In this study, we propose a mathematical model based on parametric surfaces for the shell morphology of the phylum Mollusca. Since David Raup’s pioneering works, many mathematical models have been proposed for different contexts to describe gen...
In this perspective article, we show that a morphospace, based on information-theoretic measures, can be a useful construct for comparing biological agents with artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The axes of this space label three kinds of complex...
The temporal range of eodiscids and agnostoid arthropods overlaps with several early Paleozoic geological events of evolutionary significance. However, the responses of agnostids to these events and how the perturbations associated with them (both ab...
The extraction of museum DNA from a unique collection of samples of the “Crocidura pergrisea” species complex, which comprises local endemics of Central and West Asia, allowed us to determine their inter- and intragroup relationships. The...
Many cities nowadays explore different circular designs as new sustainable city concepts in different urban aspects. The new trend, as part of the adaptation for climate change, is a strategy of increasing the number of urban open spaces, and circula...
A basic pattern in the body plan architecture of many animals, plants and some molecular and cellular systems is five-part units. This pattern has been understood as a result of genetic blueprints in development and as a widely conserved evolutionary...
One of the most salient features of life is its capacity to handle novelty and namely to thrive and adapt to new circumstances and changes in both the environment and internal components. An understanding of this capacity is central to several fields...
Larvae of soldier flies and their closest relatives (Diptera: Stratiomyomorpha) are important decomposers of organic material, including wood, that take part in carbon cycling. They also play a certain role in the modern-day animal and human food ind...
Phenotypic traits can evolve independently at different stages of ontogeny, optimizing adaptation to distinct ecological contexts and increasing morphological diversity in species with complex life cycles. Given the relative independence resulting fr...
The development of unisexual flowers has been described in a large number of taxa, sampling the diversity of floral phenotypes and sexual systems observed in extant angiosperms, in studies focusing on floral ontogeny, on the evo-devo of unisexuality,...
Wetland ecosystems of the Nile Delta face severe threats due to natural climatic changes and anthropogenic activities. Life and death assemblage comparisons can be implemented as a historical record to detect anthropogenic-induced environmental chang...
Modern insect decline sparks interest in similar declines of the past. Neuroptera, the group of lacewings, has been suggested to have undergone decline after the Cretaceous, and quantitative studies of larval morphology have supported this view. One...
The morphological and compositional complexities of keratinized components make feathers ingenious skin appendages adapted to diverse ecological needs. Frizzling feathers, characterized by their distinct curling phenotypes, offer a unique model to ex...
Morphological stasis is a widespread characteristic of pseudoscorpions, suggesting that much cryptic diversity remains unexplored. Here, we revise the polytypic species Dactylochelifer latreillii in the framework of an integrative taxonomic approach,...
Cactaceae has many vertebrate-pollinated species, and in the subtribe Cereinae, several genera are indicated as being pollinated by bats. In this subtribe, we observed phenotypic specialization in floral morphological attributes associated with chiro...
Cryptic species are a biological phenomenon only recently recognized due to progress in molecular studies. They pose a significant challenge to conventional taxonomic work since these species manifest low morphological differences, but considerable g...
Sand cats, Felis margarita, range from northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula to Central Asia. Their apparently discontinuous distribution is recognized as comprising four subspecies. Recent genetic research found little differentiation between su...
Centroscymnus coelolepis is a deep-water sleeper shark and, like most sharks, it is covered in placoid scales, or dermal denticles. The morphological diversity of the dermal denticles in this species, however, has not been described in detail, and on...
Plant species complexes represent a particularly interesting example of taxonomically complex groups (TCGs), linking hybridization, apomixis, and polyploidy with complex morphological patterns. In such TCGs, mosaic-like character combinations and con...
In Lake Ladoga (northwestern Russia), we found a diatom, putatively Fragilaria sublanceolata-baikali, an endemic species from Lake Baikal (southeastern Siberia, Russia). To determine whether this population matches a previously recognized species fro...