Found, forgotten, and found again: systematics and distribution of Cooper’s Rocky Mountain snail (Oreohelix cooperi) on a sky island in the Canadian Prairies

2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (9) ◽  
pp. 833-840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z.W. Dempsey ◽  
T.M. Burg ◽  
C.P. Goater
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Land Snail ◽  
Shell Shape ◽  
Sky Islands ◽  
The North ◽  
Sky Island

The results of phylogeographic and biogeographic studies of organisms residing in isolated habitats provide key insights into processes of population differentiation, speciation, and endemicity. Several of the approximately 70 species of land snail in the genus Oreohelix Pilsbry, 1904 occur only on isolated sky islands on the North American Great Plains. The restricted distributions of these snails have led to concerns regarding their conservation status, particularly in western Canada where their systematics and distributions are poorly known. Cooper’s Rocky Mountain snail (Oreohelix cooperi (Binney, 1858)) has been reported from several sky islands in the northern United States. We evaluated morphological characteristics and sequence data for samples of putative O. cooperi collected from a sky island in the Cypress Hills area of southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. COI sequences matched O. cooperi from snails collected on sky islands in South Dakota and Wyoming and morphological analyses of shell shape and male genitalia were consistent with published descriptions of this species. COI and ITS2 sequences and morphological characteristics of these snails did not match other Oreohelix spp. found in the Cypress Hills and in the adjacent Rocky Mountains. Our results extend the distribution of O. cooperi into southern Canada and confirm its endemicity within sky islands of western North America.

A revision of the Leptogium saturninum group in North America

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 387-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphne F. STONE ◽  
James W. HINDS ◽  
Frances L. ANDERSON ◽  
James C. LENDEMER
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Morphological Study ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Lower Surface ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
The North ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetic ◽  
Nrits Sequence

AbstractA revision of the North American members of the Leptogium saturninum group (i.e. species with long lower-surface hairs, isidia, and usually smooth upper surface) is presented based on molecular phylogenetic analyses of mtSSU and nrITS sequence data, together with an extensive morphological study. Three species supported by both molecular and morphological characteristics are recognized: L. acadiense sp. nov. (distinguished by granular saturninum-type isidia, medulla composed of irregularly arranged or perpendicular hyphae), L. cookii sp. nov. (distinguished by cylindrical saturninum-type isidia) and L. hirsutum (distinguished by hirsutum-type isidia and medulla composed of loosely intertwined hyphae). One species supported by morphological characteristics, but for which no molecular data could be generated, is also recognized: L. compactum sp. nov. (distinguished by hirsutum-type isidia and medulla composed of tightly packed hyphae). Finally, L. saturninum (distinguished by granular saturninum-type isidia and medulla composed of perpendicular and parallel hyphae) is supported by morphological characteristics but molecular data from geographically diverse populations, including those near the type locality, indicate that the morphologically defined species is paraphyletic. Leptogium burnetiae is excluded from North American based on morphological study of the type. The species are described and illustrated in detail, and are distinguished morphologically by their isidium development, morphology of mature isidia, and pattern of hyphae in the medulla in transverse sections near lobe margins. A key to the members of the L. saturninum group and related species is also presented.

scholarly journals Cryptic phylogeographic history sheds light on the generation of species diversity in sky-island mountains

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai He ◽  
Tao Wan ◽  
Klaus-Peter Koepfli ◽  
Wei Jin ◽  
Shao-Ying Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Environmental Stability ◽  
Southwestern China ◽  
Biodiversity Hotspots ◽  
Sky Islands ◽  
Climate Fluctuations ◽  
Genetic Diversity And Structure ◽  
Sky Island

ABSTRACTBiodiversity hotspots should be given high priority for conservation under the situation of global climate change. The sky islands in southwestern China are characterized by extraordinarily high species diversity and are among one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspots. However, neither the actual species diversity in this region or mechanisms generating this diversity are well explored. Here, we report on the phylogeographic analysis of the long-tailed mole (Scaptonyx fusicaudus), a semi-fossorial mammal that inhabits the montane cool forests across the Chinese sky islands and is considered to represent one species divided into two subspecies. Analyses using DNA sequence data from one mitochondrial and six nuclear genes revealed that populations inhabiting different mountains exhibited exceptionally strong geographic structure. The lowlands and large rivers act as “soft” and “hard” barriers to dispersal, respectively, isolating evolutionary lineages for up to 11 million years. Our results suggest that the mountain ranges act as interglacial refugia buffering populations from climate fluctuations, further facilitating allopatric diversification. Strikingly, species delimitation analyses suggests that the long-tailed mole may comprise 18 operational taxonomic units and 17 putative species. Our results suggest that for low-vagility species, the complex topography of the Chinese sky islands has shaped genetic diversity and structure and promoted exceptional diversification through a combination of eco-environmental stability as well as geographic fragmentation. The patterns observed in S. fusicaudus may be representative for other cold- adapted species, reflecting the generation of mammalian faunal diversity in the sky-island mountains of southwestern China.

scholarly journals Terrestrial snails (Gastropoda: Pulmonata) from Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada

Check List ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1636
Author(s):  
Robert G. Forsyth ◽  
Dwayne A. W. Lepitzki
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
The North ◽  
Terrestrial Snail ◽  
Rock Formations ◽  
Dry Valley ◽  
Terrestrial Snails ◽  
First Time ◽  
Provincial Park

There are few studies on the terrestrial molluscs of the Great Plains of Alberta. Nearly all previously published surveys have focused on the faunas of the Rocky Mountain Foothills, the Cypress Hills, the Parklands of Central Alberta, or the boreal forests. By means of hand-picking and litter samples, we surveyed for the first time the terrestrial snail fauna in the Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, southern Alberta, Canada. From among the hoodoos (weathered rock formations) and along the cliffs on the north side of the Milk River, we found terrestrial snails at four of our five sites within the hot, dry valley of the river. Our study confirms our assumptions that the terrestrial snail fauna in these hostile habitats lacks diversity.

Morphological and molecular data show Synostemon trachyspermus (Phyllanthaceae, Phyllantheae) to be a heterogeneous species assemblage

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian R. H. Telford ◽  
Kanchana Pruesapan ◽  
Peter C. van Welzen ◽  
Jeremy J. Bruhl
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
New Combination ◽  
Species Assemblage ◽  
Dna Sequence Data ◽  
The North ◽  
Morphological Studies ◽  
Morphological And Molecular Data

Synostemon trachyspermus (F.Muell.) I.Telford & Pruesapan (Phyllanthaceae, Phyllantheae) is shown, by morphological studies and phylogenetic analysis using nrITS DNA sequence data, to be a heterogeneous species assemblage of four species. Phyllanthus rhytidospermus F.Muell. ex Müll.Arg., with a new combination provided as Synostemon rhytidospermus (F.Muell. ex Müll.Arg.) I.Telford & Pruesapan, and Sauropus hubbardii Airy Shaw, with a new combination as Synostemon hubbardii (Airy Shaw) I.Telford & Pruesapan, are re-instated as species. Phyllanthus arnhemicus S.Moore is lectotypified and placed in synonomy under Synostemon lissocarpus (S.Moore) I.Telford & Pruesapan, which is the new combination provided for Phyllanthus lissocarpus S.Moore (syn. Sauropus lissocarpus (S.Moore) Airy Shaw). Synostemon umbrosus I.Telford & J.J.Bruhl, a rare endemic from the Kimberley, Western Australia, is named as new. The newly described S. hamersleyensis I.Telford & Naaykens, endemic to the Pilbara, Western Australia, and the north-eastern Queensland endemic Sauropus aphyllus J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl are shown to be closely related; the new combination Synostemon aphyllus (J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl) I.Telford & Pruesapan is provided for the latter. Sauropus sp. A of Flora of the Kimberley Region, previously included within S. trachyspermus sens.lat., shows a more distant relationship and is named as Synostemon judithae I.Telford & J.J.Bruhl. Notes on distribution, habitat, phenology, conservation status, photomicrographs of seeds and a key to identification of the species are provided.

scholarly journals Molecular phylogenetics and comparative anatomy of Kimberleytrachia Köhler, 2011 – a genus of land snail endemic to the coastal Kimberley, Western Australia with description of new taxa (Gastropoda, Camaenidae)

2014 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 245-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Criscione ◽  
Frank Köhler
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetics ◽  
Comparative Anatomy ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Comparative Morphology ◽  
Land Snail ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
The North ◽  
Island Species ◽  
North Western

Kimberleytrachia Köhler, 2011 is a genus of camaenid land snail endemic to the Western Australian Kimberley region. It comprises twelve previously recognised species, all of which occur within the high precipitation zone along the north-western coast between the Admiralty Gulf and King Sound and within less than about 50 km distance from the coast. By evaluating the variation in shell and genital anatomy as well as the differentiation in the mitochondrial markers 16S and COI, we assess the monophyly of Kimberleytrachia with respect to other camaenid genera from north-western Australia. In addition, we newly describe six species (K. jacksonensis n. sp., K. leopardus n. sp., K. nelsonensis n. sp., K. serrata n. sp., K. setosa n. sp. and K. silvaepluvialis n. sp.) based on comparative morphology and mitochondrial DNA differentiation. We found that a rather smooth, weakly elevated shell and, in particular, the complex penial anatomy are key morphological characteristics of Kimberleytrachia. Its constituent species are differentiated by a combination of shell and genital features and their morphological disparity appears to be more pronounced when species occur in sympatry. While island species are usually narrowly endemic to one or a few islands, the mainland species have much larger distributional ranges. One new species from the Maret and Berthier Islands, Bonaparte Archipelago, is phylogenetically and morphologically so distinct from Kimberleytrachia that it is recognized as a new monotypic genus, Succochlea n. gen.

SEM and TEM observations of sperm development in the testis of the freshwater fish Oreochromis mossambicus

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 58-59
Author(s):  
Daryl A. Cornish ◽  
George L. Smit
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Oreochromis Mossambicus ◽  
Breeding Cycle ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Sem And Tem ◽  
Sperm Development ◽  
Ultrastructural Characteristics ◽  
The University

Oreochromis mossambicus is currently receiving much attention as a candidater species for aquaculture programs within Southern Africa. This has stimulated interest in its breeding cycle as well as the morphological characteristics of the gonads. Limited information is available on SEM and TEM observations of the male gonads. It is known that the testis of O. mossambicus is a paired, intra-abdominal structure of the lobular type, although further details of its characteristics are not known. Current investigations have shown that spermatids reach full maturity some two months after the female becomes gravid. Throughout the year, the testes contain spermatids at various stages of development although spermiogenesis appears to be maximal during November when spawning occurs. This paper describes the morphological and ultrastructural characteristics of the testes and spermatids.Specimens of this fish were collected at Syferkuil Dam, 8 km north- west of the University of the North over a twelve month period, sacrificed and the testes excised.

Diversification of the North American Doellingeria-Eucephalus Clade (Astereae: Asteraceae) Inferred from Molecular and Morphological Evidence

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 930-942
Author(s):  
Geraldine A. Allen ◽  
Luc Brouillet ◽  
John C. Semple ◽  
Heidi J. Guest ◽  
Robert Underhill
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Morphological Evidence ◽  
South American ◽  
New Combinations ◽  
The North ◽  
Hybridization Event ◽  
Ancient Hybridization

Abstract—Doellingeria and Eucephalus form the earliest-diverging clade of the North American Astereae lineage. Phylogenetic analyses of both nuclear and plastid sequence data show that the Doellingeria-Eucephalus clade consists of two main subclades that differ from current circumscriptions of the two genera. Doellingeria is the sister group to E. elegans, and the Doellingeria + E. elegans subclade in turn is sister to the subclade containing all remaining species of Eucephalus. In the plastid phylogeny, the two subclades are deeply divergent, a pattern that is consistent with an ancient hybridization event involving ancestral species of the Doellingeria-Eucephalus clade and an ancestral taxon of a related North American or South American group. Divergence of the two Doellingeria-Eucephalus subclades may have occurred in association with northward migration from South American ancestors. We combine these two genera under the older of the two names, Doellingeria, and propose 12 new combinations (10 species and two varieties) for all species of Eucephalus.

scholarly journals Is Hay for the Birds? Investigating Landowner Willingness to Time Hay Harvests for Grassland Bird Conservation

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1030
Author(s):  
Matthew Gruntorad ◽  
Katherine Graham ◽  
Nico Arcilla ◽  
Christopher Chizinski
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Critical Factor ◽  
Information Support ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Bird Conservation ◽  
Willingness To Participate ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Grassland Bird ◽  
The North ◽  
Hunting Activity

Birds in agricultural environments have exhibited steep global population declines in recent decades, and effective conservation strategies targeting their populations are urgently needed. In grasslands used for hay production, breeding birds’ nest success improves substantially if hay harvests are delayed until after mid-July. However, few studies have investigated private hay producers’ willingness to alter their harvesting practices, which is a critical factor for bird conservation where most land is privately owned, such as in the North American Great Plains. We surveyed Nebraska hay producers to examine whether livestock production, wildlife knowledge, and hunting activity affects their willingness to alter haying practices for bird conservation. The majority (60%) of respondents expressed willingness to delay harvesting hay to allow birds time to nest successfully. Livestock producers and those more knowledgeable about wildlife were more willing to delay hay harvests, whereas active hunters were less willing to do so. Our findings suggest that a majority of private producers show a high potential for engaging in grassland bird conservation activities. Landowners’ willingness to participate in bird conservation programs and actions could be further encouraged through extension and education efforts connecting hay producers with information, support, and funding for bird conservation.

scholarly journals Deep-Water Cartilaginous Fishes in the Central Mediterranean Sea: Comparison between Geographic Areas with Two Low Impact Tools for Sampling

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 686
Author(s):  
Angela Carluccio ◽  
Francesca Capezzuto ◽  
Porzia Maiorano ◽  
Letizia Sion ◽  
Gianfranco D’Onghia
Keyword(s):  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Fish Habitat ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Cartilaginous Fish ◽  
Fish Diversity ◽  
Ionian Sea ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
The North ◽  
North Western

Baited lander represents a low impact technique, an alternative to the traditional trawl sampling for collecting data on fish diversity and abundance, especially for threatened species such as Chondrichthyes living in sensitive habitats. In this study, distribution and abundance of cartilaginous fish were compared between two geographic areas, the southern Adriatic Sea and the north-western Ionian Sea, with two low impact sampling gears, an experimental bottom longline and a baited lander. Species diversity was evaluated by applying ecological indices and difference in mean abundances were tested using multivariate analysis. A total of 13 species of cartilaginous fish were collected. Significant differences in the assemblage recorded in the same area using different sampling tools were detected and no significant differences were detected among different areas explored with the same method. Using longline, the most abundant species collected in both areas was Galeus melastomus, while using lander, the most observed species were Dalatias licha in the southern Adriatic Sea and Hexanchus griseus in the north-western Ionian Sea. According to IUCN classification, of the 13 species collected, 2 are near threatened and 5 are threatened. A better governance of sensitive habitats coinciding with the essential fish habitat for these species would ensure them a better conservation status.

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