scholarly journals DIVERSITY AND PHENETIC STUDY ON SYCONIUM OF FICUS L. (MORACEAE) FROM KERALA, INDIA REVEALING NATURAL CLASSIFICATION ALONG WITH AN IDENTIFICATION KEY

REINWARDTIA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-36
Author(s):  
Sreehari S Nair ◽  
K.H. Amitha Bachan ◽  
P.J. Ebin

NAIR, S. S., BACHAN, K. H. A.  &  EBIN, P. J.  2021. Diversity and phenetic study on syconium of Ficus L. (Moraceae) from Kerala, India revealing natural classification along  with an identification key. Reinwardtia  20(1): 27–36. — Ficus L. commonly called ‘figs’ is one of the most complex genera among the angiosperms with its specialised inflorescence called syconium that looks like a fruit. Syconium of 33 species of  Ficus reported from Kerala were observed here to develop a novel key, solely based on syconium morphology. Numerical taxonomic methodology  for syconium  morphological characters  were standardised, considering 22 characters with 104 character states and analysed using similarity clustering. The floral features of the genus are very much complex and all the existing keys for the species identification relays on both vegetative as well as floral features. Hence, the present key will be practical  in  use  when  syconium  is  the  only  available  part.  The  numerical  analysis  of  the  syconium  features  well clustered and separated the trees with cauliflorous inflorescence, hemi epiphytic -epiphytic life forms and independent trees similar to the natural classification of the figs as  “Atthi, Itthi and Aal”, indicating that phenetic analysis using the syconium  characters  alone  provided  a  grouping  similar  to  the  natural  grouping  based  on  the  habit.  Preliminary phylogenetic analysis of figs also provided a similar clustering. This gives an insight into the fact that the separation of figs into these natural groups is reflecting phylogenetic trait. Detailed studies including more morphological traits and molecular analysis could establish the phylogenetic relation of figs in relation to the evolutionary history of climate and vegetation.

2016 ◽  
Vol 128 (1) ◽  
pp. 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Bayly

The eucalypt group includes seven genera: Eucalyptus, Corymbia, Angophora, Eucalyptopsis, Stockwellia, Allosyncarpia and Arillastrum. Knowledge of eucalypt phylogeny underpins classification of the group, and facilitates understanding of their ecology, conservation and economic use, as well as providing insight into the history of Australia’s flora. Studies of fossils and phylogenetic analyses of morphological and molecular data have made substantial contributions to understanding of eucalypt relationships and biogeography, but relationships among some genera are still uncertain, and there is controversy about generic circumscription of the bloodwood eucalypts (genus Corymbia). Relationships at lower taxonomic levels, e.g. among sections and series of Eucalyptus, are also not well resolved. Recent advances in DNA sequencing methods offer the ability to obtain large genomic datasets that will enable improved understanding of eucalypt evolution.


2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Núria Garcia-Jacas ◽  
Mercè Galbany-Casals ◽  
Kostyantyn Romashchenko ◽  
Alfonso Susanna

The limits of the genera that compose the Onopordum group of the Cardueae–Carduinae are difficult to establish. There are two main life forms; one is exemplified in the genus Onopordum, which includes only biennial colonisers in the Mediterranean region and temperate Eurasia; the second life form is exemplified in the group of perennial herbs of the genera Alfredia, Ancathia, Lamyropappus, Olgaea, Synurus, Syreitschikovia and Xanthopappus, all of them growing in the mountains of central Asia. We explored relationships among the genera of the complex by using Bayesian and parsimony analyses of a combined dataset of nuclear and plastid DNA sequences. Our results confirmed that the group is natural and the two life forms correspond to well defined entities. Generic limits within the eight central Asian genera are, however, very difficult to establish. Our results suggested that the present genus circumscription is artificial, especially for the largest genus, Olgaea, which appears paraphyletic. Some solutions are suggested. The most preferable might be lumping all small genera together in a broadly redefined genus Alfredia, and assigning sectional rank to the natural groups that result from correlating morphology with our molecular results. However, none of the possible solutions is free of problems because morphological characters and molecular phylogeny are not fully congruent. Some considerations on the origin and peculiar adaptations for becoming a successful coloniser shown by Onopordum are also offered, finding parallels to these adaptations in other examples of biennial colonisers within subtribe Carduinae.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Denk ◽  
Guido W. Grimm ◽  
Paul S. Manos ◽  
Min Deng ◽  
Andrew Hipp

In this paper, we review major classification schemes proposed for oaks by John Claudius Loudon, Anders Sandøe Ørsted, William Trelease, Otto Karl Anton Schwarz, Aimée Antoinette Camus, Yuri Leonárdovich Menitsky, and Kevin C. Nixon. Classifications of oaks (Fig. 1) have thus far been based entirely on morphological characters. They differed profoundly from each other because each taxonomist gave a different weight to distinguishing characters; often characters that are homoplastic in oaks. With the advent of molecular phylogenetics our view has considerably changed. One of the most profound changes has been the realisation that the traditional split between the East Asian subtropical to tropical subgenus Cyclobalanopsis and the subgenus Quercus that includes all other oaks is artificial. The traditional concept has been replaced by that of two major clades, each comprising three infrageneric groups: a Palearctic-Indomalayan clade including Group Ilex (Ilex oaks), Group Cerris (Cerris oaks) and Group Cyclobalanopsis (cycle-cup oaks), and a predominantly Nearctic clade including Group Protobalanus (intermediate or golden cup oaks), Group Lobatae (red oaks) and Group Quercus (white oaks, with most species in America and some 30 species in Eurasia). The main morphological feature characterising these phylogenetic lineages is pollen morphology, a character overlooked in traditional classifications. This realisation, along with the now available (molecular-)phylogenetic framework, opens new avenues for biogeographic, ecological and evolutionary studies and a re-appraisal of the fossil record. We provide an overview about recent advances in these fields and outline how the results of these studies contribute to the establishment of a unifying systematic scheme of oaks. Ultimately, we propose an updated classification of Quercus recognising two subgenera with eight sections. This classification considers morphological traits, molecular-phylogenetic relationships, and the evolutionary history of one of the most important temperate woody plant genera.


2019 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónica M. Carlsen ◽  
Thomas B. Croat

This study presents an evaluation of the currently accepted sectional classification of the genus Anthurium Schott (Araceae) in light of a recently published molecular phylogeny for the group. In general, disagreements between these two occur because many diagnostic morphological characters used in the sectional classification turned out to be highly homoplasious within Anthurium, with multiple independent gains or losses of seemingly similar morphologies in distantly related clades. A new sectional classification of Anthurium that more accurately represents species relationships and the evolutionary history of the genus is much needed, and here we propose the first steps toward it. Results from this study suggest that out of the 18 sections and two series recognized in Anthurium, only seven of these groups are monophyletic (i.e., sections Andiphilum (Schott) Croat, Calomystrium (Schott) Engl., Dactylophyllium (Schott) Engl., Leptanthurium (Schott) Engl., Polyphyllium Engl., Tetraspermium (Schott) Engl., and the newly recognized section Multinervia (Croat) Carlsen & Croat, previously a series within section Pachyneurium (Schott) Engl.). All other sections are either not monophyletic or their monophyly could not be accurately tested. A complete revision of the sectional classification of Anthurium will require a more comprehensive taxon sampling and a better supported molecular phylogeny.


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4453 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAWEŁ JAŁOSZYŃSKI

Mastigitae comprise most unusual ant-like stone beetles, showing intriguing morphological characters and ecological adaptations. The largest adults among Scydmaeninae can be found in this group; some reaching nearly 9 mm in length, but there are also adults as small as 1.10 mm. Members of Leptomastacini are microphthalmous and depigmented; Mastigini are often black or contrastingly bicolored and have diurnal life style, adults of some species climbing bushes and trees. Papusini inhabit the driest North American deserts and are active during the warmest time of the year; other taxa live in subtropical forests; some are known to enter caves. Adults of some genera have enigmatic modifications of maxillary palps, postgenae or antennae, whose functions still remain unknown. In one genus the male genitalia are enormously elongate, so that these beetles have evolved a method of copulation not known in any other Coleoptera. The evolutionary history of Mastigitae is documented by fossils since the Upper Cretaceous, and extinct forms are even more 'extreme' in their spiny antennae and unusually elongate appendages than their extant relatives. Although phylogenetic hypotheses have been proposed to clarify the relationships and classification of Mastigitae, morphological structures of most genera remain undescribed. They are reviewed in the present synopsis, with detailed descriptions and illustrations of adult structures of all extant genera (Ablepton, Leptomastax, Taurablepton, Mastigus, Palaeostigus, Stenomastigus, Leptochromus, Clidicus and Papusus), with a brief review of known larval forms and fossils. Novel ecological data are given, with emphasis on habitat preferences and feeding behavior. The 'springtail trap' hypothesis for the spiny antennae of Mastigini is rejected, based on field observations and laboratory experiments. For the first time, details of feeding for Palaeostigus and Leptomastax are described. A checklist of species is given, and the main problems related to the classification, phylogeny and ecology of Mastigitae are discussed. 


Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Petr Kočárek ◽  
Ivona Horká ◽  
Robin Kundrata

Zoraptera is a small and predominantly tropical insect order with an unresolved higher classification due to the extremely uniform external body morphology. We, therefore, conducted a multigene molecular phylogeny of extant Zoraptera and critically re-evaluated their morphological characters in order to propose a natural infraordinal classification. We recovered a highly-resolved phylogeny with two main clades representing major evolutionary lineages in Zoraptera, for which we propose family ranks. The two families exhibit striking differences in male genitalia and reproductive strategies. Each family contains two subclades (subfamilies) supported by several morphological synapomorphies including the relative lengths of the basal antennomeres, the number and position of metatibial spurs, and the structure of male genitalia. The newly proposed higher classification of Zoraptera includes the family Zorotypidae stat. revid. with Zorotypinae Silvestri, 1913 (Zorotypus stat. revid., Usazoros Kukalova-Peck and Peck, 1993 stat. restit.) and Spermozorinae subfam. nov. (Spermozoros gen. nov.), and Spriralizoridae fam. nov. with Spiralizorinae subfam. nov. (Spiralizoros gen. nov., Scapulizoros gen. nov., Cordezoros gen. nov., Centrozoros Kukalova-Peck and Peck, 1993, stat. restit., Brazilozoros Kukalova-Peck and Peck, 1993, stat. restit.), and Latinozorinae subfam. nov. (Latinozoros Kukalova-Peck and Peck, 1993, stat. restit.). An identification key and morphological diagnoses for all supraspecific taxa are provided.


Author(s):  
Lars Vilhelmsen ◽  
Akihiko Shinohara

Abiinae is the second-largest subfamily in Cimbicidae, a small family of true sawflies (Tenthredinoidea). The subfamily is adequately defined, but the generic classification has been unstable. Currently, only two genera are regarded as valid: Abia Leach, 1817 and Allabia Semenov & Gussakovskij, 1937. We evaluate the generic classification of Abiinae in a phylogenetic context. A total of 32 species (out of 57 described for the subfamily), including the type species of Allabia, Allabia infernalis (Semenov, 1896), are scored for 150 adult morphological characters. Results show some resolution, but only few clades can be circumscribed by consistent character combinations. Most of the characters that have previously been used to define genera are not congruent; consequently, most suggested genus definitions appear to be random character state combinations and few natural groups can be identified. For these reasons, we treat Allabia syn. nov. as a junior synonym of Abia and make the following additional taxonomic changes: Abia infernalis Semenov, 1896 comb. rev. and Abia malaisei (Semenov & Gussakovskij, 1937) syn. nov. For the purpose of long-term stability of the classification of Abiinae, we recommend recognizing only one genus, Abia, within the subfamily.


Zootaxa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1668 (1) ◽  
pp. 381-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN W.H. TRUEMAN

The classification of insect order Odonata is traced from Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae, through 19th and 20th century morphology-based taxonomies, to molecular phylogenies published before November, 2007. Past and present nomenclatural difficulties are reviewed and the current situation in regard to rival taxonomies is outlined. Ordinal classifications based on morphological data continue to suffer from intractable uncertainty concerning wing vein homologies between Odonata and other Pterygota, but molecular analyses may soon show where the phylogenetic tree of Odonata should be rooted. The natural classification will become much clearer once this has been achieved.


1978 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 1330-1347 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Chant ◽  
R. I. C. Hansell ◽  
H. J. Rowell ◽  
E. Yoshida Shaul

The taxonomic history of the family Phytoseiidae is briefly reviewed. The taxonomic structure of the family is analysed using the methods of numerical taxonomy, with 221 morphological characters in 93 species covering the major taxonomic groups that have been proposed within the family. Both weighted and unweighted character analyses are used. It is shown that definite gaps separate groups of species within this family. At the level of major hierarchical separations both the unweighted and weighted character analyses are similar. A classification based on these major hierarchical separations is proposed. It is demonstrated that neither the classical system, based mainly on dorsal chaetotaxy, nor the numerical system alone provides a completely acceptable classification of the family, but that numerical taxonomic analyses are useful as a tool in helping to determine the hierarchical organization of the group.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document