A new species of Chiridurothrips Okajima from Miocene amber of the Dominican Republic (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4686 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-144
Author(s):  
MANFRED R. ULITZKA

The thysanopteran genus Chiridurothrips Okajima is known from a single extant species, C. hisakoae Okajima, collected in Japan (ThripsWiki 2019). Occurring on dead leaves and branches of evergreen trees in the subtropical Ryukyu Islands, this species remains known from only five females (Okajima 1981, 2006; also pers. comm. 2018). Within Phlaeothripidae, Chiridurothrips is associated with the tribe Plectrothripini. Species of this sub-group feed on fungal hyphae or the break-down products of fungal attack on decaying plant material (Mound & Ng 2018). They are found mainly under the bark of trees or on dead branches, and they do not seem to inhabit leaf-litter (Okajima 1981). At present, Plectrothripini comprises 60 extant species in 13 genera, with no fossils recorded. Of these species 32 are placed in the genus Plectrothrips Hood, ten in Streptothrips Priesner, and six in Chirothripoides Bagnall, whereas both Menothrips Hood and Mastigothrips Priesner each include only two species. The remaining eight species are all placed in separate monobasic genera (ThripsWiki 2019). Concerning this strongly asymmetric classification, Mound and Ng (2018) suggest that Plectrothripini might be particularly old, with the large number of monobasic genera each representing a relict lineage. An alternative possibility, however, might be an unusual instability in the genes controlling morphogenetic processes, and thus resulting in striking autapomorphies on which each one of these genera is diagnosed (Mound & Ng 2018). Species associated with Plectrothripini share the following character states (Okajima 1981; Mound & Tree 2017): antennae 8-segmented, segment II with the campaniform sensillum situated in the basal half, III–IV with stout sense cones, VIII slender with narrow base; head with posterior ocelli close to compound eyes; pronotum commonly with sclerotized plate eroded or reduced, prosternal basantra week or absent; legs with fore tarsal tooth large; mid and hind tibiae commonly with apical spur-like setae; macropterae with fore wings parallel-sided, usually with duplicated cilia; pelta broad at base, abdominal tergite II eroded laterally; abdominal sternites often with reticulate glandular areas. Regarding the fore wings, it seems worth mentioning that in some members of Plectrothripini the subbasal wing vein is reduced and thus the three subbasal wing setae are lacking (see Plectrothrips tenuis Okajima, Chiridurothrips [c.f. fig. 2], Chirothripoides, Lonchothrips Hood; Bhatti 1998; Okajima 1981). This short vein that is present in (almost all) other macropterous Phlaeothripidae has been interpreted as a plesiomorphic feature that resulted from the reduction of a former well-developed longitudinal first vein of ancestral Tubulifera, the Rohrthripidae (Ulitzka 2018, 2019). 

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2450 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
TOMOYUKI KOMAI ◽  
YUSUKE YAMADA

A new species of the rare caridean genus Bresilia Calman, 1896, B. gibbosa, is described and illustrated on the basis of one ovigerous female and one male specimens collected from a shallow water marine cave in Okinawa Island, Ryukyu Islands, Japan. The new species is morphologically similar to B. antipodarum Bruce, 1990, B. briankensleyi Bruce, 2005, B. plumifera Bruce, 1990 and B. saldanhai Calado, Chevaldonné & dos Santos, 2004 in the strongly produced third abdominal tergite, the presence of a long epistomal process, and the presence of an exopodal flagellum on the first maxilliped, but is easily distinguished from all these allied species by the possession of movable spines in the dorsal rostral series and the angular, instead of spinose, pterygostomial margin of the carapace. This new species is the first representative of Bresiliidae from the North Pacific Ocean.


Genetics ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 147 (3) ◽  
pp. 1139-1153 ◽  
Author(s):  
James V Price ◽  
Edward D Savenye ◽  
David Lum ◽  
Ashton Breitkreutz

The Drosophila epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a key component of a complex signaling pathway that participates in multiple developmental processes. We have performed and F1 screen for mutations that cause dominant enhancement of wing vein phenotypes associated with mutations in Egfr. With this screen, we have recovered mutations in Hairless (H), vein, groucho (gro), and three apparently novel loci. All of the E(Egfr)s we have identified show dominant interactions in transheterozygous combinations with each other and with alleles of N or Su(H), suggesting that they are involved in cross-talk between the N and EGFR signaling pathways. Further examination of the phenotypic interactions between Egfr, H, and gro revealed that reductions in Egfr activity enhanced both the bristle loss associated with H mutations, and the bristle hyperplasia and ocellar hypertrophy associated with gro mutations. Double mutant combinations of Egfr and gro hypomorphic alleles led to the formation of ectopic compound eyes in a dosage sensitive manner. Our findings suggest that these E(Egfr)s represent links between the Egfr and Notch signaling pathways, and that Egfr activity can either promote or suppress Notch signaling, depending on its developmental context.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
D. Kosova-Maali ◽  
E. Bergeron ◽  
Y. Maali ◽  
T. Durand ◽  
J. Gonzalez ◽  
...  

This study aims at genetic characterization and phylogenetic relationships ofNocardia brasiliensisfocusing by using housekeepingrrs,hsp65,andsodAgenes.N. brasiliensisis the species responsible for 80% of cases of actinomycetoma, one form of cutaneous nocardiosis which occurs mainly in tropical regions reaching immunocompetent patients in which the disease can lead to amputation. We analyze 36 indigenous cases ofN. brasiliensisthat happened in France. Phylogenetic analysis targetingrrsgene showed no robustness at phylogenetic nodes level. However, the use of a concatenation ofhsp65andsodAgenes showed that the tested strains surprisingly ranked in 3 well-defined genotypes. Genotypes 2 and 3 were phylogenetically closer to each other and both diverged from genotype 1 sustained by a high bootstrap of 81%. This last genotype hosts all the cases of pulmonary forms (3), the sole cerebral form, and almost all the cases of immunocompromised patients (3 out of 4). Moreover, excepting one of them, all the strains belonging to this group present a susceptibility to imipenem which is not the case in the other genotypes that rarely count among them strains being susceptible to this drug. The haplotype diversity (Hd) ofhsp65(0.927) andsodA(0.885) genes was higher than that ofrrs(0.824). For this gene, we obtained 16 polymorphic sites whereas, forhsp65andsodAgenes, up to 27 and 29 were identified, respectively. This study reveals that these two genes have an important genetic discriminatory power for the evaluation of the intraspecies genetic variability ofN. brasiliensisand they may be useful for identification purposes at species level. This study also reveals the possible existence of a new species harbored by genotype 1.


2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1816) ◽  
pp. 20152053 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence N. Suinyuy ◽  
John S. Donaldson ◽  
Steven D. Johnson

Brood-site mutualisms represent extreme levels of reciprocal specialization between plants and insect pollinators, raising questions about whether these mutualisms are mediated by volatile signals and whether these signals and insect responses to them covary geographically in a manner expected from coevolution. Cycads are an ancient plant lineage in which almost all extant species are pollinated through brood-site mutualisms with insects. We investigated whether volatile emissions and insect olfactory responses are matched across the distribution range of the African cycad Encephalartos villosus . This cycad species is pollinated by the same beetle species across its distribution, but cone volatile emissions are dominated by alkenes in northern populations, and by monoterpenes and a pyrazine compound in southern populations. In reciprocal choice experiments, insects chose the scent of cones from the local region over that of cones from the other region. Antennae of beetles from northern populations responded mainly to alkenes, while those of beetles from southern populations responded mainly to pyrazine. In bioassay experiments, beetles were most strongly attracted to alkenes in northern populations and to the pyrazine compound in southern populations. Geographical matching of cone volatiles and pollinator olfactory preference is consistent with coevolution in this specialized mutualism.


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5020 (2) ◽  
pp. 328-336
Author(s):  
MASSIMO OLMI ◽  
DMITRY V. VASILENKO ◽  
LEONARDO CAPRADOSSI ◽  
EVGENY E. PERKOVSKY ◽  
ADALGISA GUGLIELMINO

Lonchodryinus groehni sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Chrysidoidea: Dryinidae) is described from Baltic amber. The new species is close to L. balticus Olmi & Guglielmino, 2012, but it can be distinguished for the different OPL/POL ratio and 2r-rs&Rs vein of the fore wing. A key to the fossil species of Lonchodryinus and a comparison with the extant species L. ruficornis (Dalman, 1818) are presented.  


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4991 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-168
Author(s):  
MING KAI TAN ◽  
SIGFRID INGRISCH ◽  
CAHYO RAHMADI ◽  
TONY ROBILLARD

Heminicsara Karny, 1912 is a katydid genus of Agraeciini from the Axylus genus group. It currently comprises 62 species from mainly New Guinea and surrounding archipelagos. Based on recent fieldwork in Lobo in West Papua, Indonesia, a new species of Heminicsara is described here: Heminicsara incrassata sp. nov. It is most readily characterised from congeners and other species of the Axylus genus group by the male tenth abdominal tergite forming a large shield-shaped plate. This represents the first species of Heminicsara described and known from the south-west of New Guinea.  


2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Hulbert ◽  
Steven C. Wallace ◽  
Walter E. Klippel ◽  
Paul W. Parmalee

The previously poorly known “Tapiravus” polkensis Olsen, 1960 (Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Tapiridae) is now known from abundant, well preserved specimens from both the type area in central Florida and from the Gray Fossil Site (GFS) in eastern Tennessee. The latter has produced over 75 individuals, the greatest number of tapirids from a single fossil site, including many articulated skeletons. Almost all linear measurements taken on skulls, mandibles, and cheek teeth from GFS have coefficients of variation less than 10 (most between 3 and 7), indicating the presence of a single species. However, the sample reveals considerable intraspecific variation for a few key morphologic features, including development of the sagittal crest, outline shape of the nasals, and number and relative strength of lingual cusps on the P1. The Florida sample of T. polkensis is more limited, but has the same state as the GFS sample for all preserved characters of systematic significance, and while the Florida teeth are on average smaller (especially narrower lower cheek teeth), they fall either within or just below the observed range of the Gray Fossil Site population. The new material supports a reassignment of “Tapiravus” polkensis to the genus Tapirus, and demonstrates that the geologic age of the species is significantly younger than previously thought, Hemphillian rather than Barstovian. Tapirus polkensis is the smallest known North American Tapirus, and smaller than any of the extant species in the genus, with an estimated average mass of 125 kg.


ZooKeys ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 973 ◽  
pp. 89-101
Author(s):  
Alexey V. Shavrin ◽  
Shûhei Yamamoto

An unusual new omaliine species, Anthobium alekseevisp. nov., is described and illustrated from Eocene Baltic amber, tentatively placed in the megadiverse genus Anthobium Leach, 1819. A new monotypic species-group is established. The new species can easily be distinguished from other species of the genus by the larger body, shape of the subrectangular pronotum, and the presence of a median carina on the prosternum and large, subtriangular tooth on the inner side of each mesotibia, likely exhibiting a peculiar sexual dimorphism in the male. Based on the study of the specimen with support of microtomographic images, a brief comparative analysis of a new species with described extant species of Anthobium is provided.


2021 ◽  
Vol 126 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-158
Author(s):  
Etienne Iorio

The Western-European Himantariidae, with the description of a new species of the genus Stigmatogaster Latzel, 1880 (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha). After an examination of one or several specimens of almost all of the Western-European species of the genus Stigmatogaster, a new species is described: S. tufi n. sp. apparently endemic to Corsica. New morphological details are given on several Western-European Himantariidae, particularly Stigmatogaster sardoa which is described in detail and confirmed as clearly valid, for some characters of S. excavata and for the female of Himantariella scutellaris which was previously unknown. S. arcisherculis has been again identified in France after 95 years without records in this country. All species so far variously assigned to either Haplophilus or Stigmatogaster are here classified in a single genus Stigmatogaster. Preliminary illustrated identification keys for the Western-European genera of Himantariidae and for the Stigmatogaster species are given also in English. An updated checklist of the Western-European Himantariidae with their distribution is given. Thanks to unpublished information of Lucio Bonato, Himantarium mediterraneum is confirmed in Europe.


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