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Journal of Special Operations Medicine... 2021The genus Scolopendra includes large centipedes that inhabit tropical regions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands as well as South America and the Southwestern US....
The genus Scolopendra includes large centipedes that inhabit tropical regions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands as well as South America and the Southwestern US. They are capable of inflicting a clinically significant venomous bite. These multilegged arthropods may enter tents or buildings at night in search of prey and tend to hide in bedding and clothing. Presentation and management are discussed.
Topics: Animals; Arthropods; Bites and Stings; Chilopoda; Humans
PubMed: 34969138
DOI: 10.55460/S3H4-KZPZ -
Nature Reviews. Microbiology Nov 2023Wolbachia are successful Gram-negative bacterial endosymbionts, globally infecting a large fraction of arthropod species and filarial nematodes. Efficient vertical... (Review)
Review
Wolbachia are successful Gram-negative bacterial endosymbionts, globally infecting a large fraction of arthropod species and filarial nematodes. Efficient vertical transmission, the capacity for horizontal transmission, manipulation of host reproduction and enhancement of host fitness can promote the spread both within and between species. Wolbachia are abundant and can occupy extraordinary diverse and evolutionary distant host species, suggesting that they have evolved to engage and manipulate highly conserved core cellular processes. Here, we review recent studies identifying Wolbachia-host interactions at the molecular and cellular levels. We explore how Wolbachia interact with a wide array of host cytoplasmic and nuclear components in order to thrive in a diversity of cell types and cellular environments. This endosymbiont has also evolved the ability to precisely target and manipulate specific phases of the host cell cycle. The remarkable diversity of cellular interactions distinguishes Wolbachia from other endosymbionts and is largely responsible for facilitating its global propagation through host populations. Finally, we describe how insights into Wolbachia-host cellular interactions have led to promising applications in controlling insect-borne and filarial nematode-based diseases.
Topics: Wolbachia; Animals; Symbiosis; Arthropods; Host Microbial Interactions; Filarioidea; Insecta; Host-Pathogen Interactions
PubMed: 37430172
DOI: 10.1038/s41579-023-00918-x -
Development (Cambridge, England) Sep 2019There is now compelling evidence that many arthropods pattern their segments using a clock-and-wavefront mechanism, analogous to that operating during vertebrate... (Review)
Review
There is now compelling evidence that many arthropods pattern their segments using a clock-and-wavefront mechanism, analogous to that operating during vertebrate somitogenesis. In this Review, we discuss how the arthropod segmentation clock generates a repeating sequence of pair-rule gene expression, and how this is converted into a segment-polarity pattern by 'timing factor' wavefronts associated with axial extension. We argue that the gene regulatory network that patterns segments may be relatively conserved, although the timing of segmentation varies widely, and double-segment periodicity appears to have evolved at least twice. Finally, we describe how the repeated evolution of a simultaneous (-like) mode of segmentation within holometabolan insects can be explained by heterochronic shifts in timing factor expression plus extensive pre-patterning of the pair-rule genes.
Topics: Animals; Arthropods; Biological Evolution; Body Patterning; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 31554626
DOI: 10.1242/dev.170480 -
Learning & Behavior Sep 2020Effective communication is essential in animal life to allow fundamental behavioral processes and survival. Communicating by surface-borne vibrations is likely the most... (Review)
Review
Effective communication is essential in animal life to allow fundamental behavioral processes and survival. Communicating by surface-borne vibrations is likely the most ancient mode of getting and exchanging information in both invertebrates and vertebrates. In this review, we concentrate on the use of vibrational communication in arthropods as a form of intraspecific and interspecific signaling, with a focus on the newest discoveries from our research group in terrestrial isopods (Crustacea: Isopoda: Oniscidea), a taxon never investigated before in this context. After getting little attention in the past, biotremology is now an emerging field of study in animal communication, and it is receiving increased interest from the scientific community dealing with these behavioral processes. In what follows, we illustrate the general principles and mechanisms on which biotremology is based, using definitions, examples, and insights from the literature in arthropods. Vibrational communication in arthropods has mainly been studied in insects and arachnids. For these taxa, much evidence of its use as a source of information from the surrounding environment exists, as well as its involvement in many behavioral roles, such as courtship and mating, conspecific recognition, competition, foraging, parental care, and danger perception. Recently, and for the first time, communication through surface-borne waves has been studied in terrestrial isopods, using a common Mediterranean species of the Armadillidae family as a pilot species, Armadillo officinalis Duméril, 1816. Mainly, for this species, we describe typical behavioral processes, such as turn alternation, aggregation, and stridulation, where vibrational communication appears to be involved.
Topics: Animal Communication; Animals; Arthropods; Insecta; Isopoda; Vibration
PubMed: 32632754
DOI: 10.3758/s13420-020-00428-3 -
Journal of Comparative Physiology. A,... Mar 2023Representatives of arthropods, the largest animal phylum, occupy terrestrial, aquatic, arboreal, and subterranean niches. Their evolutionary success depends on specific...
Representatives of arthropods, the largest animal phylum, occupy terrestrial, aquatic, arboreal, and subterranean niches. Their evolutionary success depends on specific morphological and biomechanical adaptations related to their materials and structures. Biologists and engineers have become increasingly interested in exploring these natural solutions to understand relationships between structures, materials, and their functions in living organisms. The aim of this special issue is to present the state-of-the-art research in this interdisciplinary field using modern methodology, such as imaging techniques, mechanical testing, movement capture, and numerical modeling. It contains nine original research reports covering diverse topics, including flight, locomotion, and attachment of the arthropods. The research achievements are essential not only to understand ecological adaptations, and evolutionary and behavioral traits, but also to drive prominent advances for engineering from exploitation of numerous biomimetic ideas.
Topics: Animals; Arthropods; Biomechanical Phenomena; Locomotion; Biological Evolution; Acclimatization
PubMed: 36813948
DOI: 10.1007/s00359-023-01621-1 -
Arthropod Structure & Development Jan 2020
Topics: Animals; Arthropods; Editorial Policies; Entomology; Periodicals as Topic
PubMed: 32057644
DOI: 10.1016/j.asd.2020.100917 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Oct 2022Colour constancy is the ability to recognize the colour of objects despite spectral changes in the natural illumination. As such, this phenomenon is important for most... (Review)
Review
Colour constancy is the ability to recognize the colour of objects despite spectral changes in the natural illumination. As such, this phenomenon is important for most organisms with good colour vision, and it has been intensively studied in humans and primates. Colour constancy is also documented for several species of insects, which is not surprising given the ecological importance of colour vision. But how do insects, with their small brains, solve the complex problem of colour vision and colour constancy? In an interspecies approach, this review reports on behavioural studies on colour constancy in bees, butterflies, moths and humans, corresponding computational models and possible neurophysiological correlates. This article is part of the theme issue 'Understanding colour vision: molecular, physiological, neuronal and behavioural studies in arthropods'.
Topics: Animals; Bees; Butterflies; Color; Color Perception; Color Vision; Humans; Insecta
PubMed: 36058239
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0286 -
Viruses Mar 2022Arthropod-borne viruses (Arbovirus) is an ecological term defining viruses that are maintained in nature through biological transmission between a susceptible vertebrate...
Arthropod-borne viruses (Arbovirus) is an ecological term defining viruses that are maintained in nature through biological transmission between a susceptible vertebrate host and a hematophagous arthropod such as a mosquito [...].
Topics: Animals; Arbovirus Infections; Arboviruses; Arthropods; Culicidae; Vertebrates
PubMed: 35337052
DOI: 10.3390/v14030645 -
Journal of Comparative Physiology. A,... Nov 2023Most insects can detect the pattern of polarized light in the sky with the dorsal rim area in their compound eyes and use this visual information to navigate in their...
Most insects can detect the pattern of polarized light in the sky with the dorsal rim area in their compound eyes and use this visual information to navigate in their environment by means of 'celestial' polarization vision. 'Non-celestial polarization vision', in contrast, refers to the ability of arthropods to analyze polarized light by means of the 'main' retina, excluding the dorsal rim area. The ability of using the main retina for polarization vision has been attracting sporadic, but steady attention during the last decade. This special issue of the Journal of Comparative Physiology A presents recent developments with a collection of seven original research articles, addressing different aspects of non-celestial polarization vision in crustaceans and insects. The contributions cover different sources of linearly polarized light in nature, the underlying retinal and neural mechanisms of object detection using polarization vision and the behavioral responses of arthropods to polarized reflections from water.
Topics: Animals; Arthropods; Vision, Ocular; Insecta; Retina; Light
PubMed: 37874372
DOI: 10.1007/s00359-023-01679-x -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Oct 2022Insects are an astonishingly successful and diverse group, occupying the gamut of habitats and lifestyle niches. They represent the vast majority of described species... (Review)
Review
Insects are an astonishingly successful and diverse group, occupying the gamut of habitats and lifestyle niches. They represent the vast majority of described species and total terrestrial animal biomass on the planet. Their success is in part owed to their sophisticated visual systems, including colour vision, which drive a variety of complex behaviours. However, the majority of research on insect vision has focused on only a few model organisms including flies, honeybees and butterflies. Especially understudied are phytophagous insects, such as diminutive thrips (Thysanoptera), in spite of their damage to agriculture. Thrips display robust yet variable colour-specific responses despite their miniaturized eyes, but little is known about the physiological and ecological basis of their visual systems. Here, we review the known visual behavioural information about thrips and the few physiological studies regarding their eyes. Eye structure, spectral sensitivity, opsin genes and the presence of putative colour filters in certain ommatidia strongly imply dynamic visual capabilities. Finally, we discuss the major gaps in knowledge that remain for a better understanding of the visual system of thrips and why bridging these gaps is important for expanding new possibilities for applied pest management strategies for these tiny insects. This article is part of the theme issue 'Understanding colour vision: molecular, physiological, neuronal and behavioural studies in arthropods'.
Topics: Animals; Butterflies; Color Vision; Diptera; Insecta; Thysanoptera
PubMed: 36058245
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0282