scholarly journals Hyainailourine and teratodontine cranial material from the late Eocene of Egypt and the application of parsimony and Bayesian methods to the phylogeny and biogeography of Hyaenodonta (Placentalia, Mammalia)

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Borths ◽  
Patricia A. Holroyd ◽  
Erik R. Seiffert
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Bayesian Methods ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Material ◽  
Latest Eocene

Hyaenodonta is a diverse, extinct group of carnivorous mammals that included weasel- to rhinoceros-sized species. The oldest-known hyaenodont fossils are from the middle Paleocene of North Africa and the antiquity of the group in Afro-Arabia led to the hypothesis that it originated there and dispersed to Asia, Europe, and North America. Here we describe two new hyaenodont species based on the oldest hyaenodont cranial specimens known from Afro-Arabia. The material was collected from the latest Eocene Locality 41 (L-41, ∼34 Ma) in the Fayum Depression, Egypt.Akhnatenavus nefertiticyonsp. nov. has specialized, hypercarnivorous molars and an elongate cranial vault. InA. nefertiticyonthe tallest, piercing cusp on M1–M2is the paracone.Brychotherium ephalmosgen. et sp. nov. has more generalized molars that retain the metacone and complex talonids. InB. ephalmosthe tallest, piercing cusp on M1–M2is the metacone. We incorporate this new material into a series of phylogenetic analyses using a character-taxon matrix that includes novel dental, cranial, and postcranial characters, and samples extensively from the global record of the group. The phylogenetic analysis includes the first application of Bayesian methods to hyaenodont relationships.B. ephalmosis consistently placed within Teratodontinae, an Afro-Arabian clade with several generalist and hypercarnivorous forms, andAkhnatenavusis consistently recovered in Hyainailourinae as part of an Afro-Arabian radiation. The phylogenetic results suggest that hypercarnivory evolved independently three times within Hyaenodonta: in Teratodontinae, in Hyainailourinae, and in Hyaenodontinae. Teratodontines are consistently placed in a close relationship with Hyainailouridae (Hyainailourinae + Apterodontinae) to the exclusion of “proviverrines,” hyaenodontines, and several North American clades, and we propose that the superfamily Hyainailouroidea be used to describe this relationship. Using the topologies recovered from each phylogenetic method, we reconstructed the biogeographic history of Hyaenodonta using parsimony optimization (PO), likelihood optimization (LO), and Bayesian Binary Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) to examine support for the Afro-Arabian origin of Hyaenodonta. Across all analyses, we found that Hyaenodonta most likely originated in Europe, rather than Afro-Arabia. The clade is estimated by tip-dating analysis to have undergone a rapid radiation in the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene; a radiation currently not documented by fossil evidence. During the Paleocene, lineages are reconstructed as dispersing to Asia, Afro-Arabia, and North America. The place of origin of Hyainailouroidea is likely Afro-Arabia according to the Bayesian topologies but it is ambiguous using parsimony. All topologies support the constituent clades–Hyainailourinae, Apterodontinae, and Teratodontinae–as Afro-Arabian and tip-dating estimates that each clade is established in Afro-Arabia by the middle Eocene.

New Azana species from Western North America (Diptera: Mycetophilidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2397 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER H. KERR
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
New World ◽  
Western North America ◽  
World Species ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Fungus Gnats ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
History Of ◽  
Dispersal Events

Two new species of fungus gnats (Diptera: Mycetophilidae), Azana malinamoena and Azana frizzelli, spp. nov., are described and figured from California. These species represent the first records of Azana for western North America. A diagnosis of the genus Azana Walker is presented and a provisional key for the New World species of the genus is given. The discovery of A. malinamoena and A. frizzelli in California and their apparently close relationship to A. nigricoxa Strobl from south-western Europe (rather than to the only other Azana species known from North America, A. sinusa Coher) implies a more complicated biogeographic history of this genus in North America, one that probably includes multiple, independent dispersal events.

From marine caves to the deep sea, a new look at Caminella (Demospongiae, Geodiidae) in the Atlanto-Mediterranean region

Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4466 (1) ◽  
pp. 174 ◽  
Author(s):  
PACO CÁRDENAS ◽  
JEAN VACELET ◽  
PIERRE CHEVALDONNÉ ◽  
THIERRY PÉREZ ◽  
JOANA R. XAVIER
Keyword(s):  
Deep Sea ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Complex Surface ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
The North ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Material ◽  
Surface Microstructures ◽  
Relationship Of

Caminella Lendenfeld, 1894 is a poorly known Geodiidae genus with unclear phylogenetic relationships. In order to find new lines of evidence that could shed light on the evolutionary history of Caminella, we decided to revise type material and museum material, as well as examine new material from underwater caves and deep-sea ecosystems. In doing so, we formally show that Isops maculosus Vosmaer, 1894 and Caminella loricata Lendenfeld, 1894 are junior synonyms of Caminella intuta (Topsent, 1892). We discuss different spicule morphological phenotypes in C. intuta, which may be linked to silica availability. We also discovered two new species of deep-sea Caminella: 1) from Cape Verde (Caminella caboverdensis sp. nov.) and 2) from seamounts located south of the Azores archipelago and the North of Spain (Caminella pustula sp. nov.). We reveal that Caminella sterrasters have complex surface microstructures, unique amongst the Geodiidae, where actin tips are linked to each other. Molecular markers (COI, 28S (C1-D2) and 18S) sequenced for some specimens led to new phylogenetic analyses, which continue to suggest a close relationship of Caminella with the Erylinae and Calthropella; these affinities are discussed in light of morphological characters. 

scholarly journals Linking morphological and molecular sources to disentangle the case of Xylodon australis

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Fernández-López ◽  
M. Teresa Telleria ◽  
Margarita Dueñas ◽  
Mara Laguna-Castro ◽  
Klaus Schliep ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Single Species ◽  
R Package ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Historical Collections ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Kinship Relations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Different Sources

AbstractThe use of different sources of evidence has been recommended in order to conduct species delimitation analyses to solve taxonomic issues. In this study, we use a maximum likelihood framework to combine morphological and molecular traits to study the case of Xylodon australis (Hymenochaetales, Basidiomycota) using the locate.yeti function from the phytools R package. Xylodon australis has been considered a single species distributed across Australia, New Zealand and Patagonia. Multi-locus phylogenetic analyses were conducted to unmask the actual diversity under X. australis as well as the kinship relations respect their relatives. To assess the taxonomic position of each clade, locate.yeti function was used to locate in a molecular phylogeny the X. australis type material for which no molecular data was available using morphological continuous traits. Two different species were distinguished under the X. australis name, one from Australia–New Zealand and other from Patagonia. In addition, a close relationship with Xylodon lenis, a species from the South East of Asia, was confirmed for the Patagonian clade. We discuss the implications of our results for the biogeographical history of this genus and we evaluate the potential of this method to be used with historical collections for which molecular data is not available.

scholarly journals Plastome Phylogenomic and Biogeographical Study on Thuja (Cupressaceae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Kole F. Adelalu ◽  
Xu Zhang ◽  
Xiaojian Qu ◽  
Jacob B. Landis ◽  
Jun Shen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Molecular Dating ◽  
Disjunct Distribution ◽  
Land Bridge ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
History Of ◽  
Phylogenomic Analyses

Investigating the biogeographical disjunction of East Asian and North American flora is key to understanding the formation and dynamics of biodiversity in the Northern Hemisphere. The small Cupressaceae genus Thuja, comprising five species, exhibits a typical disjunct distribution in East Asia and North America. Owing to obscure relationships, the biogeographical history of the genus remains controversial. Here, complete plastomes were employed to investigate the plastome evolution, phylogenetic relationships, and biogeographic history of Thuja. All plastomes of Thuja share the same gene content arranged in the same order. The loss of an IR was evident in all Thuja plastomes, and the B-arrangement as previously recognized was detected. Phylogenomic analyses resolved two sister pairs, T. standishii-T. koraiensis and T. occidentalis-T. sutchuenensis, with T. plicata sister to T. occidentalis-T. sutchuenensis. Molecular dating and biogeographic results suggest the diversification of Thuja occurred in the Middle Miocene, and the ancestral area of extant species was located in northern East Asia. Incorporating the fossil record, we inferred that Thuja likely originated from the high-latitude areas of North America in the Paleocene with a second diversification center in northern East Asia. The current geographical distribution of Thuja was likely shaped by dispersal events attributed to the Bering Land Bridge in the Miocene and subsequent vicariance events accompanying climate cooling. The potential effect of extinction may have profound influence on the biogeographical history of Thuja.

Two new species of the subterranean amphipod genus Stygobromus (Amphipoda: Crangonyctidae) from Siberia, with new data on Stygobromus pusillus (Martynov) and remarks on morphology and biogeographic relationships

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2478 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
DMITRY A. SIDOROV ◽  
JOHN R. HOLSINGER ◽  
VADIM V. TAKHTEEV
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
North America ◽  
Careful Evaluation ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Altay Mountains ◽  
Two New Species ◽  
Palearctic Region ◽  
History Of ◽  
Material Utilization ◽  
Insight Into

Two new species of the subterranean amphipod genus Stygobromus are described from groundwater habitats in Siberia: Stygobromus mikhaili n. sp. from a spring in the Central Altay Mountains and Stygobromus anastasiae n. sp. from two non-freezing springs in South Pribaikalye in the Irkutsk area. Additional taxonomic details of the previously described S. pusillus (Martynov) from Teletskoye Lake, also in Central Altay, are illustrated based on syntype material. Utilization of SEM has revealed a tiny structure on antenna 2 that appears to be a new character, and may prove useful in future analyses. Descriptions of the two new species raise the total number of described species in the genus Stygobromus to 134, but four or possibly five have been found in the Palearctic region outside North America. However, it is likely that continued exploration of subterranean groundwater habitats in Siberia and other parts of the Palearctic will reveal additional new species of Stygobromus and provide more insight into the origin and geographic distribution of this large, northern hemisphere, subterranean freshwater amphipod genus. Careful evaluation of taxonomic affinities of the new species and comparison with previously described congeners should provide further insight into the biogeographic history of Stygobromus.

scholarly journals Whence the beardogs? Reappraisal of the Middle to Late Eocene ‘ Miacis ’ from Texas, USA, and the origin of Amphicyonidae (Mammalia, Carnivora)

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 160518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susumu Tomiya ◽  
Zhijie Jack Tseng
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Geographical Origin ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Cladistic Analysis ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Northern Great Plains ◽  
Mammalian Fauna ◽  
Additional Support

The Middle to Late Eocene sediments of Texas have yielded a wealth of fossil material that offers a rare window on a diverse and highly endemic mammalian fauna from that time in the southern part of North America. These faunal data are particularly significant because the narrative of mammalian evolution in the Paleogene of North America has traditionally been dominated by taxa that are known from higher latitudes, primarily in the Rocky Mountain and northern Great Plains regions. Here we report on the affinities of two peculiar carnivoraforms from the Chambers Tuff of Trans-Pecos, Texas, that were first described 30 years ago as Miacis cognitus and M. australis . Re-examination of previously described specimens and their inclusion in a cladistic analysis revealed the two taxa to be diminutive basal amphicyonids; as such, they are assigned to new genera Gustafsonia and Angelarctocyon , respectively. These two taxa fill in some of the morphological gaps between the earliest-known amphicyonid genus, Daphoenus , and other Middle-Eocene carnivoraforms, and lend additional support for a basal caniform position of the beardogs outside the Canoidea. The amphicyonid lineage had evidently given rise to at least five rather distinct forms by the end of the Middle Eocene. Their precise geographical origin remains uncertain, but it is plausible that southern North America served as an important stage for a very early phase of amphicyonid radiation.

scholarly journals The turtles from the upper Eocene, Osona County (Ebro Basin, Catalonia, Spain): new material and its faunistic and environmental context

Fossil Record ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
France de Lapparent de Broin ◽  
Xabier Murelaga ◽  
Adán Pérez-García ◽  
Francesc Farrés ◽  
Jacint Altimiras
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Basal Layer ◽  
Marine Turtle ◽  
Ebro Basin ◽  
New Material ◽  
Three New Species ◽  
Santa Cecilia ◽  
Latest Eocene ◽  
First Time

Abstract. Eochelone voltregana n. sp. is a new marine cryptodiran cheloniid found at the Priabonian levels (latest Eocene) of the Vespella marls member of the Vic–Manlleu marls formation. It is the second cheloniid from Santa Cecília de Voltregà (Osona County, Spain), the first one being Osonachelus decorata from the same formation. Shell parameters indicate that the new species belongs to a branch of sea turtles including the Eocene Anglo–Franco–Belgian forms Argillochelys, Puppigerus and Eochelone (the shell of the latter was studied here for the first time) as well as Glarichelys from the Oligocene of Switzerland, all of them predating the worldwide living Miocene genera. The description of two other more littoral–continental Eocene species is given: Trionyx sp., from an older layer of the same formation; and the podocnemidid erymnochelyine, Cordichelys from a more basal layer of a middle Eocene (Lutetian) formation. The last one is identified as the only evidence of the Shweboemys subgroup in the European record, being distinct from the other known Osona County pleurodire Eocenochelus farresi, which is a member of the Erymnochelys group (same subfamily), from the younger Priabonian Sant Martí Xic layer. Thus, an update on the marine turtle fauna of the eastern Ebro Basin that variably opened in the east during Eocene times is provided. The turtles of Osona County belong to two suborders and five genera with three new species and extend the known distribution of their families (LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:48CE8676-7B82-4EF2-8165-27BEE90129F2).

scholarly journals A revised global biogeography of turtles

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter G. Joyce ◽  
Márton Rabi
Keyword(s):  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Sensu Stricto ◽  
Early History ◽  
Marine Turtles ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Global Presence ◽  
History Of ◽  
Phylogenetic Hypotheses

Background. Over the course of the last decades, much effort has gone into unraveling the biogeographic history of turtles, but while much progress has been achieved in resolving post- Jurassic dispersal events, traditional phylogenetic hypotheses have yielded incongruous results in regards to the early history of the group. Methods. We re-evaluate the fossil record of turtles in context of recent phylogenetic analyses and fossil finds, including the extensive record of fragmentary but diagnostic remains. Given that near-coastal and marine turtles readily disperse across aquatic barriers, a broad set of neritic to pelagic groups were disregarded from consideration. Significant disagreement still exists among current phylogenetic hypotheses and we therefore place much effort into tracing the fossil record of unambiguously monophyletic groups. We finally employed molecular backbone constraints, given that the molecular phylogenies are more consistent with the fossil record than current, morphological phylogenies. Results. Among derived, aquatic turtles, we recognize four clades that can be traced back to discrete biogeographic centers: Paracryptodira in North America and Europe, Pan- Cryptodira in Asia, Pan-Pelomedusoides in northern Gondwanan landmasses and Pan- Chelidae in southern Gondwanan landmasses. This pattern is partially mirrored by three clades of primarily terrestrial, basal turtles: Solemydidae in North American and Europe, Sichuanchelyidae in Asia, and Meiolaniformes sensu stricto in southern Gondwanan landmasses. Although the exact interrelationships of these clades remain unclear, most can be traced back to the Middle Jurassic. Discussion. The conclusion that the two primary lineages of pleurodires and paracryptodires can be traced back to mutually exclusive land masses is not novel, but the realization that the early history of pan-cryptodires is restricted to Asia has not been realized previously, because traditional phylogenies implied an early, global presence of pan-cryptodires. The timing of the origin of the three primary clades of derived turtles (i.e., Pan-Pleurodira, Pan-Cryptodira, and Paracryptodira) correlates with the opening of the central Atlantic and the formation of the Turgai Strait in the Middle Jurassic, somewhat later than predicted by molecular calibration studies. The primary diversity of extant turtles therefore appears to have been driven by vicariance. A similar hypothesis could also be formulated for the three clades of basal turtles that survive at least into the Late Cretaceous, but given that their combined monophyly remains uncertain, it is unclear if their diversity was also driven by vicariance, or if they emulate a vicariance-like pattern. Although most groups remained within their primary geographic range throughout their evolutionary history, the dominant vicariance signal was thoroughly obfuscated by rich dispersal from littoral to marine turtles and crown cryptodires.

scholarly journals Differing histories of Eocene angiosperm diversity in eastern North America and western Europe: dependence on paleogeography

1992 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 105-105
Author(s):  
Norman O. Frederiksen
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Environmental Heterogeneity ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Middle Part ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Climatic Fluctuations ◽  
Angiosperm Pollen

Studies of Eocene angiosperm pollen floras in eastern North America (my work, especially in the eastern Gulf Coast) and western Europe (Boulter, Krutzsch) have shown significant differences in floral diversities between the two regions: in western Europe, maximum diversity was in the early Eocene and it decreased thereafter, in eastern North America, maximum diversity was in the middle part of the middle Eocene. The hypothesis presented here is that paleogeography was an important control on the diversity histories in the two regions: eastern North America was part of a large terrestrial landmass, whereas the terrestrial depositional basins of western Europe were on islands or peninsulas surrounded by the sea. Migrations between eastern and western North America were relatively easy, but migrations within what is now western Europe involved island-hopping, which explains distinct diachroneity of some angiosperm first appearances among different basins there. Western European basins were in contact with a large land mass during late Paleocene time but became isolated and smaller during the middle to late Eocene marine transgression. These changes resulted in decreased genetic exchange and increased probabilities of extinction due to (1) greater competition among species because of a reduced number of niches and (2) presence of small, isolated species populations, leading to local variations in extinctions, which probably explain the observed diachronism of taxon last appearances in different areas of Europe. Terrestrial climatic cooling in western Europe may be linked to decreasing contact between the NW European Tertiary Basin and the warm Tethys Seaway during the middle and late Eocene. In short, some combination of low environmental heterogeneity, geographic isolation, and long-term climatic deterioration probably caused the decrease in angiosperm diversity during the middle and late Eocene in western Europe.Several factors encouraged increasing or stable diversity in eastern North America but were far less effective in western Europe: (1) Eastern North America underwent greater climatic fluctuations during the Eocene (thus, immigration of taxa with different climatic preferences took place at different times), whereas the islands and peninsulas of western Europe had more uniform, maritime climates. (2) Evolution and immigration of r-selected taxa in eastern North America were favored by distinct dry seasons at certain times during the Eocene and by repeated marine transgressions and regressions that created opportunities for evolution and immigration of r-selected plants on and to freshly exposed coastal plain. In contrast, the predominantly maritime climates of western Europe in the early and middle Eocene favored K-selected plants, which had fewer possibilities for evolution and which had greater difficulty in migrating because island-hopping taxa are mainly r-selected. (3) “Arcto-Tertiary” taxa adapted to cooler climates lived and evolved in the uplands of the Appalachian Mountains, whereas western Europe was relatively flat in the Eocene –another example of its relative lack of environmental heterogeneity.

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