A molecular phylogeny of rainbow skinks (Scincidae: Carlia): taxonomic and biogeographic implications

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devi M. Stuart-Fox ◽  
Andrew F. Hugall ◽  
Craig Moritz

The phylogenetic relationships amongst 29 species of Carlia and Lygisaurus were estimated using a 726-base-pair segment of the protein-coding mitochondrial ND4 gene. Results do not support the recent resurrection of the genus Lygisaurus. Although most Lygisaurus species formed a single clade, this clade is nested within Carlia and includes Carlia parrhasius. Due to this new molecular evidence, and the paucity of diagnostic morphological characters separating the genera, Lygisaurus de Vis 1884 is re-synonymised with Carlia Gray 1845. Our analysis is also inconsistent with a previous suggestion that Lygisaurus timlowi should be removed to Menetia, a genus that is distantly related relative to outgroups used here. Intraspecific variation in Carlia is, in several instances, greater than interspecific distance. The most strikingly divergent lineages are found within C. rubrigularis, which appears to be paraphyletic, with southern populations more closely related to C. rhomboidalis than to northern populations of C. rubrigularis. The two C. rubrigularis–C. rhomboidalis lineages form part of a major polytomy at an intermediate level of divergence. Lack of resolution at this level, however, does not appear to be due to saturation or loss of phylogenetic signal. Rather, the polytomy probably reflects a period of relatively rapid diversification that occurred sometime during the Miocene.

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 171900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Torres-Gutierrez ◽  
Tatiane M. P. de Oliveira ◽  
Kevin J. Emerson ◽  
Eduardo Sterlino Bergo ◽  
Maria Anice Mureb Sallum

The subgenus Melanoconion of the mosquito genus Culex is taxonomically diverse and is widely distributed in the Neotropical Region, with 10 species occurring in the Nearctic Region. Species of this subgenus pose a taxonomical challenge because morphological identification is based largely on anatomical characters of the male genitalia. We addressed the monophyly of the Spissipes and Melanoconion Sections of the subgenus Melanoconion and some of the informal groups in each section. Our sample taxa included 97 specimens representing 43 species, from which we analysed fragments of two single-copy nuclear genes ( CAD , HB ) and one mitochondrial gene ( COI ). Phylogenetic relationships within the subgenus are presented based on results of maximum-likelihood and Bayesian analyses using a multi-locus matrix of DNA sequences. We show a molecular phylogeny of Melanoconion in which both sections were recovered as monophyletic groups. The monophyly of the Atratus and Pilosus groups was confirmed. Within each section, other monophyletic groups were recovered highlighting the potential need for future nomenclature rearrangement. The phylogenetic signal contained in nuclear genes, when analysed together, was more informative than each gene analysed separately, corroborating monophyly of Melanoconion relative to Culex ( Culex ) species included in the analyses, the Melanoconion and Spissipes Sections and some species groups. Our results provide new information for the classification of the subgenus and additional data that can be used to improve species identification when a more representative taxon sampling is available.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia-Jia Chen ◽  
Hui Feng ◽  
Jian Yu ◽  
Wenwu Ye ◽  
Xiaobo Zheng

Soybean (Glycine max) is a major source of edible oil and protein. A novel species of the genus Pythium, Pythium huanghuaiense, isolated from soybean seedlings in China, is described and illustrated on the basis of morphological characters and molecular evidence. Pythium huanghuaiense sp. nov. is closely related to species of the genus Pythium in clade F, as evidenced by the presence of hyphal swellings and its relatively rapid morphological growth. However, it differs by having relatively small sporangia and plerotic or nearly plerotic and thin-walled oospores. A pathogenicity test confirmed the newly-identified species as a pathogen of soybean.


Author(s):  
A. P. Sukhorukov ◽  
M. A. Kushunina

Kochia monticola was previously considered as a synonym for the widely distributed Irano-Turanian Panderia pilosa. After the merger of Kochia and Panderia with Bassia based on molecular phylogeny, K. monticola remained a synonym of Bassia pilosa. We claim that Bassia monticola, a name proposed by Kuntze (1891) for K. monticola, should be separated from B. pilosa based on morphological characters and localised distribution in mountainous regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon at altitudes 1800–2600 m a. s. l.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 222 (3) ◽  
pp. 221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhangming Zhu ◽  
Xinfen Gao

Natural hybridization was assumed to play a significant role in the diversification of Rosa. Rosa lichiangensis was suspected to be of hybrid origin based on its intermediate morphological characters between R. soulieana and R. multiflora var. cathayensis. In this study, four chloroplast regions (ndhC-trnV, ndhF-rpl32, ndhJ-trnF, and psbJ-petA) and a single copy nuclear marker (GAPDH) were used to test the hybrid origin of R. lichiangensis. The results from molecular data supported the hybrid origin of R. lichiangensis and further identified R. soulieana as its maternal progenitor and R. multiflora var. cathayensis as the paternal progenitor.


2009 ◽  
Vol 364 (1527) ◽  
pp. 2197-2207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter G. Foster ◽  
Cymon J. Cox ◽  
T. Martin Embley

The three-domains tree, which depicts eukaryotes and archaebacteria as monophyletic sister groups, is the dominant model for early eukaryotic evolution. By contrast, the ‘eocyte hypothesis’, where eukaryotes are proposed to have originated from within the archaebacteria as sister to the Crenarchaeota (also called the eocytes), has been largely neglected in the literature. We have investigated support for these two competing hypotheses from molecular sequence data using methods that attempt to accommodate the across-site compositional heterogeneity and across-tree compositional and rate matrix heterogeneity that are manifest features of these data. When ribosomal RNA genes were analysed using standard methods that do not adequately model these kinds of heterogeneity, the three-domains tree was supported. However, this support was eroded or lost when composition-heterogeneous models were used, with concomitant increase in support for the eocyte tree for eukaryotic origins. Analysis of combined amino acid sequences from 41 protein-coding genes supported the eocyte tree, whether or not composition-heterogeneous models were used. The possible effects of substitutional saturation of our data were examined using simulation; these results suggested that saturation is delayed by among-site rate variation in the sequences, and that phylogenetic signal for ancient relationships is plausibly present in these data.


PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10364
Author(s):  
Natalia I. Abramson ◽  
Fedor N. Golenishchev ◽  
Semen Yu. Bodrov ◽  
Olga V. Bondareva ◽  
Evgeny A. Genelt-Yanovskiy ◽  
...  

In this article, we present the nearly complete mitochondrial genome of the Subalpine Kashmir vole Hyperacrius fertilis (Arvicolinae, Cricetidae, Rodentia), assembled using data from Illumina next-generation sequencing (NGS) of the DNA from a century-old museum specimen. De novo assembly consisted of 16,341 bp and included all mitogenome protein-coding genes as well as 12S and 16S RNAs, tRNAs and D-loop. Using the alignment of protein-coding genes of 14 previously published Arvicolini tribe mitogenomes, seven Clethrionomyini mitogenomes, and also Ondatra and Dicrostonyx outgroups, we conducted phylogenetic reconstructions based on a dataset of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) under maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. Phylogenetic analyses robustly supported the phylogenetic position of this species within the tribe Arvicolini. Among the Arvicolini, Hyperacrius represents one of the early-diverged lineages. This result of phylogenetic analysis altered the conventional view on phylogenetic relatedness between Hyperacrius and Alticola and prompted the revision of morphological characters underlying the former assumption. Morphological analysis performed here confirmed molecular data and provided additional evidence for taxonomic replacement of the genus Hyperacrius from the tribe Clethrionomyini to the tribe Arvicolini.


2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner P. Strümpher ◽  
Martin H. Villet ◽  
Catherine L. Sole ◽  
Clarke H. Scholtz

Extant genera and subgenera of the Trogidae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) are reviewed. Contemporary classifications of this family have been based exclusively on morphological characters. The first molecular phylogeny for the family recently provided strong support for the relationships between morphologically defined genera and subgenera. On the basis of morphological, molecular and biogeographical evidence, certain taxonomic changes to the genus-level classification of the family are now proposed. The family is confirmed as consisting of two subfamilies, Omorginae Nikolajev and Troginae MacLeay, the former with two genera,OmorgusErichson andPolynoncusBurmeister, and the latter with two genera,TroxFabricius andPhoberusMacLeaystat. rev.Phoberusis restored to generic rank to include all Afrotropical (including Madagascan endemic) species;Afromorgusis confirmed at subgeneric rank within the genusOmorgus; and the monotypic Madagascan genusMadagatroxsyn. n.is synonymised withPhoberus.The current synonymies ofPseudotroxRobinson (withTrox),ChesasBurmeister,LagopelusBurmeister andMegalotroxPreudhomme de Borre (all withOmorgus) are all accepted to avoid creating speculative synonyms before definitive phylogenetic evidence is available. New combinations resulting from restoringPhoberusto a monophyletic genus are listed in Appendix A.


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4407 (2) ◽  
pp. 151 ◽  
Author(s):  
TONATIUH RAMÍREZ-REYES ◽  
OSCAR FLORES-VILLELA

An integrative taxonomy approach was implemented based on analysis of genetic, phylogenetic, morphological and ecological data to identify the cryptic diversity within the Phyllodactylus lanei complex. At least six species can be identified, of which four are currently considered subspecies: Phyllodactylus lanei, Phyllodactylus rupinus, Phyllodactylus isabelae, Phyllodactylus lupitae and two corresponding to undescribed taxa, which are identified and described in this contribution. These differ from other Mexican geckos in several characters: genetic distance (DNAmt), position in molecular phylogeny (concatened data DNAmt+DNAnu), species tree, morphological characters such as snout-vent length, longitudinal scales, tubercles from head to tail, interorbital scales, scales across venter, third labial–snout scales and rows of tubercles across dorsum; there are also differences in their bioclimatic profiles (temperature and precipitation) and geographical distribution. The most recent studies on taxonomy and evolution of Mexican geckos (Phyllodactylus) show that the diversity of this group of reptiles is currently underestimated, suggesting that more research and conservation efforts are should be addressed at these lizards. 


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phougeishangbam Rolish Singh ◽  
Bart van de Vossenberg ◽  
Katarzynar Rybarczyk-Mydłowska3 ◽  
Magdalena Kowalewska-Groszkowska ◽  
Wim Bert ◽  
...  

Rotylenchus is a widely-distributed economically important plant-parasitic nematode group whose species-level identification relies largely on limited morphological characters including character-based tabular keys and molecular data of ribosomal and mitochondrial genes. In this study, a combined morphological and molecular analysis of three populations of R. goodeyi from Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands revealed important character variations of this species leading to synonymisation of R. rhomboides with R. goodeyi, and a high nucleotide variation within cox1 gene sequences in these populations. Additional Illumina sequencing of DNA from individuals of the Dutch population revealed two variants of mitogenomes each of approximately 23 Kb in size, differing by about 9% and containing eleven protein coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and up to 29 transfer RNA genes. In addition to the first representative whole genome shotgun sequence datasets of the genus Rotylenchus, this study also provides the full length mitogenome and the ribosomal DNA sequences of R. goodeyi.


2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-174
Author(s):  
Ming-Hui Yan ◽  
Chun-Yang Li ◽  
Peter W. Fritsch ◽  
Jie Cai ◽  
Heng-Chang Wang

Abstract—The phylogenetic relationships among 11 out of the 12 genera of the angiosperm family Styracaceae have been largely resolved with DNA sequence data based on all protein-coding genes of the plastome. The only genus that has not been phylogenomically investigated in the family with molecular data is the monotypic genus Parastyrax, which is extremely rare in the wild and difficult to collect. To complete the sampling of the genera comprising the Styracaceae, examine the plastome composition of Parastyrax, and further explore the phylogenetic relationships of the entire family, we sequenced the whole plastome of P. lacei and incorporated it into the Styracaceae dataset for phylogenetic analysis. Similar to most others in the family, the plastome is 158189 bp in length and contains a large single-copy region of 88085 bp and a small single-copy region of 18540 bp separated by two inverted-repeat regions of 25781 bp each. A total of 113 genes was predicted, including 79 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, and four rRNA genes. Phylogenetic relationships among all 12 genera of the family were constructed with 79 protein-coding genes. Consistent with a previous study, Styrax, Huodendron, and a clade of Alniphyllum + Bruinsmia were successively sister to the remainder of the family. Parastyrax was strongly supported as sister to an internal clade comprising seven other genera of the family, whereas Halesia and Pterostyrax were both recovered as polyphyletic, as in prior studies. However, when we employed either the whole plastome or the large- or small-single copy regions as datasets, Pterostyrax was resolved as monophyletic with 100% support, consistent with expectations based on morphology and indicating that non-coding regions of the Styracaceae plastome contain informative phylogenetic signal. Conversely Halesia was still resolved as polyphyletic but with novel strong support.


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