• Temporal dynamics of scout release-behavior of termitophagous ponerine ant, Megaponera analis 

  Modiba, Rifilwe V.; Pirk, Christian Walter Werner; Yusuf, Abdullahi Ahmed (Springer, 2024-11-05)

  Megaponera analis is an obligate termitophagous species endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. The species forages by sending out scouts to search for termites. Once termites are located, the scouts return to the nest and ...
• The effects of diet and semiochemical exposure on male Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) metabolic rate at a range of temperatures 

  Dacre, Dylan Christopher; Duncan, Frances D.; Weldon, Christopher William (Elsevier, 2024-12)

  The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is an invasive species that has rapidly spread across the African continent, endangering the security of agricultural industries. The sterile ...
• From parachuting to partnership : fostering collaborative research in protected areas 

  Smit, Izak P.J.; Fernández, R.J.; Menvielle, M.F.; Roux, D.J.; Singh, N.; Mabuza, S.; Mthombeni, B.M.; Macgregor, N.A.; Fritz, H.; Gandiwa, E.; Foxcroft, L.C.; Cook, C.N. (Wiley, 2025-01)

  Research in protected areas (PAs) is often dominated by scientists from outside the conservation agencies managing them. This can potentially lead to misalignment with local needs, insensitivity to the local context and a ...
• Using indicators to assess the status of biological invasions and their management on islands─the Prince Edward Islands, South Africa as an example 

  Fernandez Winzer, Laura; Greve, Michelle; Le Roux, Peter Christiaan; Faulkner, Katelyn T.; Wilson, John R.U. (Springer, 2025-03)

  Addressing the challenge biological invasions pose to island biodiversity is pivotal to achieving Target 6 of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Using a suite of 24 indicators, we evaluated the current ...
• Sleep in the East African root rat, Tachyoryctes splendens 

  Kruger, Jean‐Leigh; Bhagwandin, Adhil; Katandukila, Jestina V.; Bennett, Nigel C.; Manger, Paul R. (Wiley, 2024-12)

  The present study reports the results of an electrophysiological analysis of sleep in the East African root rat, Tachyoryctes splendens, belonging to the rodent subfamily Spalacinae. Telemetric electroencephalographic ...
• Expression of honey bee (Apis mellifera) sterol homeostasis genes in food jelly producing glands of workers 

  Yusuf, Abdullahi Ahmed; Pirk, Christian Walter Werner; Buttstedt, Anja (Wiley, 2024-06)

  Adult workers of Western honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) acquire sterols from their pollen diet. These food sterols are transported by the hemolymph to peripheral tissues such as the mandibular and the hypopharyngeal ...
• Light sensitivity of the circadian system in the social highveld mole-rat Cryptomys hottentotus pretoriae 

  Chanel, Pauline N.C.; Bennett, Nigel C.; Oosthuizen, Maria Kathleen (Company of Biologists, 2024-09)

  Highveld mole-rats (Cryptomys hottentotus pretoriae) are social rodents that inhabit networks of subterranean tunnels. In their natural environment, they are rarely exposed to light, and consequently their visual systems ...
• Evolutionary shifts in the thermal biology of a subterranean mammal : the effect of habitat aridity 

  Merchant, Hana N.; Hart, Daniel William; Bennett, Nigel C.; Janse van Vuuren, Andries Koch; Freeman, Marc Trevor; McKechnie, Andrew E.; Faulkes, Chris G.; Mordaunt, Nathan D.; Portugal, Steven J. (Company of Biologists, 2024-12)

  Subterranean mammals representing a single subspecies occurring along an aridity gradient provide an appropriate model for investigating adaptive variation in thermal physiology with varying levels of precipitation and ...
• Contest competition and injury in adult male sub-Antarctic fur seals 

  Bester, Marthan Nieuwoudt; Rossouw, G.J.; Van Staden, Paul Jacobus (Springer, 2024-05)

  We recorded intra-sexual behaviour of adult male sub-Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus tropicalis at Gough Island, Southern Ocean, during the 1975/76 summer breeding season. Our re-analysed data address male ‘contest ...
• Use of acoustic signals in Cape fur seal mother–pup reunions : individual signature, signal propagation and pup home range 

  Martin, Mathilde; Gridley, Tess; Immerz, Antonia; Elwen, Simon H.; Charrier, Isabelle (Company of Biologists, 2024-07)

  The Cape fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus) is one of the most colonial mammals, with colonies of up to hundreds of thousands of individuals during the breeding season. During the lactation period, mothers and ...
• A mouse in the spotlight : response capacity to artificial light at night in a rodent pest species, the southern multimammate mouse (Mastomys coucha) 

  Oosthuizen, Tasha; Pillay, Neville; Oosthuizen, Maria Kathleen (Elsevier, 2024-12)

  Multimammate mice are prolific breeders, can cause significant agricultural damage, and are reservoir hosts for a number of pathogens. They are nocturnal and given their success in urbanised rural environments, we ...
• Orientation, thermal characteristics and structural dimensions of Mangrove Kingfisher Halcyon senegaloides nest cavities in arboreal termitaria in central Mozambique 

  Pietersen, Darren William; Davies, Gregory B.P.; Symes, Craig Thomas (Taylor and Francis, 2024)

  The breeding ecology of the Mangrove Kingfisher Halcyon senegaloides (family Alcedinidae) remains poorly known. While the few nests recorded in southern and East Africa have been in tree hollows, a seasonal population ...
• Polyandry contributes to Gonipterus platensis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) rearing 

  Ribeiro, Murilo F.; Cavallini, Gabriela; Solce, Gabriel N.; Favoreto, Ana L.; De Souza Passos, José R.; Hurley, Brett Phillip; Wilcken, C.F. (PeerJ Inc., 2024-08)

  BACKGROUND: Gonipterus platensis Marelli, 1926 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is one of the main defoliating beetles in Eucalyptus plantations. Biological control with egg parasitoids is one of the main control strategies ...
• Conservation gaps and priorities of range-restricted birds in the Northern Andes 

  Medina, Wilderson; Pimm, Stuart L.; Huang, Ryan (PeerJ Inc., 2024-02)

  The ongoing destruction of habitats in the tropics accelerates the current rate of species extinction. Range-restricted species are exceptionally vulnerable, yet we have insufficient knowledge about their protection. ...
• A frog in hot water : the effect of temperature elevation on the adrenal stress response of an African amphibian 

  Scheun, Juan; Venter, Leanne; Ganswindt, Andre (PeerJ Inc., 2024-08)

  Amphibians, with their unique physiology and habitat requirements, are especially vulnerable to changes in environmental temperatures. While the activation of the physiological stress response can help to mitigate the ...
• Only incandescent light significantly decreases feeding of Anopheles funestus s.s. (Diptera: Culicidae) mosquitoes under laboratory conditions 

  Van Zyl, Layla; Burke, Ashley M.; Koekemoer, Lizette L.; Coetzee, Bernard Walter Thomas (Springer, 2024-10)

  Recent work has demonstrated that exposure to artificial light at night (ALAN) may alter mosquito feeding behavior and so must be considered a moderator of vector-borne disease transfer. Anopheles funestus mosquitoes are ...
• Feeding habits and malaria parasite infection of Anopheles mosquitoes in selected agroecological areas of Northwestern Ethiopia 

  Belay, Aklilu; Asale, Abebe; Sole, Catherine L.; Yusuf, Abdullahi A.; Torto, Baldwyn; Mutero, Clifford Maina; Tchouassi, David Poumo (BMC, 2024-10)

  BACKGROUND: Surveillance of the host–anopheline mosquitoes’ interaction is important for assessing malaria transmission risk and guiding vector control. We assume that changes in malaria vector species’ feeding habits, as ...
• Genome sequencing of historical encephalomyocarditis viruses from South Africa links the historical 1993/4 savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) outbreak to cryptic mastomys rodents 

  Van Meer, Vanessa; Paweska, Janusz Tadeusz; Swanepoel, Robert; Grobbelaar, Antoinette; Bastos, Armanda D.S. (MDPI, 2024-03)

  From 1993 to 1994, 64 free-ranging elephants (Loxodonta africana) succumbed to encephalomyocarditis in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, of which 83% were adult bulls. Mastomys rodents were implicated as the reservoir ...
• Where do core thalamocortical axons terminate in mammalian neocortex when there is no cytoarchitecturally distinct layer 4? 

  Bhagwandin, Adhil; Molnar, Zoltan; Bertelsen, Mads F.; Karlsson, Karl Æ.; Alagaili, Abdulaziz N.; Bennett, Nigel Charles; Hof, Patrick R.; Kaswera-Kyamakya, Consolate; Gilissen, Emmanuel; Jayakumar, Jaikishan; Manger, Paul R. (Wiley, 2024-07)

  Although the mammalian cerebral cortex is most often described as a hexalaminar structure, there are cortical areas (primary motor cortex) and species (elephants, cetaceans, and hippopotami), where a cytoarchitecturally ...
• Timely questions emerging in chronobiology : the circadian clock keeps on ticking 

  Chawla, Sangeeta; O'Neill, John; Knight, Marina I.; He, Yuqing; Wang, Lei; Maronde, Erik; Rodriguez, Sergio Gil; Van Ooijen, Gerben; Garbarino-Pico, Eduardo; Wolf, Eva; Dkhissi-Benyahya, Ouria; Nikhat, Anjoom; Ckakrabarti, Shaon; Youngstedt, Shawn D.; Mak, Natalie Zi-ching; Provencio, Ignacio; Oster, Henrik; Goel, Namni; Caba, Mario; Oosthuizen, Maria Kathleen; Duffield, Giles E.; Chabot, Christopher; Davis, Seth J. (Ubiquity Press, 2024-04-02)

  Chronobiology investigations have revealed much about cellular and physiological clockworks but we are far from having a complete mechanistic understanding of the physiological and ecological implications. Here we present ...

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