Stable phylogenetic patterns in scutigeromorph centipedes (Myriapoda : Chilopoda : Scutigeromorpha): dating the diversification of an ancient lineage of terrestrial arthropods

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gonzalo Giribet ◽  
Gregory D. Edgecombe

Although stable and well-supported relationships are in place for the three main clades (families) of Scutigeromorpha, the interrelationships of particular taxa within the most diverse family, Scutigeridae, are less clearly resolved. Novel molecular data for taxa from Mesoamerica, the Caribbean, southern Africa, New Guinea and previously unsampled parts of the Pacific are incorporated into phylogenetic analyses. Relationships across the tree are stable under variable analytical conditions, whether these are homology-based (multiple sequence alignment versus implied alignment; untrimmed versus trimmed datasets) or method-based (parsimony versus maximum likelihood). Hypervariable regions, contrary to common belief, add phylogenetic structure to the data, as measured by the increased support for many nodes when compared with the same alignments trimmed with Gblocks. Our analyses show that a Yule-3-rate model best explained the diversification of Scutigeromorpha during their 400 million years of history. More complete molecular data for the New Guinea genus Ballonema stabilise its position as sister group to Thereuoneminae. To reconcile scutigeromorph systematics with the phylogeny, the monotypic genus Madagassophora Verhoeff, 1936, is placed in synonymy with Scutigerina Silvestri, 1901 (n. syn.), its type species M. hova becoming Scutigerina hova (de Saussure & Zehntner, 1902) new comb. (from Scutigera), and Lassophora Verhoeff, 1905, is re-established for an Afro-Malagasy clade containing Lassophora nossibei (de Saussure & Zehntner, 1902) new comb. (from Scutigera) and a newly sequenced species from Mozambique that diverged at the base of the lineage to Thereuoneminae. The dated phylogeny of Scutigeromorpha is more consistent with ancient vicariant splits between Madagascar–southern Africa and Australia–New Caledonia than with younger dispersal scenarios, though some geologically young Pacific islands that harbour lineages dating to the Cretaceous demonstrate the potential for trans-oceanic dispersal.

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2688 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREA LUCKY ◽  
PHILIP S. WARD

The ants of the genus Leptomyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), commonly called ‘spider ants’, are distinctive members of the ant subfamily Dolichoderinae and prominent residents of intact wet forest and sclerophyll habitats in eastern Australia, New Caledonia and New Guinea. This revision redresses pervasive taxonomic problems in this genus by using a combination of morphology and molecular data to define species boundaries and clarify nomenclature. Twenty-seven Leptomyrmex species are recognized and are informally split into two groups: the macro-Leptomyrmex (21 species), and its sister group, the micro-Leptomyrmex (six species). Nine subspecies are elevated to species status: L. cnemidatus Wheeler 1915, L. geniculatus Emery 1914, L. melanoticus Wheeler 1934, L. nigriceps Emery 1914, L. rothneyi Forel 1902, L. ruficeps Emery 1895, L. rufipes Emery 1895, L. rufithorax Forel 1915 and L. tibialis Emery 1895. Nineteen new synonymies are proposed (senior synonyms listed first): L. cnemidatus Wheeler 1915 = L. erythrocephalus venustus Wheeler 1934 = L. erythrocephalus brunneiceps Wheeler 1934; L. darlingtoni Wheeler 1934 = L. darlingtoni fascigaster Wheeler 1934 = L. darlingtoni jucundus Wheeler 1934; L. erythrocephalus (Fabricius 1775) = L. froggatti Forel 1910 =4 · Zootaxa 2688 © 2010 Magnolia PressL. erythrocephalus mandibularis Wheeler 1915 = L. erythrocephalus unctus Wheeler 1934 = L. erythrocephalus clarki Wheeler 1934; L. fragilis (F. Smith 1859) = L. fragilis femoratus Santschi 1932 = L. fragilis maculatus Stitz 1938 = L. wheeleri Donisthorpe 1948; L. melanoticus Wheeler 1934 = L. contractus Donisthorpe 1947; L. niger Emery 1900 = L. lugubris Wheeler 1934; L. rufipes Emery 1895 = L. quadricolor Wheeler 1934; L. rufithorax Forel 1915 = L. erythrocephalus basirufus Wheeler 1934; L. tibialis Emery 1895 = L. nigriventris hackeri Wheeler 1934; L. varians Emery 1895 = L. erythrocephalus decipiens Wheeler 1915 = L. varians angusticeps Santschi 1929; L. wiburdi Wheeler 1915 = L. wiburdi pictus Wheeler 1915. Tools for identification of the macro-Leptomyrmex species include a revised species-level key based on the worker caste, keys to males in Australia and New Guinea, full descriptions of workers, images of known workers, males and queens, and illustration of male genitalia. Phylogenetic relationships among the macroand micro- Leptomyrmex species are discussed, as is the status of a putative fossil relative.


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy E. Halling ◽  
Mitchell Nuhn ◽  
Todd Osmundson ◽  
Nigel Fechner ◽  
James M. Trappe ◽  
...  

Harrya is described as a new genus of Boletaceae to accommodate Boletus chromapes, a pink-capped bolete with a finely scabrous stipe adorned with pink scabers, a chrome yellow base and a reddish-brown spore deposit. Phylogenetic analyses of large-subunit rDNA and translation elongation factor 1α confirmed Harrya as a unique generic lineage with two species, one of which is newly described (H. atriceps). Some Chinese taxa were recently placed in a separate genus, Zangia, supported by both morphology and molecular data. Multiple accessions from Queensland, Australia, support the synonymy of at least three species in a separate Australian clade in the new genus, Australopilus. The truffle-like Royoungia is also supported as a separate lineage in this clade of boletes. Even though it lacks stipe characters, it possesses the deep, bright yellow to orange pigments in the peridium. Additional collections from Zambia and Thailand represent independent lineages of uncertain phylogenetic placement in the Chromapes complex, but sampling is insufficient for formal description of new species. Specimens from Java referable to Tylopilus pernanus appear to be a sister group of the Harrya lineage.


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4995 (2) ◽  
pp. 334-344
Author(s):  
QIAN ZHOU ◽  
FAHUI TANG ◽  
YUANJUN ZHAO

During a survey of parasitic ciliates in Chongqing, China, Trichodina matsu Basson & Van As, 1994 was isolated from gills of Tachysurus fulvidraco. Furthermore, the 18S rRNA gene and ITS-5.8S rRNA region of T. matsu were sequenced for the first time and applied for the species identification and comparison with similar species in the present study. Based on the morphological and molecular comparisons, the results indicate that T. matsu is an ectoparasite specific for the Siluriformes catfish. Based on the analyses of genetic distance, multiple sequence alignments, and phylogenetic analyses, no obvious differentiation within populations of T. matsu was found. In addition, the ‘Trichodina hyperparasitis’ (KX904933) in GenBank is a misidentification and appears to be conspecific with T. matsu according to the comparison of morphological and molecular data.  


Author(s):  

Abstract A new distribution map is provided for Dysdercus sidae Montr. (D. insular is Stål) (Hemipt., Pyrrhocoridae). Host Plants: Cotton, kapok, Hibiscus spp. Information is given on the geographical distribution in AUSTRALASIA AND PACIFIC ISLANDS, Australia, Fiji, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, Niue, Papua & New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Wallis Islands, Irian Jaya.


Itinerario ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 24 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 173-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Aldrich

At the end of the Second World War, the islands of Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia were all under foreign control. The Netherlands retained West New Guinea even while control of the rest of the Dutch East Indies slipped away, while on the other side of the South Pacific, Chile held Easter Island. Pitcairn, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Fiji and the Solomon Islands comprised Britain's Oceanic empire, in addition to informal overlordship of Tonga. France claimed New Caledonia, the French Establishments in Oceania (soon renamed French Polynesia) and Wallis and Futuna. The New Hebrides remained an Anglo-French condominium; Britain, Australia and New Zealand jointly administered Nauru. The United States' territories included older possessions – the Hawaiian islands, American Samoa and Guam – and the former Japanese colonies of the Northern Marianas, Mar-shall Islands and Caroline Islands administered as a United Nations trust territory. Australia controlled Papua and New Guinea (PNG), as well as islands in the Torres Strait and Norfolk Island; New Zealand had Western Samoa, the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau. No island group in Oceania, other than New Zealand, was independent.


2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (7) ◽  
pp. 556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael K. Macphail ◽  
Robert S. Hill

Fossil pollen and spores preserved in drillcore from both the upper South Alligator River (SARV) in the Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory and the North-West Shelf, Western Australia provide the first record of plants and plant communities occupying the coast and adjacent hinterland in north-west Australia during the Paleogene 66 to 23million years ago. The palynologically-dominant woody taxon is Casuarinaceae, a family now comprising four genera of evergreen scleromorphic shrubs and trees native to Australia, New Guinea, South-east Asia and Pacific Islands. Rare taxa include genera now mostly restricted to temperate rainforest in New Guinea, New Caledonia, New Zealand, South-East Asia and/or Tasmania, e.g. Dacrydium, Phyllocladus and the Nothofagus subgenera Brassospora and Fuscospora. These appear to have existed in moist gorges on the Arnhem Land Plateau, Kakadu National Park. No evidence for Laurasian rainforest elements was found. The few taxa that have modern tropical affinities occur in Eocene or older sediments in Australia, e.g. Lygodium, Anacolosa, Elaeagnus, Malpighiaceae and Strasburgeriaceae. We conclude the wind-pollinated Oligocene to possibly Early Miocene vegetation in the upper SARV was Casuarinaceae sclerophyll forest or woodland growing under seasonally dry conditions and related to modern Allocasuarina/Casuarina formations. There are, however, strong floristic links to coastal communities growing under warm to hot, and seasonally to uniformly wet climates in north-west Australia during the Paleocene-Eocene.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 297 (2) ◽  
pp. 139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Sletten Bjorå ◽  
MARTE ELDEN ◽  
INGER NORDAL ◽  
ANNE K. BRYSTING ◽  
TESFAYE AWAS ◽  
...  

Sister group relations of Ethiopian species of Anthericum and Chlorophytum and variation patterns in the C. gallabatense and C. comosum complexes were studied using molecular phylogenetic analyses, morphometrics, and scanning electron microscopy of seed surfaces. Results indicate that molecular data largely support previous morphological conclusions, and that speciation has occurred in Ethiopia at least three times in Anthericum and repeatedly within different subclades of Chlorophytum. Areas particularly rich in endemic species are the lowland area around Bale Mountains in SE Ethiopia and in the Beninshangul Gumuz regional state in W Ethiopia near the border to Sudan. A new species, Chlorophytum mamillatum Elden & Nordal, is described, and the names C. tordense and C. tetraphyllum are re-instated.


Botany ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 86 (7) ◽  
pp. 697-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Bruneau ◽  
Marjorie Mercure ◽  
Gwilym P. Lewis ◽  
Patrick S. Herendeen

Subfamily Caesalpinioideae is a paraphyletic grade of 171 genera that comprises the first branches of the Leguminosae and from which are derived the monophyletic subfamilies Mimosoideae and Papilionoideae. We have sequenced the chloroplast matK gene, and the trnL and 3′-trnK introns for 153 genera of caesalpinioid legumes. Parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of these data support the monophyly of several major groups within the caesalpinioid legumes: the Cercideae, Detarieae, Detarieae s. str., Prioria , Amherstieae, Dialiinae, Cassia , Caesalpinia , Peltophorum , and Tachigali clades. Relationships among the first branching lineages of the legumes are not well supported, with Cercideae, Detarieae, and the genus Duparquetia alternatively resolved as sister group to all of the legumes. The division of certain large genera (e.g., Caesalpinia s. l., Bauhinia s. l.) into segregate genera generally is supported by our molecular data. Using 18 well-documented fossils as calibration points, fixing the stem node of the legumes at 65 Ma, and using the Penalised Likelihood method, we estimate the crown node of the Leguminosae at 64 Ma and the crown age of each of the major caesalpinioid lineages varying from 34 to 56 Ma. Fossil cross-validation suggests that none of the 18 fossil calibrations is internally inconsistent. Analyses done without fossil calibrations yield much younger divergence times. The age estimates for the Detarieae clade are more sensitive to the presence of calibration points than other caesalpinioid clades, a situation which we attribute to the slow rate of chloroplast DNA evolution in this group.


REINWARDTIA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Ruth Kiew

KIEW, R. 2020. Towards a Flora of New Guinea: Oleaceae. Part 1. Jasminum, Ligustrum, Myxopyrum and Olea. Reinwardtia 19(1): 1‒25. ‒‒ Oleaceae in New Guinea is represented by five genera and about 32 species, namely Chionanthus (about 16 species), Jasminum (10 species), Ligustrum (3 species), Myxopyrum (2 species) and Olea (1 species). A key to genera as well as descriptions of and keys to species of Jasminum, Ligustrum, Myxopyrum and Olea are provided. Of the three Ligustrum species, L. glomeratum is widespread throughout Malesia, L. novoguineense is endemic and L. parvifolium Kiew is a new endemic species. Six species of Jasminum are endemic (J. domatiigerum, J. gilgianum, J. magnificum, J. papuasicum, J. pipolyi and J. rupestre). Jasminum turneri just reaches the northern tip of Australia; of the two species from the Pacific Islands J. simplicifolium subsp. australiense just reaches SE Papua New Guinea and J. didymum, a coastal species, reaches into Malesia as far north as E Java; J. elongatum is widespread from Asia to Australia. Neither Myxopyrum species is endemic: M. nervosum subsp. nervosum extends from Peninsular Malaysia to Indonesian New Guinea, and M. ovatum from the Philippines to the Admiralty Islands. The sole species of Olea, O. paniculata, stretches from Java to Australia and New Caledonia. 


Zoosymposia ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 439-450
Author(s):  
ALICE WELLS ◽  
KJELL ARNE JOHANSON

Today's distributions of faunal groups reflect historic events—geological and evolutionary, as well as dispersals, extinctions and chance events. The extent to which each of these contributed to the hydroptilid faunas of mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu is explored by comparison of the faunal composition, geology and geography of Australia and these SW Pacific islands. Corroborative evidence is sought from other groups, flora as well as fauna.


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