Fine-scale species delimitation: speciation in process and periodic patterns in nudibranch diversity

Using the nudibranch genus Amphorina as a model, ongoing speciation is demonstrated, as well as how periodic-like patterns in colouration can be included in an integrated method of fine-scale species delimitation. By combining several methods, including BPP analysis and the study of molecular, morphological, and ecological data from a large number of specimens within a broad geographic range from northern Europe to the Mediterranean, five species are recognised within the genus Amphorina, reviewed here for the first time. Two new species from the southwestern coast of Sweden are described, A. viriolasp. nov. and A. andrasp. nov. Evidence is provided of a recent speciation process between the two closely related, yet separate, species which inhabit the same geographic localities, but demonstrate strict water depth differentiation, with one species inhabiting the shallow brackish top layer above the halocline and the other species inhabiting the underlying saltier water. The results presented here are of relevance for currently debated issues such as conservation in relation to speciation, fine species delimitation, and integration of molecular, morphological and ecological information in biodiversity studies. The periodic approach to taxonomy has considerable practical potential for various organismal groups.

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The present status, distribution, demography, and diet of the Dahl’s Jird

Brazilian Journal of Biology ◽

10.1590/1519-6984.237849 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 82 ◽

Author(s):

Ş. Bulut

Keyword(s):

Food Preference ◽

Field Studies ◽

Ecological Data ◽

Species Status ◽

Mammal Species ◽

Separate Species ◽

Maximum Value ◽

Armenian Population ◽

First Time ◽

External Characteristics

Abstract Meriones dahli (Shidlovsky, 1962) was previously accepted to be a subspecies of M. meridianus (Pallas, 1773). However, it was later suggested that they are geographically isolated from each other. Although hybridological studies and differences in certain external characteristics support the idea that M. dahli is a separate species, there are still doubts on its species status, and the exact range of its distribution is not known. In this paper, we provide some taxonomic information about the species, and compare these with the information given in previous studies. We argue that some differences exist among Armenian population regarding external measurements. Recent studies indicate that M. dahli is currently only distributed in Turkey, as an endemic mammal species. We provide predictions about the distribution of M. dahli, and report the estimated population size to its maximum value. Food preference studies for this species, conducted under laboratory conditions, are also introduced for the first time. We discuss the ecological data obtained from field studies, and emphasize that the habitat of M. dahli is about to disappear. Consequently, the protection status of this species should urgently be changed to the CR category and conservation studies must be carried out immediately.

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New data on Ceratopogonidae from lake shore habitats in NW Russia (Diptera)

Zoosystematica Rossica ◽

10.31610/zsr/2005.14.1.165 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 165-167

Author(s):

A.A. Przhiboro

Keyword(s):

New Records ◽

Northern Europe ◽

Shore Zone ◽

Larval Habitats ◽

Lake Shore ◽

Ecological Information ◽

First Time

New records are given for 13 species of Ceratopogonidae belonging to the genera Clinohelea, Mallochohelea, Palpomyia, Bezzia, Alluaudomyia, and Dasyhelea. Palpomyia spinipes (Mg.) and P. terrea (Mg.) are recorded for the first time from Russia, Mallochohelea inermis (Kieffer) and Alluaudomyia mynistensis Remm, from Northern Europe, Bezzia fascispinosa Clastrier and Dasyhelea spiralis Remm, from NW Russia. Ecological information on larval habitats is provided for all the species; all these are shown to develop within the shore zone of lakes.

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Species delimitation and taxonomic revision of Oxyopes (Araneae: Oxyopidae) of Taiwan, with description of two new species

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.4927.1.4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4927 (1) ◽

pp. 58-86

Author(s):

YING-YUAN LO ◽

REN-CHUNG CHENG ◽

CHUNG-PING LIN

Keyword(s):

Genetic Divergence ◽

Species Delimitation ◽

Gap Analysis ◽

Taxonomic Revision ◽

Ecological Data ◽

Taichung City ◽

Taipei City ◽

Molecular Phylogenetic ◽

Coi Sequences ◽

First Time

This study revised the spider genus Oxyopes Latreille, 1804 in Taiwan and delineated the species boundaries based on morphological and molecular characters. A total of seven Oxyopes spiders were recognized, including two newly described species, O. hasta sp. nov. and O. taiwanensis sp. nov. Oxyopes fujianicus Song & Zhu 1993 from Yilan County, Nantou County, and Kaohsuing City, and O. striagatus Song 1999 from New Taipei City, Taichung City, Nantou County, and Kaohsiung City were recorded for the first time in Taiwan. An identification key and a distributional map of Taiwanese Oxyopes species were provided. Partial COI sequences were obtained for molecular phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian phylogenies, and DNA barcoding gap analysis supported morphologically defined species. However, molecular species delimitation based on Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery (ABGD), PID (Liberal), and generalized mixed Yule coalescent (GMYC) were incongruent in species assignment. The results showed that the interspecific genetic divergence between O. sertatus and O. taiwanensis was relatively low (1.28 ± 0.43%), and the intraspecific genetic divergence of O. striagatus was relatively high (1.69 ± 0.35%). Ecological data, additional samples and genetic loci are required to further examine the level of reproductive isolation and patterns of population genetic structure in Taiwanese Oxyopes.

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Ecological Observations on Hybrid Populations of European Plethodontid Salamanders, Genus Speleomantes

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d13070285 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 285

Author(s):

Enrico Lunghi ◽

Fabio Cianferoni ◽

Stefano Merilli ◽

Yahui Zhao ◽

Raoul Manenti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Condition ◽

Parental Species ◽

Stomach Contents ◽

Trophic Niche ◽

Natural Hybrid ◽

Ecological Information ◽

Total Length ◽

Plethodontid Salamanders ◽

The Future ◽

First Time

Speleomantes are the only plethodontid salamanders present in Europe. Multiple studies have been performed to investigate the trophic niche of the eight Speleomantes species, but none of these studies included hybrid populations. For the first time, we studied the trophic niche of five Speleomantes hybrid populations. Each population was surveyed twice in 2020, and stomach flushing was performed on each captured salamander; stomach flushing is a harmless technique that allows stomach contents to be inspected. We also assessed the potential divergence in size and body condition between natural and introduced hybrids, and their parental species. Previously collected data on Speleomantes were included to increase the robustness of these analyses. In only 33 out of 134 sampled hybrid Speleomantes we recognized 81 items belonging to 11 prey categories. The frequency of empty stomachs was higher in females and individuals from natural hybrid populations, whereas the largest number of prey was consumed by males. We compared the total length and body condition of 685 adult salamanders belonging to three types of hybrids and three parental (sub)species. Three group of salamanders (one hybrid and two parental species) showed significantly larger size, whereas no difference in body condition was observed. This study provided novel ecological information on Speleomantes hybrid populations. We also provided insights into the potential divergence between hybrids and parental species in terms of size and body condition. We discuss our findings, and formulate several hypotheses that should be tested in the future.

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Morphological and molecular characteristics of Bastiania sinensis sp. n., Tripyla aquatica Brzeski & Winiszewska-Ślipińska, 1993 and T. setifera Bütschli, 1873 (Nematoda: Triplonchida) from Shanxi Province, North China

Nematology ◽

10.1163/15685411-bja10090 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-23

Author(s):

Mei Na Liu ◽

Yu Mei Xu ◽

Zeng Qi Zhao ◽

Jian Ming Wang

Keyword(s):

North China ◽

Large Subunit ◽

Small Subunit ◽

Rrna Genes ◽

Shanxi Province ◽

Molecular Characteristics ◽

Separate Species ◽

Using Data ◽

First Time ◽

Respective Species

Summary This paper describes a new species of Bastiania, presents a new record and redescribes a known species of Tripyla. These nematodes are all in the order Triplonchida and were collected from Shanxi Province, North China. Bastiania sinensis sp. n. is characterised by having the female with a relatively slender body 1049-1295 μm long, dorsally arcuate after heat relaxation, with outer labial setae and cephalic setae in a single circle, an oval amphid, 7-8 laterodorsal cervical setae scattered in the pharyngeal region, orthometamenes and pseudocoelomocytes present, tail conoid with a mucron 1-2 μm long, two pairs of caudal setae present, a = 58.1-75.5, b = 4.0-4.6, c = 12.7-19.7, c′ = 4.1-7.8 and V = 61.1-67.7. Males were not found. Tripyla aquatica is recorded for the first time from China, and is redescribed. Tripyla setifera has been reported from China but without a detailed description – now provided. In addition, phylogenetic relationships among the species were analysed using data from the near full length small subunit (SSU) and D2-D3 segments of large subunit (LSU) of rRNA genes. Bastiania sinensis sp. n. is monophyletic with the Bastiania sequences available in GenBank, but is on an independent branch supporting its status as a separate species; T. aquatica and T. setifera are monophyletically clustered with known Tripyla species and grouped together with sequences from their respective species.

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Minimal clustering and species delimitation based on multi-locus alignments vs SNPs: the case of the Seriphium plumosum L. complex (Gnaphalieae: Asteraceae)

10.1101/2021.03.21.436318 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Zaynab Shaik ◽

Nicola Georgina Bergh ◽

Bengt Oxelman ◽

Anthony George Verboom

Keyword(s):

Species Delimitation ◽

Bayes Factor ◽

Cape Floristic Region ◽

Parametric Models ◽

Western Cape ◽

Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

Sequence Alignments ◽

Separate Species ◽

Multiple Sequence ◽

Data Set

We applied species delimitation methods based on the Multi-Species Coalescent (MSC) model to 500+ loci derived from genotyping-by-sequencing on the South African Seriphium plumosum (Asteraceae) species complex. The loci were represented either as multiple sequence alignments or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and analysed by the STACEY and Bayes Factor Delimitation (BFD)/SNAPP methods, respectively. Both methods supported species taxonomies where virtually all of the 32 sampled individuals, each representing its own geographical population, were identified as separate species. Computational efforts required to achieve adequate mixing of MCMC chains were considerable, and the species/minimal cluster trees identified similar strongly supported clades in replicate runs. The resolution was, however, higher in the STACEY trees than in the SNAPP trees, which is consistent with the higher information content of full sequences. The computational efficiency, measured as effective sample sizes of likelihood and posterior estimates per time unit, was consistently higher for STACEY. A random subset of 56 alignments had similar resolution to the 524-locus SNP data set. The STRUCTURE-like sparse Non-negative Matrix Factorisation (sNMF) method was applied to six individuals from each of 48 geographical populations and 28023 SNPs. Significantly fewer (13) clusters were identified as optimal by this analysis compared to the MSC methods. The sNMF clusters correspond closely to clades consistently supported by MSC methods, and showed evidence of admixture, especially in the western Cape Floristic Region. We discuss the significance of these findings, and conclude that it is important to a priori consider the kind of species one wants to identify when using genome-scale data, the assumptions behind the parametric models applied, and the potential consequences of model violations may have.

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Biodiversity in the Andean Mountains: Two new rain frogs of the genus Pristimantis (Anura: Craugastoridae) from the northern Cordillera Central in Colombia

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.5040.3.2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5040 (3) ◽

pp. 334-364

Author(s):

MAURICIO RIVERA-CORREA ◽

GUSTAVO A. GONZÁLEZ-DURÁN ◽

ANA M. SALDARRIAGA-GÓMEZ ◽

SEBASTIÁN DUARTE-MARÍN

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Species Delimitation ◽

Intraspecific Diversity ◽

Conservation Strategies ◽

Phylogenetic Position ◽

The Andes ◽

Two New Species ◽

Diversity Studies ◽

First Time ◽

Central Cordillera

Frequent biodiversity sampling and monitoring programs often lead to relevant taxonomic findings. Here, as a product of different field expeditions to two places in the northern Andes, we discover and describe two new species of rain frogs of the genus Pristimantis from the cloud forests of the Central Cordillera of Colombia. Pristimantis chocolatebari sp. nov. is diagnosed by having the following character states: dentigerous process of vomer triangular, snout large and protruding, dorsum smooth, vocal slits and vocal sac present, groin and hidden part of the thighs yellow. Pristimantis carylae sp. nov. is diagnosed by having iris copper red, dentigerous process of vomer oval, snout short and rounded, dorsum finely shagreen with scattered tubercles, double nuptial pad in males, groin and hidden part of thighs pink. We also infer, for the first time, the phylogenetic position of P. permixtus, P. platychilus, and two candidate new species. In addition, we emphasize not to use genetic distance as the only source of evidence for species delimitation, considering the high intraspecific diversity found in one of the species described here. Finally, we highlight the relevance of different habitat and ecosystem conservation strategies to promote amphibian diversity studies in the Andes.

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First record of Dero (Aulophorus) bimagnasetus Harman (Oligochaeta) from Brazil and habitat characteristics

Brazilian Journal of Biology ◽

10.1590/1519-6984.14512 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 74 (2) ◽

pp. 483-488

Author(s):

R. Campitelli-Ramos ◽

JV. Lucca ◽

LLD. Oliveira ◽

MR. Marchese ◽

O. Rocha

Keyword(s):

Benthic Communities ◽

First Record ◽

Biological Data ◽

Habitat Characteristics ◽

Low Oxygen ◽

Body Width ◽

Ecological Information ◽

Freshwater Biota ◽

Physical And Chemical ◽

First Time

Annelid worms represent a significant part of freshwater benthic communities worldwide and Oligochaeta is a particularly species-rich group. Dero (A) bimagnasetus (Naididae) previously found and described from a small marsh in Surinam in 1974, has now been found for the first time in Barra Lake, MG, Brazil. Due to the scarce biological data and absence of ecological information in the literature regarding this species we are presenting morphological information on the specimens obtained and the physical and chemical characteristics of the habitat they were found. This species occurred only in the littoral zone of Barra Lake, in muddy, low oxygen, low conductivity and low organic matter sediment. The four individuals collected ranged 3.17-4.15 mm total length; 0.25 - 0.26 mm body width and 0.16-0.21 mm3 total volume. Considering the present anthropic pressures on freshwater biota and fast biodiversity losses worldwide it is now recognized that attention must be paid to low abundance species and the urgency for preservation of their habitats.

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Fauna of gamasina mites (Gamasoidea) of small mammals of a natural region «Samarskaya Luka»

Samara Journal of Science ◽

10.17816/snv20162112 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 57-63

Author(s):

Irina Anatol’evna Sorokopud

Keyword(s):

Small Mammals ◽

Water Vole ◽

Separate Species ◽

Natural Region ◽

Mole Vole ◽

Ecological Complex ◽

Tundra Vole ◽

First Time ◽

Samarskaya Luka

Data on fauna of gamasina mites parasitizing on small mammals are provided in article. Data are obtained during long-term monitoring of an ecological complex of small mammals of a natural and territorial complex Samarskaya Luka, which is realized since 1999. Also data on fauna of gamasina mites in 14 years of researches (2000-2003, 2005, 2007-2015 years), including literary data about the gamasina mites of this territory, are generalized and analysed. Specific accessory of 7439 individuals of mites, seven childbirth of three families relating to fifteen types is defined. Parasitizing the gamasina mites on 16 species of small mammals, including groups rodents, soricomorpha, carnivora (least weasel) is established. Domination of separate species of mites is revealed, so to eudominant Laelaps hilaris and Hirstionyssus isabellinus are belong, dominants are - Hirstionyssus ellobii , Haemolaelaps glasgowi , Hyperlaelaps arvalis , L. agilis . Myonyssus rossicus , L. algericus , Haemogamasus ambulans and Hirstionyssus macedonicus were extremely rare species met in single copies. For the first time for this territory types of H. ellobii , L. micromydis , H. ambulans , H. macedonicus are noted. Conclusions on degree of a confinedness of parasites to certain types of hosts are drawn. Monohostal types: L. agilis (the host - a yellow-necked mouse), L. muris (the host - a tundra vole and a water vole), L. micromydis (the host - a small mouse), L. algericus (the host - a house mouse), H. arvalis (the host - a tundra vole and a water vole), H. ellobii (the host - a northern mole vole). Polihostal: H. musculi , L. hilaris , H. isabellinus , H. glasgowi , E. stabularis , H. nidi .

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Bats (Mammalia, Chiroptera) from a bamboo-dominated forest in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon, with the first records of Glyphonycteris sylvestris Thomas, 1896 and Phylloderma stenops Peters, 1865 from Acre state

Check List ◽

10.15560/17.2.311 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 311-321

Author(s):

Rair Sousa Verde ◽

Sidney Ferreira Oliveira ◽

Andressa Oliveira Meneses ◽

Felipe Gonçalves ◽

Luana Alencar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Brazilian Amazon ◽

Geographic Range ◽

The State ◽

Number Of Species ◽

First Time

There are only a few published bat surveys from the southwestern Brazilian Amazon, but recent studies have reported additional bats species in the region. We provide the first list of bat species from Floresta Estadual do Antimary (Antimary State Forest) and record for the first time Glyphonycteris sylvestris Thomas, 1896 and Phylloderma stenops Peters, 1865 in the state of Acre, increasing to 64 the number of species known from this state. Our survey enlarges the known geographic range of G. sylvestris in Brazilian territory and improves the inventory of bat species in a poorly sampled region of the Amazon. 

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