PeerJ – Zoological Science section

17 December 2018

Dogs can be trained to find a bar magnet

Sabine Martini, Sabine Begall, Tanja Findeklee, Marcus Schmitt, E. Pascal Malkemper, Hynek Burda

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Lesley Rogers –– Investigation of the ability of dogs to respond to magnetic information is of broad interest.

4 December 2018

COI barcoding of plant bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera: Miridae)

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Hilary Morrison –– The article provides a molecular identification method for members of an important taxonomic group.

30 November 2018

Anti-predator defences of a bombardier beetle: is bombing essential for successful escape from frogs?

Section Editor rating: 7 / 10

Michael Wink –– Interesting story

27 November 2018

Differences in persistence between dogs and wolves in an unsolvable task in the absence of humans

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Jennifer Vonk –– Behavioral flexibility is an important topic that gets at underlying species differences in cognition. Here, the authors were able to examine wolves and dogs, which may point to the impact of domestication on some aspects of canid cognition.

21 November 2018

Catch fast and kill quickly: do tiger beetles use the same strategies when hunting different types of prey?

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Barry Brook –– Useful study on decision making in insect predators.

6 November 2018

Sociality genes are associated with human-directed social behaviour in golden and Labrador retriever dogs

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Jennifer Vonk –– Gene - behavior associations is a very important and growing area of research. These types of studies will help us understand the impact of domestication at a more molecular level in canids.

6 November 2018

Sexual dimorphism in the Arachnid orders

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Kenneth De Baets –– This manuscript a comprehensive review of sexual dimorphism in arachnids including several small understudied orders. This makes it possible to discuss general patterns and gaps in our current knowledge. For the more general audience, it might be interesting to see how male and female arachnids can differ.

29 October 2018

Egg perivitelline fluid of the invasive snail Pomacea canaliculata affects mice gastrointestinal function and morphology

Editor rating: 8 / 10

Jörg Oehlmann –– The article contributes to the understanding of animal chemical defence mechanisms against predation and is also important from an evolutionary perspective as it describes a trait that could be a key factor for the broad geographical distribution for ampullariid snails.

3 October 2018

A new species of Brachycephalus (Anura: Brachycephalidae) from southern Brazil

Editor rating: 8 / 10

Jörg Oehlmann –– The identification and description of a new species in a highly threatened vertebrate taxonomic group is very important to conserve our biodiversity.

19 September 2018

Function matters: a review of terminological differences in applied and basic clicker training research

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Jennifer Vonk –– This will be a valuable resource for both researchers and trainers in more applied settings and will help to further the cause of empirical research to back accepted training regimes.

Zoological Science

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Zoological Science