scholarly journals On the use of high-level taxonomic names

Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2867 (1) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. BLAIR HEDGES
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Group Content ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Level ◽  
History Of ◽  
High Level ◽  
Strict Priority

Asher & Helgen (2010) recently proposed some rules for naming animal taxa above the family level—names that are currently unregulated. They suggested that strict priority be used as a criterion for high-level names and that such priority be based on group content rather than the procedure used for low-level taxa, anchored to constituent taxa. Authorship of a high-level name thus may vary in a complex way depending on content. While it is true that taxonomic codes are always in need of improvement, the lack of regulation of high-level names has not caused major problems. Originality, priority, stability, and other common sense considerations usually come to play in a process that can be described as community consensus. Their proposed system would lead to less stability because names would lack both permanent anchors (e.g., types) and permanent authors, and would be based on something (group content) susceptible to change with time. Furthermore, name selection may frequently conflict with common usage, leading to confusion  and instability. An example of the problems with these rules is their preferred name for the order containing tenrecs and golden moles, Tenrecoidea, which has a long history of different meanings (content). Instead, the most commonly used name, Afrosoricida, is also preferred because it does not have that confusing history and has a more typical suffix (-a) for a mammalian order. 

High level Mammalian taxonomy: a response to Hedges (2011)

Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 3092 (1) ◽  
pp. 63 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT J. ASHER ◽  
KRISTOFER M. HELGEN
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Group Content ◽  
High Level ◽  
Strict Priority

Hedges (2011) recently published a critique of our 2010 BMC Evolutionary Biology article (Asher and Helgen 2010) in which he expressed a preference for the name Afrosoricida Stanhope et al. 1998 to signify the mammalian clade of tenrecs (Tenrecidae) and golden moles (Chrysochloridae). He disagreed with what he claimed to be our rationale for preferring another name for this group, Tenrecoidea McDowell 1958. Here is his portrayal of our taxonomic philosophy: "[Asher & Helgen] suggested that strict priority be used as a criterion for high-level names and that such priority be based on group content rather than the procedure used for low-level taxa, anchored to constituent taxa. ... [They] have proposed a radical departure from convention" (Hedges 2011:67–68).

Phanerozoic trends in the global geographic disparity of marine biotas

Paleobiology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 612-630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnold I. Miller ◽  
Devin P. Buick ◽  
Katherine V. Bulinski ◽  
Chad A. Ferguson ◽  
Austin J. W. Hendy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Distance ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Marine Animal ◽  
Animal Life ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Geographic Disparity ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Level ◽  
History Of

Previous analyses of the history of Phanerozoic marine biodiversity suggested that the post-Paleozoic increase observed at the family level and below was caused, in part, by an increase in global provinciality associated with the breakup of Pangea. Efforts to characterize the Phanerozoic history of provinciality, however, have been compromised by interval-to-interval variations in the methods and standards used by researchers to calibrate the number of provinces. With the development of comprehensive, occurrence-based data repositories such as the Paleobiology Database (PaleoDB), it is now possible to analyze directly the degree of global compositional disparity as a function of geographic distance (geo-disparity) and changes thereof throughout the history of marine animal life. Here, we present a protocol for assessing the Phanerozoic history of geo-disparity, and we apply it to stratigraphic bins arrayed throughout the Phanerozoic for which data were accessed from the PaleoDB. Our analyses provide no indication of a secular Phanerozoic increase in geo-disparity. Furthermore, fundamental characteristics of geo-disparity may have changed from era to era in concert with changes to marine venues, although these patterns will require further scrutiny in future investigations.

Anystipalpus, Antennoseius and Vitzthumia: a taxonomic and nomenclatural conundrum of genera (Acari: Mesostigmata: Dermanyssina), with description of four species of Anystipalpus

Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2243 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
EVERT E. LINDQUIST ◽  
MARÍA L. MORAZA
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Type Species ◽  
Carabid Beetles ◽  
New Combination ◽  
Adult Females ◽  
The Family ◽  
Two New Species ◽  
Family Level ◽  
History Of

The genus Anystipalpus Berlese, 1911, of uncertain prior placement in the superfamilies Ascoidea or Dermanyssoidea, is redescribed, based on reexamination of type and other material of the type-species, A. percicola Berlese, and of material representing Anystipalpus livshitsi (Eidelberg) new combination and two new species, A. labiduricola n. sp. and A. kazemii n. sp. Anystipalpus nataliae (Eidelberg) new combination and Anystipalpus ukrainicus (Sklyar) new combination are determined to be junior synonyms of A. percicola Berlese and A. livshitsi (Eidelberg), respectively, new synonymies. The genus is known thus far only from adult females phoretic under the elytra of carabid beetles and the tegmina of labidurid earwigs in Eurasia. The relationships between it and the closely related Antennoseius Berlese, 1916 and Vitzthumia Thor, 1930, are reviewed, and the options for the family level placement of these genera are reconsidered. Attention is given to some gnathosomatic attributes that are commonly overlooked in description of species of these closely related genera. Phoresy and the role of adult female morphs in the life history of these mites, as well as the extraordinary phoretic association of one species with earwigs are discussed.

scholarly journals Ancient origins and multiple appearances of carotenoid-pigmented feathers in birds

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1788) ◽  
pp. 20140806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel B. Thomas ◽  
Kevin J. McGraw ◽  
Michael W. Butler ◽  
Matthew T. Carrano ◽  
Odile Madden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Raman Spectroscopy ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Carotenoid Pigments ◽  
Biological Functions ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Level ◽  
History Of ◽  
Living Species ◽  
Insight Into

The broad palette of feather colours displayed by birds serves diverse biological functions, including communication and camouflage. Fossil feathers provide evidence that some avian colours, like black and brown melanins, have existed for at least 160 million years (Myr), but no traces of bright carotenoid pigments in ancient feathers have been reported. Insight into the evolutionary history of plumage carotenoids may instead be gained from living species. We visually surveyed modern birds for carotenoid-consistent plumage colours (present in 2956 of 9993 species). We then used high-performance liquid chromatography and Raman spectroscopy to chemically assess the family-level distribution of plumage carotenoids, confirming their presence in 95 of 236 extant bird families (only 36 family-level occurrences had been confirmed previously). Using our data for all modern birds, we modelled the evolutionary history of carotenoid-consistent plumage colours on recent supertrees. Results support multiple independent origins of carotenoid plumage pigmentation in 13 orders, including six orders without previous reports of plumage carotenoids. Based on time calibrations from the supertree, the number of avian families displaying plumage carotenoids increased throughout the Cenozoic, and most plumage carotenoid originations occurred after the Miocene Epoch (23 Myr). The earliest origination of plumage carotenoids was reconstructed within Passeriformes, during the Palaeocene Epoch (66–56 Myr), and not at the base of crown-lineage birds.

ЗМІНА ПОКОЛІНЬ ТА ТРАДИЦІЙ В ІНТЕЛІГЕНТСЬКИХ КОЛАХ СХІДНОЇ ГАЛИЧИНИ У ПЕРШІЙ ПОЛОВИНІ ХХ СТОЛІТТЯ (Григор Лужницький)

2020 ◽  
pp. 26-31
Author(s):  
Admink Admink ◽  
Людмила Белінська
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Scientific Activity ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
High Culture ◽  
Good Education ◽  
Knowledge Culture ◽  
The Family ◽  
History Of ◽  
Family Gene ◽  
High Level

У культурному просторі Львова першої пол. ХХ ст. відомим був катехит о. Леонід Лужницький. Належність до духовного стану, шляхетне походження, високі студії, культурні зацікавлення, добірне товариство колег-однодумців утворило специфічну когорту української шляхетної греко-католицької еліти. Свої знання, культуру, досвід Лужницькі передали наступним поколінням. У різких соціальних змінах зуміли зберегти засади доброго виховання, толерантності, розуміння власних дітей, що допомогло зберегти родинний генофонд сповненим людської гідності, впевненості, високої культури. Яскравим прикладом цього є постать Григора Лужницького, який обрав світський шлях, досліджував історію Греко-католицької церкви, мав неабиякий літературний талант, присвятив життя театру та науковій діяльності. In the educational and cultural space of Lviv in the first half of the twentieth century. the catechite of pr. Leonid Luzhnitsky Spiritual affiliation, noble backgrounds, high-level studios, cultural interests, an associate group of like-minded colleagues formed a specific cohort of the Ukrainian noble Greek Catholic elite. Luzhnytsky passed on their knowledge, culture and experience to the next generations. In sharp social changes they managed to keep the principles of good education, tolerance, understanding of their own children, which helped to keep the family gene pool full of human dignity, confidence and high culture. A striking example of this is the figure of Gregor Luzhnytsky, who deeply chose the secular path, researched the history of the Greek Catholic Church, had remarkable literary talent, devoted his life to theater and scientific activity.

REVISION OF THE CHIGGER-LIKE LARVAE OF THE GENERA NEOTROMBIDIUM LEONARDI AND MONUNGUIS WHARTON, WITH A REDEFINITION OF THE SUBFAMILY NEOTROMBIDIINAE FEIDER IN THE TROMBIDIIDAE (ACARINA: PROSTIGMATA)

1971 ◽  
Vol 103 (11) ◽  
pp. 1557-1590 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. E. Lindquist ◽  
P. H. Vercammen-Grandjean
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
North America ◽  
New Combination ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Level ◽  
Caribbean Area ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The One

AbstractThe trombidiid subfamily Neotrombidiinae Feider is re-established and redefined, based primarily on larval characters but also on adult characters. It is closely related to the trombidiid Trombellinae on the one hand and to the Leeuwenhoekidae on the other. It consists of two genera, namely Monunguis Wharton, which is monobasic and known only from the larva, and Neotrombidium Leonardi, with 13 described species of which 7 are known from the larva and 8 from the adult (the larva and adult of 2 species are correlated by rearings).The history of the family-level placement of this group, and the controversy over whether or not to recognize two genera, are reviewed. The characters that justify the separate recognition of Monunguis and Neotrombidium are enumerated.The larva of each of the following species of Neotrombidiinae is described, illustrated and keyed: Monunguis streblida Wharton from the Caribbean area, Neotrombidium barringunense Hirst from Australia, N. tricuspidum Borland from North America, N. tenuipes (Womersley) from Malaya, N. samsinaki (Daniel) new combination from central Europe, N. anuroporum new species from Central America, N. bengalense new species from India, and N. tenebrione new species from eastern North America. Six other species of this group, known only from the adult, are listed separately but are not treated taxonomically here.The larvae of Neotrombidiinae parasitize adult insects: those of Monunguis are hyperparasites on streblid flies whereas those of Neotrombidium are ectoparasites of cerambycid, clerid, elaterid, and tenebrionid beetles that pass part of their life history under the bark of trees.In the Microtrombidiinae, Camerotrombidium Thor is noted as the valid replacement name for the preoccupied Ottonia Kramer.

Revision of the higher taxonomy of Neotropical freshwater crabs of the family Pseudothelphusidae, based on multigene and morphological analyses

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Álvarez ◽  
Juan Carlos Ojeda ◽  
Edvanda Souza-Carvalho ◽  
José Luis Villalobos ◽  
Célio Magalhães ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Classification Scheme ◽  
Divergence Time ◽  
Multigene Phylogeny ◽  
Divergence Time Estimate ◽  
New Classification ◽  
Freshwater Crabs ◽  
The Family ◽  
History Of ◽  
High Concordance ◽  
High Level

Abstract A new classification for the freshwater crabs of the Americas, the superfamily Pseudothelphusoidea¸ is presented based on a multigene phylogeny complemented by morphological analyses. We propose that the superfamily Pseudothelphusoidea be composed of two families, the Epiloboceridae and the Pseudothelphusidae, with the subsequent reorganization of the latter into eight subfamilies, of which five (Hypolobocerinae, Kingsleyinae, Potamocarcininae, Pseudothelphusinae, Strengerianinae) represent previously recognized tribes. We erect three new subfamilies: Guinotiinae, Ptychophallinae and Raddausinae, to reflect relationships that have become clear with the new analyses. The new classification scheme has a high level of congruence with the geographical distribution of species and genera. A divergence time estimate suggests that the Pseudothelphusoidea originated in the late Cretaceous around 68 Mya. Subsequent divergence events can be correlated with emergent landmasses throughout the range of the superfamily. There is high concordance among several elements of our proposal: (1) the main morphological types of male gonopods correspond to well defined clades obtained with molecular analyses; (2) the geographic distribution of the subfamilies has a structured pattern; and (3) the estimated times of divergence of each group can be associated to the geological history of each region. The combination of these elements results in a robust new classification scheme.

scholarly journals Persistence and invasiveness of high-level heteroplasmy through biparental transmission of a selfish mitochondrion in Drosophila

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme C. Baião ◽  
Anton Strunov ◽  
Eleanor Heyworth ◽  
Daniela I. Schneider ◽  
Julia Thoma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Complex ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
High Titer ◽  
Genomic Integrity ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Nuclear Background ◽  
History Of ◽  
High Level ◽  
Drosophila Paulistorum

ABSTRACTHeteroplasmy is the coexistence of more than one type of mitochondria in an organism. Although widespread sequencing has identified several cases of transient or low-level heteroplasmy that primarily occur through mutation or paternal leakage, stable, high-titer heteroplasmy remains rare in animals. In this study we present a unique, stable and high-level heteroplasmy in male and female flies belonging to the neotropical Drosophila paulistorum species complex. We show that mitochondria of D. paulistorum are polyphyletic and form two clades, α and β, with two subclades each. Mitochondria of the α2 subclade appear functional based on their genomic integrity but are exclusively found in heteroplasmic flies and never in homoplasmy, suggesting that they are a secondary mitotype with distinct functionality from the primary mitochondria. Using qPCR, we show that α2 titer do not respond to energetic demands of the cell and are generally higher in males than females. By crossing hetero- and homoplasmic flies, we find that α2 can be transmitted to their offspring via both parents and that levels are dependent on nuclear background. Following α2 mitotype levels during embryogenesis, we demonstrate that this secondary mitotype replicates rapidly just after fertilization of the egg in a period when primary mitochondria are dormant. This so-called “Replication precox” mitochondrial phenotype likely prevents the α2 mitotype from being outcompeted by the primary mitotype – and thereby secures its persistence and further spread as a selfish mitochondrion, we hereby designate “Spartacus”. Finally, we reconstruct the evolutionary history of mitochondria in the willistoni subgroup uncovering signs of multiple mitochondrial losses and introgressions. Our data indicate an α-like mitochondrial ancestor in the willistoni subgroup, with the β mitotype likely acquired via introgression from an unidentified donor. We hypothesize that the selfish characteristics of α2 might have emerged as a response to competition for inheritance with the introgressed β mitotype.

Toward a revision of the bamboo corals: Part 3, deconstructing the Family Isididae

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5047 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-272
Author(s):  
ESPRIT HEESTAND SAUCIER ◽  
SCOTT C. FRANCE ◽  
LES WATLING
Keyword(s):  
Calcium Carbonate ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Genetic Analyses ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Level ◽  
Current Classification ◽  
History Of

Bamboo corals are distinguished from most other octocorals by an articulated skeleton. The nodes are proteinaceous and sclerite-free while the internodes are composed of non-scleritic calcium carbonate. This articulation of the skeleton was thought to be unique and a strong synapomorphy for the family Isididae. Our phylogeny, based on the amplification of mtMutS and 18S, shows an articulating skeleton with sclerite-free nodes has arisen independently at least five times during the evolutionary history of Octocorallia rather than being a synapomorphy characteristic of a monophyletic bamboo coral clade. The family Isididae is currently composed of four subfamilies (Circinisidinae, Isidinae, Keratoisidinae, and Mopseinae). Not only is the family polyphyletic, but our genetic analyses suggest also the subfamily Isidinae is polyphyletic based on current taxonomic classifications, and Mopseinae is not monophyletic. The type, Isis, is found outside of the well-supported Calcaxonia – Pennatulacea clade where the other members of Isididae cluster. The current classification of the family Isididae does not reflect the evolutionary history of an articulated skeleton. To better reflect the evolutionary history of these taxa we propose that three of the four the subfamilies, the genus Isidoides, and genera within the subfamily Isidinae, be elevated to family level to produce a classification with five families with a bamboo-like skeleton: Chelidonisididae, Isididae, Isidoidae, Keratoisididae, and Mopseidae.  

A History of International Law in the Vernacular

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 205-217
Author(s):  
Jacob Katz Cogan
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Low Level ◽  
History Of ◽  
State Actors ◽  
History Of International Law ◽  
High Level

Abstract Histories of international law have typically focused on the origins of legal rules and doctrines, the decisions of courts and other formal tribunals, the views of professors and legal theorists and diplomats, and the evolution of the legal profession. That is, international legal histories have centered on the concerns of lawyers and states and have reflected a positivist vision of international lawmaking. We need a history of international law that focuses more on international law in action – the invocation, elaboration, and contestation of rules in and through their everyday application, not just by states, high-level state actors, legal theorists, and state-organized domestic and international institutions, but also by individuals, low-level officials, private groups, and nongovernmental actors and in places outside of the usual fora where ‘international law’ is said to be found. We need a history of international law in the vernacular.

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