Validation of Hosta alata (Asparagaceae) as a new species and its phylogenetic affinity

Molecular phylogenetic studies of Hosta pulchella (Asparagaceae) and its relatives, which are native to Japan, have been conducted and resulted in a highly resolved phylogeny. Specifically, the relationship of H. pulchella to H. alata Hatusima, nom. nud. is investigated. These data include genome-wide SNPs obtained through conducting multiplexed ISSR genotyping by sequencing (MIG-seq). Based on these phylogenetic results, morphological observations, distribution, and differences in flowering periods of H. alata collections sympatric with H. pulchella, we find the two species closely related, but distinct. As such, we formally describe Hosta alatasp. nov. from the Oita Prefecture of Kyushu island, southwestern Japan.

A New Titanopteran from Southwestern Korean Peninsula: The Triassic Age of the Nampo Group and its Tectonic Implications

Titanopterans are well-known as giant predatory insects in the Triassic, but not only their rare occurrences have been limited to Central Asia and Australia, but also their phylogenetic affinity remains unresolved. The age of the nonmarine sequences of the Nampo Group at the southwestern Korean Peninsula is unclear, and the tectonic affinity of the surrounding area is contentions. Here we report a new titanopteran Magnatitan jongheoni gen. et sp. nov. the Amisan Formation, Nampo Group, which marks the first discovery of the titanopteran fossil from outside Central Asia and Australia, presenting a possible circum-Tethys Ocean distribution, at least, during the Late Triassic. The new fossil shows a clearly divided CuPb, which will help understand the evolution of titanopterans in the future. Moreover, the occurrence of a titanopteran finally confirms the Late Triassic age of the Nampo Group. In China, similar Late Triassic non-marine sequences are widespread in the Cathaysia Block, in which various geological features similar to those in the southwestern Korean Peninsula, such as a Paleozoic magmatism and an eclogite facies with Neoproterozoic protoliths, have been recently documented as in the southeastern Korean Peninsula. Such similarities may suggest a close tectonic affinity between the northeastern Cathaysia Block and the southwestern Korean Peninsula.

Amphibambusa hongheensis sp. nov., a novel bambusicolous ascomycete from Yunnan, China

Amphibambusa hongheensis sp. nov. was collected from dead bamboo culms in Honghe County of Yunnan Province, China. The novel species is introduced based on the morpho-molecular approach. Morphologically, A. hongheensis fits well with Amphibambusa and is characterized by immersed, globose to subglobose ascomata, with protruding carbonaceous papilla, unitunicate, cylindrical to elongate fusiform, subsessile to short pedicellate asci with a J+, subapical ring, and fusiform, hyaline to pale brown, 1-septate ascospores, longitudinally striated, and surrounded by a thick mucilaginous sheath. Phylogenetic analyses of a concatenated ITS-LSU sequence dataset based on maximum-likelihood and Bayesian inference criteria revealed the phylogenetic affinity of A. hongheensis within Cainiaceae (Xylariales, Sordariomycetes). Amphibambusa hongheensis formed an independent subclade sister to A. bambusicola with moderate support (81% ML, 0.96 PP) and clustered with the genus Arecophila in Cainiaceae. Amphibambusa hongheensis is the second species accommodated in Amphibambusa and is reported from Yunnan, China, for the first time. Detailed description, illustration and updated phylogeny are provided.

Systematics of the Early Ordovician (late Tremadocian; Stairsian) trilobite Gonioteloides Kobayashi, with species from the Great Basin, western USA

The Early Ordovician (late Tremadocian; Stairsian) trilobite Gonioteloides Kobayashi has long been known from a small number of pygidia assigned to a single formally named species, and its affinities have not been assessed. Silicified material from western Utah and southeastern Idaho includes six distinct species assigned to the genus, one of which is the type species. Two others (G. moffitti and G. pankowskii) are new and formally named. An additional three species that are clearly new but known from sparse material are described in open nomenclature. Gonioteloides has a stratigraphic distribution through five consecutive trilobite zones in the mid-Stairsian Stage (upper Tremadocian). Although exoskeletal morphology of three species is almost completely known, the phylogenetic affinity of the taxon remains difficult to determine. It is tentatively assigned to Dimeropygidae Hupé. UUID: http://zoobank.org/23257d6c-262b-4ef5-ae4e-cc431777e67e

Connexins during 500 Million Years—From Cyclostomes to Mammals

It was previously shown that the connexin gene family had relatively similar subfamily structures in several vertebrate groups. Still, many details were left unclear. There are essentially no data between tunicates, which have connexins that cannot be divided into the classic subfamilies, and teleosts, where the subfamilies are easily recognized. There are also relatively few data for the groups that diverged between the teleosts and mammals. As many of the previously analyzed genomes have been improved, and many more genomes are available, we reanalyzed the connexin gene family and included species from all major vertebrate groups. The major results can be summarized as follows: (i) The same connexin subfamily structures are found in all Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates), with some variations due to genome duplications, gene duplications and gene losses. (ii) In contrast to previous findings, birds do not have a lower number of connexins than other tetrapods. (iii) The cyclostomes (lampreys and hagfishes) possess genes in the alpha, beta, gamma and delta subfamilies, but only some of the genes show a phylogenetic affinity to specific genes in jawed vertebrates. Thus, two major evolutionary transformations have occurred in this gene family, from tunicates to cyclostomes and from cyclostomes to jawed vertebrates.

Tuber luomae , a new spiny-spored truffle species from the Pacific Northwest, USA

Tuber luomae, a new truffle species known only from the Pacific Northwest, USA, is distinguished by spiny, nonreticulate spores and a two-layered peridium — the outermost layer (pellis) consists of inflated, globose to subpolygonal cells and the inner (subpellis) of narrow hyphae. ITS sequence analyses show that it has phylogenetic affinity to other Tuber species in the Rufum clade. The only other members of the Rufum clade with a strongly developed peridiopellis of large, inflated cells are the southern European T. malacodermum and T. pustulatum and the northern Mexican T. theleascum. We find it interesting that this peridial structure that is uncommon in the Rufum clade has been found in geographically disjunct species.

Codium-like taxa from the Silurian of North America: morphology, taxonomy, paleoecology, and phylogenetic affinity

A 1901 report by the Smithsonian Custodian of Paleozoic Plants noted that the nonbiomineralized taxa Buthotrephis divaricata White, 1901, B. newlini White, 1901, and B. lesquereuxi Grote and Pitt, 1876, from the upper Silurian of the Great Lakes area, shared key characteristics in common with the extant green macroalga Codium. A detailed reexamination of these Codium-like taxa and similar forms from the lower Silurian of Ontario, New York, and Michigan, including newly collected material of Thalassocystis striata Taggart and Parker, 1976, aided by scanning electron microscopy and stable carbon isotope analysis, provides new data in support of an algal affinity. Crucially, as with Codium, the originally cylindrical axes of all of these taxa consist of a complex internal array of tubes divided into distinct medullary and cortical regions, the medullary tubes being arranged in a manner similar to those of living Pseudocodium. In view of these findings, the three study taxa originally assigned to Buthotrephis, together with Chondrites verus Ruedemann, 1925, are transferred to the new algal taxon Inocladus new genus, thereby establishing Inocladus lesquereuxi new combination, Inocladus newlini new comb., Inocladus divaricata new comb., and Inocladus verus new comb. Morphological and paleoecological data point to a phylogenetic affinity for Inocladus n. gen. and Thalassocystis within the Codium-bearing green algal order Bryopsidales, but perhaps nested within an extinct lineage. Collectively, this material fits within a large-scale pattern of major macroalgal morphological diversification initiated in concert with the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event and apparently driven by a marked escalation in grazing pressure. UUID: http://zoobank.org/97c5c737-b291-41a2-aceb-f398cac9537a

Multiple branching and attachment structures in cloudinomorphs, Nama Group, Namibia

The Ediacaran-Cambrian cloudinomorphs, which include Cloudina, are the first putative skeletal metazoans. They have a benthic ecology and tubular, organic, or biomineralized stacked funnel morphologies but an unresolved phylogenetic affinity. Rare dichotomous branching has been described in Cloudina, but here we demonstrate the presence of multiple (polytomous), dichotomous branching in cloudinomorphs from a microbial mat community from the Nama Group, Namibia, as revealed by three-dimensional models created from serial sections. Branches share an open, central cavity, and branching is achieved via external budding. These cloudinomorphs show attachment and mutual cementation to each other, and also to Namacalathus, via extratubular skeletal structures to potentially form a horizontal framework. Polytomous branching excludes a bilaterian affinity as proposed for other cloudinomorphs. This raises the possibility that the Ediacaran tubular, funnel morphology is convergent, and that cloudinomorphs may, in fact, represent taxa of diverse affinity.