Larval Sphindidae (Coleoptera : Cucujoidea): phylogenetic implications and new descriptions

2000 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Chiao ◽  
Joseph V. McHugh

A new phylogenetic hypothesis of Sphindidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea) ispresented, based on a cladistic analysis of 15 larval morphology characters inaddition to 39 adult morphology characters modified from a previous study by McHugh (1993). Results from the combined cladistic analyses show larval characters supporting several previously established relationships and resolving the placement of Notosphindus McHugh & Wheeler. The sister-group relationship betweenCarinisphindus McHugh and SphindusMegerle in Dejean is not supported by the combined analyses. Larval charactersdid not show a disproportionately strong impact on the more basal nodes.Incongruence length difference analysis found an insignificant level ofdiscordance (P = 0.197) between the adult andlarval based data sets. Larval Notosphindus slateriMcHugh & Wheeler, Genisphindus minor McHugh andCarinisphindus purpuricephalus McHugh & Lewis aredescribed for the first time, representing the first larval descriptions forthese genera. A literature review of immature stages of sphindid beetles and ageneric level key to larvae of the family are provided.

1992 ◽  
Vol 335 (1274) ◽  
pp. 207-219 ◽  

Sphenodon has traditionally been regarded as a little changed survivor of the Permo-Triassic thecodont or eosuchian ‘stem reptiles’ but has alternatively been placed in the Lepidosauria as the plesiomorphic or even apomorphic sister-taxon of the squamates. A cladistic analysis of 16 characters from spermatozoal ultrastructure of Sphenodon and other amniotes unequivocally confirms its exceedingly primitive status. The analysis suggests that monotremes are the sister-group of birds; squamates form the sister-group of a bird + monotreme clade while the three sister-groups successively below the bird + monotreme + squa- mate assemblage are the caiman, the tuatara and the outgroup (turtles). The monotreme + bird couplet, supports the concept of the Haemothermia, but can only be regarded heuristically. The usual concept of mammals as a synapsid-derived outgroup of all other extant amniotes is not substantiated spermatologically. All cladistic analyses made, and a separate consideration of apomorphies, indicate that Sphenodon is spermatologically the most primitive amniote, excepting the Chelonia. It is advanced (apomorphic) for the amniotes in only two of the 16 spermatozoal characters considered. A close, sister-group relationship of Sphenodon with squamates is not endorsed.


Zootaxa ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 891 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Szarowska ◽  
Andrzej Falniowski ◽  
FRANK Riedel ◽  
Thomas Wilke

The phylogenetic position of the subfamily Pyrgulinae within the superfamily Rissooidea has been discussed very controversially. Different data sets not only led to different evolutionary scenarios but also to different systematic classifications of the taxon. The present study uses detailed anatomical data for two pyrgulinid taxa, the type species of the subfamily, Pyrgula annulata (Linnaeus, 1767), and the type species of the little known genus Dianella, D. thiesseana (Kobelt, 1878), as well as DNA sequencing data of three gene fragments from representatives of eight rissooidean families to A) infer the phylogenetic position of Pyrgulinae with emphasis on its relationships within the family Hydrobiidae, B) to study the degree of concordance between anatomyand DNAbased phylogenies and C) to trace the evolution of anatomical characters along a multi-gene molecular phylogeny to find the anatomical characters that might be informative for future cladistic analyses. Both anatomical and molecular data sets indicate either a very close or even sister-group relationship of Pyrgulinae and Hydrobiinae. However, there are major conflicts between the two data sets on and above the family level. Notably, Hydrobiidae is not monophyletic in the anatomical analysis. The reconstruction of anatomical character evolution indicates that many of the characters on which the European hydrobioid taxonomy is primarily based upon are problematic. The inability to clearly separate some hydrobiids from other distinct families based on those characters might explain why until only a few years ago, "Hydrobiidae" was a collecting box for numerous rissooidean taxa (mostly species with shells small and lacking any characteristic features). The present study not only stresses the need for comprehensive molecular studies of rissooidean taxa, it also demonstrates that much of the problems surrounding anatomical analyses in rissooidean taxa are due to the lack of comprehensive data for many representatives. In order to aid future comparativeanatomical studies and a better understanding of character evolution in the species-rich family Hydrobiidae, detailed anatomical descriptions for P. annulata and D. thiesseana are provided.Key words: Pyrgulinae, Pyrgula, Dianella, Hydrobiidae, phylogeny, DNA, anatomy, Greece


2003 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. 962-970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darla K Zelenitsky ◽  
Sean P Modesto

A reappraisal of the eggshell of ratites clarifies aspects of its microstructure and ultrastructure. The phylogenetic usefulness of the eggshell data, consisting of discrete characters, is assessed using eggshell characters alone and by adding the eggshell characters to a data matrix from the literature based on skeletal characters. The resultant tree from the eggshell data alone yields Apteryx as the most basal ratite, dinornithids as the sister taxon of a clade of large living ratites, with Casuarius and Dromaius in a sister-group relationship. The combined eggshell and skeletal analysis revealed most groupings within Ratitae that were based on previous cladistic analysis of the skeletal characters alone, but also supports two equally parsimonious topologies: one identifies Dinornithidae and Apteryx as a clade at the base of Ratitae, and the other identifies Apteryx as the sister taxon of a clade consisting of all the other ratites. It is determined that the characteristics used to define the improperly named "ratite morphotype" in the current eggshell parataxonomy are not synapomorphies of the eggshell of Ratitae. An expanded cladistic analysis of the eggshells of avian and non-avian theropods is required to determine the phylogenetic usefulness of the characteristics of the ratite morphotype.


1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 526-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Brinkman ◽  
Jiang-Hua Peng

Zangerlia neimongolensis sp.nov. is described on the basis of material from the Upper Cretaceous redbeds at Bayan Mandahu in Inner Mongolia. Zangerlia neimongolensis is similar to Zangerlia testudinimorpha in the proportions of the carapace and plastron and presence of a knob at the posterior end of the neural series, but differs from it in the arrangement of scutes covering the bridge. The placement of Zangerlia in the Nanhsiungchelyidae is supported by derived features of the bridge peripherals and plastral scutes shared by Z. neimongolensis, Basilemys, and Nanhsiungchelys. These are the presence of ventrally expanded sixth inframarginal scutes, humeral scutes that are narrow at the midline and expanded laterally, pectoral scutes that are wide at the midline and narrow laterally, and large rectangular abdominal scutes. The skull of Zangerlia is more primitive than that of Nanhsiungchelys, the only other member of the family for which a skull is known. It shows extensive emargination of the temporal and cheek regions and the absence of a large, tubular external narial opening. A cladistic analysis of the Trionychoidea using Zangerlia as the representative of the Nanhsiungchelyidae suggests a sister-group relationship between the Nanhsiungchelyidae and Adocidae.


2004 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. W. Cayzer ◽  
M. D. Crisp ◽  
I. R. H. Telford

Cladistic analyses of morphological data were used to clarify the definition of Billardiera in the context of other genera of the family Pittosporaceae. These analyses indicate that Billardiera s.str. is monophyletic including the small genera Sollya and Pronaya, but excluding Marianthus and Rhytidosporum, which have been previously included in a broader concept of Billardiera. The re-circumscribed Billardiera is revised, incorporating these changes. Five taxa are reinstated at species level (B. fusiformis, B. mutabilis, B. macrantha, B. speciosa and B.�venusta). Three are new combinations (B. fraseri, B. heterophylla, B. drummondii replacing Sollya drummondii) and three new taxa are described for the first time: B. nesophila, B. rubens and B. viridiflora.


2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariano C. Michat ◽  
Yves Alarie ◽  
Patricia L. M. Torres ◽  
Yoandri S. Megna

Phylogenetic relationships within diving beetles (Dytiscidae) are imperfectly known. In particular, some authors have considered that the tribe Methlini is included in the subfamily Hydroporinae (a large group including about half of the dytiscid species worldwide), whereas others have argued in favour of excluding Methlini from the Hydroporinae and giving it subfamilial rank. Larval characters have been underutilised in phylogenetic studies, mainly because the larvae of many taxa within the family are still unknown. The larval morphology of the dytiscid tribe Methlini, in particular, remains poorly known. In this study, the phylogenetic relationships among ancestral lineages of the Hydroporinae are investigated based on a cladistic analysis of 34 taxa and 127 morphological larval characters. For this purpose, larvae of the Methlini (Celina parallela (Babington, 1841)) and C. imitatrix Young, 1979) are described and illustrated in detail for the first time, with particular emphasis on morphometry and chaetotaxy. The results show high support for a monophyletic origin of the Hydroporinae, including Methlini, based on eight unique character states. Giving Methlini subfamily rank would leave Hydroporinae with a single unique larval apomorphy. This supports the inclusion of Methlini as a tribe of Hydroporinae. Other interesting but less well supported results include: 1, the clade Laccornini + Hydrovatini + Canthyporus Zimmermann, 1919 (Hydroporini) resolved as the sister-group to the other Hydroporinae minus Methlini; and 2, Hydrovatini and Canthyporus resolved as sister-groups. The presence of a galea, albeit in a reduced form, in larvae of Methlini, Laccornini and Hydrovatini is of the utmost interest. The putative hypothesis of an ancestral position for these genera within Hydroporinae suggests that hydroporines lost the galea secondarily.


2006 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariano Michat

AbstractThe phylogenetic position of Hydrovatus Motschulsky was investigated based on a cladistic analysis of 18 hydroporine taxa and 69 characters from larval morphology. For this purpose, the three larval instars of H. caraibus Sharp were described and illustrated for the first time, emphasizing the morphometry and chaetotaxy. The resulting cladogram supported a sister-group relationship of the tribes Hydrovatini and Hyphydrini, based on three unambiguous synapomorphies: the absence of pore ANh, the proximal insertion of seta LA8, and the abdominal segment VI sclerotized ventrally. The strong development of seta AB5 and the absence of pore PAj are other two potential synapomorphies for this clade. The tribe Vatellini was resolved as more closely related to members of Hydroporini than to Hyphydrini. However, the support obtained for this relationship was weak, since no unambiguous synapomorphies were discovered. Larvae of H. caraibus are characteristic within Hydroporinae in the absence of an occipital suture, the presence of a galea (secondarily derived according to this study), and the absence of setae LA3 and UR8 and pores PAm and PAo. First instar larva is also unique in that the egg bursters are basally placed on the frontoclypeus and the claws bear ventral spinulae on basal half.


Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3358 (1) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
NING SUN ◽  
BIN LI ◽  
LIHONG TU

A new spider genus, Ternatus n. gen., is erected to accommodate two new erigonine species from China, Ternatus malleatusn. sp. and Ternatus siculus n. sp. Descriptions and illustrations of the new genus and new species are provided. To test the phy-logenetic placement within Linyphiidae, morphological data of the two new species were added to the matrices of two previousstudies addressing the higher level phylogeny of erigonine spiders. The results of the cladistic analyses support the monophyly of the new genus and its sister group relationship to the genus Gonatium Menge, 1868.


1977 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Møller Andersen

AbstractVeliometra sehuhi n.gen., n.sp. is described from Amazonas, Brazil. It has many ptesiomorphic characters and a strong phenetic affinity with the Macroveliidae. The common occurrence of a number of apomorphic characters in the new genus and the genera of Hydrometridae makes Veliometra n.gen. a member of the hydrometrid lineage. The cladistic relationships of the genera of Hydrometridae are analysed and the division of the family into three subfamilies is supported. The proposed sister group relationship between Veliometra n.gen. from Brazil and Heterocleptes from West and Central Africa is taken as evidence of vicariance biogeography in response to continental drift. A classification and a key to subfamilies and genera of Hydrometridae are included.


Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4674 (4) ◽  
pp. 482-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
HONGYU LI ◽  
BO WANG ◽  
XINGYUE LIU

The male of Cretaconiopteryx grandis Liu & Lu, 2017, which is the only representative species of the extinct dustywing subfamily Cretaconiopteryginae, is described for the first time from the Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber. The male genitalia, well preserved in the examined specimen, show a number of plesiomorphic characters, which support the sister group relationship between Coniopterygidae and the rest of extant lacewing families. 


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