Identification of Subterranean Termite Genus, Reticulitermes (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae) in Taiwan

2019 ◽  
Vol 112 (6) ◽  
pp. 2872-2881 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Chien Wu ◽  
Cheng-Lung Tsai ◽  
Wei-Ren Liang ◽  
Yoko Takematsu ◽  
Hou-Feng Li

Abstract Species identification in the genus Reticulitermes is often difficult because of ambiguous morphological characters. Challenges in Reticulitermes spp. recognition have also been encountered in East Asia, including Taiwan. Because of unknown Reticulitermes taxa in Taiwan and the possible origin of alien Reticulitermes kanmonensis Takematsu in Japan and Korea, reexamining Reticulitermes fauna in Taiwan is imperative. To clarify the Reticulitermes fauna in Taiwan, this study applied two mitochondrial genes (cytochrome oxidase subunit II [COII] and 16S rDNA) and morphological characters for species delimitation. Reticulitermes specimens collected from 63 localities across the main and adjacent islands of Taiwan were analyzed. Phylogenetic analyses, morphological comparisons, and ecological traits suggested the existence of three species in Taiwan: Reticulitermes flaviceps (Oshima), R. kanmonensis, and Reticulitermes leptomandibularis Hsia and Fan. Altitudinal distributions among the three Reticulitermes termites tended to differ: R. flaviceps adapted to low hills, but R. kanmonensis and R. leptomandibularis occurred in medium mountainous areas. The combined data, including haplotype diversities and distribution range, suggest that 1) R. flaviceps is an endemic species and only found in Taiwan; 2) R. kanmonensis and R. leptomandibularis are both native species in Taiwan and China; 3) Japanese R. kanmonensis populations originated from southern China and/or Taiwan and that Korean populations were possibly introduced from Japan.

Author(s):  
Udon Pongkawong ◽  
◽  
Jatupol Kampuansai ◽  
Rossarin Pollawatn ◽  
Arunothai Jampeetong ◽  
...  

Abstract “Dok Hin” is the Thai local name for Selaginella species that form rosettes. They commonly distributes in Siberia, Manchuria, southern China, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand. Morphology of Dok Hin is very resemble leading to misidentification. So, exactly number of species of Dok Hin in Thailand and their differences in morphological characteristics is not well understood. Thus, revision of morphological characters and phylogenetic confirmation of the taxonomic identification are needed. This study aims to examine morphological charateristics and phylogenetic patterns in eight populations of the Dok Hin in Northern Thailand. Morphology of Dok Hin from each populations was quantitatively examined using 15 vegetative and 6 reproductive characters meanwhile phylogenetic analyses was explored by DNA barcode ITS2. The results of the phylogenetic analysis revealed the existence of two species of Dok Hin, S. tamariscina and S. pulvinata. Selaginella tamariscina can be distinguished from S. pulvinata by its presence of a pseudotrunk above ground and ridges of dorsal leaves. On the other hand, the results of phylogenetic analysis indicated the differences among populations of S. pulvinata as well. Chiang Mai populations of S. pulvinata was characterized by peculiar set of characters long leaves and leaf apices look like caudate, while the rest of their populations have shorter leaves and leaf apices look like aristate. It indicates that S. pulvinata has genetic and phenotypic divergence among populations. However, additional studies of Dok Hin populations in other parts of Thailand and studies on different genetic markers are necessary to confirm the taxonomic status of S. pulvinata. Keywords: Dok Hin, Morphometric, Phylogeny, Pseudotrunk, Resurrection plant


Phytotaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 415 (4) ◽  
pp. 179-188
Author(s):  
XIANG-NYU CHEN ◽  
MING ZHANG ◽  
TAI-HUI LI ◽  
NIAN-KAI ZENG

Heimioporus sinensis, collected from tropical and subtropical areas of China, is introduced as a new species based on both morphological characters and molecular data. The species is characterized by the purplish red to deep magenta pileus, the reticulated stipe, the irregularly reticulate to reticulate-alveolate basidiospores 11.5–13.5 × 8–9.5 μm, and a trichodermal to intricately trichodermal pileipellis. Phylogenetic analyses based on the nuc 28S rDNA D1-D2 domains (28S) and the translation elongation factor 1-α gene (tef1-α) showed that H. sinensis is a distinct member of the genus Heimioporus in the subfamily Xerocomoideae.


Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3412 (1) ◽  
pp. 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
SEAN D. SCHOVILLE

Grylloblatta oregonensis new species, Grylloblatta siskiyouensis new species, and Grylloblatta marmoreus new speciesare described from the Klamath Mountains region of Oregon and California, U.S.A. Two species were found at OregonCaves National Monument, with G. oregonensis inhabiting the dark zone of caves and G. siskiyouensis inhabiting surfacehabitat and the twilight zone of caves. The third species, G. marmoreus, is known from Big Foot Cave and Planetary DairyCave, Marble Mountains, California. These three species are recognized on the basis of morphological characters anddistinguished from nearby Grylloblatta species. Analysis of genetic data from the cytochrome oxidase subunit II genesupports the morphological diagnosis of these three species as unique lineages and confirms their genetic divergence from other ice-crawler populations found in Oregon and California.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 174 (4) ◽  
pp. 187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakshmi Attigala ◽  
Jimmy K. Triplett ◽  
Hashendra-Suvini Kathriarachchi ◽  
Lynn G Clark

Kuruna, a new temperate woody bamboo (Poaceae, Bambusoideae, Arundinarieae) genus from Sri Lanka, is recognized based on chloroplast sequence data from five markers (coding: ndhF 3’ end; non-coding: rps16-trnQ, trnC-rpoB, trnD-trnT, trnT-trnL). This genus represents the twelfth major lineage of temperate woody bamboos and is characterized by pachymorph culm bases with short necks, unicaespitose clumps, culm leaf girdles ca. 1 mm wide, usually abaxially hispid culm leaves with non-irritating hairs, persistent foliage leaf sheaths, complete branch sheathing and acute to biapiculate palea apices. Maximum Parsimony, Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood analyses of a combined data set consistently strongly supported the monophyly of this Sri Lankan temperate woody bamboo clade. Although the Kishino-Hasegawa test is unable to reject the alternative hypothesis of monophyly of the Sri Lankan clade plus Bergbambos tessellata from South Africa, Kuruna and Bergbambos are distinguishable by a combination of morphological characters. A few additional cpDNA markers not previously used in phylogenetic analyses of Arundinarieae were tested to evaluate their utility in this taxonomically difficult tribe.


Zootaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4247 (4) ◽  
pp. 391 ◽  
Author(s):  
YING-YONG WANG ◽  
QIANG GUO ◽  
ZU-YAO LIU ◽  
ZHI-TONG LYU ◽  
JIAN WANG ◽  
...  

The previous descriptions of Opisthotropis maxwelli Boulenger, 1914 and O. andersonii (Boulenger, 1888) were considered imperfect due to the limited number of specimens. This may in turn cause a problem for accurate species identification. In our study, the species boundaries of these two species were investigated using an integrative approach incorporating morphological characters and molecular phylogenetic analyses of the mitochondrial Cyt b gene of 26 specimens of nine known Opisthotropis species collected from south-eastern China. Our results surprisingly revealed a new cryptic species, Opisthotropis shenzhenensis sp. nov., from Shenzhen and Dongguan, Guangdong Province, southern China. Further, we re-described O. maxwelli based on several specimens from Fujian and Guangdong, and O. andersonii based on a series of specimens from Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, China. We provide an updated identification key to all described Opisthotropis species from China. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 933
Author(s):  
Fang Wu ◽  
Ablat Tohtirjap ◽  
Long-Fei Fan ◽  
Li-Wei Zhou ◽  
Renato L. M. Alvarenga ◽  
...  

Auricularia has a worldwide distribution and is very important due to its edibility and medicinal properties. Morphological examinations and multi-gene phylogenetic analyses of 277 samples from 35 countries in Asia, Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Oceania were carried out. Phylogenetic analyses were based on ITS, nLSU, rpb1, and rpb2 sequences using methods of Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference analyses. According to the morphological and/or molecular characters, 37 Auricularia species were identified. Ten new species, A. camposii and A. novozealandica in the A. cornea complex, A. australiana, A. conferta, A. lateralis, A. pilosa and A. sinodelicata in the A. delicata complex, A. africana, A. srilankensis, and A. submesenterica in the A. mesenterica complex, are described. The two known species A. pusio and A. tremellosa, respectively belonging to the A. mesenterica complex and the A. delicata complex, are redefined, while A. angiospermarum, belonging to the A. auricula-judae complex, is validated. The morphological characters, photos, ecological traits, hosts and geographical distributions of those 37 species are outlined and discussed. Morphological differences and phylogenetic relations of species in five Auricularia morphological complexes (the A. auricula-judae, the A. cornea, the A. delicata, the A. fuscosuccinea and the A. mesenterica complexes) are elaborated. Synopsis data on comparisons of species in the five complexes are provided. An identification key for the accepted 37 species is proposed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Whitney L M Bouma

<p>The fern family Pteridaceae is among the largest fern families in New Zealand. It comprises 17 native species among five genera. Traditionally the classification of Pteridaceae was based on morphological characters. The advent of molecular technology, now makes is possible to test these morphology-based classifications. The Pteridaceae has previously been subjected to phylogenetic analyses; however representatives from New Zealand and the South Pacific have never been well represented in these studies. This thesis research aimed to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of the New Zealand Pteridaceae, as well as, the phylogenetic relationships of the New Zealand species to their overseas relatives. The DNA sequences of several Chloroplast loci (e.g. trnL-trnF locus, rps4 and rps4-trnS IGS, atpB, and rbcL) were determined and the phylogenetic relationships of the New Zealand Pteridaceae and several species-specific question within the genus Pellaea and Adiantum were investigated. Results presented in this thesis confirm previously published phylogenetics of the Pteridaceae, which show the resolution of five major clades, i.e.,cryptogrammoids, ceratopteridoids, pteridoids, cheilanthoids, and the adiantoids. The addition of the New Zealand species revealed a possible South West Pacific groups formed by the respective genera, where New Zealand species were generally more related to one another than to overseas relatives. Within the New Zealand Pellaea, the analysis of the trnL-trnF locus sequence data showed that the morphologically-intermediate plants P. aff. falcata, responsible for taxonomic confusion, were more closely related to P. rotundifolia than to P. falcata. Furthermore, the species collected on the Kermadec Islands, previously thought to be P. falcata, are genetically distinct from the Australian P. falcata and they could constitute a new species. Adiantum hispidulum, which is polymorphic for two different hair types being used to distinguish them as different species, was also reinvestigated morphologically and molecularly. Morphological inspection of hairs revealed three hair types as opposed to the previous thought two, and furthermore, they correspond to three different trnL-trnF sequences haplotypes.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 1053-1066
Author(s):  
Run-Xian Yu ◽  
Song-Yan Zhou ◽  
Yuan-Qiu Li ◽  
Kai-Nan Ma ◽  
You-Yu Li ◽  
...  

Abstract— Populations of Balanophora from southern China are often identified by local botanists as B. laxiflora based on their long cylindric male inflorescence, subsessile male flowers with slender rudimentary bracts, and subdiscoid synandria. In this study, we clarify the identity of seven such populations based on morphological characters and phylogenetic analysis using nuclear 18S and ITS ribosomal DNA sequences. We confirmed the occurrence of dioecious populations of B. yakushimensis and two previously unrecognized species, which we describe here as B. parajaponica and B. appressa. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that B. parajaponica, B. yakushimensis, B. appressa, B. laxiflora, and the agamospermic B. japonica, formed a well resolved clade, viz. the B. laxiflora clade. The four dioecious species, although highly similar in the morphology of male inflorescence and flowers, can be separated by leaf morphology and arrangement, ovary color, and arrangement of female flowers. The species limit of B. laxiflora, however, remains unresolved.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 441 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-59
Author(s):  
JIN-FEN HAN ◽  
FANG-RU NAN ◽  
JIA FENG ◽  
JUN-PING LV ◽  
QI LIU ◽  
...  

Four putative “Chantransia” isolates were collected from four locations in Hubei and Yunnan Provinces, China. Morphological analyses were conducted on all isolates. Two specimens (HB26 and YN2) fit the morphological description of A. pygmaea, while the other two isolates (YN1 and YN3) varied in morphology, but were within the circumscription of Audouinella hermannii. Due to the fact that the morphological characters of the “Chantransia” stages of order Batrachospermales and the species of genus Audouinella are too similar to be distinguished, a molecular analysis was performed to clarify the phylogenetic position of these four isolates based on rbcL and psbA sequences. Two “pygmaea” specimens collected from Jiugong Mountain, Hubei Province (HB26) and Shimen Gorge, Yunnan Province (YN2), such as S. jiugongshanensis and S. shimenxiaensis, are proposed primarily based on the DNA sequence data generated in this study. The description of these two new species provides more molecular data for phylogenetic analysis of the genus Sheathia. In addition to these newly described species, the results strongly support that those “hermannii” isolates (YN1 and YN3) collected from Yunnan Province were the “Chantransia” of S. arcuata. However, their gametophyte stages have not been found, meaning that critical diagnostic morphological features were unavailable and molecular methods were the only means for ascertaining their phylogenetic position. Considering the extensive application of the rbcL and psbA genes in phylogenetic analyses of freshwater red algae, we recommend using these two genes to identify species when no morphological characteristics are available.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 309 (2) ◽  
pp. 135 ◽  
Author(s):  
JIA-JIA CHEN ◽  
LI LÜ ◽  
WEN-WU YE ◽  
YUAN-CHAO WANG ◽  
XIAO-BO ZHENG

A new species of Pythiales: Pythium cedri, isolated from Cedrus deodara (Pinaceae) in Jiangsu Province of China is described and illustrated based on morphological characters and supported by molecular phylogenetic analyses using ITS+COI sequences. Pythium cedri belongs to Pythium clade D and is characterized by presence of hyphal swellings, toruloid sporangia, ornamented oogonia with blunt spines, monoclinous antheridia, plerotic or nearly plerotic oospores, and relatively slow growth (11–15 mm d–1). A key to accepted species of Pythium clade D is provided.


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