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| Scholtz, G.. |
| In this review some examples of rolling behaviour in nature are described and discussed in terms of the realised degree of wheel-like locomotion. The combination of rotation and the use of the low friction resistance of circular and smooth surfaces to transport a heavy load, as is seen in scarab beetles rolling dung pills, is the closest degree of similarity to a wheel found in nature. Populations of dung rolling scarabs may have benefited from the early domestication of large mammals in the Middle East. I suggest that an increased opportunity to observe pill rolling scarab beetles has inspired humans to invent the wheel. |
| Tipo: Article / Letter to the editor |
Palavras-chave: Arthropoda; Domestication; Rolling; Scarabidae; Vertebrata; 42.75. |
| Ano: 2008 |
URL: http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/record/286654 |
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| Scholtz, G.. |
| Compared with the elongate bodies of shrimps or lobsters, crabs are characterised by a compact body organisation with a depressed, short carapace and a ventrally folded pleon. The evolutionary transformation from a lobster-like crustacean towards a crab is called ‘carcinization’ and has been interpreted as a dramatic morphological change. Nevertheless, the crab-shape evolved convergently in a number of lineages within Decapoda. Accordingly, numerous hypotheses about internal and external factors have been presented, which all try to explain these frequent convergent carcinization events despite the seemingly fundamental changes in the body organisation. However, what a crab is lies greatly in the eye of the beholder and most of the hypotheses about the... |
| Tipo: Article / Letter to the editor |
Palavras-chave: Achelata; Anomala; Brachyura; Carcinization; Convergent evolution; Morphological concepts; 21.21; 42.74. |
| Ano: 2014 |
URL: http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/record/471315 |
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| Martin, P.; Dorn, N.J.; Kawai, T.; Heiden, C. van der; Scholtz, G.. |
| A mysterious parthenogenetic cambarid crayfish (the Marmorkrebs) has been spreading across the globe for the past decade. We compare this crayfish directly to two other cambarids, Procambarus fallax and P. alleni, that have been suggested to be related or even identical to the Marmorkrebs. Using external morphology and sequences of two mitochondrial genes we show clear correspondences between Marmorkrebs and P. fallax, a species found natively throughout peninsular Florida, USA. Based on these congruent results we suggest that the Marmorkrebs is the parthenogenetic form of P. fallax. This finding has potential evolutionary and ecological implications at several levels. The Marmorkrebs might be a type of geographical parthenogenesis, but a natural... |
| Tipo: Article / Letter to the editor |
Palavras-chave: 12S rRNA; Annulus ventralis; COI; DNA barcoding; Species concept; Thelytoky; 42.74. |
| Ano: 2010 |
URL: http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/record/355212 |
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