scholarly journals Cryptic species within the wheat curl mite Aceria tosichella (Keifer) (Acari : Eriophyoidea), revealed by mitochondrial, nuclear and morphometric data

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Skoracka ◽  
Lechosław Kuczyński ◽  
Renata Santos de Mendonça ◽  
Mirosława Dabert ◽  
Wiktoria Szydło ◽  
...  

The wheat curl mite (WCM), Aceria tosichella (Keifer, 1969), is one of the primary pests of wheat and other cereals throughout the world. Traditional taxonomy recognises WCM as a single eriophyoid species; however, a recent study suggested that two genetic lineages of WCM in Australia might represent putative species. Here, we investigate WCM populations from different host plants in Australia, South America and Europe and test the hypothesis that WCM is, in fact, a complex of cryptic species. We used morphological data in combination with nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochromec oxidase subunitI (COI) and nuclear D2 region of 28S rDNA and internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1, ITS2) sequences. The molecular analyses did not support the monophyly of A. tosichella because the outgroup A. tulipae (Keifer, 1938) is grouped within WCM. The molecular datasets indicated the existence of distinct lineages within WCM, with the distances between lineages corresponding to interspecific divergence. Morphological analyses failed to clearly separate WCM populations and lineages, but completely separated A. tulipae from A. tosichella. The results suggest that what has been recognised historically as a single species is, in fact, a complex of several genetically isolated evolutionary lineages that demonstrate potential as cryptic species. Hence, their discrimination using solely morphological criteria may be misleading. These findings are particularly significant because of the economic importance of WCM as a direct pest and vector of plant viruses.

Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4688 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAIS REIA ◽  
ANA MARIA P. F. VICENSOTTO ◽  
CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA ◽  
RICARDO C. BENINE

The species Moenkhausia australis was described based on two specimens from arroyos Trementina and Chagalalina, Rio Paraguai basin, Paraguay. Its taxonomic history is complex and for many years the species was considered a synonym of Moenkhausia sanctaefilomenae. Moenkhausia australis shares a reticulated color pattern with the Moenkhausia oligolepis/M. sanctaefilomenae complex, being more similar within the species included in the complex to M. oligolepis, M. sanctaefilomenae, and M. forestii, with which it shares a prepelvic region laterally compressed, a feature also observed in Bario steindachneri. The laterally compressed prepelvic region is inferred to be putatively synapomorphic for the subgroup herein denominated as Moenkhausia oligolepis group. Our results, based on both molecular and morphological data, support the validity of Moenkhausia australis, which can be readily distinguished from the other members of the group by possessing the following combination of characters: complete lateral line, 23–27 scales in the lateral line, and five scales series above and below the lateral line. Our analysis also indicates three genetic structured populations of M. australis, from Rio Paraguai, upper Rio Paraná, and Rio Madeira basins. Since they are not diagnosable by morphological characters, we conservatively maintain these three genetic lineages as a single species. 


Genetika ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 775-789
Author(s):  
Hejraneh Azizi ◽  
Masoud Sheidai ◽  
Valiollah Mozaffarian ◽  
Zahra Noormohammadi

The genus Tragopogon L. with about 110-150 species is distributed in Asia and Europe, while it is represented by 26 species in Iran. Hybridization and polyploidy occurs in the genus Tragopogon that bring about extensive morphological variation in its species. Tragopogon buphthalmoides (Asteraceae) is a perennial herb with common Persian name "Sheng e Iran" and "Sheng e cheshmgaavi" and is used as traditional medicine. Two varieties have been cited for this species in the country, but due to extensive morphological variability, it is difficult to delimit the two varieties. Therefore, the present study was performed to delimit these varieties by using both morphological and molecular markers (cpDNA and ISSRs). We also aimed to provide data on population genetics of the studied species due to its medicinal importance. In total 134 plant specimens of T. buphthalmoides were randomly collected from 16 geographical populations in 7 provinces. The studied plants were considered as two different varieties based on morphological criteria and were subjected to numerical and phylogenetic analyses. PCOA plot of morphological data, identified some plants with intermediate characters. Moreover, MDS plot of ISSR data and ML tree of cpDNA sequences, did not separate plants of the two varieties and the plants were placed intermixed. Therefore, we consider T. buphthalmoides as a single species with extensive morphological variability and it is complex species. Population genetic study identified four genetic groups in the country, while, STRUCTURE analysis based on admixture model as well as population assignment test revealed some degree of gene flow in the studied populations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Violeta López-Márquez ◽  
Iván Acevedo ◽  
M. Eugenia Manjón-Cabeza ◽  
Ricardo García-Jiménez ◽  
José Templado ◽  
...  

Three species of the genus Asterina are known to inhabit the Mediterranean Sea and the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean: Asterina gibbosa (Pennant, 1777), A. pancerii (Gasco, 1870) and A. phylactica Emson & Crump, 1979. Differentiation of these species has primarily been based only on subtle characters (some highly debatable), such as colour or size. Therefore, this study aimed to review the morphological data characterising members of the genus, to incorporate new characters that may clarify morphological analyses and to couple morphological data with molecular evidence of differentiation based on the analysis of partial sequences of the cytochromec oxidase subunitI (COI) and 18S rDNA (18S) genes and two anonymous nuclear loci (AgX2 and AgX5). The different lineages and cryptic species identified from the molecular analysis were then morphologically characterised, which was challenging given the limited number of diagnostic characters. Two of the five monophyletic lineages obtained molecularly (COI divergence >4%), further supported by differences in morphological characters and reproductive behaviour, are proposed as new species: Asterina martinbarriosi, sp. nov. from the Canary Islands, Spain (eastern central Atlantic Ocean) and Asterina vicentae, sp. nov. from Tarragona, north-eastern Spain (western Mediterranean Sea).


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-525
Author(s):  
Kamila Karpicka-Ignatowska ◽  
Alicja Laska ◽  
Brian G. Rector ◽  
Anna Skoracka ◽  
Lechosław Kuczyński

AbstractQuantifying basic biological data, such as the effects of variable temperatures on development and survival, is crucial to predicting and monitoring population growth rates of pest species, many of which are highly invasive. One of the most globally important pests of cereals is the eriophyoid wheat curl mite (WCM), Aceria tosichella, which is the primary vector of several plant viruses. The aim of this study was to evaluate temperature-dependent development and survival of WCM at a wide range of constant temperatures in the laboratory (17–33 °C). The development time of each stage depended significantly on temperature and it was negatively correlated with temperature increase. At high temperatures (27–33 °C), individuals had shorter developmental times, with the shortest (6 days) at 33 °C, whereas at the lowest tested temperatures (17–19 °C), developmental time was almost 3× longer. Moreover, temperature had a clear effect on survival: the higher the temperature, the lower the survival rate. These data provide information promoting more efficient and effective manipulation of WCM laboratory colonies, and further our understanding of the ramifications of temperature change on WCM physiology and implications for the growth and spread of this globally invasive pest.


Author(s):  
Antonio Zurita ◽  
Cristina Cutillas

AbstractCtenophthalmus is considered the largest genus within the Order Siphonaptera. From a morphological point of view, only males of this genus can be identified at species and subspecies levels using morphological keys, whereas there are no morphological criteria in order to classify females at these taxonomical levels. Furthermore, the amount of available molecular and phylogenetic data for this genus is quite scarce so far. The main objective of this work was to assess the utility of the combination of nuclear and mitochondrial markers with respect to their ability to differentiate among different subspecies within the Ctenophthalmus genus. With this purpose, we carried out a comparative morphological and molecular study of three different subspecies (Ctenophthalmus baeticus arvernus, Ctenophthalmus nobilis dobyi, and Ctenophthalmus andorrensis catalaniensis) in order to clarify and discuss its taxonomic status. In addition, our study complemented the molecular data previously provided for Ctenophthalmus baeticus boisseauorum and Ctenophthalmus apertus allani subspecies. We sequenced five different molecular markers: EF1-α, ITS1, ITS2, cox1, and cytb. Our results confirmed that morphological data by themselves are not able to discriminate among Ctenophthalmus female taxa; however, the combination of the nuclear marker EF1-α together with mtDNA markers cytb and cox1 constituted a useful taxonomical and phylogenetic tool to solve this issue. Based on these results, we consider that the use of this molecular approach should be gradually used within Ctenophthalmus genus in order to complement its classical taxonomy and clarifying the complex taxonomy of other congeneric species of fleas.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1180
Author(s):  
Rafał Wawrzyniak ◽  
Wiesław Wasiak ◽  
Beata Jasiewicz ◽  
Alina Bączkiewicz ◽  
Katarzyna Buczkowska

Aneura pinguis (L.) Dumort. is a representative of the simple thalloid liverworts, one of the three main types of liverwort gametophytes. According to classical taxonomy, A. pinguis represents one morphologically variable species; however, genetic data reveal that this species is a complex consisting of 10 cryptic species (named by letters from A to J), of which four are further subdivided into two or three evolutionary lineages. The objective of this work was to develop an efficient method for the characterisation of plant material using marker compounds. The volatile chemical constituents of cryptic species within the liverwort A. pinguis were analysed by GC-MS. The compounds were isolated from plant material using the HS-SPME technique. Of the 66 compounds examined, 40 were identified. Of these 40 compounds, nine were selected for use as marker compounds of individual cryptic species of A. pinguis. A guide was then developed that clarified how these markers could be used for the rapid identification of the genetic lineages of A. pinguis. Multivariate statistical analyses (principal component and cluster analysis) revealed that the chemical compounds in A. pinguis made it possible to distinguish individual cryptic species (including genetic lineages), with the exception of cryptic species G and H. The classification of samples based on the volatile compounds by cluster analysis reflected phylogenetic relationships between cryptic species and genetic lineages of A. pinguis revealed based on molecular data.


2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 997-1017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goia de M. Lyra ◽  
C. Frederico D. Gurgel ◽  
Emmanuelle da S. Costa ◽  
Priscila B. de Jesus ◽  
Mariana C. Oliveira ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saulo M. Sousa ◽  
Patrícia M.O. Pierre ◽  
Giovana A. Torres ◽  
Lisete C. Davide ◽  
Lyderson F. Viccini

The pollen morphology and exine structure of 17 species of Lippia L. were investigated in this work using light and scanning electron microscopy. Among the species studied, 14 showed tricolporate pollen grains, two had tri- and tetracolporate pollen grains and a single species exhibited, only tetracolporate pollen. The amb ranged from triangular to square, and the shape varied from oblate-spheroidal to prolate-spheroidal. Three different types of exine ornamentation were observed: psilate, scabrate and perforate. In addition to morphological data, we found positive association between the chromosome numbers and size of pollen grains, and also between the length and width of the colpi. The results indicate that the characteristics of pollen grains in Lippia may be used as an additional taxonomic character of the genus.


Oryx ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 584-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole L. Smolensky

AbstractThe conservation status of threatened taxa may be obfuscated by the detection of cryptic species complexes, in both vertebrate and invertebrate species. African dwarf crocodiles (Osteolaemusspp.) are hunted throughout their range but their conservation status is unknown. Few population assessments have been carried out and there has been a taxonomic revision of the number of species in the genus. The similar morphologies ofOsteolaemus tetraspisandOsteolaemus osbornipose a challenge for conservation in Cameroon, where they are still managed as a single species. Nocturnal spotlight surveys were conducted in three regions during August–November 2010 and December 2011–February 2012 to provide population assessments ofO. tetraspisandO. osborniand raise awareness of the two species in Cameroon. The mean encounter rates ofO. tetraspisandO. osborniwere 1.02 ± SD 1.34 (65 individuals in 39 surveys) and 0.61 ± SD 0.38 (three in four surveys) crocodiles per km, respectively. TheO. tetraspispopulation comprised juveniles predominantly and had a male-biased sex ratio. The fewO. osbornidetected comprised both adults and juveniles. Both species are threatened in Cameroon, based on low encounter rates, young population structures and the threats of habitat loss and hunting pressure. This study provides distribution maps and serves as a baseline to quantify population trends and inform conservation strategies.


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