A phylogenetic analysis of the Cryptocarya group (Lauraceae), and relationships of Dahlgrenodendron, Sinopora, Triadodaphne, and Yasunia

Phytotaxa ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 158 (2) ◽  
pp. 111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Gunter Rohwer ◽  
PEDRO LUIS RODRIGUES DE MORAES ◽  
BARBARA RUDOLPH ◽  
HENK VAN DER WERFF

A phylogenetic analysis based on nuclear ITS and plastid trnK intron sequences confirms that Dahlgrenodendron, Sinopora, Triadodaphne, and Yasunia are members of the Cryptocarya group, as expected from morphology.  Dahlgrenodendron from South Africa is sister to Aspidostemon from Madagascar.  Triadodaphne inaequitepala is nested within Endiandra (both from Australasia), and Yasunia from South America is nested among South American Beilschmiedia species.  Sinopora is a member of the Beilschmiedia clade, but its precise position is still uncertain.  Among large genera of the group, Cryptocarya is clearly monophyletic, and Endiandra appears to be as well, if T. inaequitepala is included.  Beilschmiedia is paraphyletic with respect to (at least) Potameia and Yasunia.  Most well-supported clades within genera are geographically homogeneous, except a clade including the Chilean Cryptocarya alba and two New Caledonian species.  Both Beilschmiedia and Cryptocarya have reached the Americas more than once.  Four-locular anthers are plesiomorphic in the Cryptocarya group; two-locular anthers have arisen by fusion of the two pollen sacs of a theca.  In the plesiomorphic fruit type, the ovary is completely enclosed in receptacular tissue; a superior fruit, seated free on its pedicel, is a synapomorphy of the Beilschmiedia clade.

Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4885 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-508
Author(s):  
AFONSO H. LEAL ◽  
ANTONIO J. CREÃO-DUARTE ◽  
GABRIEL MEJDALANI

Scopogonalia is a leafhopper genus with 17 described species, all of them from South America. In this work, a phylogenetic analysis of the genus was conducted based on 59 morphological and colour pattern characters of head, thorax, abdomen, male and female genitalia. Analyses with equal weights resulted in 12 equally most parsimonious trees (length = 137) including a monophyletic Scopogonalia in all of them. An implied weights (k = 15) analysis recovered two trees, one of them equal to the one obtained with a single round successive weighting procedure, which was chosen for discussion. The trees support the existence of three main clades, which are here called Early Green Clade, Late Green Clade, and Yellow-Brown Clade. The origin and diversification of each clade is discussed under available biogeographical knowledge of South America. Little variation was observed in the female genitalia, but their characters were useful to reinforce the monophyly of the Yellow-Brown Clade, which we associate to ecological adaptations. This clade supports a past connection of the Cerrado biome and savannah enclaves in Amazonia and Atlantic Forest. This conclusion highlights the necessity of conserving this open vegetation environment inside the most fragmented portion of the Atlantic Forest, in northeastern Brazil. 


2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1792) ◽  
pp. 20140811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastián Apesteguía ◽  
Raúl O. Gómez ◽  
Guillermo W. Rougier

Rhynchocephalian lepidosaurs, though once widespread worldwide, are represented today only by the tuatara ( Sphenodon ) of New Zealand. After their apparent early Cretaceous extinction in Laurasia, they survived in southern continents. In South America, they are represented by different lineages of Late Cretaceous eupropalinal forms until their disappearance by the Cretaceous/Palaeogene (K/Pg) boundary. We describe here the only unambiguous Palaeogene rhynchocephalian from South America; this new taxon is a younger species of the otherwise Late Cretaceous genus Kawasphenodon . Phylogenetic analysis confirms the allocation of the genus to the clade Opisthodontia. The new form from the Palaeogene of Central Patagonia is much smaller than Kawasphenodon expectatus from the Late Cretaceous of Northern Patagonia. The new species shows that at least one group of rhynchocephalians not related to the extant Sphenodon survived in South America beyond the K/Pg extinction event. Furthermore, it adds to other trans-K/Pg ectotherm tetrapod taxa, suggesting that the end-Cretaceous extinction affected Patagonia more benignly than the Laurasian landmasses.


Author(s):  
Danilo Legisa ◽  
Maria José Dus Santos

Bluetongue (BT) is an insect-borne disease affecting domestic and wild ruminants. Bluetongue virus (BTV) is the causative agent of the BT disease. BT outbreaks have been widely recorded worldwide. However, in the South American subcontinent, accurate information about the disease and molecular epidemiology is still lacking because little effort has been made to cover the region. This study comprises an exhaustive phylogenetic analysis including all BTV sequences available in databases and reports new Argentinean sequences for Seg 8 and Seg 9. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analyses were conducted for Seg 2, Seg 3, Seg 6, Seg 7, Seg 8, Seg 9 and Seg 10. Throughout the study, wide circulation and genetic continuity along the American continent were detected. Also, reassortment events are reported, and the historical virus introduction path into and through South America is suggested.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 238 (1) ◽  
pp. 71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Carrizo García ◽  
Gregory Wahlert ◽  
Clara Inés Orozco ◽  
Gloria Estela Barboza ◽  
Lynn Bohs

Deprea (Solanaceae) is a small South American genus of 10 species occurring in Andean areas from Venezuela to Bolivia. The circumscription of Deprea has been repeatedly modified in recent years, with new species being described and others transferred into or out of the genus. The relationships of Deprea to other genera of Solanaceae are still poorly understood, although it seems to be closely related to Larnax. A phylogenetic analysis was performed to test the monophyly of Deprea. Sequences from three molecular markers (nuclear ITS and waxy and chloroplast psbA-trnH) were analyzed by parsimony and Bayesian methods. All the species of Deprea and Larnax sampled were intermixed in a strongly supported clade in the consensus trees, and therefore the currently recognized Deprea species do not form a monophyletic group. At least four strongly supported clades could be recovered within the Deprea + Larnax assemblage, but the affinities of several species of both genera remained unresolved. Additional sampling including the majority of the Deprea + Larnax species and more representatives of genera in the Physalideae should be done to clarify relationships within the clade and to pinpoint the closest relatives of Deprea + Larnax.


2013 ◽  
Vol 145 (5) ◽  
pp. 501-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony I. Cognato

AbstractElectroborus brighti, new genus, new species (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) is described based on two specimens from Dominican amber, which represents the first Hylesinini found in Dominican amber. A phylogenetic analysis of 24 Hylesinini species and a Strombophorus Hagedorn species based on morphological characters suggests E. brighti is not related to the Neotropical genus Phloeoborus Erichson, but shares a close affinity to African Hylesinini genera. The discovery of this new genus adds to the evidence that tropical South America and Africa shared similar faunas throughout evolutionary history. Although many Old World taxa have become extinct in the New World, the existence of E. brighti among Recent faunas is a possibility, given that the South American and African scolytine faunas are relatively poorly studied.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Martín Hechenleitner ◽  
Léa Leuzinger ◽  
Agustín G. Martinelli ◽  
Sebastián Rocher ◽  
Lucas E. Fiorelli ◽  
...  

Abstract South American titanosaurians have been central to the study of the evolution of Cretaceous sauropod dinosaurs. Despite their remarkable diversity, the fragmentary condition of several taxa and the scarcity of records outside Patagonia and southwestern Brazil have hindered the study of continental-scale paleobiogeographic relationships. We describe two new Late Cretaceous titanosaurians from Quebrada de Santo Domingo (La Rioja, Argentina), which help to fill a gap between these main areas of the continent. Our phylogenetic analysis recovers both new species, and several Brazilian taxa, within Rinconsauria. The data suggest that, towards the end of the Cretaceous, this clade spread throughout southern South America. At the same locality, we discovered numerous accumulations of titanosaurian eggs, likely related to the new taxa. With eggs distributed in three levels along three kilometres, the new site is one of the largest ever found and provides further evidence of nesting site philopatry among Titanosauria.


Author(s):  
Fernando E. Novas ◽  
Martin D. Ezcurra ◽  
Sankar Chatterjee ◽  
T. S. Kutty

ABSTRACTThe beginning of dinosaur evolution is currently known based on a handful of highly informative Gondwanan outcrops of Ischigualastian age (late Carnian–early Norian). The richest Triassic dinosaur records of the southern continents are those of South America and South Africa, with taxonomically diverse faunas, whereas faunas from India and central Africa are more poorly known. Here, the known diversity of Gondwanan Triassic dinosaurs is increased with new specimens from central India, which allow a more comprehensive characterisation of these dinosaur assemblages. Five dinosauriform specimens are reported from the probable late Norian–earliest Rhaetian Upper Maleri Formation, including two new sauropodomorph species, the non-plateosaurian Nambalia roychowdhurii and the plateosaurian Jaklapallisaurus asymmetrica, a guaibasaurid and two basal dinosauriforms. The Lower Dharmaram Formation, probably latest Norian–Rhaetian in age, includes basal sauropodomorph and neotheropod remains, providing the second record of a Triassic Gondwanan neotheropod. The currently available evidence suggests that the oldest known Gondwanan dinosaur assemblages (Ischigualastian) were not homogeneous, but more diverse in South America than in India. In addition, the Upper Maleri and Lower Dharmaram dinosaur assemblages resemble purported coeval South American and European beds in the presence of basal sauropodomorphs. Accordingly, the current available evidence of the Triassic beds of the Pranhita–Godavari Basin suggests that dinosaurs increased in diversity and abundance during the late Norian to Rhaetian in this region of Gondwana.


Author(s):  
Ana Andruchow-Colombo ◽  
Peter Wilf ◽  
Ignacio H. Escapa

Huncocladus laubenfelsii gen. et sp. nov. is described from the early Eocene (52 million years old) Laguna del Hunco site in Patagonia, Argentina, on the basis of a compression fossil with cuticle remains. The taxon has several similarities with Phyllocladus, together with characters that are absent in extant Phyllocladus species but are otherwise typical of the enclosing scale-leaved clade. Consequently, Huncocladus is interpreted as a relative of Phyllocladus, possibly belonging to its stem group. This view is supported by a phylogenetic analysis of Podocarpaceae, which recovers Huncocladus as sister to Phyllocladus within the here-termed phyllocladoid clade (Phyllocladus + Huncocladus). Huncocladus laubenfelsii is the first macrofossil record of the phyllocladoid lineage in South America or anywhere in the western hemisphere, vastly extending its historical range and constituting an additional lineage shared between Eocene Patagonia and extant and extinct Australasian and South-east Asian rainforests. The disappearance of phyllocladoids from South America adds to the general extinction pattern described previously for southern hemisphere Podocarpaceae, associated with the family’s low drought tolerance in the face of climate change (i.e. aridification). Huncocladus is the oldest record of the phyllocladoids, and it represents a new reference point for temporal calibration and biogeographic inference for the evolution of conifers and Australasian rainforests.


2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rich Mooi ◽  
Sergio Martínez ◽  
Sara G. Parma

Sand dollars in the Monophorasteridae Lahille, 1896, form an important part of the South American Cenozoic echinoid fauna. Re-examination of type and other material adds significantly to our knowledge of the morphology and taxonomy of the family, and shows that besides Monophoraster darwini (Desor, 1847), M. duboisi (Cotteau, 1884), Amplaster coloniensis Martínez, 1984, and A. alatus Rossi de Garcia and Levy, 1989, there is a new species, A. ellipticus. We also show that Karlaster Marchesini Santos, 1958, is not a monophorasterid as once thought. A phylogenetic analysis of 24 characters assessed from all species of Monophoraster Lambert and Thiéry, 1921, and Amplaster Martínez, 1984, along with genera of the Mellitidae Stefanini, 1912, produced a single most parsimonious tree. The analysis demonstrates monophyly of mellitids and monophorasterids, and that Iheringiella Berg, 1898, should be excluded from the latter. Although both Monophoraster Lambert and Thiéry, 1921, and Amplaster Martínez, 1984, retain many features of an ancestor in common with the Mellitidae Stefanini, 1912, they also exhibit bizarre morphologies quite different from those of mellitids. The study has also resulted in a clearer picture of the biogeography and biostratigraphy of the Monophorasteridae, and their great significance in the evolution of lunulate sand dollars in the Americas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Alfredo Holley ◽  
Juliana Sterli ◽  
Néstor G. Basso

Pan-Chelidae (Testudines, Pleurodira) is a group of side-necked turtles with a currently disjointed distribution in South America and Australasia and characterized by two morphotypes: the long-necked and the short-necked chelids. Both geographic groups include both morphotypes, but different phylogenetic signals are obtained from morphological and molecular data, suggesting the monophyly of the long-necked chelids or the independent evolution of this trait in both groups. In this paper, we addressed this conflict by compiling and editing available molecular and morphological data for Pan-Chelidae, and performing phylogenetic and dating analyses over the individual and the combined datasets. Our total-evidence phylogenetic analysis recovered the clade Chelidae as monophyletic and as sister group of a clade of South American extinct chelids; furthermore Chelidae retained inside the classical molecular structure with the addition of extinct taxa in both the Australasian and the South American clades. Our dating results suggest a Middle Jurassic origin for the total clade Pan-Chelidae, an Early Cretaceous origin for Chelidae, a Late Cretaceous basal diversification of both geographic clades with the emergence of long-necked lineages, and an Eocene diversification at genera level, with the emergence of some species before the final breakup of Southern Gondwana and the remaining species after this event.


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