scholarly journals New data on Garra makiensis (Cyprinidae, Labeoinae) from the Awash River (Ethiopia) with remarks on its relationships to congeners on the Arabian Peninsula

ZooKeys ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 984 ◽  
pp. 133-163
Author(s):  
Gernot K. Englmaier ◽  
Nuria Viñuela Rodríguez ◽  
Herwig Waidbacher ◽  
Anja Palandačić ◽  
Genanaw Tesfaye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Short Distance ◽  
Additional Data ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
Fin Ray ◽  
Fin Length ◽  
Pelvic Fin

On the African continent, the genus Garra consists of several species often insufficiently separated from each other by diagnostic characters. Herein, a detailed morphological redescription of Garra makiensis from the Awash River drainage is presented, together with additional data on the type specimens of G. makiensis and G. rothschildi. Mitochondrial CO1 sequence data are also provided, including the historic paralectotype of G. makiensis, with a comparison to Garra species from Africa and the Middle East. Based on these sequences, G. makiensis clusters outside the group of African congeners and is a sister lineage to species from the south-east of the Arabian Peninsula. Although morphologically variable, G. makiensis is characterised by having a single unbranched pectoral-fin ray, a short distance between vent and anal-fin origin (7.3–19.7 % of pelvic – anal distance), chest and belly covered with scales, and a prominent axillary scale at base of pelvic fin (18.8–35.5 % of pelvic-fin length).

Clarias gracilentus, a new walking catfish (Teleostei: Clariidae) from Vietnam and Cambodia

Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2823 (1) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
HEOK HEE NG ◽  
DANG KHANH HONG ◽  
NGUYEN VAN TU
Keyword(s):  
Species Complex ◽  
Head Width ◽  
Body Depth ◽  
Dorsal Fin ◽  
Fin Ray ◽  
Fin Rays ◽  
Eye Diameter ◽  
Process Length ◽  
Fin Length ◽  
Pelvic Fin

Clarias gracilentus, a new Southeast Asian walking catfish species, is described from Phu Quoc Island (Vietnam) off the coast of southeastern Cambodia and from mainland southeastern Cambodia. The new species is a member of the C. nieuhofii species complex, and can be distinguished from congeners in the complex in having a combination of: head width 11.9–12.9% SL, distance between the occipital process and the base of the first dorsal-fin ray 5.3–8.4% SL, pectoral-fin length 8.5–10.1% SL, body depth at anus 8.2–11.7% SL, pelvic-fin length 4.3–5.5% SL, length of anal-fin base 60.0–63.9% SL, eye diameter 5.4–7.2% HL, interorbital distance 42.7–48.0% HL, occipital-process length 7.8–14.7% HL, 96–101 dorsal-fin rays, 84–89 anal-fin rays and 80–84 total vertebrae.

Luciogobius yubai, a new species of gobioid fish (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from Japan

Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4657 (3) ◽  
pp. 565-572
Author(s):  
YUJI IKEDA ◽  
KAZUAKI TAMADA ◽  
KENTAROU HIRASHIMA
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Posterior Part ◽  
Pectoral Fin ◽  
Dorsal Fin ◽  
Fin Ray ◽  
Eye Diameter ◽  
Dermal Flaps ◽  
Fin Length ◽  
A New Species ◽  
Pelvic Fin

A new gobioid fish Luciogobius yubai sp. nov. is described based on specimens collected from Wakayama and Shizuoka Prefectures, Japan. This species is distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characters; second dorsal-fin I, 9, anal-fin I, 10, pectoral-fin 17 or 18, vertebrate number 16+19=35, the first space between anterior two pterygiophores of second dorsal-fin placed the neural spines of vertebrae 17–18 or 17, four to seven developed dermal flaps under the eye longitudinally, posterior part of eye ridge protruded posteriorly, pectoral-fin with a long uppermost free ray, eye diameter 7.3–10.6 % of head length, pectoral-fin length 14.4–16.9 % of standard length (SL) , second dorsal-fin length 9.7–11.8 % SL, anal-fin ray length 9.1–11.1 % SL, pelvic-fin length 7.3–10.8 % SL, head and body with brownish orange coloration when alive or fresh.

First Northwest African species of the spider genus Artema, from caves in Morocco, with notes on body size in pholcid spiders (Araneae: Pholcidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4984 (1) ◽  
pp. 324-334
Author(s):  
BERNHARD A. HUBER
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Middle East ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Carapace Width ◽  
African Continent ◽  
African Species ◽  
The Mean

The genus Artema Walckenaer, 1837 includes some of the largest pholcid spiders and is geographically largely restricted to Central Asia, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and the eastern Mediterranean. One species has previously been known from West Africa. The first known Moroccan species, A. martensi sp. n., extends the known distribution of the genus to the northwestern limit of the African continent. The species is described from two caves in the western Anti-Atlas, but it is not troglomorphic. A comparative analysis of male carapace width in 1632 pholcid species shows that A. martensi sp. n. is the largest known pholcid with respect to this character. Plots of mean carapace sizes of newly described species on periods of time (50 years, 20 years) show that the mean sizes of newly described species have been constantly decreasing. 

scholarly journals Trait variation in extreme thermal environments under constant and fluctuating temperatures

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1768) ◽  
pp. 20180177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Salinas ◽  
Shannon E. Irvine ◽  
Claire L. Schertzing ◽  
Shelby Q. Golden ◽  
Stephan B. Munch
Keyword(s):  
Pimephales Promelas ◽  
Absolute Difference ◽  
Fathead Minnows ◽  
Pectoral Fin ◽  
Morphometric Traits ◽  
Trait Variation ◽  
Fin Ray ◽  
Fin Length ◽  
Fluctuating Temperatures ◽  
Pelvic Fin

Climate change is increasingly exposing populations to rare and novel environmental conditions. Theory suggests that extreme conditions will expose cryptic phenotypes, with a concomitant increase in trait variation. Although some empirical support for this exists, it is also well established that physiological mechanisms (e.g. heat shock protein expression) change when organisms are exposed to constant versus fluctuating temperatures. To determine the effect of common, rare and novel temperatures on the release of hidden variation, we exposed fathead minnows, Pimephales promelas , to five fluctuating and four constant temperature regimes (constant treatments: 23.5, 25, 28.5 and 31°C; all fluctuating treatments shared a minimum temperature of 22°C at 00.00 and a maximum of 25, 28, 31, 34 or 37°C at 12.00). We measured each individual's length weekly over 60 days, critical thermal maximum (CT max ), five morphometric traits (eye anterior–posterior distance, pelvic fin length, pectoral fin length, pelvic fin ray count and pectoral fin ray count) and fluctuating asymmetry (FA, absolute difference between left and right morphometric measurements; FA is typically associated with stress). Length-at-age in both constant and fluctuating conditions decreased with temperature, and this trait's variance decreased with temperature under fluctuating conditions but increased and then decreased in constant temperatures. CT max in both treatments increased with increasing water temperature, while its variance decreased in warmer waters. No consistent pattern in mean or variance was found across morphometric traits or FA. Our results suggest that, for fathead minnows, variance can decrease in important traits (e.g. length-at-age and CT max ) as the environment becomes more stressful, so it may be difficult to establish comprehensive rules for the effects of rarer or stressful environments on trait variation. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The role of plasticity in phenotypic adaptation to rapid environmental change’.

scholarly journals MEGANTHIAS KINGYO (KON, YOSHINO AND SAKURAI, 2000) (PERCIFORMES: SERRANIDAE) FROM BITUNG, NORTH SULAWESI, INDONESIA: FIRST RECORD FROM THE SOUTHWESTERN PACIFIC OCEAN

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teguh Peristiwady ◽  
Wulan Koagouw ◽  
Jianguo Du ◽  
Petrus Christianus Makatipu
Keyword(s):  
Lateral Line ◽  
First Record ◽  
Base Length ◽  
Caudal Peduncle ◽  
Body Depth ◽  
Dorsal Fin ◽  
North Sulawesi ◽  
Fin Ray ◽  
Fin Length ◽  
Pelvic Fin

Eight specimens of Meganthias kingyo were collected from Bitung, North Sulawesi, Indonesia between 2008 - 2010. The specimens were caught from about 70-150 m off Lembeh Island. M. kingyo differs from M. natalensis by having the following characteristics: pores lateral line scales (43 vs. 49); pectoral rays (16 vs. ii.14); body depth (47.1 vs. 51.9); head length (31.0 vs. 38.2), body depth (47.1 vs. 52.9), caudal peduncle depth (12.1 vs. 14.2), pectoral fin length (28.0 vs. 34.3), pelvic fin length (33.6 vs. 31.1), anal fin base length (19.4 vs. 22.2), caudal fin length (66.9 vs. 35.3) and longest dorsal fin ray (48.5 vs. 27.4). Previously, this species has been reported from Houzan-sone, off Miyako and Yaeyama Islands in Okinawa, Japan; and herein is recorded from off Lembeh Island, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

scholarly journals Functional comparison of MERS-coronavirus lineages reveals increased zoonotic potential of the recombinant lineage 5

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Schroeder ◽  
Christin Mache ◽  
Hannah Kleine-Weber ◽  
Doreen Muth ◽  
Victor Corman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Severe Pneumonia ◽  
Live Virus ◽  
Knock Out ◽  
Phenotypic Changes

Abstract Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) can cause severe pneumonia in humans. The virus is enzootic in dromedary camels across the Middle East and Africa. It is acquired through animal contact and undergoes limited onward transmission particularly in hospitals. Because of this initial potential for human-to-human transmission, we monitor the virus for phenotypic changes related to its pandemic potential. Potential phenotypic changes have been suspected since the year 2015, when a novel recombinant clade (MERS-CoV lineage 5) caused large nosocomial outbreaks in Saudi Arabia and South Korea that effectively swept other, hitherto co-circulating viral lineages. To this day, lineage 5 remains the only circulating MERS-CoV lineage on the Arabian Peninsula. In spite of available sequence data, no studies of viral phenotype have been carried out to date. Here we performed a comprehensive in-vitro and ex-vivo comparison of live virus isolates taken in Saudi Arabia immediately before and after the shift toward lineage 5. We characterized seven isolates representing the recombination-parental lineage 3, eight isolates representing parental lineage 4, as well as eight isolates representing lineage 5. Replication of lineage 5 viruses is significantly increased over isolates from parental lineages in cell culture and ex-vivo lung models. Transcriptional profiling by real-time RT-PCR shows that several key immune genes (IFNb1, CCL5, IFNL1) are significantly less induced in lung cells infected with lineage 5 MERS-CoV compared to parental strains. In IFN receptor knock out cells, as well as under chemical inhibition of IFN signalling, the differences in replication level between lineage 5 and parental lineages are reduced, suggesting that phenotypic differences may be determined by IFN antagonism. Concordantly, lineage 5 shows increased resilience against interferon (IFN) pre-treatment of Calu-3 cells and maintains a 10-fold higher replication level under low and high concentrations of IFN. Reduced immune activation combined with enhanced virus replication and IFN resilience may explain the dominance of lineage 5 on the Arabian Peninsula. This phenotypic difference is highly relevant with regard to pandemic potential, and has remained undiscovered in spite of viral sequence surveillance.

scholarly journals Taxonomic Re-Examination of Nine Rosellinia Types (Ascomycota, Xylariales) Stored in the Saccardo Mycological Collection

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 666
Author(s):  
Niccolò Forin ◽  
Alfredo Vizzini ◽  
Federico Fainelli ◽  
Enrico Ercole ◽  
Barbara Baldan
Keyword(s):  
Sequence Data ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Illumina Miseq ◽  
Botanical Garden ◽  
Molecular Study ◽  
Its2 Sequence ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
Its1 Sequence ◽  
Dna Sequence Data ◽  
Nomen Novum

In a recent monograph on the genus Rosellinia, type specimens worldwide were revised and re-classified using a morphological approach. Among them, some came from Pier Andrea Saccardo’s fungarium stored in the Herbarium of the Padova Botanical Garden. In this work, we taxonomically re-examine via a morphological and molecular approach nine different Roselliniasensu Saccardo types. ITS1 and/or ITS2 sequences were successfully obtained applying Illumina MiSeq technology and phylogenetic analyses were carried out in order to elucidate their current taxonomic position. Only the ITS1 sequence was recovered for Rosellinia areolata, while for R. geophila, only the ITS2 sequence was recovered. We proposed here new combinations for Rosellinia chordicola, R. geophila and R. horridula, while for R. ambigua, R. areolata, R. australis, R. romana and R. somala, we did not suggest taxonomic changes compared to the current ones. The name Rosellinia subsimilis Sacc. is invalid, as it is a later homonym of R. subsimilis P. Karst. & Starbäck. Therefore, we introduced Coniochaeta dakotensis as a nomen novum for R. subsimilis Sacc. This is the first time that these types have been subjected to a molecular study. Our results demonstrate that old types are an important source of DNA sequence data for taxonomic re-examinations.

scholarly journals Limited Genetic Diversity Detected in Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Related Coronavirus Variants Circulating in Dromedary Camels in Jordan

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 592
Author(s):  
Stephanie N. Seifert ◽  
Jonathan E. Schulz ◽  
Stacy Ricklefs ◽  
Michael Letko ◽  
Elangeni Yabba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Middle East ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Full Genome Sequence ◽  
Genome Sequences ◽  
Dromedary Camels

Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a persistent zoonotic pathogen with frequent spillover from dromedary camels to humans in the Arabian Peninsula, resulting in limited outbreaks of MERS with a high case-fatality rate. Full genome sequence data from camel-derived MERS-CoV variants show diverse lineages circulating in domestic camels with frequent recombination. More than 90% of the available full MERS-CoV genome sequences derived from camels are from just two countries, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and United Arab Emirates (UAE). In this study, we employ a novel method to amplify and sequence the partial MERS-CoV genome with high sensitivity from nasal swabs of infected camels. We recovered more than 99% of the MERS-CoV genome from field-collected samples with greater than 500 TCID50 equivalent per nasal swab from camel herds sampled in Jordan in May 2016. Our subsequent analyses of 14 camel-derived MERS-CoV genomes show a striking lack of genetic diversity circulating in Jordan camels relative to MERS-CoV genome sequences derived from large camel markets in KSA and UAE. The low genetic diversity detected in Jordan camels during our study is consistent with a lack of endemic circulation in these camel herds and reflective of data from MERS outbreaks in humans dominated by nosocomial transmission following a single introduction as reported during the 2015 MERS outbreak in South Korea. Our data suggest transmission of MERS-CoV among two camel herds in Jordan in 2016 following a single introduction event.

Navigobius asayake, a new species of ptereleotrine goby (Gobioidei: Microdesmidae) from Kagoshima, southern Japan

Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4526 (3) ◽  
pp. 373
Author(s):  
MAKOTO OKAMOTO ◽  
HIROYUKI MOTOMURA
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Dorsal Fin ◽  
Southern Japan ◽  
Fin Rays ◽  
Eye Diameter ◽  
Yellow Stripe ◽  
Fin Length ◽  
A New Species ◽  
Pectoral Fin Rays ◽  
Pelvic Fin

A new species of ptereleotrine dartfish, Navigobius asayake, is described based on four specimens (45.0–52.1 mm in standard length: SL) collected from off the Satsuma Peninsula and Tanegashima island, Kagoshima, southern Japan. It is distinguished from other congeners by the following combination of characters: second dorsal-fin rays I, 18–19; anal-fin rays I, 19; pectoral-fin rays 21–22; gill rakers 5–6 + 13–15; head length 25.1–26.4% SL; eye diameter 8.6–10.0% SL; pelvic-fin length 15.2–16.1% SL; and a well-developed yellow stripe extending from behind upper part of eye to beneath first dorsal fin. 

scholarly journals HIV/AIDS research in Africa and the Middle East: participation and equity in North-South collaborations and relationships.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregorio González-Alcaide ◽  
Marouane Menchi-Elanzi ◽  
Edy Nacarapa ◽  
José-Manuel Ramos-Rincón
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Scientific Activity ◽  
Scientific Production ◽  
African Continent ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Global North ◽  
Aids Research ◽  
Public Health Epidemiology ◽  
Hiv Aids

Abstract Background HIV/AIDS has attracted considerable research attention since the 1980s. In the current context of globalization and the predominance of cooperative work, it is crucial to analyze the participation of the countries and regions where the infection is most prevalent, African continent being the hardest hit (67.5% of estimated cases). This study assesses the participation of African countries in publications on the topic, as well as the degree of equity or influence existing in North-South relations.Methods We identified all articles and reviews of HIV/AIDS indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. We analyzed the scientific production, collaboration, and contributions from African and Middle Eastern countries to scientific activity in the region. The concept of leadership was used to determine the equity in research produced through international collaboration.Results A total of 68,808 documents published from 2010 to 2017 were analyzed. Researchers from North America and Europe participated in 82.14% of the global scientific production on HIV/AIDS, compared to just 21.61% from Africa and the Middle East. Furthermore, the research that did come out of these regions was concentrated in a small number of countries, led by South Africa (41% of the documents). Other features associated with HIV/AIDS research from Africa include the importance of international collaboration from the USA, the UK, and other European countries (75%-93% of the documents) and the limited leadership that is evident (30% to 36% of the documents). Finally, the research to which African countries contributed had a notably different disciplinary orientation, with a predominance of research on public health, epidemiology, and drug therapy.Conclusions It is essential to foster more balance in research output, avoid the concentration of resources that reproduces the global North-South model on the African continent, and focus the research agenda on local priorities. To accomplish this, the global North should strengthen the transfer of research skills and seek equity in cooperative ties, favoring the empowerment of African countries. These efforts should be concentrated in countries with low scientific activity and high incidence and prevalence of the disease. It is also essential to foster intraregional collaborations between African countries.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document