Phylogenetic analysis of the Neotropical Pristimantis leptolophus species group (Anura: Craugastoridae): molecular approach and description of a new polymorphic species 

Zootaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4242 (2) ◽  
pp. 313
Author(s):  
MAURICIO RIVERA-CORREA ◽  
CARLOS JIMÉNEZ-RIVILLAS ◽  
JUAN M. DAZA
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Phylogenetic Reconstruction ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Phylogenetic Position ◽  
Molecular Evidence ◽  
Polymorphic Species ◽  
Species Groups

Pristimantis, distributed throughout the New World tropics, is the most speciose vertebrate genus. Pristimantis presents an enormous morphological diversity and is currently divided into several demonstrably non-monophyletic phenetic species groups. With the purpose of increasing our understanding of Pristimantis systematics, we present the first phylogenetic analysis using molecular evidence to test the monophyly and infer evolutionary relationships within the Pristimantis leptolophus group, an endemic group of frogs from the highlands of the Colombian Andes. Our phylogenetic reconstruction recovers the group as monophyletic with high support, indicating general concordance between molecular data and morphological data. In addition, we describe a new polymorphic species lacking conspicuous tubercles, a regular attribute among species of the P. leptolophus species group and endemic from the Páramo de Sonsón complex (Antioquia, Colombia). The phylogenetic position of the new species is inferred and other systematic implications in the light of our results are discussed. 

Phylogenetic relationships of the spider family Psechridae inferred from molecular data, with comments on the Lycosoidea (Arachnida : Araneae)

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffen Bayer ◽  
Axel L. Schönhofer
Keyword(s):  
Close Relation ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Coi Gene ◽  
Phylogenetic Position ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
28S Rrna ◽  
Juvenile Specimen ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
Morphological Species

We investigated the relative phylogenetic position of the spider genera Psechrus Thorell, 1878 and Fecenia Simon, 1887 comprising the family Psechridae Simon, 1890 within the order Araneae (plus 50 outgroup taxa) using molecular data of the nuclear 28S rRNA gene and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. We further revised the placement of genera formerly hypothesised in Psechridae and tested morphological species and species-group hypotheses recently proposed for Psechrus and Fecenia. Our results showed both genera as monophyletic and included within Lycosoidea but indicated no support for a monophyletic family Psechridae. Support for relationships to particular genera of other families (Lycosidae, Pisauridae) was found to be equally low. Previous removal of the genera Stiphidion Simon, 1902, Poaka Forster & Wilton, 1973, Tengella Dahl, 1901 (Metafecenia F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1902) and Themacrys Simon, 1906 from Psechridae is confirmed by recovering most of them outside Lycosoidea. For Tengella (part of Lycosoidea) a close relation to Psechridae is not supported. In the species-rich genus Psechrus, morphologically predefined species groups were generally recovered as monophyletic. COI information was applied to test the morphological species hypotheses for 28 Psechridae species, most of them represented by more than one specimen. Our analyses corroborated all proposed species and indicated COI as reliable for barcoding both Psechrus and Fecenia. COI enabled assignment of a juvenile specimen to Fecenia protensa, establishing the first species record for Brunei.

A new species of the spider genus Solenysa from China (Araneae, Linyphiidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4531 (1) ◽  
pp. 142
Author(s):  
JIAHUI TIAN ◽  
LIHONG TU
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
New Species ◽  
Korean Peninsula ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
A New Species

The genus Solenysa Simon, 1894 belongs to Linyphiidae Blackwall, 1859, which is a species-rich group, including 608 genera and 4,571 species (World Spider Catalog 2018). Solenysa currently includes 14 species from China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula (Simon 1894; Namkung 1986; Li & Song 1992; Gao, Zhu & Sha 1993; Tu, Ono & Li 2007; Ono 2011; Tu & Hormiga 2011; Wang, Ono & Tu 2015). The linyphiid phylogeny based on molecular data shows that Solenysa species forms one of the seven main clades within Linyphiidae (Wang et al. 2015). According to the phylogenetic analysis based on morphological data, Tu and Hormiga (2011) divided the genus Solenysa into four species groups, each having a unique genital type comprised by series genital characters. As an old branch with a long evolutionary history, Solenysa spiders have accumulated a long list of synapomorphies (Tu & Hormiga 2011), not only having a unique somatic appearance, but also specific genitalic characters that distinguish them from all other linyphiids. 

scholarly journals The hidden anatomy of paranasal sinuses reveals biogeographically distinct morphotypes in the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus)

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Billet ◽  
Lionel Hautier ◽  
Benoit de Thoisy ◽  
Frédéric Delsuc
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Paranasal Sinuses ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Diagnostic Feature ◽  
Guiana Shield ◽  
Diagnostic Features ◽  
Continental Scale

BackgroundWith their Pan-American distribution, long-nosed armadillos (genusDasypus) constitute an understudied model for Neotropical biogeography. This genus currently comprises seven recognized species, the nine-banded armadillo (D. novemcinctus) having the widest distribution ranging from Northern Argentina to the South-Eastern US. With their broad diversity of habitats, nine-banded armadillos provide a useful model to explore the effects of climatic and biogeographic events on morphological diversity at a continental scale.MethodsBased on a sample of 136 skulls ofDasypusspp. belonging to six species, including 112 specimens identified asD. novemcinctus, we studied the diversity and pattern of variation of paranasal cavities, which were reconstructed virtually using µCT-scanning or observed through bone transparency.ResultsOur qualitative analyses of paranasal sinuses and recesses successfully retrieved a taxonomic differentiation between the traditional speciesD. kappleri,D. pilosusandD. novemcinctusbut failed to recover diagnostic features between the disputed and morphologically similarD. septemcinctusandD. hybridus. Most interestingly, the high variation detected in our large sample ofD. novemcinctusshowed a clear geographical patterning, with the recognition of three well-separated morphotypes: one ranging from North and Central America and parts of northern South America west of the Andes, one distributed across the Amazonian Basin and central South America, and one restricted to the Guiana Shield.DiscussionThe question as to whether these paranasal morphotypes may represent previously unrecognized species is to be evaluated through a thorough revision of theDasypusspecies complex integrating molecular and morphological data. Remarkably, our recognition of a distinct morphotype in the Guiana Shield area is congruent with the recent discovery of a divergent mitogenomic lineage in French Guiana. The inflation of the second medialmost pair of caudal frontal sinuses constitutes an unexpected morphological diagnostic feature for this potentially distinct species. Our results demonstrate the benefits of studying overlooked internal morphological structures in supposedly cryptic species revealed by molecular data. It also illustrates the under-exploited potential of the highly variable paranasal sinuses of armadillos for systematic studies.

Taxonomic review of the genus Meleonoma Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Autostichidae), with a checklist of all the described species

Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4763 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHUXIA WANG ◽  
XIAOJU ZHU ◽  
BAIXUE ZHAO ◽  
XIAOFEI YANG
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Study ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Diagnostic Characters ◽  
Taxonomic Review ◽  
The Family ◽  
Species Groups

Meleonoma Meyrick, 1914 is treated as a genus of the family Autostichidae based on the recent study. Fifty species are transferred from the genus Cryptolechia to Meleonoma, and eight Meleonoma species groups are proposed for the taxonomic convenience based on both molecular data and morphological study. Eight species groups include: the malacobyrsa group, the segregnatha group, the annulignatha group, the fasciptera group, the jigongshanica group, the dentivalvata group, the facialis group, and the acutiuscula group. Diagnostic characters and representative illustrations of each species group are provided. A discussion on the proposed species groups is given, and a checklist of all the 88 described Meleonoma species is provided. 

scholarly journals Phylogenetic relationships among extinct and extant turtles: the position of Pleurodira and the effects of the fossils on rooting crown-group turtles

2010 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 93-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana Sterli
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Phylogenetic Position ◽  
Separate Analysis ◽  
Crown Group ◽  
Rapid Radiation ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Origin And Evolution

The origin and evolution of the crown-group of turtles (Cryptodira + Pleurodira) is one of the most interesting topics in turtle evolution, second perhaps only to the phylogenetic position of turtles among amniotes. The present contribution focuses on the former problem, exploring the phylogenetic relationships of extant and extinct turtles based on the most comprehensive phylogenetic dataset of morphological and molecular data analyzed to date. Parsimony analyses were conducted for different partitions of data (molecular and morphological) and for the combined dataset. In the present analysis, separate analyses of the molecular data always retrieve Pleurodira allied to Trionychia. Separate analysis of the morphological dataset, by contrast, depicts a more traditional arrangement of taxa, with Pleurodira as the sister group of Cryptodira, being Chelonioidea the most basal cryptodiran clade. The simultaneous analysis of all available data retrieves all major extant clades as monophyletic, except for Cryptodira given that Pleurodira is retrieved as the sister group of Trionychia. The paraphyly of Cryptodira is an unorthodox result, and is mainly caused by the combination of two factors. First, the molecular signal allies Pleurodira and Trionychia. Second, the morphological data with extinct taxa locates the position of the root of crown-group Testudines in the branch leading to Chelonioidea. This study highlights major but poorly explored topics of turtle evolution: the alternate position of Pleurodira and the root of crown turtles. The diversification of crown turtles is characterized by the presence of long external branches and short internal branches (with low support for the internal nodes separating the major clades of crown turtles), suggesting a rapid radiation of this clade. This rapid radiation is also supported by the fossil record, because soon after the appearance of the oldest crown-group turtles (Middle-Late Jurassic of Asia) the number and diversity of turtles increases remarkably. This evolutionary scenario of a rapid diversification of modern turtles into the major modern lineages is likely the reason for the difficulty in determining the interrelationships and the position of the root of crown-group turtles.

Towards a phylogeny of Tanytarsus van der Wulp (Diptera: Chironomidae). Is morphology alone sufficient to reconstruct the genealogical relationship?

2003 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torbjørn Ekrem
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Data Matrix ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Chironomid Species ◽  
Genealogical Relationship ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
One New Species ◽  
Male Pupa

AbstractA phylogenetic analysis of species potentially belonging to the Tanytarsus eminulus, gregarius, mendax and lugens species groups is performed using morphological characters from the adult male, pupa and larva. The results show that morphological characters do not support the postulated monophyly of the eminulus, gregarius, lugens and mendax group combined in unweighted parsimony analyses, and that a constraint based on unique synapomorphies and evidence from molecular data have to be used in order to produce cladograms with reasonable topologies. Four reasons for this are discussed: Few taxa, few characters, choice of secondary outgroup taxa and a high amount of homoplasy in the data set. A hierarchial analysis procedure is used to avoid the numerous question marks in the complete data matrix. In the preferred tree, the traditional species groups within Tanytarsus are kept, and one new species group, the mcmillani group, comprising only old Gondwanan species is erected. The results are compared to other recent studies on chironomid species relationships, and comments are given to the zoogeographical patterns of the species in the eminulus, gregarius, lugens, mcmillani and mendax species groups.

scholarly journals Molecular evidence and marine snake origins

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S.Y Lee
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Phylogeny ◽  
Nuclear Gene ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Molecular Evidence ◽  
Gene Sequences ◽  
Molecular Analyses ◽  
Marine Origin ◽  
Molecular Tree

A molecular phylogeny was used to refute the marine scenario for snake origins. Nuclear gene sequences suggested that snakes are not closely related to living varanid lizards, thus also apparently contradicting proposed relationships between snakes and marine mosasaurs (usually considered to be varanoids). However, mosasaurs share derived similarities with both snakes and living varanids. A reanalysis of the morphological data suggests that, if the relationships between living taxa are constrained to the proposed molecular tree, with fossil forms allowed to insert in their optimal positions within this framework, mosasaurs cluster with snakes rather than with varanids. Combined morphological and molecular analyses also still unite marine lizards with snakes. Thus, the molecular data do not refute the phylogenetic evidence for a marine origin of snakes.

Phylogenetic relationships and classification of the Malagasy pseudoxyrhophiine snake genera Geodipsas and Compsophis based on morphological and molecular data

Zootaxa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1517 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRANK GLAW ◽  
ZOLTÁN T. NAGY ◽  
MIGUEL VENCES
Keyword(s):  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Original Description ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetic ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
Morphological And Molecular Data

Based on a specimen found at Montagne d'Ambre in northern Madagascar morphologically agreeing with Compsophis albiventris Mocquard, 1894, we report on the rediscovery of this enigmatic snake genus and species and its molecular phylogenetic relationships. Compsophis albiventris, considered to be the only representative of its genus and unreported since its original description, bears strong morphological similarities to species of Geodipsas Boulenger, 1896. A molecular phylogeny based on DNA sequences of three mitochondrial and nuclear genes (complete cytochrome b, fragments of 16S rRNA and c-mos) in Compsophis albiventris and three Geodipsas species corroborated close relationships between C. albiventris and Geodipsas boulengeri, and showed that the genera Compsophis and Geodipsas together form a monophyletic unit. Despite the general similarities, morphological data and chromatic features support the existence of two species groups, corresponding to Compsophis and Geodipsas. We consequently consider Geodipsas as a subgenus of Compsophis and transfer all species currently in Geodipsas into the genus Compsophis.

Variability, host range, delimitation and neotypification of Amanita simulans (Amanita section Vaginatae): collections associated with Helianthemum grasslands, and epitypification of A. lividopallescens

Phytotaxa ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 280 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALFREDO VIZZINI ◽  
MIRCA ZOTTI ◽  
MIDO TRAVERSO ◽  
ENRICO ERCOLE ◽  
PIERRE-ARTHUR MOREAU ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Taxonomic Status ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Phylogenetic Position ◽  
Extensive Discussion ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Colour Form ◽  
Morphological And Molecular Data

Several collections of Amanita species from section Vaginatae have been reported to be strictly associated with Helianthemum plants growing in grasslands, a still largely under-explored ectomycorrhizal habitat. The main aim of this study was to investigate the taxonomic status and phylogenetic position of strictly Helianthemum-associated Amanita sect. Vaginatae taxa, informally named Amanita “helianthemicola”. Collections from Italy, England and France were included in this study. The morphologically closely related species complex A. lividopallescens was also examined. Analyses were carried out based on both morphological and molecular data (phylogenetic analysis of the nrITS sequences). All investigated Amanita collections, which are strictly associated with Helianthemum nummularium, turned out to be conspecific with A. simulans. Amanita simulans was recently described from Sardinia (Italy) from Populus nigra habitats based on morphological characters only. As the holotype of A. simulans was lost, a neotype is designated here based on a voucher from the original collecting area. Amanita simulans is re-described, and an extensive discussion on the morphological variability, host species range, distribution and related taxa is provided. Amanita lividopallescens was confirmed as a good species, and re-delimited based on our phylogenetic analysis; moreover, it was epitypified with a recent and well-documented collection from Corse (France). Amanita stenospora is a synonym of A. lividopallescens, being a colour form of the latter without taxonomic value.

scholarly journals Simulium (Trichodagmia) (Diptera, Simuliidae) phylogeny revisited: the Neotropical and Afrotropical connection

2021 ◽  
Vol 773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Óscar S. Molina ◽  
Leonardo H. Gil-Azevedo
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Classification System ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Data Matrix ◽  
New Classification ◽  
Neotropical Species ◽  
New Subgenus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Phylogenetic Framework ◽  
Species Groups

Simulium (Trichodagmia) Enderlein, 1934 has an unstable classification system. The broader concept of the subgenus includes five species-groups resulting from an extensive history of synonymisations, often outside of a phylogenetic framework. This concept also ignores relationship hypotheses with the Afrotropical subgenera S. (Anasolen) Enderlein, 1930, S. (Freemanellum) Crosskey, 1969, S. (Xenosimulium) Crosskey, 1969, and the Oviedoi species-group, with several Neotropical species of S. (Trichodagmia). We performed a morphological phylogenetic analysis to test the monophyly of S. (Trichodagmia), its species-groups, and their relationship with the above-mentioned subgenera and Oviedoi species-group. We analysed a data matrix with 69 terminal taxa and 62 characters under parsimony implied weights, with a range of concavities (k1–100), finding three categories of k. Our analysis concludes that S. (Trichodagmia) is not monophyletic, since Oviedoi and the Afrotropical subgenera group with its species-groups Tarsatum and Orbitale. Therefore, we propose a new classification for S. (Trichodagmia) by restricting it to the Orbitale species-group, revalidating S. (Hearlea) Vargas et al., 1946, S. (Hemicnetha) Enderlein, 1934, S. (Obuchovia) Rubtsov, 1947 and S. (Shewellomyia) Peterson, 1975, synonymysing S. (Xenosimulium) with S. (Anasolen), and erecting a new subgenus, S. (Disculter) subgen. nov. for Oviedoi. The geographical distribution of the groups involved is discussed.

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