scholarly journals A new species of Charinus (Amblypygi: Charinidae) from Ghana, with notes on West African whip spiders

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Harms

The fauna of whip spiders (Amblypygi) in Western Africa is poorly known but probably diverse. Here, I describe the new speciesCharinuskakumsp. n.based on female morphology, and accompanied by DNA sequence data. The species is small and differs from other African species ofCharinusin the low number of pseudosegments on leg IV, female genital features, spination patterns of the pedipalp, and small body size. It was collected from wet tropical rainforest in Kakum National Park, Ghana and is only the fourth species ofCharinusto be recorded from the highly diverse Western African biodiversity hotspot. With a total body length of not even 6 mm it is also one of the smallest whip spiders in the world.

Author(s):  
Bernhard A. Huber ◽  
Charles M. Warui

This paper summarizes current knowledge about East African pholcids. East Africa is defined as the area from 12°S to 5°N and from 28° to 42°E, including all of Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania. An annotated list of the 15 genera and 87 species recorded from this area is given, together with distribution maps and an identification key to genera. Most East African species (90%) belong to one of only six genera: Buitinga Huber, 2003 (21 species); Smeringopus Simon, 1890 (18); Pholcus Walckenaer, 1805 (17); Spermophora Hentz, 1841 (12); Leptopholcus Simon, 1893 (5) and Quamtana Huber, 2003 (4). Eight species for which DNA sequence data have been published recently are newly described: Buitinga batwa sp. nov., B. wataita sp. nov., Spermophora mau sp. nov., S. maathaiae sp. nov., S. bukusu sp. nov., S. kirinyaga sp. nov., S. kyambura sp. nov. and Quamtana nyahururu sp. nov. Crossopriza johncloudsleyi Deeleman-Reinhold & van Harten, 2001, previously only known from Yemen, is redescribed based on specimens from Kenya. Additional new records are given for 21 previously described species.


Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4766 (3) ◽  
pp. 472-484
Author(s):  
HANNAH E. SOM ◽  
L. LEE GRISMER ◽  
PERRY L. JR. WOOD ◽  
EVAN S. H. QUAH ◽  
RAFE M. BROWN ◽  
...  

Liopeltis is a genus of poorly known, infrequently sampled species of colubrid snakes in tropical Asia. We collected a specimen of Liopeltis from Pulau Tioman, Peninsular Malaysia, that superficially resembled L. philippina, a rare species that is endemic to the Palawan Pleistocene Aggregate Island Complex, western Philippines. We analyzed morphological and mitochondrial DNA sequence data from the Pulau Tioman specimen and found distinct differences to L. philippina and all other congeners. On the basis of these corroborated lines of evidence, the Pulau Tioman specimen is described as a new species, L. tiomanica sp. nov. The new species occurs in sympatry with L. tricolor on Pulau Tioman, and our description of L. tiomanica sp. nov. brings the number of endemic amphibians and reptiles on Pulau Tioman to 12. 


Parasitology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 127 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. GRISARD ◽  
N. R. STURM ◽  
D. A. CAMPBELL

Trypanosomes isolated from South American bats include the human pathogen Trypanosoma cruzi. Other Trypanosoma spp. that have been found exclusively in bats are not well characterized at the DNA sequence level and we have therefore used the SL RNA gene to differentiate and characterize kinetoplastids isolated from bats in South America. A Trypanosoma sp. isolated from bats in southern Brazil was compared with the geographically diverse isolates T. cruzi marinkellei, T. vespertilionis, and T. dionisii. Analysis of the SL RNA gene repeats revealed size and sequence variability among these bat trypanosomes. We have developed hybridization probes to separate these bat isolates and have analysed the DNA sequence data to estimate their relatedness. A new species, Trypanosoma desterrensis sp. n., is proposed, for which a 5S rRNA gene was also found within the SL RNA repeat.


2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 580-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony R. Magee ◽  
Ben-Erik van Wyk ◽  
Patricia M. Tilney ◽  
Stephen R. Downie

Generic circumscriptions and phylogenetic relationships of the Cape genera Capnophyllum, Dasispermum, and Sonderina are explored through parsimony and Bayesian inference analyses of nrDNA ITS and cpDNA rps16 intron sequences, morphology, and combined molecular and morphological data. The relationship of these genera with the North African genera Krubera and Stoibrax is also assessed. Analyses of both molecular data sets place Capnophyllum, Dasispermum, Sonderina, and the only southern African species of Stoibrax (S. capense) within the newly recognized Lefebvrea clade of tribe Tordylieae. Capnophyllum is strongly supported as monophyletic and is distantly related to Krubera. The monotypic genus Dasispermum and Stoibrax capense are embedded within a paraphyletic Sonderina. This complex is distantly related to the North African species of Stoibrax in tribe Apieae, in which the type species, Stoibrax dichotomum, occurs. Consequently, Dasispermum is expanded to include both Sonderina and Stoibrax capense. New combinations are formalized for Dasispermum capense, D. hispidum, D. humile, and D. tenue. An undescribed species from the Tanqua Karoo in South Africa is also closely related to Capnophyllum and the Dasispermum–Sonderina complex. The genus Scaraboides is described herein to accommodate the new species, S. manningii. This monotypic genus shares the dorsally compressed fruit and involute marginal wings with Capnophyllum, but is easily distinguished by its erect branching habit, green leaves, scabrous umbels, and fruit with indistinct median and lateral ribs, additional solitary vittae in each marginal wing, and parallel, closely spaced commissural vittae. Despite the marked fruit similarities with Capnophyllum, analyses of DNA sequence data place Scaraboides closer to the Dasispermum–Sonderina complex, with which it shares the erect habit, green (nonglaucous) leaves, and scabrous umbels.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 253 (3) ◽  
pp. 179 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAN ZHU ◽  
ZONG-LONG LUO ◽  
DARBHE JAYARAMA BAHT ◽  
ERIC.H.C. MCKENZIE ◽  
ALI H. BAHKALI ◽  
...  

Helminthosporium species from submerged wood in streams in Yunnan Province, China were studied based on morphology and DNA sequence data. Descriptions and illustrations of Helminthosporium velutinum and a new species H. aquaticum are provided. A combined phylogenetic tree, based on SSU, ITS and LSU sequence data, place the species in Massarinaceae, Pleosporales. The polyphyletic nature of Helminthosporium species within Massarinaceae is shown based on ITS sequence data available in GenBank.


Nematology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 609-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Ciobanu ◽  
Iuliana Popovici ◽  
Pablo Guerrero ◽  
Reyes Peña-Santiago

Abstract Three species of the genus Enchodelus, one new and two known, from natural areas in Romania are studied. Enchodelus carpaticus sp. n. is distinguished by its body 1.59-1.87 mm long, lip region offset by a marked depression and 17-20 μm diam., odontostyle 39.5-47 μm long and 2.1-2.5 lip region diam. or 2.3-2.8% of total body length, odontophore 42-51 μm long and with distinct basal flanges, neck 336-388 μm long, pharyngeal expansion 136-167 μm long or 39-45% of total neck length, presence of dorsal cell mass near cardia, female genital system amphidelphic, uterus tripartite and 144-195 μm long or 2.2-2.9 times the corresponding body diam., pars refringens vaginae with two trapezoidal sclerotisations, V = 42-50, and female tail short and rounded (21-29 μm long, c = 55-87, c′ = 0.5-0.7). Additional data, including LM pictures, are presented for E. macrodorus and E. saxifragae.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
M. Hernández-Restrepo ◽  
A. Giraldo ◽  
R. van Doorn ◽  
M.J. Wingfield ◽  
J.Z. Groenewald ◽  
...  

The Genera of Fungi series, of which this is the sixth contribution, links type species of fungal genera to their morphology and DNA sequence data. Five genera of microfungi are treated in this study, with new species introduced in Arthrographis, Melnikomyces, and Verruconis. The genus Thysanorea is emended and two new species and nine combinations are proposed. Kramasamuha sibika, the type species of the genus, is provided with DNA sequence data for first time and shown to be a member of Helminthosphaeriaceae (Sordariomycetes). Aureoconidiella is introduced as a new genus representing a new lineage in the Dothideomycetes.


Zootaxa ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 1807 (1) ◽  
pp. 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID S. McLEOD

A new species of the dicroglossine genus Limnonectes from eastern Thailand and its tadpole are described. Analysis of DNA sequence data from 2518 base-pairs of the mitochondrial 12S and 16S gene regions places the species within the complex of frogs currently referred to as Limnonectes kuhlii and demonstrates it to be a separate lineage (>18% sequence divergence from type-material of L. kuhlii from Java). The new species differs from L. kuhlii by having nuptial pads, a greater snout–vent length, and different relative finger lengths than specimens from Java. It has more extensive toe webbing, a different arrangement of nuptial pads, and a greater snout–vent length than Limnonectes laticeps. The new species, which lacks vocal slits, also can be distinguished from the morphologically similar Limnonectes namiyei from Japan, which possesses vocal slits.


Zootaxa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1562 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-53
Author(s):  
MOHSEN MOFIDI-NEYESTANAK ◽  
DONALD L.J. QUICKE

Eupholidoptera karatolosi Mofidi-Neyestanak & Quicke from Greece and E. mirzayani Mofidi-Neyestanak & Quicke from Iran, two new species of bushcrickets (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae: Platycleidini), are described and distinguished from closely related species based on morphology. Species relationships within Eupholidoptera Maran are discussed and some species are given new assignments. A simplified illustrated identification key to the species of Eupholidoptera is provided to accommodate the new species. They are being described since they have been used to generate DNA sequence data that will be published elsewhere as part of a phylogenetic study of the tribe Platycleidini.


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