Phylogeny of the Neotropical element of the Randia clade (Gardenieae, Rubiaceae, Gentianales)

Background and aims – Generic limits of the tropical tribe Gardenieae (Ixoroideae, Rubiaceae) have partly remained unsettled. We produced a new phylogeny of the Randia clade, with emphasis on its Neotropical clade comprising five genera (Casasia, Randia, Rosenbergiodendron, Sphinctanthus, and Tocoyena). The result was subsequently used to evaluate and discuss: a) the respective monophyly of the above-mentioned genera and their interrelationships; b) relationships within Tocoyena and the evolutionary relevance of its subgeneric classification; and c) the monophyly of the morphologically variable T. formosa.Material and methods – We examined the phylogeny of the Randia clade based on maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of sequence data from two nuclear (ETS and Xdh) and two plastid (petB-petD and trnT-F) DNA regions from 59 individuals (including seven representatives from the remaining Ixoroideae).Key results – The Neotropical clade of the Randia clade comprises three major lineages, the Randia armata subclade, the Randia-Casasia subclade and the Rosenbergiodendron subclade. Neither Casasia nor Randia is monophyletic. Tocoyena is sister to Rosenbergiodendron + Sphinctanthus and is subdivided into three lineages: the Tocoyena pittieri group, the Tocoyena guianensis group, and the core Tocoyena. Tocoyena williamsii is paraphyletic with respect to T. pittieri. Tocoyena formosa is polyphyletic and should be re-circumscribed.Conclusions – Our results demonstrate the monophyly of each of the relatively species-poor genera Rosenbergiodendron, Sphinctanthus, and Tocoyena, and confirm their close affinity. The serial classification of Tocoyena does not reflect the evolutionary history of the genus. The paraphyly of T. williamsii with respect to T. pittieri, together with their morphological similarities and geographic distributions, support the inclusion of the former in the latter. Our study calls for additional phylogenetic work on Casasia and the more species-rich genus Randia. While the respective monophyly of both genera is rejected here, future work with a broader representation of Randia is needed.

Five new species of the genus Pholcus Walckenaer (Araneae: Pholcidae) from South Korea

Although the high level of species diversity within the Pholcus phungiformes-group (Araneae: Pholcidae) in the Korean Peninsula has been recognized recently, taxonomic studies, including new species discovery, have not been conducted in western regions of South Korea. In this study, five additional species belonging to the Pholcus phungiformes-group discovered from Seoul and surrounding areas are described as new, viz., Pholcus seoulensis Lee & Lee, sp. nov. Pholcus suraksanensis Lee & Lee, sp. nov., Pholcus incheonensis Lee & Lee, sp. nov., Pholcus seokmodoensis Lee & Lee, sp. nov. and Pholcus chilgapsanensis Lee & Lee, sp. nov. Detailed descriptions and geographic distributions are provided with accompanying photographs.

Phenology dictates the import of climate change on geographic distributions of six co-occurring North American grasshoppers

Throughout the last century, climate change has altered the geographic distributions of many species. Insects, in particular, vary in their ability to track changing climates, and it is likely that phenology is an important determinant of how well expands can either expand or shift their geographic distributions in response to climate change. Grasshoppers are an ideal group to test this hypothesis, given that co-occurring confamilial, and even congeneric, species can differ in phenology. Here, I tested the hypothesis that early- and late-season species should possess different range expansion potentials, as estimated by habitat suitability from ecological niche models. I used nine different modeling techniques to estimate habitat suitability of six grasshopper species of varying phenology under two climate scenarios for the year 2050. My results support the hypothesis that phenology is an important determinant of range expansion potential. Early-season species might shift northward during the spring, while the modeled geographic distributions of late-season species were generally constant under climate change, likely because they were pre-adapted to hot and dry conditions. Phenology might therefore be a good predictor of how insect distributions might change in the future, and conservation efforts might focus most heavily on early-season species that are most impacted by climate change.

Song type variations of Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla) and their geographic distributions

Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla) is a familiar singer in the Western Hemisphere family Parulidae, yet apparent geographic variations in its song and potentially related causal mechanisms have not received detailed examination in previously published studies. Here, we analyzed song pattern variations of 651 Louisiana Waterthrush singers in audio spectrogram recordings obtained from our field work and publicly accessible bioacoustics archives. Visual and auditory assessment of the introductory note sequence of each song identified three distinct song types (A, B, and C) and most of the songs were assigned to one of these types. Linear Discriminant Analysis and Random Forest methods were used to verify the assignments and showed strong agreement for Type A with slightly less agreement on Types B and C. User error rates (proportion of the Linear Discriminant Analysis classifications that were incorrect) were low for Types A and B, and somewhat higher for Type C, while producer error rates (proportion of the song type for which the Linear Discriminant Analysis was incorrect) were somewhat higher for Types A and C than the minimal levels achieved for Type B. Our findings confirmed that most between-individual variation was in the number of notes and note sequence duration while most within-individual variation resulted from the percent of downstrokes. The location of each singer was plotted on a map of the breeding range and results suggested the song types have large-scale discrete geographic distributions that co-occur in some regions but not range-wide. Evaluation of the distributions provided tentative support for a hypothesis that two of the song types may independently exhibit congruence with the geographic extent of Pleistocene glacial boundaries and the third song type may be distinguished by a lack of congruence, but further investigation is needed to elucidate whether the song variations represent subpopulations with three separate evolutionary histories.

Climate Change and Invasion Expansion Jointly Reshape Geographic Ranges of Invasive Tephritid Fruit Flies

Human-mediated species introductions have greatly contributed significantly to the current global alteration of the biosphere, with many invasive species rapidly expanding their geographic ranges, leading to changes in biodiversity and disruptions of ecosystem functioning. With a modified SDM that considers both extensive data coverage and the distance to previously already occupied areas, we show continued shifts and expansions of geographic ranges of two globally invasive tephritid pest species Bactrocera dorsalis and Ceratitis capitata). Both tephritid pests are still expanding globally, with their geographic ranges estimated to have expanded by 65% and 22% in the past three decades. The potential future geographic distributions of B. dorsalis and C. capitata under four scenarios of Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) for 2050 highlighted some key changes when compared to their current occurrences. Under all four RCPs by 2050, the potential geographic distribution of C. capitata was predicted to shrink by 5-14%, while the distribution of B. dorsalis was predicted to increase by 12-15%. Under different climate scenarios for 2050, B. dorsalis could experience a notable poleward expansion with increasing connectivity in its future geographic distribution. The two tephritids will continue to co-occur in Africa, with B. dorsalis experiencing higher suitability in most regions where they overlap. Climate changes were estimated to contribute more, than non-equilibrial invasion expansion, to changes in the geographic ranges of the two tephritid pests. The forecasted potential geographic distributions could enhance regional biosecurity preparedness in future climates and mitigate proactively the economic loss from these fruit fly pests.