scholarly journals Variable wing venation in Agathiphaga (Lepidoptera: Agathiphagidae) is key to understanding the evolution of basal moths

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 160453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra R. Schachat ◽  
George W. Gibbs
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Fossil Insects ◽  
Wing Venation ◽  
Character State ◽  
Wing Pattern ◽  
Ancestral Character State ◽  
Adult Wing ◽  
Wing Patterns ◽  
Wing Veins ◽  
Wing Scales

Details of the ancestral groundplan of wing venation in moths remain uncertain, despite approximately a century of study. Here, we describe a 3-branched subcostal vein, a 5-branched medial vein and a 2-branched cubitus posterior vein on the forewing of Agathiphaga vitiensis Dumbleton 1952 from Vanuatu. Such veins had not previously been described in any Lepidoptera. Because wing veins are typically lost during lepidopteran evolutionary history, rarely—if ever—to be regained, the venation of A. vitiensis probably represents the ancestral character state for moths. Wing venation is often used to identify fossil insects as moths, because wing scales are not always preserved; the presence of a supposedly trichopteran 3-branched subcostal vein in crown Lepidoptera may decrease the certainty with which certain amphiesmenopteran fossils from the Mesozoic can be classified. And because plesiomorphic veins can influence the development of lepidopteran wing patterns even if not expressed in the adult wing, the veins described here may determine the location of wing pattern elements in many lepidopteran taxa.

Convergence to the tiniest detail: vocal sac structure in torrent-dwelling frogs

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agustín J Elias-Costa ◽  
Julián Faivovich
Keyword(s):  
Background Noise ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
Character State ◽  
Visual Displays ◽  
State Reconstruction ◽  
Ancestral Character State ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancestral Character State Reconstruction ◽  
Detection And Recognition

Abstract Cascades and fast-flowing streams impose severe restrictions on acoustic communication, with loud broadband background noise hampering signal detection and recognition. In this context, diverse behavioural features, such as ultrasound production and visual displays, have arisen in the evolutionary history of torrent-dwelling amphibians. The importance of the vocal sac in multimodal communication is being increasingly recognized, and recently a new vocal sac visual display has been discovered: unilateral inflation of paired vocal sacs. In the diurnal stream-breeding Hylodidae from the Atlantic forest, where it was first described, this behaviour is likely to be enabled by a unique anatomical configuration of the vocal sacs. To assess whether other taxa share this exceptional structure, we surveyed torrent-dwelling species with paired vocal sacs across the anuran tree of life and examined the vocal sac anatomy of exemplar species across 18 families. We found striking anatomical convergence among hylodids and species of the distantly related basal ranid genera Staurois, Huia, Meristogenys and Amolops. Ancestral character state reconstruction identified three new synapomorphies for Ranidae. Furthermore, we surveyed the vocal sac configuration of other anuran species that perform visual displays and report observations on what appears to be unilateral inflation of paired vocal sacs, in Staurois guttatus – an extremely rare behaviour in anurans.

scholarly journals The accessory neural arch: development, morphology, and systematic distribution

Zoomorphology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Thieme ◽  
Timo Moritz
Keyword(s):  
State Estimation ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Taxon Sampling ◽  
Character State ◽  
Neural Arch ◽  
Ancestral Character State ◽  
History Of ◽  
Similar Character ◽  
Morphology Development ◽  
State Estimations

AbstractThe accessory neural arch is an oddly distributed character present in several non-acanthomorph teleostean taxa. Its homology was often implied but never satisfyingly tested. In this study, we attended this pending problem. We analyzed the morphology, development, and systematic distribution of the accessory neural arch in teleosts. Using a comprehensive taxon sampling of cleared and stained specimens, we evaluated if the accessory neural arch fulfils existing homology criteria. We then combined these data with recent genetic phylogenies and ancestral character state estimation to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the accessory neural arch. While its gross morphology and development fit homology criteria, results from ancestral character state estimations suggest multiple independent evolutions within teleosts. Although the accessory neural arch cannot be homologous between several teleostean taxa, the concept of parallelism may explain the presence of such a similar character in a variety of non-acanthomorph teleostean taxa.

scholarly journals Bipedalism in Mexican Albian lizard (Squamata) and the locomotion type in other Cretaceous lizards

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damián Villaseñor-Amador ◽  
José Alberto Cruz ◽  
Nut Xanat Suárez
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Lower Cretaceous ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Character State ◽  
State Reconstruction ◽  
Ancestral Character State ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
Ancestral Character State Reconstruction ◽  
Locomotion Type

Representative locomotion types in lizards include terrestrial, arboreal, grass swimmer, sand swimmer and bipedal. Few studies explain the locomotion habit of extinct lizards, and even less asses those of bipedal ones. Here, we use quantitative methods to infer the type of locomotion of two Albian Mexican lizards (Lower Cretaceous) and three Cretaceous lizards from Brazil, North America and Spain, assessing the similarities of the hindlimb-forelimb length ratio amongst extinct and extant species. Additionally, an ancestral character state reconstruction analysis was performed, to evaluate the evolution of lizard locomotion habits. The species Huehuecuetzpalli mixtecus was bipedal while Tijubina pontei was facultative bipedal, Hoyalacerta sanzi, Tepexisaurus tepexii and Polyglyphanodon sternbergi cannot be differentiated amongst terrestrial or arboreal with the approach used in this work. The ancestral character state reconstruction analysis showed a terrestrial ancestral locomotion type, with a basal character state of hindlimbs longer than forelimbs. Equal length between hind and forelimbs appear to be a derivate state that evolved multiple times in lizard evolutionary history.

scholarly journals The wing pattern of Moerarchis Durrant, 1914 (Lepidoptera: Tineidae) clarifies transitions between predictive models

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 161002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra R. Schachat
Keyword(s):  
Intraspecific Variation ◽  
Wing Length ◽  
Colour Pattern ◽  
Wing Venation ◽  
Wing Pattern ◽  
Wing Margin ◽  
Pattern Complexity ◽  
Wing Patterns ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Empirical Insight

The evolution of wing pattern in Lepidoptera is a popular area of inquiry but few studies have examined microlepidoptera, with fewer still focusing on intraspecific variation. The tineid genus Moerarchis Durrant, 1914 includes two species with high intraspecific variation of wing pattern. A subset of the specimens examined here provide, to my knowledge, the first examples of wing patterns that follow both the ‘alternating wing-margin’ and ‘uniform wing-margin’ models in different regions along the costa. These models can also be evaluated along the dorsum of Moerarchis , where a similar transition between the two models can be seen. Fusion of veins is shown not to effect wing pattern, in agreement with previous inferences that the plesiomorphic location of wing veins constrains the development of colour pattern. The significant correlation between wing length and number of wing pattern elements in Moerarchis australasiella shows that wing size can act as a major determinant of wing pattern complexity. Lastly, some M. australasiella specimens have wing patterns that conform entirely to the ‘uniform wing-margin’ model and contain more than six bands, providing new empirical insight into the century-old question of how wing venation constrains wing patterns with seven or more bands.

Revision of Hista Oiticica (Lepidoptera: Castniidae) and discussion on the validity of its subspecies

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2421 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
SIMEÃO S. MORAES ◽  
MARCELO DUARTE ◽  
JORGE M. GONZÁLEZ
Keyword(s):  
Taxonomic Structure ◽  
Wing Pattern ◽  
New Synonyms ◽  
New Synonym ◽  
Wing Patterns ◽  
The Stability

Diurnal Lepidoptera tend to have colorful and conspicuous wing patterns, which is the reason the first classifications of day-flying moths and butterflies were based mainly on wing color and pattern characters. This is the case with the Neotropical Castniidae, which are usually large and colorful day-flying moths. One classification listed 134 species in 32 genera while an alternate classification recognized 81 species. In this paper we examine the taxonomic structure of the genus Hista Oiticica. It is the purpose of this paper to evaluate taxonomically useful characters besides wing pattern with the goal of classifying the taxa of Hista rather than classifying the variation of its wing pattern. In so doing, the results resolve the differences between the two proposed classifications of Hista. In addition, a lectotype is designated for Castnia boisduvalii Walker, 1854 (new synonym of Castnia fabricii Swainson, 1823) to ensure the stability of the name. Other new synonyms are proposed for C. fabricii (C. papagaya Westwood, 1877) and Castnia hegemon Kollar, 1839 (C. menetriesi Boisduval, [1875] and C. hegemon variegata Rothschild, 1919).

Descriptions of two new genera and species of Phycitinae associated with Hypsipyla robusta (Moore) on Meliaceae in Nigeria (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae)

1968 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 605-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Adult Male ◽  
Wing Venation ◽  
Wing Pattern ◽  
New Genera ◽  
Hypsipyla Robusta ◽  
Lepidoptera Pyralidae

Two new genera and species of Phycitinae found with Hypsipyla robusta (Moore) attacking Meliaceae in Nigeria are described. The three genera and species are differentiated, and the genus Hypsipyla is briefly reviewed. Illustrations of the wing venation and wing pattern of the adult male and of the genitalia of both sexes are given for the two species described as new, Catopyla dysorphnaea and Gyroptera robertsi, and also for H. robusta.

A new species of the genus Teratozephyrus Sibatani, 1946 from China (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Theclinae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4963 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-192
Author(s):  
SI-YAO HUANG ◽  
FAN JIANG ◽  
HAI-TIAN SONG
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Male Genitalia ◽  
The Other ◽  
Southwestern China ◽  
Wing Pattern ◽  
Southeastern China ◽  
Wing Patterns ◽  
A New Species

A new species, T. yaolihuoi Huang, Jiang & Song sp. nov. of the genus Teratozephyrus Sibatani, 1946 is described from southeastern China. Among the other representatives of the genus, the new species resembles only T. hinomaru Fujioka, 1994 from southwestern China, from which the new species can be separated easily by examining details in both wing pattern and the male genitalia. Wing patterns and genitalia of the new species and T. hinomaru are illustrated and compared.

scholarly journals Exploring and Reconstructing Ancestral Anatomies using Ontology-Informed Approaches

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergei Tarasov ◽  
Istvan Miko ◽  
Matthew Yoder ◽  
Josef Uyeda
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Character State ◽  
Ancestral Reconstruction ◽  
Anatomy Ontology ◽  
Insect Order ◽  
Ancestral Character State ◽  
Body Regions ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
History Of ◽  
Complex Characters

Ancestral character state reconstruction has been long used to gain insight into the evolution of individual traits in organisms. However, organismal anatomies (= entire phenotypes) are not merely ensembles of individual traits, rather they are complex systems where traits interact with each other due to anatomical dependencies (when one trait depends on the presence of another trait) and developmental constraints. Comparative phylogenetics has been largely lacking a method for reconstructing the evolution of entire organismal anatomies or organismal body regions. Herein, we present a new approach named PARAMO (Phylogenetic Ancestral Reconstruction of Anatomy by Mapping Ontologies, Tarasov and Uyeda 2019) that takes into account anatomical dependencies and uses stochastic maps (i.e., phylogenetic trees with an instance of mapped evolutionary history of characters, Huelsenbeck et al. 2003) along with anatomy ontologies to reconstruct organismal anatomies. Our approach treats the entire phenotype or its component body regions as single complex characters and allows exploring and comparing phenotypic evolution at different levels of anatomical hierarchy. These complex characters are constructed by ontology-informed amalgamation of elementary characters (i.e., those coded in character matrix) using stochastic maps. In our approach, characters are linked with the terms from an anatomy ontology, which allows viewing them not just as an ensemble of character state tokens but as entities that have their own biological meaning provided by the ontology. This ontology-informed framework provides new opportunities for tracking phenotypic radiations and anatomical evolution of organisms, which we explore using a large dataset for the insect order Hymenoptera (sawflies, wasps, ants and bees).

scholarly journals Integration of Anatomy Ontologies and Evo-Devo Using Structured Markov Models Suggests a New Framework for Modeling Discrete Phenotypic Traits

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (5) ◽  
pp. 698-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergei Tarasov
Keyword(s):  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Markov Models ◽  
Phylogenetic Inference ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Character State ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Ancestral Character State ◽  
State Models ◽  
Hidden States ◽  
New Framework

Abstract Modeling discrete phenotypic traits for either ancestral character state reconstruction or morphology-based phylogenetic inference suffers from ambiguities of character coding, homology assessment, dependencies, and selection of adequate models. These drawbacks occur because trait evolution is driven by two key processes—hierarchical and hidden—which are not accommodated simultaneously by the available phylogenetic methods. The hierarchical process refers to the dependencies between anatomical body parts, while the hidden process refers to the evolution of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) underlying trait development. Herein, I demonstrate that these processes can be efficiently modeled using structured Markov models (SMM) equipped with hidden states, which resolves the majority of the problems associated with discrete traits. Integration of SMM with anatomy ontologies can adequately incorporate the hierarchical dependencies, while the use of the hidden states accommodates hidden evolution of GRNs and substitution rate heterogeneity. I assess the new models using simulations and theoretical synthesis. The new approach solves the long-standing “tail color problem,” in which the trait is scored for species with tails of different colors or no tails. It also presents a previously unknown issue called the “two-scientist paradox,” in which the nature of coding the trait and the hidden processes driving the trait’s evolution are confounded; failing to account for the hidden process may result in a bias, which can be avoided by using hidden state models. All this provides a clear guideline for coding traits into characters. This article gives practical examples of using the new framework for phylogenetic inference and comparative analysis.

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