ABSTRACT
The unique life cycle of annual killishes is increasingly attracting the interest of researchers in developmental biology (Arezo et al., 2005; Podrabsky et al., 2010; Berois et al., 2014), genetics (García et al., 2014), senescence (Genade et al., 2005; Terzibasi et al., 2008), trophic ecology (Laufer et al., 2009; Arim et al., 2010; Polacik and Reichard, 2010; Polacik et al., 2014), life-history strategies (Blažek et al., 2013; Reichard et al., 2009; Polacik et al., 2011, 2014; Lanés et al., 2014), and evolution (Reichard and Polacik, 2010; Costa, 2010; Dorn et al., 2011; Sedlácek et al., 2014). The main focuses have been the developmental mechanisms in embryos and the structure and composition of the egg chorion related to the survival under the stressful environmental conditions of complete drought. This characteristic biology of annual shes plus their unique habitat (i.e., fragmented, discrete, and seasonal) have a strong inuence on how distribution and diversity patterns are generated (Kiawi et al., 2003).
