Evolution of Oviposition Techniques in Stick and Leaf Insects (Phasmatodea).

Front. Ecol. Evol., 19 December 2018. Sec. Phylogenetics, Phylogenomics, and Systematics. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2018.00216.

Zusammenfassung:

Stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea) are large, tropical, predominantly nocturnal herbivores, which exhibit extreme masquerade crypsis, whereby they morphologically and behaviorally resemble twigs, bark, lichen, moss, and leaves. Females employ a wide range of egg-laying techniques, largely corresponding to their ecological niche, including dropping or flicking eggs to the forest floor, gluing eggs to plant substrate, skewering eggs through leaves, ovipositing directly into the soil, or even producing a complex ootheca. Phasmids are the only insects with highly species-specific egg morphology across the entire order, with specific egg forms that correspond to oviposition technique. We investigate the temporal, biogeographic, and phylogenetic pattern of evolution of egg-laying strategies in Phasmatodea. Our results unequivocally demonstrate that the ancestral oviposition strategy for female stick and leaf insects is to remain in the foliage and drop or flick eggs to the ground, a strategy that maintains their masquerade. Other major key innovations in the evolution of Phasmatodea include the (1) hardening of the egg capsule in Euphasmatodea; (2) the repeated evolution of capitulate eggs (which induce ant-mediated dispersal, or myrmecochory); (3) adapting to a ground or bark dwelling microhabitat with a corresponding shift in adult and egg phenotype and egg deposition directly into the soil; and (4) adhesion of eggs in a clade of Necrosciinae that led to subsequent diversification in oviposition modes and egg types. We infer at minimum 16 independent origins of a burying/inserting eggs into soil/crevices oviposition strategy, 7 origins of gluing eggs to substrate, and a single origin each of skewering eggs through leaves and producing an ootheca. We additionally discuss the systematic implications of our phylogenetic results. Aschiphasmatinae is strongly supported as the earliest diverging extant lineage of Euphasmatodea. Phylliinae and Diapheromerinae are both relatively early diverging euphasmatodean taxa. We formally transfer Otocrania from Cladomorphinae to Diapheromerinae and recognize only two tribes within Diapheromerinae: Diapheromerini sensu nov. and Oreophoetini sensu nov. We formally recognize the clade comprising Necrosciinae and Lonchodinae as Lonchodidae stat. rev. sensu nov.

robertson-biblio

Toward a tree-of-life for the boas and pythons: multilocus species-level phylogeny with unprecedented taxon sampling.

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 71: 201–213. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.11.011.

Abstract:

Snakes in the families Boidae and Pythonidae constitute some of the most spectacular reptiles and comprise an enormous diversity of morphology, behavior, and ecology. While many species of boas and pythons are familiar, taxonomy and evolutionary relationships within these families remain contentious and fluid. A major effort in evolutionary and conservation biology is to assemble a comprehensive Tree-of-Life, or a macro-scale phylogenetic hypothesis, for all known life on Earth. No previously published study has produced a species-level molecular phylogeny for more than 61% of boa species or 65% of python species. Using both novel and previously published sequence data, we have produced a species-level phylogeny for 84.5% of boid species and 82.5% of pythonid species, contextualized within a larger phylogeny of henophidian snakes. We obtained new sequence data for three boid, one pythonid, and two tropidophiid taxa which have never previously been included in a molecular study, in addition to generating novel sequences for seven genes across an additional 12 taxa. We compiled an 11-gene dataset for 127 taxa, consisting of the mitochondrial genes CYTB, 12S, and 16S, and the nuclear genes bdnf, bmp2, c-mos, gpr35, rag1, ntf3, odc, and slc30a1, totaling up to 7561 base pairs per taxon. We analyzed this dataset using both maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference and recovered a well-supported phylogeny for these species. We found significant evidence of discordance between taxonomy and evolutionary relationships in the genera Tropidophis, Morelia, Liasis, and Leiopython, and we found support for elevating two previously suggested boid species. We suggest a revised taxonomy for the boas (13 genera, 58 species) and pythons (8 genera, 40 species), review relationships between our study and the many other molecular phylogenetic studies of henophidian snakes, and present a taxonomic database and alignment which may be easily used and built upon by other researchers.

reynolds-biblio

Systematics of Pythons of the Morelia amethistina Complex (Serpentes: Boidae) with the Description of three new Species.

Herpetological Monographs. 14: 139–185. doi:10.2307/1467047.

Description:

The scrub pythons (Morelia amethistina complex) are revised based on museum specimens and new material recently collected in eastern Indonesia. Morelia kinghorni (formerly M. amethistina kinghorni) and M. amethistina (formerly M. amethistina amethistina) are recognized as species, and three new species are described. The phylogenetic relationships of scrub pythons are resolved using morphological and molecular characters Scrub pythons are most closely related to Morelia boeleni and have undergone both ancient divergences and a relatively recent radiation. The distribution of scrub pythons corresponds well with areas of endemism recognized in earlier studies of other taxa. Their distribution and evolution appears to have been shaped by combined effects of dispersal and vicariance. Scrub python populations exhibit interesting color and pattern polymorphism and ontogenetic change, and these characteristics vary among populations.

harvey-biblio

A new species of Gonyosoma Wagler, 1828 (Serpentes, Colubridae), previously confused with G. prasinum (Blyth, 1854).

Evolutionary Systematics. 5 2021, 129–139 | DOI 10.3897/evolsyst.5.66574.

Volltext

Abstract:

A new species of the genus Gonyosoma Wagler is described from Yunnan Province, China. The new species closely resembles G. prasinum (Blyth), but it is differentiated from the latter species by the following characters: precloacal plate divided, iris blue and inside of mouth greyish-white in life. Based on phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence data, the new species is recovered as the sister species to G. prasinum by Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood analyses. The uncorrected pairwise distance between the new species and other species of the genus Gonyosoma ranged from 11.78% to 17.07% calculated using the mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence. This discovery increases the number of Gonyosoma species to seven.

liu-biblio

On the distribution of Gonyosoma prasinum (Blyth, 1854) and Gonyosoma coeruleum Liu, Hou, Ye Htet Lwin, Wang & Rao, 2021, with a note on the status of Gonyosoma gramineum Günther, 1864 (Squamata: Serpentes: Colubridae).

Zootaxa 5154 (2): 175-197 · June 2022. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5154.

Volltext

Abstract:

Based on 85 examined specimens, photographs of living specimens and illustrations published in the literature, we refine
the distribution ranges of both Gonyosoma prasinum (Blyth, 1854) and of the recently described species Gonyosoma
coeruleum Liu, Hou, Ye Htet Lwin, Wang & Rao, 2021, which was not clearly addressed in its original description. We
also redescribe the syntypes of Coluber prasinus Blyth, 1854 and the holotype of Gonyosoma gramineum Günther, 1864,
we discuss the status of this latter taxon, and we describe the hemipenial morphology of G. coeruleum.

david-biblio

Notes on the Sika Deer.

Journal of Mammalogy 37 (1): 99-105.

Extract:

When two men undertake so large a task as compiling a checklist of palae-arctic and Indian mammals, they cannot fairly be expected to escape some oversights. Such seem to have occurred in J. R. Ellerman's and T. C. S. Morrison-Scott's treatment of the sika deer.

First, they list Sika dugenneanus (sic) as a synonym, with “no locality,” for the South China Sika, Cervus nippon kopschi Swinhoe, 1873. Alike in their spelling of “dugenneanus” in making it a synonym for kopschi, and in declaring it had no locality, they seem to follow the statement of Allen (1940), but on all three points Allen would appear to mislead them.

The name dugennianus was coined by the French missionary, Father P. M. Heude, who gathered a large collection of mammals at the Sikawei Museum in Shanghai, and created infinite confusion among Chinese fauna by proliferating synonyms with an almost...

glover-biblio

Natural genetic polymorphism and phylogeography of Siberian sturgeon Acipenser baerii Brandt, 1869.

Russ. J. Genet. 53: 358–368. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1022795417030024

Abstract:

Five populations of Siberian sturgeon Acipenser baerii collected throughout the species distribution range (Lake Baikal, Lena, Yenisei, Kolyma, and Irtysh rivers) were examined for genetic polymorphism using five tetraploid microsatellite loci and the mitochondrial DNA control region. It was demonstrated that Siberian sturgeon was represented by genetically well-differentiated groups that corresponded to hydrographic basins, Ob–Irtysh, Baikal–Yenisei, Lena, and Kolyma. Population assignment of the Siberian sturgeon broodstock should be considered in the restocking programs.

barmintseva-biblio

Improved systematics of lorikeets reflects their evolutionary history and frames conservation priorities.

Emu - Austral Ornithology 120 (3): 201–215. doi:10.1080/01584197.2020.1779596. S2CID 222094508.

Abstract:

A well-supported genus-level classification of any group of organisms underpins downstream understanding of its evolutionary biology and enhances the role of phylogenetic diversity in guiding its conservation and management. The lorikeets (Psittaciformes: Loriini) are parrots for which genus-level systematics (phylogenetic relationships and classification) has long been unstable and unsatisfactory. Instability has manifested through frequently changing compositions of some genera (e.g. Trichoglossus and Psitteuteles). Other genera (e.g. Charmosyna, Vini) have become so large that their phenotypic heterogeneity alone at least questions whether they are monophyletic assemblages that genera should comprise. Recent molecular phylogenetic and phenotypic studies have improved the framework with which to rationalise genus-level systematics in lorikeets but some trenchant uncertainty has remained. Here we utilise published genomic data and tetrahedral analysis of plumage colour to develop a full review of the genus-level classification of lorikeets. Using existing phylogenetic relationships and a newly estimated time-calibrated tree for lorikeets, we show where paraphyletic assemblages have misled the classification of genera. We assign six species to three new genera and six other species to four previously described generic names that have been in synonymy in recent literature. Our taxonomic revision brings a new perspective informing and guiding the conservation and management of the lorikeets and their evolutionary biology.

joseph-biblio

A phylogenetic analysis of Brycon and Henochilus (Characiformes, Characidae, Bryconinae) based on the mitochondrial gene 16S rRNA.

Genetics and Molecular Biology, 31 (1,  suppl): 366-371

Abstract:

The genus Brycon, the largest subunit of the Bryconinae, has 42 valid species distributed from southern Mexico to the La Plata River in Argentina. Henochilus is a monotypic genus, comprising a single species (H. wheatlandii) found in the upper Rio Doce basin. In the present study, partial sequences of the mitochondrial gene 16S were obtained for fifteen species of Brycon and for Henochilus wheatlandii. The results showed that the genus Brycon is paraphyletic, since Henochilus is the sister-group of B. ferox and B. insignis. The most basal species analyzed were the trans-Andean species B. henni, B. petrosus, and B. chagrensis.

wagner-biblio

Genome size variation in Rana arvalis and some related brown frog species, including taxonomic comments on the validity of the R. arvalis subspecies.

Zeitschrift für Feldherpetologie, Supplement 13: 95–112.

Volltext (PDF)

Zusammenfassung:

Der DNA-Gehalt des diploiden Zellkerns von Rana arvalis und acht nahe verwandter Braunfroscharten wurde mittels Durchflusszytometrie bestimmt. Auf Grund der Genomgrößen konnten wir drei Gruppen von Braunfröschen unterscheiden. Die erste Gruppe wies geringere Kern-DNA-Gehalte auf (10,04–11,76 pg) und bestand aus R. temporaria, R. dalmatina, R. asiatica, R. amurensis, R. dybowskii und R. pirica. Die zweite Gruppe mit intermediären Werten (12,52–13,76 pg) umfasste R. arvalis und R. macrocnemis, und die dritte Gruppe enthielt nur R. graeca (15,24–15,44 pg). Rana arvalis wies überlappende Genomgrößen nur zu R. macrocnemis auf. Bei den Unterarten von R. arvalis bestand der größte Unterschied zwischen R. a. arvalis und R. a. wolterstorffi (2,0 %); zwischen R. a. arvalis und R. a. issaitschikovi unterschieden sich die Genomgrößen um 1,7 %, und zwischen R. a. arvalis und R. a. altaica um 0,4 %. Die Taxonomie von R. arvalis wird diskutiert.

litvinchuk-biblio