The fiddler crab Uca (Minuca) victoriana von Hagen, 1987 has been reported, until recently, only from the type locality at Vitória, State of Espírito Santo, Brazil. We report here, for the first time, the occurrence of U. (M.) victoriana in estuaries of the States of Bahia and Pernambuco, north-eastern Brazil, extending its distribution; as well as some aspects of its population biology. For the population study, four sites were defined in mangroves of the Mamucabas and Ariquindá Rivers, Pernambuco, on different types of substrate, and sampled monthly during spring low tide from April 2008 through to March 2009. A total of 41 specimens were obtained in June 2008 in the Arinquindá River, of which 25 were males, 16 non-ovigerous females and 1 ovigerous female. In the Mamucabas River, 772 crabs were collected over the year, including 472 males, 300 non-ovigerous females and 2 ovigerous females. In both areas, the U. (M.) victoriana population showed a unimodal size–frequency distribution, with males and females (ovigerous and non-ovigerous) similar in size (7.46 ± 1.60 mm for males and 7.09 ± 1.45 mm for females; t = −0.744; P > 0.05). The overall sex-ratio (1:1.57) differed significantly from the expected 1:1 proportion1 (χ2 = 38.32; P < 0.05). Study of material deposited in Brazilian carcinological collections revealed several misidentified specimens, especially as U. (M.) rapax and U. (M.) burgersi. Some morphological characters to distinguish among these species are presented.

This study describes the variations in the physical features and the useful attributes of different populations of indigenous chickens. Five populations of chickens in different regions of Ethiopia were studied based on 13 qualitative traits recorded for a total of 1 125 chickens. Additional measurements on quantitative traits (shank length and body weight) were also included. Descriptive statistics (nonparametric and F tests) were used to analyze the data. Each of the study populations possessed multiple variants of plumage colours and other physical features. However, white body plumage is one of the prominent features of Farta chickens and red is predominant in the other populations. Pea comb is the dominant comb type in all regions. Most of the chickens in the high altitude regions have yellow skin. The geographic distribution and frequency of naked neck chickens are generally small, and the available small proportion is found mainly in the low altitude regions. Males in all populations are heavier and taller than the females. Body weights range from 1 411 g (Konso) to 1 700 g (Horro) in adult males and from 1 011 g (Konso) to 1 517 g (Sheka) in females. Most of the morphological traits that were studied showed a very low level of associations with each other.

Millefolii herba is one of the oldest and most important drugs in Lithuania, used both in folk and official medicine. The raw material is usually gathered from spontaneous populations. It would be reasonable to develop methods to identify the populations which produce high plant biomass and accumulate high levels of proazulenes. The quantitative variation of proazulenes and their relationships with phytosociological dependence and morphological characters of Achillea millefolium from wild populations has been examined. The vegetation records were made at 140 growing sites of A. millefolium. The species was found in 29 types of community representing different growing habitats. The resources of milfoils prevailed in dry grasslands of Arrhenatheretalia communities and ruderal habitats of Dauco-Meliliotion. The data on productivity and morphological characters were subjected to multivariate statistical analysis. A hierarchical cluster analysis indicated that higher productivity of A. millefolium populations was associated with their dependence on ruderal and segetal communities. The testing of A. millefolium plants revealed high variation for proazulenes in different communities. The proazulene-containing plants have been identified in 38% of all analysed cases. In the highest segetal and wasteland communities of Agropyretalia repentis, Sisybietalia, Digitario-Setarion, Aperion spicae-venti, Senecion fluviatilis only proazulene-free plants were found. Results of the ANOVA showed the proazulene-containing and proazulene-free plants significantly differed (P<0.05) for width of leaves and number of nodes. The presence of nodes in high number and narrow leaves in high proazulene-containing plants distinctly marked them from the proazulene-free plants. The study raised the possibility that selection based on the two morphological marker traits (node number and leaf width) and proazulene distribution in the populations would be effective for rapid identification of highly productive population(s) of pharmaceutical importance.

A survey was conducted in the native tract of the Punjab Brown breed of chicken to study management practices, as well as morphological, performance and egg quality parameters. The study covered the three districts of Gurdaspur district in Punjab, and Ambala and Yamunanagar districts in Haryana, and included 532 birds and 61 families. Twenty-six microsatellite loci were used to assess genetic variability. The Punjab Brown is a multi-purpose breed, yielding good quality meat and eggs. Birds are reared in the backyard system and shelter is provided only during the night in the form of small enclosures mostly made up of mud and sometimes of wood. Average flock size is 8.7. Plumage colour is mostly brown and the pattern is usually solid but is sometimes spotted or striped. Males in particular have black spots/stripes on their neck, wings and tail. The comb is red, of single type and erect in position. The average weight of cocks and hens is 2.15±0.94 and 1.57±0.04 kg respectively. Hens start laying eggs at the age of about five to six months. Clutch size is about four to five. Average egg production is around 60–80 eggs per year. Eggshell colour is mostly light brown and average egg weight is 46.0±1.91g. The average weight of shell, albumin and yolk were 5.4±0.21, 24.4±0.63 and 16.2±0.48g respectively. Yolk index, albumin index and Haugh units were 0.41±0.005, 0.10±0.006 and 82.80±0.98 respectively. A total of 218 alleles were observed. The number of alleles per locus varied from 4–14. The mean PIC value for all the loci was 0.744. Twenty-four loci were found to be neutral (P<0.05) using Ewens Watterson test of neutrality. The exact test revealed that 15 loci deviated from Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium. The population has not undergone any recent bottleneck as revealed by quantitative and graphical qualitative tests.

Nili Ravi buffaloes are native to the Ferozepur, Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts of Punjab. A systematic survey was conducted in this area to study the socio-economic status of the farmers, and the demographic distribution and breed characteristics of Nili Ravi buffaloes. The majority of the farmers surveyed (84%) kept buffaloes. About 34 % of buffalo farmers were landless. Average land holdings were 1.50 hectares. Animals were provided with separate houses. The buffaloes were tied most of the time and fed chaffed fodder. Natural service was mainly practiced for the breeding of animals. Very few buffaloes had typical Nili Ravi characters (all extremities white). Most of the Nili Ravi type buffaloes now available have white markings on the forehead and hind legs only, and some have wall eyes i.e. eyes with a whitish iris. Average daily milk yield was 6.67 kg in a lactation period of 8–9 months. Nili Ravi type buffaloes constituted only 10.8 %, 8.7 % and 14 % of total buffaloes surveyed in Ferozepur, Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts, respectively. The estimated population of these buffaloes was about 0.2 million. The population of Nili Ravi is declining because of the non-availability of typical Nili Ravi bulls and non-marketability of Nili Ravi type (2–3 white extremities) animals.

A partir del estudio cualitativo y cuantitativo de 46 caracteres morfológicos, obtenidos a partir de recopilaciones bibliográficas, se analizan las relaciones existentes entre 17 poblaciones equinas de la Península Ibérica (14 razas españolas y 3 portuguesas).

Los resultados obtenidos permiten clasificar a las diferentes razas en sus correspondientes troncos ancestrales: Equus ferus gmelini, Equus ferus przewalski y Equus ferus solutreensis, integrándose los representantes de los dos primeros grupos en el llamado Tronco Tarpánico.

El promedio de distancia morfológica entre razas, medida como MCD (Mean Character Difference, o promedio de diferencias entre caracteres), tomó un valor de 0,51± 0,11. El análisis cuantitativo de los datos indica que el grupo que forman los poneys ibéricos es morfológicamente muy semejante, a diferencia de lo que ocurre con los grupos de los caballos de silla y los de tiro.

Se analizan las relaciones y se discuten las causas de la variabilidad morfológica entre grupos.