Genetic and morphological variation in Australian Christinus (Squamata : Gekkonidae): preliminary overview with recognition of a cryptic species on the Nullarbor Plain

2000 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 289 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. C. Donnellan ◽  
K. P. Aplin ◽  
P. J. Dempsey

An allozyme electrophoretic analysis of the geographically widespread, southern Australian gekkonid lizard Christinus marmoratus demonstrates the presence of a hithertofore unsuspected, second species of Christinus. The second species, which was found to be syntopic with the 2n = 36 ‘race’ of C. marmoratus on the south-western side of the Nullarbor Plain, is strikingly cryptic and possesses a very similar 2n =36 karyotype. Small but consistent morphological differences between the two species allow their wider distributions to be mapped in detail. As the holotype of Phyllodactylus m. alexanderi Storr is identified as an example of the second species, Storr’s taxon is elevated to a full species and redefined. The geographic pattern of genetic variation within C. marmoratus crosses the distribution of the four recorded chromosome ‘races’. Reanalysis of previously reported reproductive data reveals likely differences in the timing of gametogenesis between C. alexanderi and the sympatric 2n = 36 C. marmoratus. Males of C. alexanderi show maximal testicular enlargement approximately six months before fertilisation, suggestive of oviducal sperm storage through winter, whereas the 2n = 36 C. marmoratus shows greatest testicular volumes at the presumed time of fertilisation. While females of both taxa carry eggs during September–October; C. marmoratus invariably carry two eggs, but C. alexanderi have a single egg in 36% of cases.

Author(s):  
Rob D. Smissen ◽  
Kerry A. Ford ◽  
Paul D. Champion ◽  
Peter B. Heenan

While examining herbarium specimens of Trithuria inconspicua Cheeseman, we observed differences in the stigmatic hairs among plants from New Zealand’s North and South Islands. This motivated us to assess genetic and morphological variation within this species and its sister T. filamentosa Rodway from Tasmania. Samples were collected from lakes in the three disjunct geographic areas where the two species occur. Genetic variation in both species was assessed with simple sequence-repeat (SSR, microsatellite) markers and analyses of genetic distances. We also compared the morphology of northern and southern New Zealand T. inconspicua using fresh material. Samples of each species clustered together in a minimum evolution tree built from genetic distances. Trithuria filamentosa had more genetic diversity than did T. inconspicua. Within T. inconspicua, plants from lakes in the North Island and the South Island formed discrete genetic groups diagnosable by subtle morphological differences. Low levels of heterozygosity in both species are consistent with a high level of selfing, as suggested for other co-sexual Trithuria species, but unusual for a putative apomict. On the basis of genetic and morphological variation, we propose recognition of the northern New Zealand and southern New Zealand lineages of T. inconspicua at subspecies rank.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Zuccarello ◽  
N Muangmai ◽  
Maren Preuss ◽  
LB Sanchez ◽  
SL De Göer ◽  
...  

© 2015 International Phycological Society. The question of whether morphological differences observed in specimens is due to multiple species or one variable species has always caused problems for taxonomists. The most recent taxonomic treatment of the 'Bostrychia tenella species complex' suggested that much of the morphological variation represented a single highly variable entity. We used molecular data from all three genomes to clarify the phylogeny, species status and phylogeography of samples collected worldwide and also in sympatry of this complex. Our data strongly support five genetic species in this complex, but only three morphological entities were recognized. The first, divided into two genetic species, fits characters associated with B. binderi, occasionally possessing short monosiphonous determinate laterals but lacking them most of the time. We therefore resurrect B. binderi, even though we could not assign a name to either of the two genetic species, as we are missing molecular evidence from the type specimen. One genetic species was morphologically recognized as B. montagnei. Another lineage consisted of the two genetic species that fall into a new circumscription of B. tenella, with long monosiphonous determinate laterals. Again we were unable to assign either of these two lineages to a type, nor could we find morphological differences between the two lineages. Many of the genetic species have worldwide distributions, except for B. montagnei, which appears to be restricted to the Americas. Our molecular-assisted taxonomy has helped clarify some of the morphological variation within the B. tenella species complex into three named species, but two cryptic species were still recognized that remain morphologically cryptic. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in 'Phycologia' on 2015-05-01, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/10.2216/15-005.1.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Zuccarello ◽  
N Muangmai ◽  
Maren Preuss ◽  
LB Sanchez ◽  
SL De Göer ◽  
...  

© 2015 International Phycological Society. The question of whether morphological differences observed in specimens is due to multiple species or one variable species has always caused problems for taxonomists. The most recent taxonomic treatment of the 'Bostrychia tenella species complex' suggested that much of the morphological variation represented a single highly variable entity. We used molecular data from all three genomes to clarify the phylogeny, species status and phylogeography of samples collected worldwide and also in sympatry of this complex. Our data strongly support five genetic species in this complex, but only three morphological entities were recognized. The first, divided into two genetic species, fits characters associated with B. binderi, occasionally possessing short monosiphonous determinate laterals but lacking them most of the time. We therefore resurrect B. binderi, even though we could not assign a name to either of the two genetic species, as we are missing molecular evidence from the type specimen. One genetic species was morphologically recognized as B. montagnei. Another lineage consisted of the two genetic species that fall into a new circumscription of B. tenella, with long monosiphonous determinate laterals. Again we were unable to assign either of these two lineages to a type, nor could we find morphological differences between the two lineages. Many of the genetic species have worldwide distributions, except for B. montagnei, which appears to be restricted to the Americas. Our molecular-assisted taxonomy has helped clarify some of the morphological variation within the B. tenella species complex into three named species, but two cryptic species were still recognized that remain morphologically cryptic. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in 'Phycologia' on 2015-05-01, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/10.2216/15-005.1.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 528 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-110
Author(s):  
JOSÉ SAID GUTIÉRREZ-ORTEGA ◽  
MIGUEL ANGEL PÉREZ-FARRERA ◽  
JEFFREY CHEMNICK ◽  
TIMOTHY J. GREGORY

The cycad genus Dioon comprises 17 species from Mexico and Honduras, all of them delimited based on their morphological variation and geographic distribution. A recent evaluation of the biological variation among Dioon populations from Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico, demonstrated that the concept of the species Dioon merolae actually consists of three lineages that should be recognized as different taxa. One lineage was already described as Dioon oaxacensis, leaving the concept of Dioon merolae comprising two lineages distributed on both sides of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. However, there are conspicuous morphological differences between these two lineages. Here, we tested whether such a differentiation within the concept of Dioon merolae merits the differentiation of two different taxa. We evaluated the qualitative and morphometric variation among populations belonging to the Dioon merolae lineages, and compared it with the closely related species Dioon oaxacensis. Morphological observations and statistical tests demonstrated that the populations of southeastern Oaxaca, traditionally considered as part of Dioon merolae, represent a distinct species that we described as Dioon salas-moralesae. Identifying the diagnostic characters of this new species helps enable an understanding of the criteria that should be considered to delineate the boundaries between other cycad species.


1977 ◽  
Vol 109 (12) ◽  
pp. 1605-1618 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.A. Chant ◽  
R.I.C. Hansell ◽  
H.J. Rowell

AbstractMorphological variation between two closely related species in the genus Amblyseius Berlese was examined by numerical taxonomic methods. Multivariate tests indicated that A. canadensis Chant and Hansell and A. novaescotiae (Chant) represent two separate and distinct morphological groups. This supports their taxonomic retention as valid species. Intraspecific morphological variation was also examined and found to be correlated with climatic and host plant variables.


1987 ◽  
Vol 119 (5) ◽  
pp. 465-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Phillips ◽  
Stephen A. Teale ◽  
Gerald N. Lanier

AbstractPissodes approximatus Hopkins (1911) is a junior subjective synonym of P. nemorensis Germar (1824). The conspecificity of these entities, traditionally considered distinct based only on distribution and slight morphological differences, is corroborated here with comparative studies of ecology, behavior, and morphology. When pheromone-baited traps were deployed during the spring (May–June) and fall (November–December) in several localities to examine seasonal activity, southern populations (P. nemorensis sensu Hopkins) responded only in the fall and northern populations only in the spring, but a population in Virginia responded during both seasons. Laboratory studies found that individuals from five southern populations became reproductively mature under 16:8, 12:12, and 8:16 (L:D) photoperiods but weevils in a New York population did not mature under the 8:16 photoperiod. A two-species model based on strict seasonal isolation between northern and southern populations is rejected. Morphometrics revealed significant differences in six body dimensions and three morphometric ratios among 13 populations, but there was no geographic pattern of differences to suggest the existence of two species. Sexual dimorphism in rostrum length was most pronounced in southern populations but occurred in all five populations in which it was investigated. Examination of male and female genitalia revealed similar variation in northern and southern populations and conflicted with previously reported diagnostic differences. Our study and the results of earlier work lead us to conclude that the populations previously represented by the names P. nemorensis and P. approximatus comprise one widely distributed species and display intraspecific variation in life history and morphological characters.


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4514 (4) ◽  
pp. 542 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELEANOR A. S. ADAMSON ◽  
RALF BRITZ

Channa aurolineata is a valid species of the Marulius group. Previously treated as a synonym of C. marulius, C. aurolineata is readily distinguished from C. marulius by a different colour pattern, in which a conspicuous white posterior margin is present on the black scales that form the dark lateral blotches in larger juveniles and adults (vs. scales without white margin but with white spots in C. marulius). Channa aurolineata also differs from C. marulius by having more lateral line scales (65–71 vs 62–65), more dorsal-fin rays (55–58 vs 52–56) and more vertebrae (63–66 vs 59–63). In addition to these morphological differences, C. aurolineata is genetically more than 8% different (uncorrected p-distance) from C. marulius at the COI barcoding gene, a difference consistent with levels of genetic divergence observed among different species. The same characters that distinguish C. aurolineata from C. marulius also distinguish it from C. pseudomarulius, the other Indian member of the Marulius group. Channa aurolineata has a widespread distribution in larger rivers in Myanmar, including the Chindwin, Ayeyarwaddy, Sittaung and Thanlwin river basins. The Indo-Burman ranges appear to delineate the western geographical limit of this species, with C. marulius restricted to the western side of this mountain chain. 


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