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Synchroidae Lacordaire, 1859 is a taxonomically and biologically poorly known group. In the present paper, diagnostic characters used to separate genera are analysed and the phylogenetic relationships within this family are preliminarily investigated. Results suggest that the characteristic Synchroa pangu Hsiao, Li, Liu & Pang, 2016 can be removed to establish a new genus, Thescelosynchroa gen. nov. The new combination, T. pangu (Hsiao, Li, Liu & Pang) gen. et comb. nov., is proposed. The definitions of Synchroa Newman, 1838 and Synchroina Fairmaire, 1898 are revised. Moreover, morphological analysis and character comparison also suggest that the familial placement of Mallodrya subaenea Horn, 1888 is questionable. Six species are re-examined and rediagnosed: Synchroa chinensis Nikitsky, 1999, S. elongatula Nikitsky, 1999, S. formosana Hsiao, 2015, S. melanotoides Lewis, 1895, S. punctata Newman, 1838 and Synchroina tenuipennis Fairmaire, 1898. The male of S. chinensis and the female of S. formosana are described for the first time. Synchroa elongatula and Synchroina tenuipennis are newly recorded from Laos and Indonesia, respectively. We also hypothesize that the Eastern Asian-North American disjunction of Synchroa could be connected to a Mid-Late Tertiary migration of plants via the Bering Land Bridge.
Neuropogonoid species in the lichen-forming fungal genus Usnea exhibit great morphological variation that can be misleading for delimitation of species. We specifically focused on the species delimitation of two closely-related, predominantly Antarctic species differing in the reproductive mode and representing a so-called species pair: the asexual U. antarctica and the sexual U. aurantiacoatra. Previous studies have revealed contradicting results. While multi-locus studies based on DNA sequence data provided evidence that these two taxa might be conspecific, microsatellite data suggested they represent distinct lineages. By using RADseq, we generated thousands of homologous markers to build a robust phylogeny of the two species. Furthermore, we successfully implemented these data in fine-scale population genomic analyses such as DAPC and fineRADstructure. Both Usnea species are readily delimited in phylogenetic inferences and, therefore, the hypothesis that both species are conspecific was rejected. Population genomic analyses also strongly confirmed separated genomes and, additionally, showed different levels of co-ancestry and substructure within each species. Lower co-ancestry in the asexual U. antarctica than in the sexual U. aurantiacoatra may be derived from a wider distributional range of the former species. Our results demonstrate the utility of this RADseq method in tracing population dynamics of lichens in future analyses.
A new classification of Ophiuroidea, considering family rank and above, is presented. The new family and superfamily taxa in O’Hara et al. (2017) were proposed to ensure a better readability of the new phylogeny but are unavailable under the provisions of the ICZN. Here, the morphological diagnoses to all 33 families and five superfamilies are provided. Ten new families, Ophiosphalmidae fam. nov., Ophiomusaidae fam. nov., Ophiocamacidae fam. nov., Ophiopteridae fam. nov., Clarkcomidae fam. nov., Ophiopezidae fam. nov., Ophiernidae fam. nov., Amphilimnidae fam. nov., Ophiothamnidae fam. nov. and Ophiopholidae fam. nov., are described. The family Ophiobyrsidae Matsumoto, 1915, not yet discovered in the previous publication, is added, based on new molecular data. A new phylogenetic reconstruction is presented. Definitions of difficult-to-apply morphological characters are given.
In this paper we describe Macrobiotus canaricus sp. nov., a new tardigrade species of the Macrobiotus hufelandi group from the Canary Islands. Moreover, with the use of DNA sequencing, we confirm that Macrobiotus recens Cuénot, 1932 represents the hufelandi group, even though eggs laid by this species do not exhibit the typical hufelandi group morphology. Our study is based on both classical taxonomic methods that include morphological and morphometric analyses conducted with the use of light and scanning electron microscopy, and on the analysis of nucleotide sequences of four molecular markers (three nuclear: 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, ITS-2, and one mitochondrial: COI). Our analyses revealed that M. canaricus sp. nov. is most similar to Macrobiotus almadai Fontoura et al., 2008 from the Archipelago of the Azores, from which it differs by the absence of granulation patches on the external and internal surfaces of legs I–III as well as by the absence of a cuticular pore in the centre of the external patch on legs I–III. Molecular sequences allowed us to pinpoint the phylogenetic positions of M. canaricus sp. nov. and M. recens within the M. hufelandi group.