Molecular systematics and genital morphology of the Neotropical cockroaches from the genus Xestoblatta (Blattellidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5057 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
ANDRÉS VÉLEZ-BRAVO ◽  
JUAN M. DAZA

The Neotropics harbors a tremendous diversity of cockroaches yet their evolutionary history is largely unknown. We reconstructed for the first time the phylogeny of the Neotropical genus Xestoblatta Hebard using mitochondrial and nuclear genes from 12 species distributed in Central America and northern South America. Additionally, we conducted a morphological analysis of external characters and male genitalia. In the phylogenetic analysis we recovered the genus Xestoblatta as non-monophyletic, resulting in three unrelated lineages. From the morphological variability described here, we identified three different morphological groups matching the phylogenetic results. The phylogenetic relationships of the three lineages within the Blattellidae were partially resolved. Lineage 1 was nested within a supported clade corresponding to the tribes Blattellini + Symplocini, while lineages 2 and 3 nested within the clade corresponding to the tribe Pseudomopini. Based on our results, we propose to divide Xestoblatta (sensu lato) into three monophyletic genera: Antroxestoblatta gen.n., Sinatablatta gen.n., and Xestoblatta (sensu stricto). We also describe a new species Sinatablatta magdalenensis sp.n. and propose a taxonomic rearrangement for Xestoblatta (sensu lato).  

2019 ◽  
Vol 189 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-314
Author(s):  
Juan D Vásquez-Restrepo ◽  
Roberto Ibáñez ◽  
Santiago J Sánchez-Pacheco ◽  
Juan M Daza

Abstract The family Gymnophthalmidae is a highly diverse Neotropical lizard clade. Although multiple phylogenetic and taxonomic studies have reshaped our understanding of gymnophthalmid systematics and diversity, many groups remain understudied. This is the case for the cercosaurine genus Echinosaura, which includes eight species of small riparian lizards distributed across lower Central America and northern South America. Here, we present a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of Echinosaura, including DNA data for all species of the genus for the first time. To rigorously test the relationships of all Echinosaura, we have assembled the largest molecular dataset of cercosaurine lizards to date. Our analysis refutes the monophyly of Echinosaura, with E. apodema and E. sulcarostrum not closely related to the remaining species. To remedy the polyphyly of Echinosaura, we describe two new genera for E. apodema and E. sulcarostrum. Morphological distinctiveness and biogeography further support these taxonomic changes. In light of our phylogenetic results, we review the species-level taxonomy of the redefined Echinosaura based on morphological and genetic variation. We resurrect E. centralis and designate a neotype given the absence of type and topotypic material. In addition, we provide taxonomic accounts for each species and analyse their patterns of geographic distribution.


2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastián Muñoz-Leal ◽  
Ricardo A. Dias ◽  
Carlos R. Abrahão ◽  
Marcelo B. Labruna

Ornithodoros capensis sensu lato (s. l.) is a worldwide-distributed group of soft ticks that parasitize birds in insular and continental lands. It is currently composed of 11 morphologically closely related species. Several viral and bacterial pathogens, and particularly Coxiella-like endosymbiont organisms have been described coexisting with ticks of this group. Since it last report in 1983, the presence of O. capensis s. l. in Brazil has remained undocumented. By a morphological analysis of larvae and a molecular characterization of ticks and Coxiella genes we describe for the first time O. capensis sensu stricto in Brazil from specimens collected on Queimada Grande Island, in São Paulo state.


Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2566 (1) ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
ARNAUD FAILLE ◽  
CHARLES BOURDEAU ◽  
JAVIER FRESNEDA

A new trechine species Aphaenops parvulus sp. n. (Carabidae, Trechini) is described from Esjamundo cave in the Pyrenees of Huesca, Spain. The new species belongs to the subgenus Aphaenops (sensu stricto), but differs from its closest congeners by the small size—it is the smallest species of the group—and characters of the aedeagus. Molecular data based on fragments of a mitochondrial (COI) and a nuclear (LSU) genes recognised Aphaenops parvulus sp. n. as a sister taxon to A. eskualduna Coiffait. Aphaenops eskualduna is reported from Spain with precision for the first time.


Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4688 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-288
Author(s):  
THIAGO T. S. POLIZEI ◽  
MAXWELL V. L. BARCLAY

Neocylloepus Brown, 1970 and Pilielmis Hinton, 1971 are Neotropical genera of riffle beetles, mainly distributed in Central America and the north of South America. These genera are here reported for the first time from Venezuela, and a new species, Pilielmis shepardi sp. nov. is described and illustrated. The type material is housed in Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (MZSP), Natural History Museum, London, UK (BMNH), Museo del Instituto de Zoología Agrícola, Maracay, Venezuela (MIZA), Michael A. Ivie Collection, Bozeman, Montana, USA (MAIC), and National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA (USNM). 


Caldasia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-29
Author(s):  
Diego A. Guevara ◽  
Victor H. Gonzalez ◽  
Rodulfo Ospina

Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) are culturally and economically important bees and they represent a major component of the Colombian melittofauna. However, the bee fauna of Colombia is still in early stages of exploration and species identification is often difficult or impossible. We revised the species of the cleptobiotic stingless bee genus Lestrimelitta in Colombia and recognized the following eleven species: L. glabrata, L. guyanensis, L. rufa, L. rufipes, and L. spinosa, which are recorded for the first time for the country; L. huilensis, L. opita, L. piedemontana, and two new species, L. diminuta, sp. n. and L. galvisi sp. n. We also confirmed the presence of L. limao in the Colombian Amazon and provide new geographical records with an updated key to species from Central America and northern South America


Zootaxa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1535 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
DALTON DE SOUZA AMORIM ◽  
EIRIK RINDAL

A phylogenetic analysis of the Mycetophiliformia (= Sciaroidea) was performed to determine the relationships among its families and to place the following genera of uncertain position in the system: Heterotricha, Ohakunea, Colonomyia, Freemanomyia, Rhynchoheterotricha, Chiletricha, Afrotricha, Anisotricha, Kenyatricha, Nepaletricha, Sciarosoma, Sciaropota, Insulatricha, Cabamofa, Rogambara, and Starkomyia. Eratomyia n. gen. is described based on a new species from Ecuador. Colonomyia brasiliana sp.n. and Colonomyia freemani sp.n. are described respectively from southern Brazil and Chile. The male of Cabamofa mira Jaschhof is described for the first time. A total of 64 terminal taxa and 137 transformation series (with 202 characters) were included in the data matrix, with a number of new features from thoracic morphology. Willi Hennig’s 1973 system for the higher Bibionomorpha was adopted using the name Mycetophiliformia for the Sciaroidea. The Mycetophiliformia are monophyletic. The family Cecidomyiidae appears as the sister group of the remaining Mycetophiliformia, followed by the Sciaridae. In the preferred topology, the Rangomaramidae appear as the group sister of a clade consisting of (Ditomyiidae + Bolitophilidae + Diadocidiidae + Keroplatidae) and of (Lygistorrhinidae + Mycetophilidae). The topology within the Rangomaramidae is (Chiletrichinae subfam. n. (Heterotrichinae subfam. n. ((Rangomaraminae + Ohakuneinae subfam. n.))). The Chiletrichinae include the genera Kenyatricha, Rhynchoheterotricha, Insulatricha, Chiletricha, and Eratomyia n. gen. Heterotrichinae and Rangomaraminae are monotypic. The subfamily Ohakuneinae includes Ohakunea, Colonomyia, Cabamofa, and Rogambara. The positions of Freemanomyia, Loicia, Taxicnemis, Sciaropota, Starkomyia, Anisotricha, Nepaletricha, and Sciarosoma are considered. Afrotricha might belong to the Sciaridae. The similarities used by many authors to gather the Sciaridae and Mycetophilidae in a clade are shown to be a combination of plesiomorphies and homoplasies.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joao Araujo ◽  
G.M. Moriguchi ◽  
S. Uchiyama ◽  
N. Kinjo ◽  
Yu Matsuura

Abstract Entomopathogenic fungi are ubiquitous inhabitants of forests worldwide, remarkably in tropical regions. Among these fungi, one of the most abundant and diverse is the genus Ophiocordyceps. These fungi are particularly diverse and more commonly found parasitizing coleopteran, lepidopteran, hymenopteran and hemipteran insects. However, other insect orders are also parasitized by these fungi, for example the blattodeans (termites and cockroaches). Despite their ubiquity in nearly all environments insects occur, blattodeans are rarely found infected by filamentous fungi and thus, their ecology and evolutionary history remains obscure. In this study, we propose a new species of Ophiocordyceps infecting the social cockroaches Salganea esakii and S. taiwanensis, based on 16 years of collections and field observations, especially the Ryukyu Archipelago. We found a high degree of genetic similarity between specimens from different islands, infecting two Salganea species and that this relationship is ancient, likely not originated from a recent host jump. Furthermore, we found that Ophiocordyceps lineages infecting cockroaches evolved around the same time, at least twice, one from beetles and the other from termites. We have also investigated the evolutionary relationships between Ophiocordyceps and termites and present the phylogenetic placement of O. blattae for the first time.


Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2916 (1) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
MARGARITA M. LÓPEZ-GARCÍA ◽  
DIANA M. Méndez-Rojas ◽  
JOSÉ LUÍS NAVARRETE-HEREDIA

The genus Megarthrus Curtis 1829 with about 139 species described around the world, is the largest of the subfamily Proteininae (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) (Cuccodoro 2011). Megarthrus is distributed worldwide (Cuccodoro 1999) but it is apparently more diverse in the Holartic region (Navarrete-Heredia et al. 2002). However, the South American fauna is underestimated because many of the collected specimens are not yet described (Cuccodoro 2011). Newton et al. (2005) cited the genus as probable in Colombia because some species are known from Central America and northern South America, but until now, no species has been published from Colombia. Therefore, M. andinus sp. nov. represents the first record of the genus and subfamily for this country.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Lobato-Vila ◽  
Guadalupe Caicedo ◽  
Pedro A. Rodríguez ◽  
Juli Pujade-Villar

Abstract A review of the current knowledge on the diversity of inquiline oak gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipinae) from Colombia is conducted for the first time. A new species, Synergus dawnus Lobato-Vila and Pujade-Villar, is formally described and illustrated, and an undescribed specimen from the same genus is diagnosed and discussed. New biological, morphological, and distribution data of the only two previously known species from this country (Synergus colombianus Nieves-Aldrey, 2005 and Synergus pedroi Pujade-Villar, Lobato-Vila, and Fernández-Garzón, 2017), as well as an identification key to the Colombian species of Synergus Hartig, 1840, are provided. The morphological variability of the Colombian species of Synergus, especially of S. pedroi, is discussed.


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