Intestinal capillariasisis is a newly emerging parasitic disease and its outcome may be fatal if not diagnosed and treated in the proper time. The main diagnosis of intestinal capillariasis is made ...by identifying eggs, larvae and/or adults in the stools of infected cases. This study aimed to describe a different type of developmental stages, which is the detection of adult females carrying embryonated thick-shelled eggs in their uteri in the fecal samples of infected cases. The study included 40
Capillaria philippinensis
patients admitted to the hospitals of Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University and Beni-Suef University. Stool examination was performed using direct smear and the formalin-ether concentration methods. The adult stages of the parasite were detected in 35 stool samples, eggs were detected in 33 cases, 5 of them were diagnosed by detecting eggs only. We could identify three types of eggs of
C. philippinensis
: non-embryonated thick-shelled eggs in feces of cases, embryonated thin-shelled and embryonated thick-shelled eggs in the uteri of female worms. Only in 2 cases we were able to identify female worms with embryonated thick-shelled eggs inside their uteri. This finding has never been mentioned and may point out to a missing point in the known life cycle.
The poorly known semi-fossorial snake
Blythia reticulata
is a small, oviparous, worm-eating species found in northeastern India and neighboring countries. Here we report on multiple new distribution ...localities that extend the known geographic range of the species. In addition, we provide new information on the reproductive biology of the species based on egg-laying behavior data from a captive gravid
B. reticulata
from Mizoram. The simultaneous presence of a second clutch of eight eggs in the oviduct of the female indicates the capacity of the species to exhibit multiple matings and egg clutches during a single reproductive season.
Vertebrates evolved in concert with bacteria and have developed essential mutualistic relationships. Gut bacteria are vital for the postnatal development of most organs and the immune and metabolic ...systems and may likewise play a role during prenatal development. Prenatal transfer of gut bacteria is shown in four mammalian species, including humans. For the 92% of the vertebrates that are oviparous, prenatal transfer is debated, but it has been demonstrated in domestic chicken. We hypothesize that also non-domestic birds can prenatally transmit gut bacteria. We investigated this in medium-sized Rock pigeon (
), ensuring neonates producing fair-sized first faeces. The first faeces of 21 neonate rock pigeons hatched in an incubator, contained a microbiome (bacterial community) the composition of which resembled the cloacal microbiome of females sampled from the same population (
= 5) as indicated by multiple shared phyla, orders, families, and genera. Neonates and females shared 16.1% of the total number of OTUs present (2881), and neonates shared 45.5% of their core microbiome with females. In contrast, the five females shared only 0.3% of the 1030 female OTUs present. These findings suggest that prenatal gut bacterial transfer may occur in birds. Our results support the hypothesis that gut bacteria may be important for prenatal development and present a heritability pathway of gut bacteria in vertebrates.
African house snakes (Lamprophis fuliginosus) were used to compare the metabolic increments associated with reproduction, digestion, and activity both individually and when combined simultaneously. ...Rates of oxygen consumption (V̇ O2) and carbon dioxide production (V̇ CO2) were measured in adult female (nonreproductive and reproductive) and adult male snakes during rest, digestion, activity while fasting, and postprandial activity. We also compared the endurance time (i.e., time to exhaustion) during activity while fasting and postprandial activity in males and females. For nonreproductive females and males, our results indicate that the metabolic increments of digestion (∼3–6-fold) and activity while fasting (∼6–10-fold) did not interact in an additive fashion; instead, the aerobic scope associated with postprandial activity was 40%–50% lower, and animals reached exhaustion up to 11 min sooner. During reproduction, there was no change in digestive V̇ O2, but aerobic scope for activity while fasting was 30% lower than nonreproductive values. The prioritization pattern of oxygen delivery exhibited by L. fuliginosus during postprandial activity (in both males and females) and for activity while fasting (in reproductive females) was more constrained than predicted (i.e., instead of unchanged V̇ O2, peak values were 30%–40% lower). Overall, our results indicate that L. fuliginosus’s cardiopulmonary system’s capacity for oxygen delivery was not sufficient to maintain the metabolic increments associated with reproduction, digestion, and activity simultaneously without limiting aerobic scope and/or activity performance.
Updated descriptions and measurements for the eggcases of 10 rajiform and three scyliorhinid species occurring in the shelf seas around the British Isles are given, based on museum material, ...specimens collected during the 'Great Eggcase Hunt' (a Shark Trust recording project), and specimens obtained from fishery surveys. Quantitative data are given for Amblyraja radiata (n = 94), Dipturus batis (n = 24), D. cf. intermedia (n = 33), Leucoraja naevus (n = 94), Raja brachyura (n = 53), R. clavata (n = 52), R. microocellata (n = 57), R. montagui (n = 52), R. undulata (n = 52), Rostroraja alba (n = 5), Galeus melastomus (n = 7), Scyliorhinus canicula (n = 52) and S. stellaris (n = 58). An updated key for the identification of elasmobranch eggcases is provided, incorporating recent changes in skate taxonomy.
This report calls into question the practice of passing along illustrations and anatomical descriptions from the literature without scrutiny. An error made by Leydig (Zeischrift für wissenschaftliche ...Zoologie 6:1–120,
1854
) in characterizing the egg of
Asplanchnopus multiceps
was perpetuated in authoritative publications (Hyman, The Invertebrates: Acanthocephala, Aschelminthes, and Entoprocta. The pseudocoelomate Bilateria, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York,
1951
; Voigt, Rotatoria: Die Rädertiere Mitteleuropas, Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin-Nikolassee,
1957
; Ruttner-Kolisko, Plankton rotifers, biology and taxonomy supplementary edition of Die Binnengewässer 26, Stuttgart,
1974
; Koste, Rotatoria: Die Rädertiere Mitteleuropas begründet von Max Voigt. Monogononta 2. Auflage neubearbeitet von Walter Koste, Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin,
1978
; Mikrokosmos 76:171–175,
1987
) well into the twentieth century. Daily tracking of individual mictic and amictic female
A. multiceps
demonstrates that the structure formerly considered to be a diapausing egg is, in fact, subitaneous. It develops without arrest into a male or female rotifer. True resting eggs containing dormant embryos are characterized by a very dark interior. In the majority of these eggs, the interior is surrounded by a halo-like zone consisting of a clear space and an external layer. The correct identification of subitaneous and resting eggs in
A. multiceps
confirms the description of Plate (Jenaische Zeitschrift für Naturwissenschaft 19:1–120,
1885
) and firmly establishes the mode of reproduction of this species as oviparous. Mictic females lay haploid male eggs first, followed by resting eggs if fertilization has taken place. In the absence of fertilization, mictic females lay significantly more (male) eggs than amictic females lay female eggs; however, their lifespan does not differ markedly.
Amniotes, mammals, reptiles, and birds form common extraembryonic membranes during development to perform essential functions, such as protection, nutrient transfer, gas exchange, and waste removal. ...Together with the maternal uterus, extraembryonic membranes of viviparous (live-bearing) amniotes develop as an endocrine placenta that synthesizes and responds to steroid hormones critical for development. The ability of these membranes to synthesize and respond to steroid hormone signaling has traditionally been considered an innovation of placental amniotes. However, our laboratory recently demonstrated that this ability extends to the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of an oviparous (egg-laying) amniote, the domestic chicken, and we hypothesized that steroidogenic extraembryonic membranes could be an evolutionarily conserved characteristic of all amniotes because of similarities in basic structure, function, and shared evolutionary ancestry. In this study, we examined steroid hormone synthesis and signaling in the CAM of another oviparous amniote, the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). We quantified mRNA expression of a steroidogenic factor involved in the regulation of steroidogenesis (NR5A1), the key steroidogenic enzymes involved in the synthesis of progestins (HSD3B1), androgens (CYP17A1), and estrogens (CYP19A1), and the receptors involved in the signaling of progestins (PR), androgens (AR), estrogens (ESR1 and ESR2), and glucocorticoids (GR). Furthermore, we performed protein immunolocalization for PR and ESR1. Collectively, our findings indicate that the alligator CAM has the capability to regulate, synthesize, and respond to steroid hormone signaling, thus, supporting our hypothesis that the extraembryonic membranes of Amniota share a unifying characteristic, that is, the ability to synthesize and respond to steroid hormones.
This study examined the time of hatching of the desert locust
Schistocerca gregaria
Forskål (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in the laboratory to test the effect of eggs within a pod versus individualized ...eggs. The pod organization of eggs is thought to play a role in controlling hatching time and to facilitate synchronous hatching at constant temperatures. In the present study, we examined the hatching times of eggs in a pod and individualized eggs under 24-h thermocycles and simulated field temperatures. We tested two patterns of thermocycles consisting of a 12-h thermoperiod (35 or 30 °C) and 12-h cryoperiod (low temperature period; 30 or 25 °C), and two patterns of field temperatures observed in a natural habitat, Mauritania, in May and September. The majority of eggs hatched during low temperature periods in all patterns tested. In addition, the variances of hatching times for individualized eggs were significantly greater than for egg pods in which a clear peak of time of hatching was observed. We show that egg condition influences hatching time under thermocycles of constant and fluctuating temperatures in the laboratory, and may play a role in the adaptive time of hatching.
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