A new species of Polydesmidae (Myriapoda, Diplopoda, Polydesmida) from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber.

A new species of the flat-backed millipede family Polydesmidae, Propolydesmus cretaceus sp. nov., is described from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Detailed morphological characters are provided on the basis of 3 well-preserved adults (2 males and 1 females), 2 female subadults, and 14 additional specimens, using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and X-ray micro-computed tomography (CT) with computer-aided 3D-reconstructions. The new species can be placed in the extant genus Propolydesmus. It majorly differs from other congeners due to the stronger gonopod acropodite and the presence of a bipartite gonopod exomerite.

Novel Process Methods for the Whole Cottonseed: Effect on the Digestibility, Productivity, Fat Profile, and Milk Gossypol Levels in Lactating Dairy Cows.

In this study, we aimed to determine the effect of mixed-process methods on the ruminal degradability of whole cottonseed (WCS) both in situ and in vitro, and the effect on the production performance of dairy cows. Eight WCS process methods were tested on the ruminal digestibility, including crush-alkali 1 (CA1), crush-alkali 2 (CA2), crush-alkali 3 (CA3), alkali 1-crush (A1C), alkali 2-crush (A2C), alkali 3-crush (A3C), crush-only (CO), and non-processed. Alkali 1, 2, and 3 indicate the supplementation of alkali to WCS at the dose of 4% on dry matter (DM) base as followed: 4% NaOH, 2% NaOH + 2% CaO, and 2% NaOH + 2% CaCl2 alkaline, respectively. Among all treatments, CA2 showed the highest WCS ruminal degradation in situ and the highest intestinal digestibility of WCS in vitro. Furthermore, an animal experiment was conducted for 60 days on 30 Holstein dairy cows, using a diet without WCS (CON group), a diet containing 8% non-processed WCS (NP group), and a diet containing 8% CA2-treated WCS (CA2 group). The results indicated that the dry matter intake, 4% fat-corrected milk production, milk protein, milk fat, and content of short-chain saturated fatty acid of milk in the CA2 group were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than CON group. Furthermore, DMI, the CLA was significantly greater (P < 0.05) in the CA2 group than the other groups. Additionally, the free gossypol concentration in serum or milk was under safety level in the three groups. Overall, crush and alkalization (NaOH: CaO = 1:1) treatment could improve the utilization of WCS in dairy farms.

Angiosperm pollinivory in a Cretaceous beetle.

Despite the crucial importance of flower-visiting insects in modern ecosystems, there is little fossil evidence on the origins of angiosperm pollination. Most reports of pollination in the Mesozoic fossil record have been based on the co-occurrence of the purported pollinators with pollen grains and assumed morphological adaptations for vectoring pollen. Here, we describe an exceptionally preserved short-winged flower beetle (Cucujoidea: Kateretidae) from mid-Cretaceous amber, Pelretes vivificus gen. et sp. nov., associated with pollen aggregations and coprolites consisting mainly of pollen, providing direct evidence of pollen-feeding in a Cretaceous beetle and confirming that diverse beetle lineages visited early angiosperms in the Cretaceous. The exquisite preservation of our fossil permits the identification of the pollen grains as Tricolpopollenites (Asteridae or Rosidae), representing a record of flower beetle pollination of a group of derived angiosperms in the Mesozoic and suggesting that potentially diverse beetle lineages visited early angiosperms by the mid-Cretaceous.

Origin of spiders and their spinning organs illuminated by mid-Cretaceous amber fossils.

Understanding the genealogical relationships among the arachnid orders is an onerous task, but fossils have aided in anchoring some branches of the arachnid tree of life. The discovery of Palaeozoic fossils with characters found in both extant spiders and other arachnids provided evidence for a series of extinctions of what was thought to be a grade, Uraraneida, that led to modern spiders. Here, we report two extraordinarily well-preserved Mesozoic members of Uraraneida with a segmented abdomen, multi-articulate spinnerets with well-defined spigots, modified male palps, spider-like chelicerae and a uropygid-like telson. The new fossils, belonging to the species Chimerarachne yingi, were analysed phylogenetically in a large data matrix of extant and extinct arachnids under a diverse regime of analytical conditions, most of which resulted in placing Uraraneida as the sister clade of Araneae (spiders). The phylogenetic placement of this arachnid fossil extends the presence of spinnerets and modified palps more basally in the arachnid tree than was previously thought. Ecologically, the new fossil extends the record of Uraraneida 170 million years towards the present, thus showing that uraraneids and spiders co-existed for a large fraction of their evolutionary history.