Evolutionary history and species delimitations: a case study of the hazel dormouse, Muscardinus avellanarius

The distinctive ant genus Leptomyrmex Mayr, 1862 had been thought to be endemic to Australasia for over 150 years, but enigmatic Neotropical fossils have challenged this view for decades. The present study responds to a recent and surprising discovery of extant Leptomyrmex species in Brazil with a thorough evaluation of the Dominican Republic fossil material, which dates to the Miocene. In the first case study of direct fossil inclusion within Formicidae Latreille, 1809, we incorporated both living and the extinct Leptomyrmex species. Through simultaneous analysis of molecular and morphological characters in both Bayesian and parsimony frameworks, we recovered the fossil taxon as sister-group to extant Leptomyrmex in Brazil while considering the influence of taxonomic and character sampling on inferred hypotheses relating to tree topology, biogeography and morphological evolution. We also identified potential loss of signal in the binning of morphological characters and tested the impact of parameterisation on divergence date estimation. Our results highlight the importance of securing sufficient taxon sampling for extant lineages when incorporating fossils and underscore the utility of diverse character sources in accurate placement of fossil terminals. Specifically, we find that fossil placement in this group is influenced by the inclusion of male-based characters and the newly discovered Neotropical ‘Lazarus taxon’.

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Factors predicting summer nest construction of Muscardinus avellanarius in deciduous woodland edges in Slovakia

Biologia ◽

10.1515/biolog-2015-0010 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 70 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Alexander Čanády

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Nest Site ◽

Site Preference ◽

Nest Construction ◽

Forest Edges ◽

Time Data ◽

Rubus Fruticosus ◽

Deciduous Woodland ◽

Hazel Dormouse ◽

Muscardinus Avellanarius

AbstractForest edges with diverse vegetation are an important feature of habitat preference for the hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the factors predicting summer nest construction in deciduous woodland edges in Slovakia. At the same time, nest types, dimensions of nests and nest-site preference in shrubs and young trees were analysed. A total of 178 summer nests were found over the years 2010-2013 on the branches of several plant species, but mainly on Prunus spinosa, Rubus fruticosus and Carpinus betulus. The principle component analysis (PCA) in this study revealed that several factors were significant for the construction of nests in shrubby vegetation. The occurrence of four nest types (mixed, layered, foliar and grassy) with relatively large dimensions was confirmed. Botanical analysis of the leaf material in the nests confirmed that ten different plant species were incorporated into the nests. Moreover, a positive correlation was shown between the distance of the nest from the ground and from the top of the plant and the plant height. This study suggests that this micro-habitat may play an important role for suitable nesting of the hazel dormouse, as stated by several authors from the different countries and regions of its large distributional range. At the same time, data on the presence or absence of summer nests in the monitored habitat aid in the detection of species.

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They don’t live forever: How life history data and encounter probability help to assess success of Muscardinus avellanarius translocations (Rodentia: Gliridae)

Lynx, new series ◽

10.2478/lynx-2018-0002 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 49 (1) ◽

pp. 11-17

Author(s):

Sarah Beer ◽

Sven Büchner ◽

Johannes Lang

Keyword(s):

Survival Rates ◽

Published Data ◽

Suitable Habitat ◽

Development Projects ◽

Natural Mortality ◽

Translocation Event ◽

Life History Data ◽

Hazel Dormouse ◽

Suitable Measure ◽

Muscardinus Avellanarius

Abstract The hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) is a European Protected Species and for this reason, hazel dormice are protected from deliberate killing, injury or disturbance and its sites and resting places are also protected. During development projects impacts on hazel dormouse individuals and populations should be avoided. If avoidance is not possible measures of mitigation and compensation have to be implemented. In many cases the only suitable measure to prevent disturbance, killing or injury of individuals is the translocation of hazel dormice to another suitable habitat. The success of translocations has so far been rarely documented. To assess the success of translocations, the natural mortality of hazel dormice has to be considered as well as the likelihood of finding specific individuals during the proposed action. How these data affect the assessment of translocation success is calculated based on published data on seasonal survival rates of different cohorts and of unpublished monthly encounter probabilities of a population of marked animals. Depending on the time between the translocation event and the subsequent monitoring controls the number of hazel dormice likely to be alive can be low. For this reason, success cannot be evaluated with our method if the sample size is too small.

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Distinguishing Biology from Geology in Soft-Tissue Preservation

The Paleontological Society Papers ◽

10.1017/s1089332600002898 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 20 ◽

pp. 275-288 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

John A. Cunningham ◽

Philip C. J. Donoghue ◽

Stefan Bengtson

Keyword(s):

Soft Tissue ◽

Laser Beam ◽

Evolutionary History ◽

Soft Tissues ◽

Analytical Techniques ◽

Tissue Preservation ◽

Deep Time ◽

X Ray ◽

Soft Tissue Preservation

Knowledge of evolutionary history is based extensively on relatively rare fossils that preserve soft tissues. These fossils record a much greater proportion of anatomy than would be known solely from mineralized remains and provide key data for testing evolutionary hypotheses in deep time. Ironically, however, exceptionally preserved fossils are often among the most contentious because they are difficult to interpret. This is because their morphology has invariably been affected by the processes of decay and diagenesis, meaning that it is often difficult to distinguish preserved biology from artifacts introduced by these processes. Here we describe how a range of analytical techniques can be used to tease apart mineralization that preserves biological structures from unrelated geological mineralization phases. This approach involves using a series of X-ray, ion, electron and laser beam techniques to characterize the texture and chemistry of the different phases so that they can be differentiated in material that is difficult to interpret. This approach is demonstrated using a case study of its application to the study of fossils from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Biota.

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Evolutionary history as a driver of ecological networks: a case study of plant-hummingbird interactions

Oikos ◽

10.1111/oik.04344 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 127 (4) ◽

pp. 561-569 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Rômulo Silveira Vitória ◽

Jeferson Vizentin-Bugoni ◽

Leandro D. S. Duarte

Keyword(s):

Evolutionary History ◽

Ecological Networks

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