Project description:The remarkable alkali fly, Ephydra hians, deliberately crawls into the alkaline waters of Mono Lake to feed and lay eggs. These diving flies are protected by an air bubble that forms around their superhydrophobic cuticle upon entering the lake. To study the physical mechanisms underlying this process we measured the work required for flies to enter and leave various aqueous solutions. Our measurements show that it is more difficult for the flies to escape from Mono Lake water than from fresh water, due to the high concentration of Na2CO3 which causes water to penetrate and thus wet their setose cuticle. Other less kosmotropic salts do not have this effect, suggesting that the phenomenon is governed by Hofmeister effects as well as specific interactions between ion pairs. These effects likely create a small negative charge at the air-water interface, generating an electric double layer that facilitates wetting. Compared with six other species of flies, alkali flies are better able to resist wetting in a 0.5 M Na2CO3 solution. This trait arises from a combination of factors including a denser layer of setae on their cuticle and the prevalence of smaller cuticular hydrocarbons compared with other species. Although superbly adapted to resisting wetting, alkali flies are vulnerable to getting stuck in natural and artificial oils, including dimethicone, a common ingredient in sunscreen and other cosmetics. Mono Lake's alkali flies are a compelling example of how the evolution of picoscale physical and chemical changes can allow an animal to occupy an entirely new ecological niche.
Project description:The greater argonaut Argonauta argo is a species of the paper nautilus (Argonautidae), which is a family in Octopoda. In this paper, we report its full mitogenome sequence, which was obtained from a specimen collected in the Japan Seas near Oki Island, Shimane Prefecture, in Japan. The sequence was determined using the NGS Illumina HiSeq platform. With its 37 genes, the mitogenome shows a typical metazoan and Octopoda genomic structure, and similar to the mitogenome of the previously reported congener, A. hians. To confirm A. argo phylogenetic position in Octopoda, we conducted maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis, using a data set including publicly available 17 Octopodiformes, five Decapodiformes, three Nautiloids and two outgroup Conchiferans. The result confirmed the affinity of Argonautidae to Tremoctopus, and the sister group position of this clade against the rest of incirrate Octopods. The mitogenome and phylogeny of A. argo reported here will be useful for future studies involving this enigmatic species, including on the reacquisition of external calcified shell structures in mollusks.