Medaka, Oryzias latipes complex, display sexual dimorphisms in anal- and dorsal-fin lengths that suggest that females may prefer males with longer fins. However, female preference for longer anal and/or dorsal fins has not yet been described for the medaka. One reason that previous studies have not investigated this relationship may be because variations in male fin lengths within a single population are too small to experimentally detect female preference. In this study, we artificially crossed individuals from two wild populations (Aomori and Okinawa) that differed in male anal- and dorsal-fin lengths to increase phenotypic variation. We then tested female mate preference using these hybrid males. The results of the mating experiments and stepwise multiple regression analyses indicate that anal- and/or dorsal-fin lengths of the males contributed to female preference (i.e., males with longer anal and/or dorsal fins were less likely to be rejected by females). Variation in male standard length did not affect female preference. The evolution of female preference for longer fins in the medaka species complex may be explained by the “sexy son” hypothesis or the direct benefit hypothesis.

We compared several characteristics of the pelagic eggs of Verasper variegatus with those of demersal eggs of Pseudopleuronectes yokohamae, both in the order Pleuronectiformes (halibuts or flatfishes). V. variegatus eggs had about twice the diameter of P. yokohamae eggs. However, the total egg protein weight of P. yokohamae was similar to that of V. variegatus. The specific gravity of P. yokohamae eggs was calculated to be 7-fold that of V. variegatus. The difference in size is the main feature distinguishing the two types of egg. The thickness of the egg envelope of P. yokohamae— more than twice that of V. variegatus—must affect the manner of hatching. The amount of hatching enzyme synthesized in pre-hatching embryo was estimated to be larger in P. yokohamae than V. variegatus. The distribution of hatching gland cells differed between the species. In V. variegates embryos, these were located on the yolk sac as a narrow ring-shaped belt, resulting in cleavage of the egg envelope into two parts by digesting a limited region of the egg envelope, called “rim-hatching”. The hatching gland cells of P. yokohamae embryos were distributed all over the surface of the yolk sac, forming a hole through which the embryo could escape. Thus, the location of the hatching gland cells in pre-hatching embryos varied during the evolution of the Pleuronectiformes, depending on the egg type and manner of hatching.

The evolutionary process of the unique web architectures of spiders of the sub-family Cyrtarachninae, which includes the triangular web weaver, bolas spider, and webless spider, is thought to be derived from reduction of orbicular ‘spanning-thread webs’ resembling ordinal orb webs. A molecular phylogenetic analysis was conducted to explore this hypothesis using orbicular web spiders Cyrtarachne, Paraplectana, Poecilopachys, triangular web spider Pasilobus, bolas spiders Ordgarius and Mastophora, and webless spider Celaenia. The phylogeny inferred from partial sequences of mt-COI, nuclear 18S-rRNA and 28S-rRNA showed that the common ancestor of these spiders diverged into two clades: a spanning-thread web clade and a bolas or webless clade. This finding suggests that the triangular web evolved by reduction of an orbicular spanning web, but that bolas spiders evolved in the early stage, which does not support the gradual web reduction hypothesis.

The wandering glider dragonfly Pantala flavescens migrates to Japan every spring, where the population increases until autumn, in which mass flights often occur, followed by death in the winter. There have been no reports to date on the maturation process of this species throughout its lifespan in Japan. We collected females from mass flights when the flight height was low, and classified them into seven age stages by examining their wing condition. Very few females of the older stage were collected from the mass flights. The wing condition corresponded with the change in body color and with the egg production process in the ovaries. While pre-reproductive-stage females did not release eggs when treated with our artificial oviposition technique, each reproductive-stage female released about 640 eggs. Nearly all eggs released were fertilized. The ovaries developed with the stage, and reproductive-stage females had about 1100 ovarioles. The estimated maximum fecundity was about 29,000 eggs. The lifetime number of eggs laid of P. flavescens should be revealed by dissection.

In the present study, an extracellular copper—zinc superoxide dismutase (ecCuZnSOD) gene and a mitochondrial manganese superoxide dismutase (mtMnSOD) gene were cloned from hemocytes of red claw crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus. The open reading frame (ORF) of ecCuZnSOD is 498 bp and encodes a 166 amino acids (aa) protein, whereas the ORF of mtMnSOD is 654 bp and encodes a 218 aa protein. The amino acid sequences of C. quadricarinatus ecCuZnSOD and mtMnSOD showed high similarities with those of ecCuZnSODs and mtMnSODs of other crustaceans, respectively. Both ecCuZnSOD and mtMnSOD of C. quadricarinatus were highly expressed in hepatopancreas, hemocytes, intestine, and gill; low transcript levels were seen in other tissues (heart, muscle, and nerve). The immune responses of ecCuZnSOD and mtMnSOD were studied following inoculation with Spiroplasma eriocheiris and Aeromonas hydrophila. After S. eriocheiris or A. hydrophila challenge, mRNA transcription of ecCuZnSOD and mtMnSOD in hemocytes and gill was upregulated. mRNA transcription of ecCuZnSOD in the hepatopancreas was also upregulated after S. eriocheiris or A. hydrophila inoculation. mtMnSOD in hepatopancreas was upregulated after A. hydrophila inoculation, whereas this was down-regulated after S. eriocheiris challenge. After S. eriocheiris and A. hydrophila challenge, total SOD activity and CuZnSOD activity both increased compared to control group. The results showed that these SODs from C. quadricarinatus likely play an important role in protecting some tissues from reactive oxygen intermediates produced during challenge from S. eriocheiris and A. hydrophila.

Mlr1 (Mblk-1-related protein-1) and Mlr2 are mouse homologs of transcription factor Mblk-1 (Mushroom body large-type Kenyon cell-specific protein-1), which we originally identified from the honeybee brain. In the present study, aiming at identifying coregulator(s) of Mlr1 and Mlr2 from the mouse brain, we used yeast two-hybrid screening of mouse brain cDNA library to search for interaction partners of Mlr 1 and Mlr2, respectively. We identified nucleolar protein 4 (NOL4) splicing variants as major interaction partners for both Mlr1 and Mlr2. Among the three murine NOL4 splicing variants, we further characterized NOL4-S, which lacks an N-terminal part of NOL4-L, and NOL4-SΔ, which lacks nuclear localization signal (NLS)-containing domain of NOL4-S. A GST pull-down assay revealed that Mlr1 interacts with both NOL4-S and NOL4-SΔ, whereas Mlr2 interacts with NOL4-S, but not with NOL4-SΔ. These results indicate that the NLS-containing domain of NO4-S Is necessary for in vitro binding with Mlr2, but not for that with Mlr1. Furthermore, a luciferase assay using Schneider's Line 2 cells revealed that transactivation activity of Mlr1 was significantly suppressed by both NOL4-S and NOL4-SΔ, with almost complete suppression by NOL4-SΔ. In contrast, transactivation activity of Mlr2 was significantly suppressed by NOL4-S but rather activated by NOL4-SΔ. Our findings suggest that transactivation activities of Mlr1 and Mlr2 are differentially regulated by splicing variants of NOL4, which are expressed in a tissue-selective manner.

The Japanese bush warbler has a very distinctive song, shows marked sexual size dimorphism, and has a polygynous mating system. However, the physical traits of males and seasonal variation in such traits have remained unknown. Twenty-five anatomical measurements representing physical traits of males in the breeding (summer, n = 5) and non-breeding (winter, n = 5) seasons were examined morphologically and compared statistically. Differences were evident between summer and winter (P < 0.05, t test) in the following seven items: body mass (19.8 ± 0.7 g vs. 15.6 ± 1.2 g [mean ± SD]), mass of male reproductive organs (184.0 ± 25.7 mg vs. 6.0 ± 1.4 mg), hind limb (3789.2 ± 346.2 mg vs. 3003.4 ± 226.8 mg), leg muscles (883.0 ± 63.5 mg vs. 581.4 ± 33.2 mg in either side), skin around the neck/throat (1280 ± 34.9 mg vs. 287.2 ± 84.7 mg), and syrinx (35.8 ± 2.39 mg vs. 25.0 ± 3.24 mg), and circumference of the neck/throat (52.1 ± 2.3 mm vs. 38.3 ± 2.6 mm). In contrast to winter males, summer males had thickened flabby skin prominently in the neck/throat area and an inflatable esophagus, perhaps a morphological basis for the throat sac as a vocal resonator. Also, the remarkable development of the flexor muscles of the legs of summer males suggests that perching and movement using the legs increases during the breeding season. These distinct characteristics of summer males may be related to the polygynous mating system of this species.

Parvalbumin (PV) is thought to play a major role in buffering intracellular calcium. We studied the distribution, morphology of PV-immunoreactive (IR) cells, and the effect of enucleation on the PV distribution in the superior colliculus (SC) in dog (Canis familiaris) and compared PV labeling to that of calbindin D28K (CB) and GABA. These cells formed three laminar tiers in the dog SC; 1) the upper superficial gray layer (SGL), 2) the lower optic layer (OL) and the upper intermediate gray layer, and 3) the deep layer. The third tier was not very distinct when compared with the other two tiers. The distribution of PV-IR cells is thus complementary to that of CB-IR tiers. Our present data on the distribution of PV-IR cells within the superficial layers are strikingly different from those in previously studied mammals, which show PV-IR cells within the lower SGL and upper OL. However, there were no distinct differences in distribution within the deep layers compared with that of previously studied mammals. PV-IR cells in the SC varied dramatically in morphology and size, and included round/oval, vertical fusiform, stellate, horizontal and pyriform cells. Two-color immunofluorescence revealed quantitatively that 11.67% of the PV-IR cells colocalized with GABA. Monocular enucleation appeared to have no effect on the distribution of PV-IR cells in the contralateral SC. Similar to CB, these data suggest that retinal projection may not control the expression of PV in the dog SC. These results provide important information for delineating similarities and differences in the neurochemical architecture of the visual system.

The morphology of non-genitalic structures in males is often associated with mating and courtship, and the evolution of those structures may cause speciation. In the present study, we describe a new species of marine interstitial ostracod from Japan. Morphological comparisons and molecular phylogenetic analysis based on ITS (internal transcribed spacer) 1 and ITS2 sequences revealed intraspecific variation on the male upper lip in the new species. The male upper lip of Parapolycope Klie, 1936 species has been reported to be related to mating behavior, and it likely produces species-specific stimuli for the female. The results of this study suggest that the male upper lip morphology in Parapolycope changed at the early stage of the speciation process.

The systematic position of the amphioxus species with dextral gonads distributed in the southeast Pacific and Indian Oceans has remained to be clarified due to the adoption of different names by different researchers. Mitochondrial (mt) DNA is generally considered to be a powerful molecular marker in taxonomic studies. For a reliable systematics of the amphioxi collected from the South China Sea, we sequenced the complete mtDNA from a single specimen and compared it with those of the other eight amphioxus species. The present mtDNA genome contains 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, and two rRNA genes, with the same gene order as those in Branchiostoma and Epigonichthys, which, however, is different from that in Asymmetron. Based on our morphological data (including measurements of some characters) and the features of the mt genome, together with the distribution records of the dextral-gonad amphioxi, we conclude that the present mtDNA sequence most likely represents that of E. cultellus.

A new megophryid species is described from southwestern Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. In appearance, Leptolalax marmoratus sp. nov. is most similar to L. hamidi also from southwestern Sarawak, but differs from it by mtDNA sequence, larger body size, and higher dominant frequency of advertisement call. The assumption that more than one species of Leptolalax coexist at one locality in Borneo is supported. The finding of the new species raises the species number of Leptolalax known from Borneo to nine, and the island is thought to be one of the diversification centers of the genus.