Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Article (54)
- Part of Periodical (22)
Language
- English (76) (remove)
Has Fulltext
- yes (76)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (76)
Keywords
- phylogeny (76) (remove)
A new millipede species of the genus Sechelleptus Mauriès, 1980 is described and illustrated from Mayotte Island, Indian Ocean. This new species, S. arborivagus sp. nov., found on trees, looks particularly similar to the sympatric S. variabilis VandenSpiegel & Golovatch, 2007, but is much larger and has a very different ecological behavior. Phylogenetic analyses based on a concatenated dataset of the COI and 16S rRNA genes and including nine species of Spirostreptidae (including Sechelleptus, Doratogonus Attems, 1914, Bicoxidens Attems, 1928 and Spirostreptus Brandt, 1833), strongly support the monophyly of Sechelleptus. Despite the similarity of their genitalia, the molecular analyses also reveal a clear-cut genetic divergence between S. arborivagus sp. nov. and S. variabilis (22.55% for COI and 6.63% for 16SrRNA) and further suggest the presence of a higher diversity within the genus Sechelleptus on Mayotte.
New species, revision, and phylogeny of Ronzotherium Aymard, 1854 (Perissodactyla, Rhinocerotidae)
(2021)
Ronzotherium is one of the earliest Rhinocerotidae in Europe, which first appeared just after the Eocene/Oligocene transition (Grande Coupure), and became extinct at the end of the Oligocene. It is a large-sized rhinocerotid, with a special position in the phylogeny of this group, as being one of the earliest-branching true Rhinocerotidae. However, its intra-generic systematics has never been tested through computational phylogenetic methods and it is basically unknown. Its taxonomical history has gone through numerous complications, and thus we aim to provide here a complete revision of this genus, through phylogenetic methods. After a re-examination of all type specimens (five supposed species) as well as of most well-preserved specimens from all over Europe and ranging through the complete Oligocene epoch, we performed a parsimony analysis to test the position of some problematic specimens. According to our results, five species can be distinguished, Ronzotherium velaunum (type species), R. filholi, R. elongatum and R. romani as well as a new species: R. heissigi sp. nov. We also drastically re-interpret its anatomy and show that the ‘short-limbed’ “Diaceratherium” massiliae, described from Southern France, can be considered as a junior synonym of R. romani. Finally, we exclude the Asian species “Ronzotherium” orientale and “Ronzotherium” brevirostre from Ronzotherium and we consider R. kochi as a junior synonym of R. filholi.
Remipedia is a stygobitic group commonly associated with coastal anchialine caves. This class consists of 12 genera, ten of which are found within the Lucayan Archipelago. Herein, we describe a new species within the genus Godzillius from Conch Sound Blue Hole, North Andros Island, Bahamas. Godzillius louriei sp. nov. is the third known remipede observed from a subseafloor marine cave, and the first from the Godzilliidae. Remipedes dwell within notoriously difficult to access cave habitats and thus integrative and comprehensive systematic studies at family or genus level are often absent in the literature. In this study, all species of Godzillius are compared using morphological and molecular approaches. Specifically, the feeding appendages of G. louriei sp. nov., G. fuchsi Gonzalez, Singpiel & Schlagner, 2013 and G. robustus Schram, Yager & Emerson, 1986 were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Species of Godzillius are identified based on the spines of maxilla 1 segment 4 and by the denticles on the lacinia mobilis of the left mandible. A molecular phylogeny using the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and nuclear histone 3 genes recovered G. louriei sp. nov. within the Godzillius clade and 16S genetic distances revealed a 13–15% difference between species of Godzillius.
Most valvatiform genera of the gastropod family Hydrobiidae are narrow-range taxa. One exception is the genus Arganiella, which is comprised of three congeners: the type species A. pescei from the Apennine Peninsula, A. wolfi from the Iberian Peninsula and A. tabanensis from the Balkans. The genus assignment of the latter two species was based on morphological similarities with A. pescei in the shell, operculum, radula and genitalia. Given that the morphology of hydrobiids is sometimes susceptible to convergence, this study re-evaluates the taxonomic status of species of Arganiella by analysing mitochondrial (mtCOI) and nuclear (18S rRNA) sequences of topotypes or near topotypes to infer their phylogenetic position. Our phylogenetic analyses depicted Arganiella as a non-monophyletic group within Hydrobiidae, and sequence divergence among the three species ranged from 14.5 to 16.7% for mtCOI and 2.0 to 3.8% for 18S. We also re-examined the extent of morphological variation among species of Arganiella and found a few differences among them and other valvatiform genera. Consequently, we propose two new genera for A. wolfi and A. tabanensis. Our results conflict with the classification of valvatiform hydrobiid species solely based on traditional phenotypical methods and suggest further taxonomic evaluation within a molecular framework.
A new avian chewing louse genus Apomyrsidea gen. nov. is described based on species parasitizing birds in the family Formicariidae. Diagnostic characteristics and phylogenetic analyses were used to evaluate and confirm the generic status and merit its recognition as unique and different from Myrsidea Waterston, 1915. Three species previously belonging to the genus Myrsidea are placed in the new genus Apomyrsidea gen. nov. and are discussed: Apomyrsidea circumsternata (Valim & Weckstein, 2013) gen. et comb. nov., Apomyrsidea isacantha (Valim & Weckstein, 2013) gen. et comb. nov. and Apomyrsidea klimesi (Sychra in Sychra et al., 2006) gen. et comb. nov.
Commonly reported as a household pest throughout the northern hemisphere, Willowsia nigromaculata (Lubbock) is among the most abundant and widely distributed springtails. However, taxonomic uncertainty due to incomplete morphological descriptions based on specimens from different continents may lead to incorrect identifications and/or prevent the recognition of distinct lineages within this morphospecies. Here, we perform the first comprehensive morphological and genetic comparison between W. nigromaculata specimens collected from North America and Europe. Morphological and genetic evidence reveals that populations in the United States and France represent two distinct nigromaculata-like species, but a phylogenetic analysis indicates both species may also be present in Canada. Based on these results, we redescribe W. nigromaculata from France, provide a description for Willowsia neonigromaculata sp. nov. from the United States, and propose new diagnostic characters for their separation, including the number of inner appendages on the maxillary sublobal plate. We also highlight the need for morphological and molecular investigations of additional populations to better understand the diversity and distribution of W. nigromaculata and related species.
We report a new myxozoan, Myxobolus opsaridiumi sp. nov., infecting the ornamental fish Opsaridium ubangiensis (Pellegrin, 1901) collected from the Anga River near the city of Yaounde, Cameroon. Plasmodia were found in the skin, muscles and spleen. The overall prevalence of infection was 54.7% (288 parasitized fish out of 526 examined). The myxospores were ovoid to subspherical in frontal view and lenticular in lateral view. The valves were symmetrical and relatively thick, without edge markings. The myxospore measurements were 10.7 ± 0.14 (10–11.5) μm long, 9 ± 0.15 (8–10) μm wide and 6.2 ± 0.7 (5.6–7.2) μm thick. The two ovoid polar capsules were equal in size, converging and opening together at the anterior end, measuring 5 ± 0.07 (4.3–6.0) μm long and 2.7 ± 0.07 (2.2–3.0) μm wide. Polar filaments were coiled from 5 to 7 turns. Histopathological analysis revealed no inflammatory reaction associated with the infection. A BLAST search found that the newly obtained 18 rDNA sequence had a low sequence similarity with available sequences for Myxobolus on GenBank. A phylogenetical analysis based on ribosomal DNA partial sequences showed that M. opsaridiumi sp. nov. is closely associated with several species of Myxobolus infecting cyprinid fish.
A new monospecific genus belonging to the family Linyphiidae Blackwell, 1859, Nihonella gen. nov., is described using an integrative taxonomic approach based on the species N. chika gen. et sp. nov. The new genus is endemic to Western Honshu, Japan, and it shows distinctive genitalic and somatic characters of other genera of the subfamily Erigoninae Emerton, 1882. Nihonella gen. nov. is found only in the twilight and transition zones of caves in Okayama and Nara Prefectures. The phylogenetic position of Nihonella gen. nov. within the subfamily Erigoninae, and its relationship as a sister clade of the species of the group of Savignia Blackwell, 1833 (sensu Millidge 1977), is discussed on the basis of both, morphological and molecular evidence.
Four new species and one new subspecies of tateid freshwater gastropods are described from the north of the South Island of New Zealand, Catapyrgus jami sp. nov., Opacuincola lisannea sp. nov., O. gretathunbergae sp. nov., O. mete kahurangi ssp. nov. and Obtusopyrgus farri sp. nov. The species are integratively defined based on a combination of shell morphological, anatomical and mitochondrial DNA data. Morphological and anatomical data were generated by morphometrics, scanning electron microscopy, as well as micro-computed tomography. The genetic data were basis of phylogenetic analyses and incorporated into the diagnoses. The new taxa occur in springs or spring-like habitats, i.e., shallow, slow-flowing sections of small streams except for O. mete kahurangi subsp. nov., which was collected from rough rocks in a river, where the snails sat in small depressions. None of the species exceeded 2.75 mm in length. Opacuincola gretathunbergae sp. nov. and Obtusopyrgus farri sp. nov. are pigmented and true crenobionts, while C. jami sp. nov. and the sympatric Opacuincola lisannea sp. nov. have eyes of reduced size and lack epidermal pigment, hence, probably dwell in the transitional zone of epigean and groundwaters.
Members of the ATP‐binding cassette (ABC) transporter superfamily translocate a broad spectrum of chemically diverse substrates. While their eponymous ATP‐binding cassette in the nucleotide‐binding domains (NBDs) is highly conserved, their transmembrane domains (TMDs) forming the translocation pathway exhibit distinct folds and topologies, suggesting that during evolution the ancient motor domains were combined with different transmembrane mechanical systems to orchestrate a variety of cellular processes. In recent years, it has become increasingly evident that the distinct TMD folds are best suited to categorize the multitude of ABC transporters. We therefore propose a new ABC transporter classification that is based on structural homology in the TMDs: