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| Open AccessSnail-inspired robotic swarms: a hybrid connector drives collective adaptation in unstructured outdoor environments
The authors introduce a 3D terrestrial robotic swarm equipped with a snail-inspired two-mode connection system for self-reconfigurability and mobility in unstructured environments.
- Da Zhao
- , Haobo Luo
- & Tin Lun Lam
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Article
| Open AccessGoal-directed and flexible modulation of syllable sequence within birdsong
Birdsong contains strings of syllables and is essential for their communication. Using a new song decoder to annotates song in a quasi-real-time manner, and rewarding specific syllable sequences, this study shows Bengalese finches can flexibly modify the content of their song in a goal-directed way.
- Takuto Kawaji
- , Mizuki Fujibayashi
- & Kentaro Abe
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Article
| Open AccessUnexpectedly uneven distribution of functional trade-offs explains cranial morphological diversity in carnivores
Functional trade-offs can affect phenotypic variation. Here, the authors examine trade-offs between bite force and speed in 132 carnivore species, finding that optimising for velocity can be obtained in more ways than optimising for force, and this may impact morphological variability.
- Gabriele Sansalone
- , Stephen Wroe
- & Carmelo Fruciano
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal meta-analysis reveals overall higher nocturnal than diurnal activity in insect communities
Entomologists expect that more insects are active at night than during daytime. Here, the authors use a global meta-analysis of insect community diel patterns to show highly variable and context-dependent but overall higher nocturnal activity of insects.
- Mark K. L. Wong
- & Raphael K. Didham
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Article
| Open AccessElevated ozone disrupts mating boundaries in drosophilid flies
Some atmospheric pollutants may disrupt chemical communication in insects. Here, the authors show that exposure to elevated ozone disrupts pheromone-mediated mate recognition and increases hybridization in laboratory colonies of four Drosophila species.
- Nan-Ji Jiang
- , Xinqi Dong
- & Markus Knaden
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal latitudinal gradients and the evolution of body size in dinosaurs and mammals
Bergmann’s Rule predicts larger body sizes in colder climates. Here, the authors examine extinct and extant dinosaurs (birds) and mammaliaforms, finding no evidence of body size variation with latitude in any group, but a small variation with temperature in extant birds.
- Lauren N. Wilson
- , Jacob D. Gardner
- & Chris L. Organ
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Article
| Open AccessNew estimates indicate that males are not larger than females in most mammal species
The narrative that larger males are the norm in mammals has predominated for over a century. An analysis of body mass dimorphism across mammals, sampling families by their species richness, indicates that males are not larger than females in most mammals and that monomorphism is almost as prevalent.
- Kaia J. Tombak
- , Severine B. S. W. Hex
- & Daniel I. Rubenstein
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Article
| Open AccessDynamic similarity and the peculiar allometry of maximum running speed
How fast can animals run? Here, the authors show that maximum running speed is limited by different musculoskeletal constraints across animal size: kinetic energy capacity in small animals, and work capacity in large animals.
- David Labonte
- , Peter J. Bishop
- & Christofer J. Clemente
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Article
| Open AccessTick hemocytes have a pleiotropic role in microbial infection and arthropod fitness
Rolandelli et al. define how immune cells from the tick Ixodes scapularis are affected by infection and show that this cell population have distinct signatures and functions in immunity, metabolism and proliferation.
- Agustin Rolandelli
- , Hanna J. Laukaitis-Yousey
- & Joao H. F. Pedra
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| Open AccessKey homeobox transcription factors regulate the development of the firefly’s adult light organ and bioluminescence
Adult firefly light organs exhibit flashing signals important for courtship, though how these organs form during development is largely unknown. Here the authors demonstrate that homeobox transcription factors play a patterning role in the development of the adult light organs.
- Xinhua Fu
- & Xinlei Zhu
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Article
| Open AccessMating harassment may boost the effectiveness of the sterile insect technique for Aedes mosquitoes
The sterile insect technique involves the introduction of sterile males to induce sterility in females and reduce population size. Here, the authors show that sterile males may also reduce female density and inhibit female blood feeding through mating harassment.
- Dongjing Zhang
- , Hamidou Maiga
- & Jérémy Bouyer
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Article
| Open AccessArticular surface interactions distinguish dinosaurian locomotor joint poses
Criteria for evaluating joint articulation in vertebrates are lacking. Here, the authors propose an approach for combining measurements of 3D articular overlap, symmetry, and congruence into a single metric, and apply this to examine the walking stride of Deinonychus antirrhopus.
- Armita R. Manafzadeh
- , Stephen M. Gatesy
- & Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar
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Article
| Open AccessNatural selection and genetic diversity maintenance in a parasitic wasp during continuous biological control application
Parasitoid wasps are reared and released as biocontrol agents to manage aphids and protect crops. Here, the authors use genomes from 542 wasps to show that, in spite of wide scale release of low-diversity captive individuals, diversity in wild populations is maintained.
- Bingyan Li
- , Yuange Duan
- & Hu Li
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| Open AccessMechanistic characterization of a Drosophila model of paraneoplastic nephrotic syndrome
The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has emerged as a model to characterize the mechanisms of tumor-induced host organ dysfunction. Here, Xu, Liu et al. describe a mechanism of tumor-induced kidney dysfunction through hyper-activation of the PvR/JNK/Jra pathway in the Principal cells of the fly kidney/Malpighian tubules.
- Jun Xu
- , Ying Liu
- & Norbert Perrimon
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Article
| Open AccessEvaluating vector competence for Yellow fever in the Caribbean
Yellow fever is a public health threat in the Americas but has not recently been reported in the Caribbean despite presence of the mosquito vector Aedes aegypti. Here, the authors show through experimental infection that populations of Aedes aegypti from the Caribbean and surrounding areas are competent of yellow fever transmission.
- Gaelle Gabiane
- , Chloé Bohers
- & Anna-Bella Failloux
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| Open AccessWhy flying insects gather at artificial light
It is unclear why flying insects congregate around artificial light sources. Here, the authors use high-speed videography and motion-capture, finding that insects fly perpendicular to light sources due to a disruption of the dorsal light response.
- Samuel T. Fabian
- , Yash Sondhi
- & Huai-Ti Lin
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Article
| Open AccessLife-history stage determines the diet of ectoparasitic mites on their honey bee hosts
Varroa and Tropilaelaps mites threaten honeybee health. This study finds that mites alter feeding habits depends on their own, and hosts’, life history stage. Mites feed on the host hemolymph when parasitizing pupae during their reproductive stage but consume fat body during their dispersal stage.
- Bin Han
- , Jiangli Wu
- & Shufa Xu
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| Open AccessThe angiosperm radiation played a dual role in the diversification of insects and insect pollinators
Interactions with angiosperms are thought to have had a significant impact on insect diversification. Here, the authors use a Bayesian process-based approach to find that angiosperm radiation played a dual role that changed through time, mitigating insect extinction in the Cretaceous and promoting insect origination in the Cenozoic.
- David Peris
- & Fabien L. Condamine
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Article
| Open AccessMeta-analysis shows no consistent evidence for senescence in ejaculate traits across animals
A key assumption of ageing research is that old males are less fertile. A meta-analysis of ejaculate traits challenges this, by showing senescence is not consistently observed across 157 species of animals, but is specific to only certain taxa and ejaculate traits. The study also highlights methodological factors that might modulate the evidence for reproductive senescence.
- Krish Sanghvi
- , Regina Vega-Trejo
- & Irem Sepil
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| Open AccessMesozoic evolution of cicadas and their origins of vocalization and root feeding
The evolution of cicadas is unclear due to a lack of understanding of transitional features. Here, the authors assess adult and nymph mid-Cretaceous cicadas, to elucidate their morphological evolution and identify evidence of the origins of cicada sound-generation and subterranean lifestyle.
- Hui Jiang
- , Jacek Szwedo
- & Bo Wang
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Article
| Open AccessUnfamiliarity generates costly aggression in interspecific avian dominance hierarchies
Although intraspecific dominance hierarchies are common, large scale interspecific dominance hierarchies are unknown. Using data from hundreds of avian species, the authors find that species that are more familiar with each other engage in less aggression and the aggression is resolved more directly.
- Gavin M. Leighton
- , Jonathan P. Drury
- & Eliot T. Miller
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Article
| Open AccessLeucine aminopeptidase1 controls egg deposition and hatchability in male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes
Aedes aegypti transmit several arboviruses and control of the mosquito populations could be beneficial. Here the authors show that deletion of leucine aminopeptidase1 (LAP1) results in mitochondrial defects and abnormal autophagy in sperm, reducing fertility and fecundity of females. LAP1−/− males show no obvious defects in longevity and mating fitness.
- Xiaomei Sun
- , Xueli Wang
- & Zhen Zou
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| Open AccessLeafhopper salivary vitellogenin mediates virus transmission to plant phloem
A plant virus induces and hijacks vitellogenin (Vg) of insect vector into virus-induced exosomes for release together from salivary glands to plant phloem, where the Vg suppresses H2O2 burst, facilitating insect feeding and viral transmission.
- Yanfei Wang
- , Chengcong Lu
- & Qian Chen
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Article
| Open AccessTargeted treatment of injured nestmates with antimicrobial compounds in an ant society
Infected wounds pose a major mortality risk in animals and are common in predatory ants. Here, the authors show that M. analis ants apply antimicrobial compounds produced in the metapleural glands to treat infected wounds and reduce nestmate mortality.
- Erik. T. Frank
- , Lucie Kesner
- & Laurent Keller
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Article
| Open AccessSeasonal variation in dragonfly assemblage colouration suggests a link between thermal melanism and phenology
Body colour may be an important factor in insect phenology. Here, the authors show that colour lightness of dragonfly assemblages from the UK, collected between May and October from 1990-2020, varies in response to seasonal changes in solar radiation, suggesting a link between colour-based thermoregulation and insect phenology.
- Roberto Novella-Fernandez
- , Roland Brandl
- & Christian Hof
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| Open AccessThe global importance and interplay of colour-based protective and thermoregulatory functions in frogs
Anurans—frogs and toads—are a diverse group with a remarkable variety of colours. Here, the authors report a global analysis of colour variation in anurans, finding evidence that colour lightness is important for thermoregulation, protection from UVB radiation and resistance to pathogens.
- Ricarda Laumeier
- , Martin Brändle
- & Stefan Pinkert
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| Open Access5mC modification orchestrates choriogenesis and fertilization by preventing prolonged ftz-f1 expression
The mechanism by which DNA methylation regulates female reproduction in insects is largely unknown. Here Zhao et al. demonstrate that the 5mC modification orchestrates timely choriogenesis and proper fertilization by preventing prolonged ftz-f1 expression in the German cockroach.
- Zheng Zhao
- , Liang Li
- & Chonghua Ren
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Article
| Open AccessDaily vocal exercise is necessary for peak performance singing in a songbird
Control of sound production by fast vocal muscle is critical to vocal communication. Here the authors show that zebra finches need daily singing exercise to build and maintain peak vocal muscle performance. Lack of exercise alters vocal muscle physiology and reduces attractiveness to females.
- Iris Adam
- , Katharina Riebel
- & Coen P. H. Elemans
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Article
| Open AccessIdentification of peptides from honeybee gut symbionts as potential antimicrobial agents against Melissococcus plutonius
Here, by characterizing 477 genomes from cultivated bacteria and metagenome-assembled genomes of the bee gut microbiota, the authors uncover uncharacterized biosynthetic gene clusters encoding small molecules with potential antimicrobial activity against bee pathogens, shedding light on the role of microbiome in honeybee health.
- Haoyu Lang
- , Yuwen Liu
- & Hao Zheng
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| Open AccessFunctional diversity of sharks and rays is highly vulnerable and supported by unique species and locations worldwide
Elasmobranchs (sharks, rays and skates) are among the most threatened marine vertebrates, yet their global functional diversity remains largely unknown. This study uses a trait dataset of over 1,000 species to assess elasmobranch functional diversity and compare it against other previously studied biodiversity facets to identify global conservation priorities.
- Catalina Pimiento
- , Camille Albouy
- & Fabien Leprieur
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Article
| Open AccessBony-fish-like scales in a Silurian maxillate placoderm
The origin and early evolution of large scales in bony fishes and small scales in cartilaginous fishes are unclear. Here, the authors report a 425-million-year-old fish, Entelognathus, with a mosaic of scale and fin spine characters.
- Xindong Cui
- , Matt Friedman
- & Min Zhu
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| Open AccessMorphological evolution of bird wings follows a mechanical sensitivity gradient determined by the aerodynamics of flapping flight
Morphological trait evolution is partly driven by biomechanical function, but a general framework for this relationship is lacking. Here, the authors test two possible frameworks and find that mechanical sensitivity provides the best prediction of morphological evolution in bird wings
- Jonathan A. Rader
- & Tyson L. Hedrick
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Article
| Open AccessInconsistent shifts in warming and temperature variability are linked to reduced avian fitness
Climate change effects on wildlife may occur through both gradual changes and extreme events. Here, the authors quantify the impact of cold snaps and heatwaves on reproductive success in 24 common bird species in North America over the last few decades.
- Conor C. Taff
- & J. Ryan. Shipley
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| Open AccessThe radiation continuum and the evolution of frog diversity
The contribution of adaptive radiation to species and phenotypic diversity within major clades is not clear. Here, the authors use morphological and phylogenetic data for 1226 species of frogs, finding that less than half of families resemble adaptive radiation, but that adaptive radiation contributed to 75% of diversity.
- Gen Morinaga
- , John J. Wiens
- & Daniel S. Moen
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| Open AccessGreater wax moth control in apiaries can be improved by combining Bacillus thuringiensis and entrapments
The greater wax moth (GWM) is a major bee pest. Here, the authors show how a pest control method that combines a strain of Bacillus thuringiensis and a lure-based entrapment can help to control GWM using lab experiments and field beehives.
- Bo Han
- , Li Zhang
- & Pingli Dai
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Article
| Open AccessSex differences in avian parental care patterns vary across the breeding cycle
Parental care in birds includes diverse behaviours but the variation in care from each parent across the breeding cycle and between species is unclear. Here, the authors study 1533 bird species, finding different patterns across breeding stages, and that species with strong sexual selection or paternity uncertainty tend to show female-biased care.
- Daiping Wang
- , Wenyuan Zhang
- & Xiang-Yi Li Richter
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Article
| Open AccessThe rise of predation in Jurassic lampreys
Here, the authors report two fossil lampreys, jawless vertebrates, from the Middle-Late Jurassic fossil Lagerstätte Yanliao Biota of North China. These large lampreys have an extensively toothed feeding apparatus resembling the Southern Hemisphere pouched lamprey, suggesting an ancestral predatory habit and southern origin of living lampreys.
- Feixiang Wu
- , Philippe Janvier
- & Chi Zhang
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| Open AccessAmerican crows that excel at tool use activate neural circuits distinct from less talented individuals
What’s happening inside a crow’s brain when it thinks about using a tool? Here the authors show that it depends on experience. Naïve crows activate sensory and higher-order processing centers, but experienced crows instead use motor learning and tactile control circuits.
- LomaJohn T. Pendergraft
- , John M. Marzluff
- & Christopher N. Templeton
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Article
| Open AccessSoundscapes and deep learning enable tracking biodiversity recovery in tropical forests
Cost-effective biodiversity monitoring through time is important for evidence-based conservation. Here, the authors show that automated bioacoustics monitoring can be used to track tropical forest recovery from agricultural abandonment, suggesting its use to assess restoration outcomes.
- Jörg Müller
- , Oliver Mitesser
- & Zuzana Buřivalová
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Article
| Open AccessPhylogenomics reveals the history of host use in mosquitoes
Despite the significance of mosquitos for human health, little research has focused on their phylogeny. Here, the authors present a resolved phylogenetic history of mosquitoes based on phylogenomics showing that these major disease vectors radiated coincidentally with geologic events and the diversification of their hosts.
- John Soghigian
- , Charles Sither
- & Brian M. Wiegmann
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Article
| Open AccessEvolution of schooling drives changes in neuroanatomy and motion characteristics across predation contexts in guppies
Corral-Lopez et al. use guppies as a model system for the evolution of collective motion. They show that guppies artificially selected for schooling remain highly coordinated across predation contexts and show key changes in brain morphology that likely increase the efficiency of sensory information relay.
- Alberto Corral-Lopez
- , Alexander Kotrschal
- & Niclas Kolm
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Article
| Open AccessNeural representation of goal direction in the monarch butterfly brain
Neural coding of goal direction remains unclear in insects. Here, the authors describe goal-direction neurons in the monarch butterfly brain that specifically encode the insect’s desired flight direction during spatial orientation.
- M. Jerome Beetz
- , Christian Kraus
- & Basil el Jundi
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Article
| Open AccessEvolutionary origin of genomic structural variations in domestic yaks
Yaks have been subject to natural selection, human domestication and interspecific introgression during their evolution. Here, the authors have identified genomic structural variations and the linked genes involved in these processes in domestic yaks, to reveal new insight into genetic basis of phenotypic diversity.
- Xinfeng Liu
- , Wenyu Liu
- & Jianquan Liu
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Article
| Open AccessWild jackdaws can selectively adjust their social associations while preserving valuable long-term relationships
Individuals may benefit from adjusting their social relationships strategically in response to changing conditions, but evidence in wild animals is limited. Using an automated field experiment, the authors show that wild jackdaws learn to modify their social interactions to maximise foraging rewards, while retaining valuable long-term relationships.
- Michael Kings
- , Josh J. Arbon
- & Alex Thornton
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Article
| Open AccessScaling the tail beat frequency and swimming speed in underwater undulatory swimming
Mechanisms by which aquatic animals optimize their tailbeat frequency for swimming have not been fully explained. Here, the authors propose scaling laws for undulatory swimmers, relating beat frequency to length considering muscle biology and fluid interaction.
- Jesús Sánchez-Rodríguez
- , Christophe Raufaste
- & Médéric Argentina
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Article
| Open AccessBayesian analyses indicate bivalves did not drive the downfall of brachiopods following the Permian-Triassic mass extinction
Brachiopod-bivalve switch in diversity dominance after the Palaeozoic era is a textbook example of clade replacement, and its mechanism has long been debated. Here, new Bayesian analyses suggest that diversification turnover between the two was not driven by biotic competition but the end-Permian extinction.
- Zhen Guo
- , Joseph T. Flannery-Sutherland
- & Zhong-Qiang Chen
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Article
| Open AccessUnexpected worker mating and colony-founding in a superorganism
Workers in social insects such as honey bees, bumble bees, and ants are expected to spend their lives helping their mother reproduce. Here the authors show that workers of several bumble bee species can in fact mate and lead colonies of their own.
- Mingsheng Zhuang
- , Thomas J. Colgan
- & Jilian Li
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Article
| Open AccessFine-scale collective movements reveal present, past and future dynamics of a multilevel society in Przewalski’s horses
High resolution tracking is providing new opportunities to understand the social dynamics of wild animals. Here, the authors track individual wild horses with drones and link their movement patterns to long-term population monitoring to reveal the structure of their society.
- Katalin Ozogány
- , Viola Kerekes
- & Máté Nagy
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| Open AccessComparative mucomic analysis of three functionally distinct Cornu aspersum Secretions
Mucus are ubiquitous natural materials, but little is known about their structures or properties. Here, the authors identify the components of three functional mucus from snails, which are the focus of a rapidly growing number of biomedical and cosmetic applications.
- Antonio R. Cerullo
- , Maxwell B. McDermott
- & Adam B. Braunschweig