HOGUE, A.S.*; RAVOSA, M.J.: Mandibular Symphyseal Fusion in Mammals: A Test of Competing Hypotheses The mammalian lineage is replete with instances of convergent acquisition of mandibular symphyseal fusion. While a variety of models have been proposed to explain this phenomenon, three are currently debated in the literature. Two of these, the dorsoventral (DV) shear and […]

SCHWENK, K.: Extrinsic vs. intrinsic lingual muscles: the amniote tongue as a functional unit. The muscular tongue of amniote vertebrates is traditionally described as a composite of two muscle types: extrinsic muscles originate outside the tongue and insert within it; intrinsic muscles arise and insert completely within the tongue. Whole-tongue movements are attributed to the […]

MCGOVERN, TM: Sex ratio bias in the clonal brittle star Ophiactis savignyi Despite the prevalence of clonal organisms in many communities, few investigators have explicitly related clonal and sexual modes of reproduction. Clonal reproduction is likely to affect sexual reproduction in a variety of ways, including the alteration of operational sex ratios. Sex ratios in […]

Maslakova, S. A.*; Martindale, M. Q.; Norenburg, J. L.: Remains of the pilidium in direct developing nemerteans? Nemertean worms display two basic types of development: direct and indirect. A specialized planktonic larva, the pilidium, characterizes the order Heteronemertea. The juvenile worm develops via a unique form of imaginal discs and sheds most of the larval […]

PADILLA, D.K.; DILGER, E.K.; DITTMANN, D.E.: Phenotyic plasticity of feeding structures in species of Littorina Several species of gastropods in the genus Lacuna, Family Littorinidae, have been found to have phenotypically plastic feeding morphologies. Animals fed different diets produce different shaped radular teeth. When fed diatom epiphytes found on eelgrass, snails produce blunt-shaped teeth. When […]

VAGELLI, A.A.: New observations on the asexual reproduction of Aurelia aurita (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa) with comments on its daptative significance. A new reproductive mechanism has been observed in scyphistomae of Aurelia aurita. It is termed gemmation and it is referred to as an asexual mode of reproduction in which scyphistomae produce small and mostly spherical masses […]

FAUCHALD, K.: Distribution of scales in polynoid scale-worms (Annelida, Polychaeta) Polynoids have some of the dorsal cirri replaced by flattened scales (elytrae) more or less covering the body. An overview of the type species of most genera of the family demonstrated a few interesting patterns. Species with less than 12 pairs of elytrae all have […]

SCHWARTZ, M.L.; NORENBURG, J.L.: Can We Infer Heteronemertean Phylogeny from Morphological Data? A cladistic analysis of the genera within the order Heteronemertea (Nemertea) was performed from morphological data gathered from the literature. Resulting trees were numerous and mostly unresolved. The analysis gives insight into current taxonomic problems for the heteronemerteans. Chief among these are brief […]

CARTER, T.L.*; ERICKSON, L.B.; ELLIOTT, J.K.: The influence of hybridization on anemonefish evolution Anemonefishes (Genera:Amphiprion and Premnas; Family Pomacentridae) are a group of 28 species of coral reef fishes that are obligate symbionts of large tropical sea anemones. A recent molecular phylogenetic study of anemonefishes, based on data from two mitochondrial genes (cyt b and […]

SMITH, W.L.; WEBB, J.F.*: Phylogenetic Variation in the Morphology of the Laterophysic Connection in Butterflyfishes of the Genus Chaetodon The laterophysic connection is a unique linkage between paired anterior diverticula (horns) of the swimbladder and mesial openings in the cranial lateral-line canals in the supracleithra, which may allow the lateral-line system of butterflyfishes in the […]