micropectus. The loss and reduction of pectoral fins and associated girdle elements in M. apectoralis represents another independent occurrence of this evolutionary phenomenon within the teleosts. The discovery of this species highlights the exceptional diversity of this biodiversity hotspot, the understanding of which is of critical importance with the pressures of pollution, overfishing and climate change threatening the speciose and evolutionarily significant diversity of this ancient lake. “
“Assessing environmental cues to coordinate birth or hatching has implications for both immediate and future survival. Predators may ultimately drive early or synchronous

birth or hatching, because group formation allows neonate swamping of predators and reduces the impact of prey switching when large groups of neonates beta-catenin signaling emerge from a nest. Turtles often emerge from the nest as a group, but temperature differences between the top and bottom of a nest are significant, making PF-02341066 cell line synchronous hatching difficult. The mechanisms of synchronous hatching in turtles are not consistent; with eggs hatching prematurely in one species, and another species displaying accelerated embryonic development, whereby

embryos respond to the developmental rates of their siblings to hatch at similar developmental stages. If predation ultimately drives two disparate mechanisms of synchronous hatching, the physiological mechanisms behind synchronous, or early hatching, may be less developed in solitary nesting species, or species with smaller clutch sizes. I tested the hatching behavior of the Australian turtle, Chelodina Interleukin-2 receptor longicollis, which has small clutch sizes and nests in isolation up to 1 km from water. I established developmental asynchrony within a clutch and used time to pipping to determine whether early or delayed hatching

occurred. I also assessed heart rates throughout incubation to monitor changes in development. Synchronous or early hatching did not occur in C. longicollis and embryos did not adjust their rates of development in response to more or less advanced sibs within a clutch. Thus, environmental cues that are related to sibling developmental rates and hatching and which influence hatching times in other species do not affect embryonic development in C. longicollis. These results support the group formation theory for synchronous or early hatching in species that nest at communal areas, or species with large clutch sizes. “
“Spatio-temporal partitioning is a viable mechanism for minimizing resource competition among sympatric species. The occurrence of sympatric large carnivores – tiger Panthera tigris, leopard Panthera pardus and dhole Cuon alpinus – in forests of the Indian subcontinent is complemented with high dietary overlap.