A phylogenetic analysis for the South-east Asian mite harvestman family Stylocellidae (Opiliones:Cyphophthalmi) – a combined analysis using morphometric and molecular data

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald M. Clouse ◽  
Benjamin L. de Bivort ◽  
Gonzalo Giribet
Keyword(s):  
Missing Data ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Large Species ◽  
Morphometric Data ◽  
The South ◽  
Missing Measurements ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
Size Information ◽  
Morphological Studies

In an effort to place type specimens lacking molecular data into a phylogenetic framework ahead of a taxonomic revision, we used morphometric data, both alone and in combination with a molecular dataset, to generate phylogenetic hypotheses under the parsimony criterion for 107 members of the South-east Asian mite harvestman family Stylocellidae (Arachnida: Opiliones: Cyphophthalmi). For the morphometric analyses, we used undiscretised characters, analysed for independence and collapsed by principal components analysis (PCA) when dependent. Two challenges not previously encountered in the use of this method were (a) handling terminals with missing data, necessitated by the inclusion of old and damaged type specimens, and (b) controlling for extreme variation in size. Custom scripts for independence analysis were modified to accommodate missing data whereby placeholder numbers were used during PCA for missing measurements. Size was controlled in four ways: choosing characters that avoided misleading size information and were easily scaled; using only locally scaled measurements; adjusting ratios by y-intercepts; and collapsing dependent characters into one. These steps removed enough size information that miniaturised and large species, suspected from molecular and discrete morphological studies to be closely related, were closely placed using morphometric data alone. Both morphometric and combined analyses generated relationships that positioned type specimens in agreement with taxonomic expectations and our knowledge of the family from prior studies. The hypotheses generated here provide new direction in linking molecular analyses with established taxonomy in this large group of South-east Asian arachnids.

scholarly journals An old taxonomic dilemma: the identity of the western south Atlantic lebranche mullet (Teleostei: Perciformes: Mugilidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2519 (1) ◽  
pp. 59 ◽  
Author(s):  
NAÉRCIO A. MENEZES ◽  
CLÁUDIO DE OLIVEIRA ◽  
MAURO NIRCHIO
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
Caribbean Sea ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
Morphometric Data ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Combined Data

The identification of the lebranche mullet in the western south Atlantic has long been problematical. In most recent works either Mugil liza Valenciennes and M. platanus Günther, 1880 or M. liza and M. cephalus Linnaeus, 1758 were recognized from the region and more rarely the occurrence of only one species has been proposed but without sufficient morphological, biochemical or molecular data to allow the designation of the taxonomically appropriate name. Analysis of meristic and morphometric data taken from samples collected from Venezuela to Argentina, clearly indicates that there is only one species of lebranche mullet in the Caribbean Sea region and the Atlantic coast of South America and that Mugil liza is the appropriate name. The comparison of the combined data from all the samples of M. liza with the data taken from one sample of M. cephalus that originated in the Mediterranean, the possible locality from which type specimens were collected (Eschmeyer and Fricke, 2009), revealed significant differences indicating that they are different species. It is also suggested that individuals from the western north Atlantic identified as M. cephalus might represent a population of M. liza in this region.

Distinct species hidden in the widely distributed coral Coelastrea aspera (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Scleractinia)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuta Mitsuki ◽  
Naoko Isomura ◽  
Yoko Nozawa ◽  
Hiroyuki Tachikawa ◽  
Danwei Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Delimitation ◽  
Scleractinian Coral ◽  
Species Differences ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
Morphological Studies ◽  
Morphological And Molecular Data ◽  
Northern Taiwan ◽  
Planula Larvae

Species identification is key for coral reef conservation and restoration. Recent coral molecular-morphological studies have indicated the existence of many cryptic species. Coelastrea aspera (Verrill, 1866) is a zooxanthellate scleractinian coral that is widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific. In Japan, this species is distributed from the subtropical reef region to the high-latitudinal non-reef region. Previous studies have reported that C. aspera colonies in the non-reef region release egg-sperm bundles (bundle type), whereas those in the reef region release eggs and sperm separately (non-bundle type) and release planula larvae after spawning. This difference in reproduction might be relevant to species differences. To clarify the species delimitation of C. aspera, the reproduction, morphology and molecular phylogeny of C. aspera samples collected from reef and non-reef regions in Japan were analysed, along with additional morphological and molecular data of samples from northern Taiwan. The results show that C. aspera is genetically and morphologically separated into two main groups. The first group is the non-bundle type, distributed only in reef regions, whereas the second group is the bundle type, widely distributed throughout the reef and non-reef regions. Examination of type specimens of the taxon’s synonyms leads us to conclude that the first group represents the true C. aspera, whereas the second is Coelastrea incrustans comb. nov., herein re-established, that was originally described as Goniastrea incrustans Duncan, 1886, and had been treated as a junior synonym of C. aspera.

Morphological and molecular data reveal three rather than one species of Sicyos (Cucurbitaceae) in Australia, New Zealand and Islands of the South West Pacific

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian R. H. Telford ◽  
Patrizia Sebastian ◽  
Peter J. de Lange ◽  
Jeremy J. Bruhl ◽  
Susanne S. Renner
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
New World ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Morphometric Data ◽  
The South ◽  
West Pacific ◽  
South West ◽  
Morphological And Molecular Data

Morphometric data have long suggested the existence of three species of Sicyos in Australia and New Zealand. Molecular data now corroborate this and place the three species in the context of the remaining 72 species of Sicyos, most of them in the New World. We here describe and illustrate Sicyos undara I.Telford & P.Sebastian from northern Queensland and S. mawhai I.Telford & P.Sebastian from New Zealand, and emend the circumscription of S. australis to account for the removal of these two extraneous elements. We also provide a key to the three species, map their ranges, and note their habitat and conservation status.

Morphometric studies of polyploid Cardamine species (Brassicaceae) from Japan: solving a long-standing taxonomic and nomenclatural controversy

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judita Lihová ◽  
Hiroshi Kudoh ◽  
Karol Marhold
Keyword(s):  
Ploidy Level ◽  
Morphological Variation ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Species Boundaries ◽  
Morphometric Data ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanism ◽  
Taxonomic Treatment ◽  
Japanese Archipelago ◽  
Level Data ◽  
The Japanese Archipelago

Polyploidy is an important evolutionary mechanism and speciation mode in plants; however, delimitation of species boundaries in polyploid complexes is often a difficult task. In the present paper, we explore morphological variation in a group of East Asian Cardamine polyploids that have long been shrouded in taxonomic and nomenclatural confusion. We relate the present morphometric data of 41 sampled populations with recently published ploidy-level data, and propose a revised taxonomic treatment, including the designation of several lectotypes. The following species are recognised in Japan: C. schinziana O.E.Schulz (2n = 6x, 8x), C. torrentis Nakai (2n = 8x), C. valida (Takeda) Nakai (2n = 4x) and C. yezoensis Maxim. (2n = 6x−12x). C. amariformis Nakai (2n = 4x) from Korea is also discussed, although it may be conspecific with C. valida, pending further studies. Distribution of these taxa in the Japanese Archipelago is characterised, including comments on their occurrence outside of Japan.

Distribution, history, and taxonomy of the Thais clade (Gastropoda: Muricidae) in the Neogene of tropical America

2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 697-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geerat J. Vermeij
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
Eastern Pacific ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Large Species ◽  
The South ◽  
Western Atlantic ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Tropical America ◽  
The Caribbean

The earliest known members of the Thais clade of rapanine muricid neogastropods comprise four species from the Cantaure Formation (early Miocene: Burdigalian) of Venezuela; three of these species are new. Neorapana rotundata Gibson-Smith et al., 1997, is most closely related to the Recent Pacific Mexican N. tuberculata (Sowerby, 1835), and represents the only known Atlantic occurrence of the genus. Thais brevicula new species is closest to T. callaoensis (Gray, 1828) from the Recent of northern Peru and the Galápagos. A review of the genus Thais indicates that the typical members of this group occur in the South Atlantic, West Africa, and eastern Pacific, but not in the Recent fauna of the southern Caribbean. Stramonita bifida new species is a large species related to the Recent S. haemastoma floridana (Conrad, 1837), which occurs throughout the Caribbean. A review of American species of Stramonita indicates that the taxon S. biserialis (de Blainville, 1832) from the Recent fauna of the eastern Pacific, and the taxon S. h. haemastoma (Linnaeus, 1767), may each be composed of more than one species despite the teleplanic dispersal of their larvae. Stramonita semiplicata new species is closely related to the Recent S. bicarinata (de Blainville, 1832) from the South Atlantic, and represents a lineage that occurred in the Caribbean region until at least the late Miocene. It may have given rise to the eastern Pacific genus Acanthais. The higher diversity and greater antipredatory specialization of eastern Pacific as compared to western Atlantic members of the Thais clade may have resulted from higher post-Miocene rates of speciation and lower extinction rates in the eastern Pacific.

Re-description of the Arctic tardigrade Tenuibiotus voronkovi (Tumanov, 2007 (Eutardigrada; Macrobiotidea), with the first molecular data for the genus

Zootaxa ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4196 (4) ◽  
pp. 498 ◽  
Author(s):  
KRZYSZTOF ZAWIERUCHA ◽  
MAŁGORZATA KOLICKA ◽  
ŁUKASZ KACZMAREK
Keyword(s):  
Original Description ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
Internal Transcribed Spacers ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Morphological Description ◽  
28S Rrna ◽  
Morphometric Data ◽  
Additional Material ◽  
Svalbard Archipelago ◽  
5.8S Rdna

Tardigrada is phylum of micrometazoans widely distributed throughout the world, because of old descriptions and insufficient morphometric data, many species currently need revision and re-description. Tenuibiotus voronkovi (Tumanov, 2007) is tardigrade previously only recorded from the Svalbard archipelago. This species’ original description was based on two individuals with destroyed claws on the fourth pair of legs and a lack of complete morphometric data for buccal tube and claws. In this paper, we present a re-description of T. voronkovi, supplementing the original description using the original paratype and additional material from Svalbard: Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya. This species is characterised by two macroplacoids and a microplacoid, claws of Tenuibiotus type, dentate lunules under claw IV, and faint granulation on legs I–III and strong granulation on the legs IV. We include a new morphological description with microphotographs, morphometric, and molecular data (including: mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), internal transcribed spacers (ITS1–5.8S rDNA–ITS2), and nuclear ribosome subunits 28S rRNA and 18S rRNA). These are the first published molecular data for the genus Tenuibiotus Pilato and Lisi, 2011, analysis of which indicated an affiliation of Tenuibiotus to the family Macrobiotidae. We found no differences in body size between individuals from different islands (Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya), but did observe variability in the eggs. After revision of the literature and the published figures, we concluded that Dastych’s (1985) report of T. willardi (Pilato, 1976) from Svalbard, was actually T. voronkovi, which has the greater distribution in Svalbard, and other Arctic locations, than previously believed. 

Unraveling the identity of Paepalanthus decorus (Eriocaulaceae)

Phytotaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 518 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-238
Author(s):  
LUCAS ESPINDOLA FLORÊNCIO DA SILVA ◽  
MARCELO TROVÓ
Keyword(s):  
Floral Morphology ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Detailed Comparison ◽  
The Other ◽  
Original Publication ◽  
Rio Grande Do Sul ◽  
The South ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
La Plata

Paepalanthus decorus was described by Delia Abbiatti from a single collection of individuals made by Carlos Luis Spegazzini in Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, deposited at the La Plata Museum. The species is known only from the type specimens, which were unusual for being collected far to the south of the distribution of the other species included in P. sect. Diphyomene. In recent nomenclatural treatments for P. sect. Diphyomene, P. decorus was disregarded, remaining known only from its original publication. Here, we critically evaluate the protologue, type specimens, and the vegetative and floral morphology of this species. As a result, we propose its synonymization under P. flaccidus. A detailed comparison of these species is provided, along with comments on typification, with a lectotype designated for P. flaccidus.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document