scholarly journals (279) Morphological Investigation of Astilbe

HortScience ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 1037A-1037 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian W. Trader ◽  
Holly L. Scoggins ◽  
Richard E. Veilleux
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Morphological Character ◽  
Floral Development ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Character State ◽  
State Matrix ◽  
Molecular Sequence ◽  
Species Combination

The genus Astilbe (Saxifragaceae) is comprised of approximately 20 species and is ranked consistently among the top ten landscape perennials. Through extensive hybridization, selection, and marketing, the lineage of many Astilbe has been lost. Subdioecious Astilbe biternata is the only species in the genus native to North America, while other members of the genus are endemic to Asia and monoecious. Due to the unusual geographic distribution of the species and the variation in floral development among them, investigation of morphological characters may help establish lineage within the genus. Herbarium material representing described species and varieties of Astilbe was acquired from several herbaria nationwide. Twenty-seven character states were selected to help distinguish members among the genus. Morphological character states chosen for inferring differences among species in Astilbe varied from degree of pubescence to leaf branching with an emphasis on floral characteristics such as sepal and petal variation. Character state matrix was assimilated for 20 taxa of Astilbe and analyzed using maximum parsimony. The monotypic genus Saxifragopsis was utilized as the outgroup taxa. Resulting phylogenetic trees show Astilbe simplicifolia as the species from which all members of the genus were derived. The American species, Astilbe biternata, separated away from other members within the genus. There is evidence from the phylogeny based on the morphological character states that some described species may actually represent variation within populations of species. Combination of this morphological data with molecular sequence information may be informative for further description of the Astilbe genus.

Characterisation of the Australian Nacophorini using adult morphology, and phylogeny of the Geometridae based on morphological characters

Zootaxa ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 1736 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
CATHERINE J. YOUNG
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Majority Rule ◽  
Morphological Character ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Bootstrap Support ◽  
Consensus Tree ◽  
Molecular Analyses ◽  
Character Set

The Australian Nacophorini and related taxa are described using a matrix of 116 adult morphological characters. Adults of 72 species are illustrated using photographs and electron micrographs. Subsets of the characters are used to conduct a phylogenetic analysis based on cladistic principles. The adult morphological character set was augmented with 17 characters from eggs and 27 from larvae. The resulting phylogeny is poorly resolved but provides support for many of the relationships recovered by previous molecular analyses of the group, including basal derivations for characters of Larentiinae and Sterrhinae relative to those of the rest of Geometridae, and the monophyly of the Geometrinae + Oenochrominae s. str. Combining 28S D2 datawith morphological data produced a matrix of 60 taxa and 590 characters. The majority rule consensus tree produced by the combined morphological and 28S D2 data is almost identical to the majority rule consensus tree produced by the 28S D2 data alone, except that bootstrap support is lower for most nodes. Common clades obtained from the molecular and morphological trees are described in terms of morphological data. On this basis a concept of the Australian Nacophorini includes Lithinini and Australian Archiearinae. Two robust groups within the tribe also are delimited using characters from all data sources. Comparsions are made between the Nearctic and Neotropical Nacophorini on the basis of shared morphological characters. Australian Boarmiini are defined by synapomorphies.

scholarly journals Computational biomechanics changes our view on insect head evolution

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1848) ◽  
pp. 20162412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Blanke ◽  
Peter J. Watson ◽  
Richard Holbrey ◽  
Michael J. Fagan
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Biomechanical Model ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Data Matrix ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Character State ◽  
Functional Dependencies ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Computational Biomechanics ◽  
Relationship Of

Despite large-scale molecular attempts, the relationships of the basal winged insect lineages dragonflies, mayflies and neopterans, are still unresolved. Other data sources, such as morphology, suffer from unclear functional dependencies of the structures considered, which might mislead phylogenetic inference. Here, we assess this problem by combining for the first time biomechanics with phylogenetics using two advanced engineering techniques, multibody dynamics analysis and finite-element analysis, to objectively identify functional linkages in insect head structures which have been used traditionally to argue basal winged insect relationships. With a biomechanical model of unprecedented detail, we are able to investigate the mechanics of morphological characters under biologically realistic load, i.e. biting. We show that a range of head characters, mainly ridges, endoskeletal elements and joints, are indeed mechanically linked to each other. An analysis of character state correlation in a morphological data matrix focused on head characters shows highly significant correlation of these mechanically linked structures. Phylogenetic tree reconstruction under different data exclusion schemes based on the correlation analysis unambiguously supports a sistergroup relationship of dragonflies and mayflies. The combination of biomechanics and phylogenetics as it is proposed here could be a promising approach to assess functional dependencies in many organisms to increase our understanding of phenotypic evolution.

scholarly journals Phylogenetic Position of the Genus Alulacris (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Melanoplinae: Podismini) Revealed by Complete Mitogenome Evidence

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 918
Author(s):  
Haiyang Xu ◽  
Benyong Mao ◽  
Sergey Yu. Storozhenko ◽  
Yuan Huang ◽  
Zhilin Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Next Generation Sequencing ◽  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Morphological Character ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Phylogenetic Position ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Sequencing Cost ◽  
Complete Mitogenome ◽  
Data Source ◽  
Generation Sequencing

Whole mitogenomes are a useful data source for a wide variety of research goals due to the vastly cheaper sequencing cost and the far less demanding high-quality templates. The mitogenome has demonstrated great potential in resolving phylogenetic questions in Orthoptera at different taxonomic scales as well as exploring patterns of molecular and morphological character evolutions. In this study, the complete mitogenome of Alulacris shilinensis (Zheng, 1977) was sequenced using next-generation sequencing, the characteristics of the mitogenome are presented briefly, and the phylogeny of the Melanoplinae and Catantopinae was reconstructed using a selected dataset of mitogenome sequences under maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference frameworks. The results show that the genus was consistently assigned to the subfamily Melanoplinae rather than Catantopinae in all phylogenetic trees deduced from different datasets under different frameworks, and this finding is entirely consistent with its morphological characters. Therefore, it is more appropriate to place the genus Alulacris in Melanoplinae rather than in Catantopinae.

scholarly journals Molecular Identity of Subterranean Termites

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 410-416
Author(s):  
Srinivasa Murthy Kotilingam
Keyword(s):  
Sequence Analysis ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Caste System ◽  
Coi Gene ◽  
Subterranean Termites ◽  
Morphological Identification ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Molecular Sequence ◽  
Morphological Differences

Identification of termites is a challenging task due to variable morphological differences among species and their eusocial behaviour with different caste system. A method for easy and accurate species-level identification at any life stage is required. In this study, a 658-base pair region of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene was used to explore its utility in the identification of important subterranean termites. Termite specimens collected from 25 locations from various states, were characterized using specific primers for their identification. Sequence analysis and divergence among the species was assessed. The composition of the mitochondrial sequence of the COI gene in the present study was expectedly AT biased. GenBank accession numbers were obtained for the species. Sequence analysis and divergence among the species was assessed, which revealed significantly high percentage of A+T base composition. Molecular sequence information from NCBI revealed relatedness in all the collected termites, accurately as revealed by their morphological characters. The studies indicate the relevance of DNA sequencing to match different forms of termites and address ambiguities in morphological identification. The information on species diversity would help plan strategies for management of termites. Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 8(4): 410-416

scholarly journals Comparative Morphology, Phylogeny, Classification and Evolution of Interstitial Habits in Microcambevine Catfishes (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae)

Taxonomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-344
Author(s):  
Wilson J. E. M. Costa ◽  
Axel M. Katz
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Traits ◽  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Comparative Morphology ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
High Level ◽  
Available Information

The Microcambevinae are a catfish subfamily endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, comprising rare species with interstitial habits. Microcambevines have been classified in two genera, Listrura and Microcambeva, but the relationships among included intrageneric lineages are still poorly understood. The objectives of this study are to conduct a phylogenetic analysis integrating morphological characters and a multigene dataset, and to propose a classification better reflecting morphological diversity and phylogenetic relationships. Phylogenetic analyses combining 57 morphological characters and a 2563 bp molecular dataset generated similar phylogenetic trees with high support values for most clades, including the two genera and some intrageneric groups. Six morphologically distinctive infrageneric lineages, three in Listrura and three in Microcambeva, are classified as subgenera, as well as two new species are described. The morphological diversity here recorded integrated to available information about habitat indicate high level of divergent specialisation among lineages. The analyses indicate a series of convergent morphological traits between Listrura and other teleosts sharing a fossorial lifestyle, as well as specialised traits independently occurring within Listrura lineages. Similarly, a great diversity of morphological traits occurs convergently in Microcambeva lineages and other teleosts sharing psammophilic habits. This study shows that combining molecular and morphological data yields well-supported phylogenies, making possible to unambiguously diagnose clades and to establish evolutionary hypothesis on morphological evolution.

A review of species recognition in the Phenacoccus aceris species-group (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Pseudococcidae) using molecular and morphological data

Zootaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4319 (3) ◽  
pp. 483
Author(s):  
XU-BO WANG ◽  
SAN-AN WU
Keyword(s):  
Sequence Data ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Species Group ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Character State ◽  
Relative Width ◽  
Nucleotide Sequence Data ◽  
Putative Species ◽  
Species Separation

The maple mealybug, Phenacoccus aceris (Signoret) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), is a widespread polyphagous pest. The taxonomy of P. aceris and some congeners is controversial. This study utilized molecular analysis of one mitochondrial (cytochrome oxidase I) and two nuclear (EF-1α and 28S D2D3) genes, and morphological data, to investigate the P. aceris species-group based on 120 individuals collected from 16 localities in China. Analyses of the nucleotide sequence data recovered four well-supported clades that enabled us to reassess the taxonomic utility of some morphological characters used for species recognition in the P. aceris species-group, such as the number, location and width of circuli, and the distribution pattern of oral-collar tubular ducts on the dorsum. Polymorphism in the number of circuli indicated that this character-state alone is unreliable for species separation, but a combination of the number, location and relative width of the circuli provides a significant taxonomic character. The distribution of oral-collar tubular ducts on dorsal segments of the cephalothorax can be used also for species separation. In addition, specimens that keyed morphologically to P. aceris contained three putative species that are not separated by host-plant preferences. These putative species are genetically and morphologically different from P. aceris in France (the type locality of P. aceris) and are thus probably new to science. A network analysis of the COI haplotypes showed that the hosts Fraxinus spp. (Oleaceae) and Zanthoxylum bungeanum (Rutaceae) in North China are attacked by both P. aceris and P. azaleae, so previous identifications of this group based on the identity of these host plants is misleading. The taxonomic confusion in the P. aceris species-group may be due to the co-occurrence of multiple putative species. 

RELATIONSHIP OF THE ORDER APIALES TO SUBCLASS ASTERIDAE: A RE-EVALUATION OF MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS BASED ON INSIGHTS FROM MOLECULAR DATA

2001 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. M. PLUNKETT
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
Morphological Character ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Monophyletic Group ◽  
Character State ◽  
Molecular Analyses ◽  
Taxonomic Level ◽  
State Evolution ◽  
Relationship Of

Phylogenetic relationships involving the angiosperm order Apiales (Apiaceae and Araliaceae) are troublesome at nearly every taxonomic level and have eluded several generations of botanists. Because of difficulties in interpreting and polarizing morphological character states at deeper phylogenetic levels, most studies in Apiales have focused on relationships between the two families and among/within the apialean genera. In the present study, however, recent contributions from molecular analyses are reviewed and combined using a ‘supertree’ approach to test traditional hypotheses of relationships involving Apiales, and to re-evaluate assumptions of character-state evolution in the order. Results from this study confirm that Apiales form a monophyletic group with Pittosporaceae (along with Griselinia G. Forst., Melanophylla Baker, Torricellia DC. and Aralidium Miq.), and should be transferred out of subclass Rosidae (away from both Cornales and Sapindales) to the Asteridae (in a position close to Asterales and Dipsacales). These findings are also supported by several lines of morphological, anatomical, and phytochemical evidence, and provide a more satisfactory framework for interpreting relationships and character-state evolution within the major clades of Apiales.

scholarly journals Species or population? Systematic status of Vieja coatlicue (Teleostei: Cichlidae)

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleb D. McMahan ◽  
Wilfredo A. Matamoros ◽  
Diego J. Elías ◽  
Kyle R. Piller
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variability ◽  
Morphological Character ◽  
Taxonomic Status ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Cichlid Species ◽  
Systematic Status ◽  
Isthmus Of Tehuantepec

ABSTRACT Pacific and Atlantic-slope rivers of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico contain two cichlid species of the genus Vieja relevant to the current study, V. zonata and V. coatlicue, respectively. The Atlantic-slope species was initially considered a population of uncertain taxonomic status and recently described as a distinct species based on three putatively diagnostic morphological characters. The objective of this study was to combine new and existing genetic data, along with reanalysis of morphological characters, to test the distinctiveness of V. coatlicue. Little genetic variability and no geographic structuring were recovered. Additionally, putatively diagnostic morphological character states were present across both species, failing to separate the forms. The synthesis of molecular and morphological data supports the recognition of V. coatlicue as a junior synonym of V. zonata.

An extended model for phylogenetic maximum likelihood based on discrete morphological characters

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Spade
Keyword(s):  
Maximum Likelihood ◽  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Morphological Character ◽  
Genetic Data ◽  
Phylogenetic Inference ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Adverse Impact ◽  
Extended Model ◽  
Likelihood Methods ◽  
Proposed Model

AbstractMaximum likelihood is a common method of estimating a phylogenetic tree based on a set of genetic data. However, models of evolution for certain types of genetic data are highly flawed in their specification, and this misspecification can have an adverse impact on phylogenetic inference. Our attention here is focused on extending an existing class of models for estimating phylogenetic trees from discrete morphological characters. The main advance of this work is a model that allows unequal equilibrium frequencies in the estimation of phylogenetic trees from discrete morphological character data using likelihood methods. Possible extensions of the proposed model will also be discussed.

scholarly journals Phylogenetic incongruence and homoplasy in the appendages and bodies of arthropods: why broad character sampling is best

2019 ◽  
Vol 187 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew R Brinkworth ◽  
Robert Sansom ◽  
Matthew A Wills
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Character ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Total Evidence ◽  
Molecular Sequence Data ◽  
Molecular Sequence ◽  
Length Difference ◽  
Morphological Specialization ◽  
Tree Length ◽  
Incongruence Length Difference

Abstract Notwithstanding the rapidly increasing sampling density of molecular sequence data, morphological characters still make an important contribution to our understanding of the evolutionary relationships of arthropod groups. In many clades, characters relating to the number and morphological specialization of appendages are ascribed particular phylogenetic significance and may be preferentially sampled. However, previous studies have shown that partitions of morphological character matrices often imply significantly different phylogenies. Here, we ask whether a similar incongruence is observed in the appendage and non-appendage characters of arthropods. We apply tree length (incongruence length difference, ILD) and tree distance (incongruence relationship difference, IRD) tests to these partitions in an empirical sample of 53 published neontological datasets for arthropods. We find significant incongruence about one time in five: more often than expected, but markedly less often than in previous partition studies. We also find similar levels of homoplasy in limb and non-limb characters, both in terms of internal consistency and consistency relative to molecular trees. Taken together, these findings imply that sampled limb and non-limb characters are of similar phylogenetic utility and quality, and that a total evidence approach to their analysis is preferable.

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