scholarly journals Molecular Species Delimitation of Larks (Aves: Alaudidae), and Integrative Taxonomy of the Genus Calandrella, with the Description of a Range-Restricted African Relic Taxon

Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 428
Author(s):  
Martin Stervander ◽  
Bengt Hansson ◽  
Urban Olsson ◽  
Mark F. Hulme ◽  
Ulf Ottosson ◽  
...  

Larks constitute an avian family of exceptional cryptic diversity and striking examples of convergent evolution. Therefore, traditional morphology-based taxonomy has recurrently failed to reflect evolutionary relationships. While taxonomy ideally should integrate morphology, vocalizations, behaviour, ecology, and genetics, this can be challenging for groups that span several continents including areas that are difficult to access. Here, we combine morphometrics and mitochondrial DNA to evaluate the taxonomy of Calandrella larks, with particular focus on the African C. cinerea and the Asian C. acutirostris complexes. We describe a new range-restricted West African taxon, Calandrella cinerea rufipecta ssp. nov. (type locality: Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria), with an isolated relic population 3000 km from its closest relative in the Rift Valley. We performed molecular species delimitation, employing coalescence-based multi-rate Poisson Tree Processes (mPTP) on cytochrome b sequences across 52 currently recognized lark species, including multiple taxa currently treated as subspecies. Three species-level splits were inferred within the genus Calandrella and another 13 across other genera, primarily among fragmented sub-Saharan taxa and taxa distributed from Northwest Africa to Arabia or East Africa. Previously unknown divergences date back as far as to the Miocene, indicating the presence of currently unrecognized species. However, we stress that taxonomic decisions should not be based on single datasets, such as mitochondrial DNA, although analyses of mitochondrial DNA can be a good indicator of taxa in need of further integrative taxonomic assessment.

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno P. Le Ru ◽  
Claire Capdevielle-Dulac ◽  
Emmanuel F. A. Toussaint ◽  
Desmond Conlong ◽  
Johnnie Van den Berg ◽  
...  

Ten morphologically similar species of Acrapex from eastern and south-eastern Africa belonging to the A. stygiata and A. albivena groups are reviewed. Six species are described as new: A. brunneella, A. mitiwa, A. mpika, A. salmona, A. sporobola and A. yakoba. The Poaceae host plants of eight species are recorded; four species, A. mitiwa. A. subalbissima, A. syscia and A. yakoba, were found developing exclusively on Imperata cylindrica (L.) Beauv., (Andropogoneae); two species, A. sporobola and A. salmona, on I. cylindrica and Sporobolus macranthelus Chiov. (Zoysieae); and A. albivena on I. cylindrica, Miscanthus capensis (Nees) Andersson (Andropogoneae) and Cymbopogon sp. (Andropogoneae). Acrapex stygiata larvae developed on M. capensis and Cymbopogon sp. The host plants of A. brunneella and A. mpika remain unknown. We also conducted molecular phylogenetics and molecular species delimitation analyses on a comprehensive sample of 49 specimens belonging to nine of the studied species. Molecular phylogenetics and molecular species delimitation analyses provided additional evidence of the validity of the six newly described species but also suggested a level of hidden biodiversity for one of them.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Vitecek ◽  
Mladen Kučinić ◽  
Ana Previšić ◽  
Ivana Živić ◽  
Katarina Stojanović ◽  
...  

ZooKeys ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 892 ◽  
pp. 93-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Valdez-Mondragón ◽  
Claudia I. Navarro-Rodríguez ◽  
Karen P. Solís-Catalán ◽  
Mayra R. Cortez-Roldán ◽  
Alma R. Juárez-Sánchez

A new species of the spider genus Loxosceles Heineken & Lowe, 1832, Loxosceles tenochtitlan Valdez-Mondragón & Navarro-Rodríguez, sp. nov., is described based on adult male and female specimens from the states of Mexico City, Estado de Mexico and Tlaxcala. Integrative taxonomy including traditional morphology, geometric and lineal morphology, and molecules (DNA barcodes of cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) and internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2)), were used as evidence to delimit the new species. Four methods were used for molecular analyses and species delimitation: 1) corrected p-distances under neighbor joining (NJ), 2) automatic barcode gap discovery (ABGD), 3) general mixed yule coalescent model (GMYC), and 4) poisson tree processes (bPTP). All molecular methods, traditional, geometric and lineal morphology were consistent in delimiting and recognizing the new species. Loxosceles tenochtitlansp. nov. is closely related to L. misteca based on molecular data. Although both species are morphologically similar, the average p-distance from CO1 data was 13.8% and 4.2% for ITS2 data. The molecular species delimitation methods recovered well-supported monophyletic clusters for samples of L. tenochtitlansp. nov. from Mexico City + Tlaxcala and for samples of L. misteca from Guerrero. Loxosceles tenochtitlansp. nov. is considered a unique species for three reasons: (1) it can be distinguished by morphological characters (genitalic and somatic); (2) the four different molecular species delimitation methods were congruent to separate both species; and (3) there is variation in leg I length of males between both species, with the males of L. misteca having longer legs than males of L. tenochtitlansp. nov., also morphometrically, the shape of tibiae of the palp between males of both species is different.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenzi Takamura ◽  
Ryuhei Ueno ◽  
Natsuko Ito Kondo ◽  
Kako Ohbayashi

2020 ◽  
Vol 150 ◽  
pp. 106880
Author(s):  
Tonatiuh Ramírez-Reyes ◽  
Christopher Blair ◽  
Oscar Flores-Villela ◽  
Daniel Piñero ◽  
Amy Lathrop ◽  
...  

Zootaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4320 (3) ◽  
pp. 505 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROMANA KALOUSOVA ◽  
LADISLAV BOCAK

Cladophorus Guérin-Méneville, 1830 are endemic Papuan net-winged beetles which take part in highly diverse Müllerian mimicry rings. Available specimens were sequenced for cox1–tRNA-Leu–cox2 mitochondrial DNA fragment and the species delimitations were based on the genetic distance, phylogenetic analysis, and morphology. Three earlier described species were identified in the recently collected material and further 10 species are described: C. pallescens sp. nov., C. bicolor sp. nov., C. craterensis sp. nov., C. motykai sp. nov., C. mindikensis sp. nov., C. kailakiensis sp. nov., C. manokwarensis sp. nov., C. haiaensis sp. nov., C. humeralis sp. nov., and C. boceki sp. nov. DNA-based identifications provided some ambiguous results and closely related species could not be robustly delimited using solely molecular data. Additionally, the species limits were based on clearly defined morphological characters and the morphological differentiation was found unlinked from the genetic divergence. Colour patterns cannot be used for identification because all species available in more specimens were polymorphic and followed various local co-mimics. The Papuan fauna of Cladophorus is very diverse and the closely related species regularly occur in limited regions. Differentiation within restricted ranges is therefore considered as the main speciation mode. 


2006 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregor Kölsch ◽  
Bo Vest Pedersen ◽  
Olof Biström

AbstractThe genus Macroplea Samouelle, 1819 is a group of highly specialized aquatic leaf beetles occurring in the Palaearctic. Since the members of this genus are morphologically very similar, we addressed the question of species identification and delimitation by analysing the second half of the mitochondrial gene coding for the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) subunit. Species limits are inferred from the multimodal frequency distribution of genetic distances between specimens: low genetic distances within a species are clearly set apart from distances between species. The species status of the hitherto controversial species M. japana (Jacoby, 1885) is confirmed. The pattern of nucleotide and amino acid substitutions is discussed in the light of functional domains of the COI molecule. Although the data are preliminary, the results provide new data on the distribution of the species. Together with the phylogenetic analysis they allow for a discussion of the phylogeography of the genus.


2019 ◽  
Vol 109 (5) ◽  
pp. 847-858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Qing ◽  
Wim Bert ◽  
Abraham Gamliel ◽  
Patricia Bucki ◽  
Svetlana Duvrinin ◽  
...  

Root-lesion nematodes of the genus Pratylenchus parasitize the roots of numerous plants and can cause severe damage and yield loss. Here, we report on a new species, Pratylenchus capsici n. sp., from the Arava rift, Israel, which was characterized by integrative methods, including detailed morphology, molecular phylogeny, population genetics, and phylogeography. This species is widely spread across the Arava rift, causing significant infection in pepper (Capsicum annuum) roots and inhibiting plant growth. Both morphological and molecular species delimitation support the recovered species as a new species. We found high cytochrome oxidase subunit I haplotype diversity, and phylogeography analysis suggests that contemporary gene flow is prevented among different agricultural farms, while population dispersal from weeds (Chenopodium album and Sonchus oleraceus) to pepper occurs on a relatively small scale. Our results suggest that weeds are an important reservoir for the dispersal of P. capsici n. sp., either as the original nematode source or at least in maintaining the population between growing seasons.


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