Orb-weaving spider, Argiope savignyi (Araneidae), predation on the proboscis bat Rhynchonycteris naso (Emballonuridae)

We report an observation of an orb-weaving spider (Argiope savignyi; Araneidae) capturing and feeding on a proboscis bat (Rhynchonycteris naso; Emballonuridae) at the La Selva Biological Station in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica. This observation and others suggest that spiders prey upon small bats more frequently than has been noted previously, and that invertebrates should now be considered as regular predators on small bats

The transcriptional correlates of divergent electric organ discharges in Paramormyrops electric fish

Abstract Background Understanding the genomic basis of phenotypic diversity can be greatly facilitated by examining adaptive radiations with hypervariable traits. In this study, we focus on a rapidly diverged species group of mormyrid electric fish in the genus Paramormyrops, which are characterized by extensive phenotypic variation in electric organ discharges (EODs). The main components of EOD diversity are waveform duration, complexity and polarity. Using an RNA-sequencing based approach, we sought to identify gene expression correlates for each of these EOD waveform features by comparing 11 specimens of Paramormyrops that exhibit variation in these features. Results Patterns of gene expression among Paramormyrops are highly correlated, and 3274 genes (16%) were differentially expressed. Using our most restrictive criteria, we detected 145–183 differentially expressed genes correlated with each EOD feature, with little overlap between them. The predicted functions of several of these genes are related to extracellular matrix, cation homeostasis, lipid metabolism, and cytoskeletal and sarcomeric proteins. These genes are of significant interest given the known morphological differences between electric organs that underlie differences in the EOD waveform features studied. Conclusions In this study, we identified plausible candidate genes that may contribute to phenotypic differences in EOD waveforms among a rapidly diverged group of mormyrid electric fish. These genes may be important targets of selection in the evolution of species-specific differences in mate-recognition signals

Additional file 3: of Molecular evolution of globin genes in Gymnotiform electric fishes: relation to hypoxia tolerance

Further details of Brachyhypopomus gauderio transcriptome. (DOCX 133 kb

Additional file 1: Table S1. of Molecular evolution of globin genes in Gymnotiform electric fishes: relation to hypoxia tolerance

List of Species Used in this Study. Table S2. Statistics for amplified genes for each species. Table S3. List of primers used to amplify the coding regions of globin genes in this study. Table S4. Positive Selection Detected by Site Models in PAML. Table S5. Positive Selection Detected by Branch Models in PAML. Table S6. Raw and Processed Reads from Each Tissue. Table S7. Evaluation of transcriptome completeness against the Vertebrates, Metazoans and Eukaryotes datasets. (DOCX 42 kb