flagrans. Here a reduction percentage between 47.5% and 41.8% was recorded when the cultures were incubated at 10°C and 20°C, respectively. The two species of fungi tested showed to be efficient in reducing the number of L3 when mixed with equine feces and maintained at the same temperature for the development of larval pre-parasitic stages of cyathostomes.


2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (17) ◽  
pp. 5497-5502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manoj Rajaure ◽  
Joel Berry ◽  
Rohit Kongari ◽  
Jesse Cahill ◽  
Ry Young

In general, phages cause lysis of the bacterial host to effect release of the progeny virions. Until recently, it was thought that degradation of the peptidoglycan (PG) was necessary and sufficient for osmotic bursting of the cell. Recently, we have shown that in Gram-negative hosts, phage lysis also requires the disruption of the outer membrane (OM). This is accomplished by spanins, which are phage-encoded proteins that connect the cytoplasmic membrane (inner membrane, IM) and the OM. The mechanism by which the spanins destroy the OM is unknown. Here we show that the spanins of the paradigm coliphage lambda mediate efficient membrane fusion. This supports the notion that the last step of lysis is the fusion of the IM and OM. Moreover, data are provided indicating that spanin-mediated fusion is regulated by the meshwork of the PG, thus coupling fusion to murein degradation by the phage endolysin. Because endolysin function requires the formation of μm-scale holes by the phage holin, the lysis pathway is seen to require dramatic dynamics on the part of the OM and IM, as well as destruction of the PG.


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