Evidence supporting Davallia canariensis as a Late Miocene relict endemic to Macaronesia and Atlantic Europe

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongmei Liu ◽  
Harald Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Late Miocene ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Messinian Salinity Crisis ◽  
Crown Group ◽  
Coding Regions ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
The Family ◽  
Fern Species

The present study investigated the hypothesis that several fern species occurring in Macaronesia and Atlantic Europe are relicts of the Miocene Paratethyan–Tethyan flora that survived in Macaronesia refugia. The hypothesis was tested by reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships of the derived fern Davallia canariensis, which is the only species of a mainly South-east Asian family, Davalliaceae, occurring naturally in Europe, Macaronesia and northern Africa. The dataset comprised a comprehensive taxonomic sampling of the family, with representatives of the five major lineages and ~50–60% of the extant species diversity. For each species, we included two coding regions of the chloroplast genome, namely, atpB and rbcL. Diversification times were estimated considering previous estimates of the crown and stem group age as well as the fossil record of Davalliaceae. The results were consistent with the hypothesis, by recovering D. canariensis as the only extant member of an isolated lineage that has been separated from other crown group Davalliaceae since the Late Miocene. The obtained results are discussed in the context of the Messinian salinity crisis, evolution of epiphytic habit in ferns, and the generic classification of Davalliaceae.

Implications for the study of fossil Asteroidea (Echinodermata) of new genera and species from the Eocene of Florida

2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 562-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel B. Blake ◽  
Roger W. Portell
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
New Taxa ◽  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
New Genera ◽  
Crown Group ◽  
Marine Communities ◽  
The Family ◽  
Ocala Limestone

Oyenaster oblidus, Ocalaster timucum, and Ocalaster seloyi are new genera and species of the family Goniasteridae (Asteroidea) described from the Eocene Ocala Limestone of Florida. Although the fossil record of asteroids is sketchy, goniasterids appear to have been important contributors to marine communities since at least the Middle Jurassic. Similarities between living goniasterids and their fossil precursors indicate that plesiomorphy and convergence have been important in family history, and as a result, taxonomic interpretation is challenging. Even partial fossil goniasterids are rare, forcing systematists to rely heavily on isolated marginal ossicles, although some authors have expressed the need for caution. Building around three new taxa, we suggest that broader approaches can aid systematic interpretation of all crown-group asteroids. We also suggest that the inevitably idiosyncratic interpretations of marginal-based systematics can be partially tested using blind evaluations.

A new fossil species of the Australian endemic genus Peradenia Naumann & Masner (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupoidea, Peradeniidae) from Baltic Amber

2001 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens-Wilhelm Janzen ◽  
Norman F. Johnson ◽  
Luciana Musetti
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Amber ◽  
Australian Capital Territory ◽  
Fossil Species ◽  
Southeastern Australia ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Status ◽  
Subfamily Classification ◽  
A New Species

AbstractThe family Peradeniidae (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupoidea) is represented by two rare extant species from southeastern Australia (Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Tasmania). A new species, Peradenia galerita sp. n., is described from Eocene Baltic amber. The fossil species is very similar to the living Perndenia, but has the short metasomatic petiole typical of most Proctotrupoidea. The subfamily classification of Heloridae proposed by Rasnitsyn and the status of Peradeniidae are briefly reviewed. The subfamily Mesohelorinae Rasnitsyn, 1990 is a junior synonym of Protohelorinae Rasnitsyn, 1980 (syn. n.).

scholarly journals Evolution of seahorses' upright posture was linked to Oligocene expansion of seagrass habitats

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 521-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter R. Teske ◽  
Luciano B. Beheregaray
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Molecular Techniques ◽  
Molecular Dating ◽  
Upright Posture ◽  
Tectonic Events ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
The Family ◽  
Transitional Forms

Seahorses (Syngnathidae: Hippocampus ) are iconic marine teleosts that are readily identifiable by their upright posture. The fossil record is inadequate to shed light on the evolution of this trait because it lacks transitional forms. There are, however, extant syngnathid species (the pygmy pipehorses) that look like horizontally swimming seahorses and that might represent a surviving evolutionary link between the benthic seahorses and other, free-swimming members of the family Syngnathidae. Using sequence data from five nuclear loci, we confirm the sister taxon relationship between seahorses and pygmy pipehorses. Molecular dating indicates that the two taxa diverged during the Late Oligocene. During this time, tectonic events in the Indo-West Pacific resulted in the formation of vast amounts of new shallow-water areas and associated expansion of seagrass habitats that would have favoured the seahorses’ upright posture by improving their camouflage while not affecting their manoeuvrability negatively. The molecular techniques employed here provide new insights into the evolution of a taxon whose fossil record is incomplete, but whose evolutionary history is so recent that the major stages of morphological evolution are still represented in extant species.

scholarly journals Taxonomic revision and new species/subspecies of Middle-Late Miocene (Bessarabian) miliolids of the Family Hauerinidae Schwager from Georgia — Eastern Paratethys

2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 419-430
Author(s):  
Lamara Maisuradze ◽  
Kakhaber Koiava ◽  
Silvia Spezzaferri
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Late Miocene ◽  
Taxonomic Revision ◽  
Eastern Paratethys ◽  
The Family ◽  
Shape And Size

Taxonomic revision and new species/subspecies of Middle-Late Miocene (Bessarabian) miliolids of the Family Hauerinidae Schwager from Georgia — Eastern ParatethysThree new miliolid taxa from Bessarabian sediments from Georgia (Eastern Paratethys) are described following the classification of Łuczkowska (1972), which has never been used before by ex-Soviet micropaleontologists. They are:Varidentella luczkowskae; Varidentella reussi(Bogdanowicz) subsp.costulata; andAffinetrina voloshinovae(Bogdanowicz) subsp.eldarica.This classification takes into account the morphology of the aperture and the shape and size of teeth as criteria to distinguish the species. This study contributes important criteria which will help to unify the taxonomical inconsistencies between the Eastern, Central and Western Paratethyan miliolids.

scholarly journals Climbing since the early Miocene: The fossil record of Paullinieae (Sapindaceae)

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0248369
Author(s):  
Nathan A. Jud ◽  
Sarah E. Allen ◽  
Chris W. Nelson ◽  
Carolina L. Bastos ◽  
Joyce G. Chery
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Panama Canal ◽  
Herbarium Specimens ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Crown Group ◽  
Fossil Leaves ◽  
The Family ◽  
Cambial Variant ◽  
The Tropics

Paullinieae are a diverse group of tropical and subtropical climbing plants that belong to the soapberry family (Sapindaceae). The six genera in this tribe make up approximately one-quarter of the species in the family, but a sparse fossil record limits our understanding of their diversification. Here, we provide the first description of anatomically preserved fossils of Paullinieae and we re-evaluate other macrofossils that have been attributed to the tribe. We identified permineralized fossil roots in collections from the lower Miocene Cucaracha Formation where it was exposed along the Culebra Cut of the Panama Canal. We prepared the fossils using the cellulose acetate peel technique and compared the anatomy with that of extant Paullinieae. The fossil roots preserve a combination of characters found only in Paullinieae, including peripheral secondary vascular strands, vessel dimorphism, alternate intervessel pitting with coalescent apertures, heterocellular rays, and axial parenchyma strands of 2–4 cells, often with prismatic crystals. We also searched the paleontological literature for other occurrences of the tribe. We re-evaluated leaf fossils from western North America that have been assigned to extant genera in the tribe by comparing their morphology to herbarium specimens and cleared leaves. The fossil leaves that were assigned to Cardiospermum and Serjania from the Paleogene of western North America are likely Sapindaceae; however, they lack diagnostic characters necessary for inclusion in Paullinieae and should be excluded from those genera. Therefore, the fossils described here as Ampelorhiza heteroxylon gen. et sp. nov. are the oldest macrofossil evidence of Paullinieae. They provide direct evidence of the development of a vascular cambial variant associated with the climbing habit in Sapindaceae and provide strong evidence of the diversification of crown-group Paullinieae in the tropics by 18.5–19 million years ago.

A taxonomic revision of the Pleistocene Hystrix (Hystricidae, Rodentia) from Eurasia with notes on the evolution of the family

2005 ◽  
Vol 74 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 301-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.J. van Weers
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Taxonomic Revision ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
The Family ◽  
Asiatic Species

Measurements of many hundreds of the high-crowned cheek teeth of Hystrix specimens from the Euro-Asiatic Pleistocene in the collections of European and Asiatic institutions have been compared with extant species for a revision of the genus. A review is given about the extant genera and species of the family. The number of recognisable Euro-Asiatic species in the fossil record is reduced from eight to five. The European H. (A.) vinogradovi Argyropulo, 1941 is here considered to be a synonym of H. (A.) brachyura Linnaeus, 1758, and the three Asiatic species H. (H.) crassidens Lydekker, 1886, H. (H.) gigantea Van Weers, 1985 and H. (H.) magna Pei, 1987 are synonymized with H. (H.) refossa Gervais, 1852. Most of the Chinese fossil specimens are properly allocated to H. (H.) kiangsenensis Wang, 1931 instead of ‘H. subcristata’, and a neotype is indicated for this species. The distribution of the Indonesian Hystrix species is the result of several migration waves into Sundaland, and is not considered to be the result of ‘in situ’ evolution. Comparison of the Miocene material from the Siwaliks in India, described as Sivacanthion complicatus Colbert 1933, with extant and Pleistocene Atherurus results in allocation of this species to Atherurus karnuliensis Lydekker, 1886.

Atypical short elytra in Cretaceous short-winged flower beetles (Coleoptera: Kateretidae)

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 505-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID PERIS ◽  
JOSEF JELÍNEK
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Fossil Species ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
The Family

Although the family Kateretidae has fewer than 100 described extant species, its fossil record is growing. The description given here of Electrumeretes birmanicus gen. et sp. nov. and Polliniretes penalveri gen. et sp. nov. brings the number of fossil species in Kateretidae up to nine. Eight of the fossil species have been described from amber deposits and six are from the Cretaceous. All the Cretaceous fossil species and one from the Eocene share atypically short elytra and three dorsally exposed abdominal tergites, whereas in Recent relatives, even though they have shortened elytra, only the pygidium and a part of the preceding one or two abdominal tergites are exposed. It is suggested that shortened elytra (brachelytry) represents an ancestral state and that elytra may have become secondary longer in extant relatives.

First fossil record of the pseudoscorpion family Pseudochiridiidae (Arachnida, Chelonethi, Cheiridioidea) from Dominican amber

Zootaxa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1393 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK L.I. JUDSON
Keyword(s):  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Family Group ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Dominican Amber ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
The Family

Pseudochiridium lindae n. sp. is described from Dominican amber (Miocene), representing the first fossil record of the family Pseudochiridiidae. The extant species Pseudochiridium insulae Hoff, 1964 is newly recorded from the Dominican Republic. Paracheiridium vachoni Vitali-di Castri, 1970 is transferred to the genus Pseudochiridium With, 1906 (n. comb.). The correct publication date for family-group names based on Cheiridiinae Hansen is shown to be 1894.

scholarly journals New mid-Cretaceous cryptic slime mold beetles and the early evolution of Sphindidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea)

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 587-597
Author(s):  
Yan-Da Li ◽  
Erik Tihelka ◽  
Zhen-Hua Liu ◽  
Di-Ying Huang ◽  
Chen‑Yang Cai
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Slime Mold ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Calibration Point ◽  
Crown Group ◽  
Slime Molds ◽  
The Family ◽  
Group Members

Abstract The cryptic slime mold beetles, Sphindidae, are a moderately diverse cucujoid beetle family, whose members are obligately tied to slime molds throughout their life. The fossil record of sphindid beetles is sparse; stem-sphindids and crown-group members of uncertain systematic placement have been reported from Cretaceous ambers. Here we review the Mesozoic fossil record of Sphindidae and report a new sphindid genus and species, Trematosphindus newtonigen. et sp. nov., from Albian/Cenomanian amber from northern Myanmar (ca. 99 Ma). Trematosphindus is set apart from all other sphindids by the presence of distinct lateral cavities on the anterior pronotal angles. Our phylogenetic analysis identifies Trematosphindus as an early-diverging genus within Sphindidae, sister to the remainder of the family except Protosphindus, or Protosphindus and Odontosphindus. The new fossils provide evidence that basal crown slime mold beetles begun to diversify by the mid-Cretaceous, providing a valuable calibration point for understanding timescale of sphindid co-evolution with slime molds.

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