Zoology articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The maxilloturbinal, an area of the mammalian nasal cavity, has been proposed to play a pivotal role in body temperature maintenance. Here, the authors use computed tomographic data to show that neither corrected basal metabolic rate nor body temperature significantly correlate with the relative surface area of the maxilloturbinal.

    • Quentin Martinez
    • , Jan Okrouhlík
    •  & Pierre-Henri Fabre

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Caenorhabditis elegans is used as a model species to investigate ageing, yet has a very high degree of plasticity in lifespan. This study argues that ageing in C. elegans is driven by suicidal reproductive effort, unlike many other organisms.

    • Carina C. Kern
    • , Shivangi Srivastava
    •  & David Gems

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Malaria mosquitoes use their ears to detect the flight tones of mating partners in the swarm as part of the courtship ritual. Here, the authors describe the auditory role of octopamine as a modulator of auditory plasticity in malaria mosquitoes and identify the main receptors involved in this process.

    • Marcos Georgiades
    • , Alexandros Alampounti
    •  & Marta Andrés

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Birds can adapt to temperature gradients by changing body size (Bergmann’s rule) or bill size (Allen’s rule), but many groups don’t conform to these patterns. Here the authors show that most bird families show subtle and complementary changes in bill and body size, while also being constrained by feeding ecology.

    • Justin W. Baldwin
    • , Joan Garcia-Porta
    •  & Carlos A. Botero

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Changes in the abundance and diversity of neural cell types provide the substrate for behavioral evolution. This study provides evidence of extensive, mosaic expansion of an integration brain center, among closely related Heliconiini butterflies, associated with increased neuron number, visual processing and long term memory.

    • Antoine Couto
    • , Fletcher J. Young
    •  & Stephen H. Montgomery

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Our understanding of the origins of tunicates, an important group of filter-feeding marine invertebrate chordates, is limited due to a poor fossil record. Here, the authors present a 500 million year old tunicate fossil, demonstrating that the modern tunicate body plan was established shortly after the Cambrian Explosion.

    • Karma Nanglu
    • , Rudy Lerosey-Aubril
    •  & Javier Ortega-Hernández

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Amazonian blackwaters are acidic and physiologically-challenging, but are one of Earth’s most diversified ecosystems. This study revealed that fish survival in these hostile habitats depends on the colonization of their gills by endogenous blackwater Betaproteobacteria, with the potential to regulate host ionoregulatory processes.

    • Sylvain François-Étienne
    • , Leroux Nicolas
    •  & Derome Nicolas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Seasons may impose different selection pressures on organisms. Here, the authors propose that species may either maximize gains during the growth season or minimize losses during winter, and provide empirical support of such seasonal specialisation in two closely related butterfly species.

    • Loke von Schmalensee
    • , Pauline Caillault
    •  & Philipp Lehmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Birdsong is simultaneously repetitive and highly diverse. Sierro et al. resolve this apparent paradox through experiments in blue tits showing that consistent repetition is a fitness indicator, while song diversity reduces habituation during singing displays.

    • Javier Sierro
    • , Selvino R. de Kort
    •  & Ian R. Hartley

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Challenges rearing juvenile cone snails have limited our understanding of their developmental biology. This study cultured Conus magus cone snails and revealed how complex morphological, behavioural and molecular changes facilitate the ontogenetic shift from juvenile worm-hunters to fish-hunting adults.

    • Aymeric Rogalski
    • , S. W. A. Himaya
    •  & Richard J. Lewis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using two different mass spectrometric platforms, authors demonstrate how metabolomic data fusion and multivariate analysis can be used to accurately identify the geographic origin and production method of salmon.

    • Yunhe Hong
    • , Nicholas Birse
    •  & Christopher T. Elliott

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The high level of morphological diversity in Australasian marsupials compared to those from the Americas remains poorly understood. This study shows that variation in ontogenetic allometry among Australasian and American marsupials is similar, despite this great difference in ecomorphological diversity.

    • Laura A. B. Wilson
    • , Camilo López-Aguirre
    •  & Norberto P. Giannini

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Syntax is a key feature distinguishing human language from other animal communication systems. Here, Leroux et al. show that chimpanzees produce a compositional syntactic-like structure, suggesting syntax might be evolutionary ancient and potentially already present in our last common ancestor with chimpanzees.

    • Maël Leroux
    • , Anne M. Schel
    •  & Simon W. Townsend

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential of assisting the study and diagnosis of veterinary cancers. Here, the authors build a cancer digital pathology atlas encompassing multiple animal species and demonstrate an AI approach for comparative pathology, which yields insights about immune response and morphological similarities.

    • Khalid AbdulJabbar
    • , Simon P. Castillo
    •  & Yinyin Yuan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The degree to which species tolerate human disturbance contributes to shape human-wildlife coexistence. Here, the authors identify key predictors of avian tolerance of humans across 842 bird species from open tropical ecosystems.

    • Peter Mikula
    • , Oldřich Tomášek
    •  & Tomáš Albrecht

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although diverse species of teleost fishes are present in polar waters, sharks and rays are relatively rare. This study presents analyses to explain this biodiversity pattern, showing that among-species thermal sensitivity of resting metabolic rates is lower than within-species sensitivity in teleosts, but not in sharks and rays.

    • Yuuki Y. Watanabe
    •  & Nicholas L. Payne

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Maternally inherited symbionts that kill male insect hosts are well known in bacteria, but are also beginning to be recognised in viruses. In this study, the authors identify a gene from a symbiotic virus genome that is responsible for the male-killing phenotype of this virus in the fly Drosophila biauraria.

    • Daisuke Kageyama
    • , Toshiyuki Harumoto
    •  & Masayoshi Watada

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hymenoptera is an incredibly diverse order, with numerous behavioral and morphological innovations. Here, the authors compile a time-calibrated Hymenoptera phylogeny and find that secondary transitions to phytophagy, plant feeding, are associated with significant increases in diversification rate in this group.

    • Bonnie B. Blaimer
    • , Bernardo F. Santos
    •  & Matthew L. Buffington

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A key hypothesis for the evolution of division of labour in social insects is that a shared set of genes – a genetic toolkit - regulates reproductive castes across species. Here, the authors analyze brain transcriptomes from nine species of social wasps to identify the factors that shape this toolkit.

    • Christopher Douglas Robert Wyatt
    • , Michael Andrew Bentley
    •  & Seirian Sumner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The opportunity for sexual selection is a key evolutionary parameter but we know little about its temporal dynamics. Using data from multiple animal species the authors show that this metric varies rapidly through time and that simulations should be used to avoid substantial misinterpretation.

    • Rômulo Carleial
    • , Tommaso Pizzari
    •  & Grant C. McDonald

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Salivary elicitors secreted by herbivorous insects can be perceived by host plants to trigger plant immunity. Here, the authors show that the small brown planthopper salivary sheath protein LsSP1 binds to salivary sheath proteins and contributes to insect feeding by manipulating rice plant defenses.

    • Hai-Jian Huang
    • , Yi-Zhe Wang
    •  & Chuan-Xi Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Living snakes replace their teeth without external resorption. Here, the authors use histology to show that odontoclasts resorb dentine internally and investigate this mechanism in fossil snakes.

    • A. R. H. LeBlanc
    • , A. Palci
    •  & M. W. Caldwell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Flowers are well known for attracting pollinators with visual and olfactory displays. Here, the authors show that in a nocturnal, desert pollination system, flower choice by pollinators is also mediated by floral humidity.

    • Ajinkya Dahake
    • , Piyush Jain
    •  & Robert A. Raguso

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Research aimed at improving healthcare has largely focused on male animals and cells. Here, the authors use data from the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium to show that body weight does not account for all phenotypic differences between male and female mice, supporting more female-focused research.

    • Laura A. B. Wilson
    • , Susanne R. K. Zajitschek
    •  & Shinichi Nakagawa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The impact of three extinction events during the Permo–Triassic interval on terrestrial invertebrates is unclear. Here, the authors find that key abiotic and biotic factors, including changes in floral assemblages, were correlated with changes in insect diversity through this interval.

    • Corentin Jouault
    • , André Nel
    •  & Fabien L. Condamine

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors use reproductive mode data with matching phylogenetic data to explore the evolution of reproductive mode, transitions between reproductive modes, and diversification rates in amphibians.

    • H. Christoph Liedtke
    • , John J. Wiens
    •  & Ivan Gomez-Mestre

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study characterizes the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem in The Bahamas by integrating spatial estimates with remote sensing and performing extensive ground-truthing of benthic habitat with 2,542 diver surveys, as well as data obtained from instrument-equipped tiger sharks, which have strong fidelity to seagrass ecosystems.

    • Austin J. Gallagher
    • , Jacob W. Brownscombe
    •  & Carlos M. Duarte

  • Article
    | Open Access

    You’re unique just like everyone else. But when does such individuality appear? Laskowski et al. find that clonal fish show unique behavioral patterns on their first day of life, and these patterns predict their behavior up to at least 10 weeks later.

    • Kate L. Laskowski
    • , David Bierbach
    •  & Max Wolf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plutella xylostella endures Bt toxins with no performance costs. This study reveals how, depending on the presence of the toxin, this insect modifies MAPK phosphorylation to modulate the transcription factor FTZ-F1 binding, to up- or down- regulate Bt receptors or non-receptor (resistant) paralogs.

    • Zhaojiang Guo
    • , Le Guo
    •  & Youjun Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The size and shape of the inner ear, or bony labyrinth, is thought to be related to ecological adaptations in vertebrates. Here, the authors examine this relationship in turtles across 230 million years of evolution, unexpectedly finding large labyrinth size and no association with ecology.

    • Serjoscha W. Evers
    • , Walter G. Joyce
    •  & Roger B. J. Benson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Invasive species are a leading driver of global biodiversity loss. Here, the authors show that the process of invasion itself can promote behavioral changes important to the success of widespread invaders, with implications for understanding the effects of alien species on invaded communities.

    • David G. Chapple
    • , Annalise C. Naimo
    •  & Bob B. M. Wong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The genetic bases of yak adaptations to extreme conditions remains elusive. This study compares yak and cattle at a genomic and transcriptomic level, revealing a new type of endothelial cell and candidate genes related with elastic fiber formation in yak lungs that might contribute to high altitude adaptation.

    • Xue Gao
    • , Sheng Wang
    •  & Qi-En Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors show that Weddell seal mothers mobilize endogenous iron stores during lactation to provide to pups, resulting in iron concentrations in milk 100x higher than terrestrial mammals. This was associated with reduced dive durations in the mother, a cost of reproduction.

    • Michelle R. Shero
    • , Amy L. Kirkham
    •  & Jennifer M. Burns

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Zika virus (ZIKV), the causative agent of virus-induced brain damage in newborns, is transmitted by mosquitoes, mainly Aedes aegypti, and secondarily, Aedes albopictus. Here, Obadia et al. characterize ZIKV vector competence of 50 mosquito populations from six species collected in 12 different countries to inform about epidemic risk. They find that African ZIKV strain shows higher transmission efficiency compared to American and Asian ZIKV strains and that Ae. aegypti mosquitoes have highest susceptibility to infections, while Culexmosquitoes are largely non-susceptible.

    • Thomas Obadia
    • , Gladys Gutierrez-Bugallo
    •  & Anna-Bella Failloux

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