| two new species of coccidia (apicomplexa: eimeriidae) from madagascar gekkonids. | two new species of coccidia (apicomplexa: eimeriidae) are described from the madagascar giant day gecko, phelsuma madagascariensis grandis, and the golddust day gecko, p. laticauda. both species of coccidia were found to infect the anterior one-half of the small intestine. oocysts of eimeria brygooi n. sp. are spherical or subspherical, 23.0 x 21.3 (18.8-25.2 x 16.4-23.2)micron; shape index (l/w) 1.1 (1.0-1.2). a micropyle, oocyst residuum, and polar granule are absent. sporocysts are ovoid, 9.2 ... | 1987 | 3430410 |
| the optokinetic reaction in foveate and afoveate geckos. | to investigate determinants of symmetry of the monocular horizontal optokinetic reaction (hokr) in vertebrates, we performed behavioural studies in diurnal foveate, as well as nocturnal afoveate geckos. during binocular viewing hokr gain was equal for movement to the left or right, during monocular stimulation, all afoveate geckos (lepidodactylus lugubris, gekko gecko, eublepharis macularius) and the foveate lygodactylus spp. exclusively reacted to temporo-nasal stimulation with stabilising head ... | 2008 | 18234272 |
| the pupils and optical systems of gecko eyes. | the nocturnal helmet gecko, tarentola chazaliae, discriminates colors in dim moonlight when humans are color blind. the sensitivity of the helmet gecko eye has been calculated to be 350 times higher than human cone vision at the color vision threshold. the optics and the large cones of the gecko are important reasons why they can use color vision at low light intensities. using photorefractometry and an adapted laboratory hartmann-shack wavefront sensor of high resolution, we also show that the ... | 2009 | 19757966 |
| pinopsin expressed in the retinal photoreceptors of a diurnal gecko. | retinal cdnas encoding the putative opsins, dg3 and dg4, were isolated from a diurnal gecko, phelsuma madagascariensis longinsulae. dg3 mrna is localized in about 20% of the thin members of type c double cones, and likely encodes an opsin of the ultraviolet-sensitive pigment. surprisingly, dg4 is very similar to chicken pinopsin, a pineal-specific photoreceptive molecule. an anti-dg4 antiserum recognized a small population of photoreceptor outer segments in the retina and a large number of pinea ... | 2001 | 11356185 |
| glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase is an enzyme-crystallin in diurnal geckos of the genus phelsuma. | lenses from diurnal geckos, phelsuma barbouri, phelsuma madagascariensis grandis and phelsuma serraticauda contain a prominent 37 kda polypeptide (pi-crystallin) that is not present in lenses from the nocturnal geckos, gekko gekko, hemidactylus garnoti, tarentola annularis, and uroplatus henkeli. this protein was partially purified from p. serraticauda and was identified as glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gapd). the gapds, which constitute 14-24% of the lens soluble protein in the diur ... | 1995 | 7733971 |
| the retina of a diurnal gecko, phelsuma madagascariensis longinsulae. | | 1961 | 13775220 |
| secondarily diurnal geckos return to cost of locomotion typical of diurnal lizards. | previous studies showed that nocturnal geckos evolved a low energetic cost of locomotion (cmin), which increases maximum aerobic speed and partially offsets the decrease in maximal oxygen consumption caused by activity at low nocturnal temperatures. because the advantage of a low cmin should apply at high diurnal temperatures as well as at low nocturnal temperatures, i hypothesized that cmin remained low in geckos that have secondarily evolved diurnality. i measured cmin in two secondarily diurn ... | 2003 | 10222328 |
| arboreal day geckos (phelsuma madagascariensis) differentially modulate fore- and hind limb kinematics in response to changes in habitat structure. | by using adhesion, geckos can move through incredibly challenging habitats. however, continually changing terrain may necessitate modulation of the adhesive apparatus in order to maximize its effectiveness over a range of challenges. behaviorally modulating how the adhesive system is applied can occur by altering the alignment of the foot relative to the long axis of the body and/or the angles between the digits (interdigital angle). given the directionality of the adhesive system, geckos likely ... | 2016 | 27145027 |
| ecological effects of the invasive giant madagascar day gecko on endemic mauritian geckos: applications of binomial-mixture and species distribution models. | the invasion of the giant madagascar day gecko phelsuma grandis has increased the threats to the four endemic mauritian day geckos (phelsuma spp.) that have survived on mainland mauritius. we had two main aims: (i) to predict the spatial distribution and overlap of p. grandis and the endemic geckos at a landscape level; and (ii) to investigate the effects of p. grandis on the abundance and risks of extinction of the endemic geckos at a local scale. an ensemble forecasting approach was used to pr ... | 2014 | 24785293 |
| feeding kinematics of phelsuma madagascariensis (reptilia: gekkonidae): testing differences between iguania and scleroglossa | the kinematics of feeding in the gekkotan lizard phelsuma madagascariensis (scleroglossa) was investigated using high-speed cinematography (200-300 frames s(-)(1)) and x-ray films (64 frames s(-)(1)). qualitative kinematic analysis of the head and jaw displacement of the prey to (capture) and within (reduction, transport, swallowing, licking) the buccal cavity are compared for two types of prey (crickets and mealworms) in 30 feeding sequences from four individuals. maximal displacement of struct ... | 1999 | 10574748 |
| comparative electron-microscopic studies on the conus papillaris and its relationship to the retina in night and day active geckos. | the ultrastructure of the capillary endothelium of the conus papillaris within the vitreous body was studied in night, day, and mixed (night and day) active geckos (homopholis wahlbergi, gekko gecko, pachydactylus bibronii, tarentola mauritanica, lygodactylus conraui, phelsuma guimbeaui, phelsuma madagascariensis). capillary endothelial cells were poorly developed in night and mixed active animals, whereas in day active animals they were highly organized. in particular the number and height of t ... | 1976 | 1086618 |
| applications of ecological niche modeling for species delimitation: a review and empirical evaluation using day geckos (phelsuma) from madagascar. | although the systematic utility of ecological niche modeling is generally well known (e.g., concerning the recognition and discovery of areas of endemism for biogeographic analyses), there has been little discussion of applications concerning species delimitation, and to date, no empirical evaluation has been conducted. however, ecological niche modeling can provide compelling evidence for allopatry between populations, and can also detect divergent ecological niches between candidate species. h ... | 2007 | 18066927 |
| cranial kinesis in gekkonid lizards | cranial kinesis was studied in two species of gekkonid lizard, gekko gecko and phelsuma madagascariensis, using cineradiography and electromyography. the skull of these geckoes showed the three types of kinesis described by versluys at the beginning of this century: streptostyly, mesokinesis and metakinesis. in accordance with the later model of frazzetta, the skull of these animals can be modelled by a quadratic crank system: when the mouth opens during feeding, the quadrate rotates forward, th ... | 1999 | 10574746 |
| distribution of rod- and cone-specific phosducins in retinas of non-mammalian vertebrates. | in mammalian retinas, it has been believed that just one kind of phosducin (pd) commonly exists in both rods and cones. however, we have previously reported that there are rod- and cone-specific pds (olpd-r and olpd-c) in medaka (oryzias latipes) retina [febs lett., 502, 117-121, 2001]. to clarify the distribution and evolution of these photoreceptor type-specific pds, we investigated pds of another teleost and a reptile. immunohistochemical and western blot analyses using anti-medaka pd antiser ... | 2002 | 12223214 |
| two new species of coccidia (apicomplexa: eimeriidae) from leaf-tailed geckos, uroplatus spp. (sauria: gekkonidae) from madagascar, including a new host of eimeria brygooi upton & barnard, 1987. | during may and june 2015, four common leaf-tailed geckos, uroplatus fimbriatus (schneider), five satanic leaf-tailed geckos, uroplatus phantasticus (boulenger), and four mossy leaf-tailed geckos, uroplatus sikorae boettger originally collected from madagascar and housed at the dallas zoo, usa, had their faeces examined for coccidian parasites. eight (62%) geckos were found to be passing oöcysts, including a new eimerian, a new isosporan and a previously described eimerian. three of four (75%) u. ... | 2016 | 27638735 |
| ultrastructure and molecular phylogeny of iotanema spirale gen. nov. et sp. nov., a new lineage of endobiotic fornicata with strikingly simplified ultrastructure. | fornicata (metamonada) is a group of excavata living in low-oxygen environments and lacking conventional mitochondria. it includes free-living carpediemonas-like organisms from marine habitats and predominantly parasitic/commensal retortamonads and diplomonads. current modest knowledge of biodiversity of fornicata limits our ability to draw a complete picture of the evolutionary history in this group. here, we report the discovery of a novel fornicate, iotanema spirale gen. nov. et sp. nov., obt ... | 2016 | 27749017 |