scholarly journals Integrated phylogenomic and fossil evidence of stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea) reveal a Permian–Triassic co-origination with insectivores

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 201689
Author(s):  
Erik Tihelka ◽  
Chenyang Cai ◽  
Mattia Giacomelli ◽  
Davide Pisani ◽  
Philip C. J. Donoghue
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Molecular Clock ◽  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Plant Tissues ◽  
Transcriptomic Data ◽  
Insect Order ◽  
Fossil Evidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution

Stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea) are a distinctive insect order whose members are characterized by mimicking various plant tissues such as twigs, foliage and bark. Unfortunately, the phylogenetic relationships among phasmatodean subfamilies and the timescale of their evolution remain uncertain. Recent molecular clock analyses have suggested a Cretaceous–Palaeogene origin of crown Phasmatodea and a subsequent Cenozoic radiation, contrasting with fossil evidence. Here, we analysed transcriptomic data from a broad diversity of phasmatodeans and, combined with the assembly of a new suite of fossil calibrations, we elucidate the evolutionary history of stick and leaf insects. Our results differ from recent studies in the position of the leaf insects (Phylliinae), which are recovered as sister to a clade comprising Clitumninae, Lancerocercata, Lonchodinae, Necrosciinae and Xenophasmina . We recover a Permian to Triassic origin of crown Phasmatodea coinciding with the radiation of early insectivorous parareptiles, amphibians and synapsids. Aschiphasmatinae and Neophasmatodea diverged in the Jurassic–Early Cretaceous. A second spur in origination occurred in the Late Cretaceous, coinciding with the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution, and was probably driven by visual predators such as stem birds (Enantiornithes) and the radiation of angiosperms.

scholarly journals The evolutionary history of polycotylid plesiosaurians

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 172177 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Fischer ◽  
R. B. J. Benson ◽  
P. S. Druckenmiller ◽  
H. F. Ketchum ◽  
N. Bardet
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Neck Length ◽  
Ecological Release ◽  
Holotype Specimen ◽  
Low Diversity ◽  
History Of

Polycotylidae is a clade of plesiosaurians that appeared during the Early Cretaceous and became speciose and abundant early in the Late Cretaceous. However, this radiation is poorly understood. Thililua longicollis from the Middle Turonian of Morocco is an enigmatic taxon possessing an atypically long neck and, as originally reported, a series of unusual cranial features that cause unstable phylogenetic relationships for polycotylids. We reinterpret the holotype specimen of Thililua longicollis and clarify its cranial anatomy. Thililua longicollis possesses an extensive, foramina-bearing jugal, a premaxilla–parietal contact and carinated teeth. Phylogenetic analyses of a new cladistic dataset based on first-hand observation of most polycotylids recover Thililua and Mauriciosaurus as successive lineages at the base of the earliest Late Cretaceous polycotyline radiation. A new dataset summarizing the Bauplan of polycotylids reveals that their radiation produced an early burst of disparity during the Cenomanian–Turonian interval, with marked plasticity in relative neck length, but this did not arise as an ecological release following the extinction of ichthyosaurs and pliosaurids. This disparity vanished during and after the Turonian, which is consistent with a model of ‘early experimentation/late constraint’. Two polycotylid clades, Occultonectia clade nov. and Polycotylinae, survived up to the Maastrichtian, but with low diversity.

scholarly journals Early diversification and permeable species boundaries in the Mediterranean firs

2019 ◽  
Vol 125 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Balao ◽  
María Teresa Lorenzo ◽  
José Manuel Sánchez-Robles ◽  
Ovidiu Paun ◽  
Juan Luis García-Castaño ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Taxonomic Status ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Early Diversification ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Independent Species

Abstract Background and Aims Inferring the evolutionary relationships of species and their boundaries is critical in order to understand patterns of diversification and their historical drivers. Despite Abies (Pinaceae) being the second most diverse group of conifers, the evolutionary history of Circum-Mediterranean firs (CMFs) remains under debate. Methods We used restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) on all proposed CMF taxa to investigate their phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic status. Key Results Based on thousands of genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), we present here the first formal test of species delimitation, and the first fully resolved, complete species tree for CMFs. We discovered that all previously recognized taxa in the Mediterranean should be treated as independent species, with the exception of Abies tazaotana and Abies marocana. An unexpectedly early pulse of speciation in the Oligocene–Miocene boundary is here documented for the group, pre-dating previous hypotheses by millions of years, revealing a complex evolutionary history encompassing both ancient and recent gene flow between distant lineages. Conclusions Our phylogenomic results contribute to shed light on conifers’ diversification. Our efforts to resolve the CMF phylogenetic relationships help refine their taxonomy and our knowledge of their evolution.

WHEAT EVOLUTION

1995 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adina Breiman ◽  
Dan Graur
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Wild Relatives ◽  
Wheat Species ◽  
Polyploid Species ◽  
Wheat Evolution ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nuclear Genomes ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences ◽  
Independent Evolutionary History

Many wild and cultivated wheat species are amphidiploid, i.e., they are polyploid species containing two or more distinct nuclear genomes, each with its own independent evolutionary history, but whose genetic behavior resembles that of diploids. Amphidiploidy has important evolutionary consequences in wheat. Since the beginning of this century different methods have been employed to identify the diploid donors of the coexisting genomes in the polyploids. To date, several of the genomic donors have been identified, and the search for the others has been narrowed down considerably. Molecular methodologies that are being increasingly used in studies aimed at reconstructing the evolutionary history of wheat species and their wild relatives have resolved many of the phylogenetic relationships among the various taxa.

scholarly journals A distinct expression profile in the cerebellum and striatum for genes under selection within introgression deserts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raul Buisan ◽  
Juan Moriano ◽  
Alejandro Andirko ◽  
Cedric Boeckx
Keyword(s):  
Positive Selection ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Transcriptomic Data ◽  
Functional Differences ◽  
History Of ◽  
Genomic Regions ◽  
Cerebral Neocortex

Analyses of ancient DNA from extinct hominins have provided unique insights into the complex evolutionary history of Homo sapiens, intricately related to that of the Neanderthals and the Denisovans as revealed by several instances of admixture events. These analyses have also allowed the identification of introgression deserts: genomic regions in our species that are depleted of `archaic' haplotypes. The presence of genes like FOXP2 in these deserts has been taken to be suggestive of brain-related functional differences between Homo species. Here, we seek a deeper characterization of these regions, taking into account signals of positive selection in our lineage. Analyzing publicly available transcriptomic data from the human brain at different developmental stages, we found that structures outside the cerebral neocortex, and especially the cerebellum and the striatum at prenatal stages, show the most divergent transcriptomic profiles when considering genes under positive selection within introgression deserts.

scholarly journals Transcriptomics provides a robust framework for the relationships of the major clades of cladobranch sea slugs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Heterobranchia), but fails to resolve the position of the enigmatic genus Embletonia

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Karmeinski ◽  
Karen Meusemann ◽  
Jessica A. Goodheart ◽  
Michael Schroedl ◽  
Alexander Martynov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Set Covering ◽  
Phylogenetic Position ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Transcriptome Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Sea Slugs ◽  
History Of

Abstract Background The soft-bodied cladobranch sea slugs represent roughly half of the biodiversity of marine nudibranch molluscs on the planet. Despite their global distribution from shallow waters to the deep sea, from tropical into polar seas, and their important role in marine ecosystems and for humans (as targets for drug discovery), the evolutionary history of cladobranch sea slugs is not yet fully understood. Results To enlarge the current knowledge on the phylogenetic relationships, we generated new transcriptome data for 19 species of cladobranch sea slugs and two additional outgroup taxa (Berthella plumula and Polycera quadrilineata). We complemented our taxon sampling with previously published transcriptome data, resulting in a final data set covering 56 species from all but one accepted cladobranch superfamilies. We assembled all transcriptomes using six different assemblers, selecting those assemblies that provided the largest amount of potentially phylogenetically informative sites. Quality-driven compilation of data sets resulted in four different supermatrices: two with full coverage of genes per species (446 and 335 single-copy protein-coding genes, respectively) and two with a less stringent coverage (667 genes with 98.9% partition coverage and 1767 genes with 86% partition coverage, respectively). We used these supermatrices to infer statistically robust maximum-likelihood trees. All analyses, irrespective of the data set, indicate maximal statistical support for all major splits and phylogenetic relationships at the family level. Besides the questionable position of Noumeaella rubrofasciata, rendering the Facelinidae as polyphyletic, the only notable discordance between the inferred trees is the position of Embletonia pulchra. Extensive testing using Four-cluster Likelihood Mapping, Approximately Unbiased tests, and Quartet Scores revealed that its position is not due to any informative phylogenetic signal, but caused by confounding signal. Conclusions Our data matrices and the inferred trees can serve as a solid foundation for future work on the taxonomy and evolutionary history of Cladobranchia. The placement of E. pulchra, however, proves challenging, even with large data sets and various optimization strategies. Moreover, quartet mapping results show that confounding signal present in the data is sufficient to explain the inferred position of E. pulchra, again leaving its phylogenetic position as an enigma.

Fossil evidence for the evolution of biotic pollination

1991 ◽  
Vol 333 (1267) ◽  
pp. 187-195 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Floral Character ◽  
Early Tertiary ◽  
Fossil Evidence ◽  
Insect Pollinators ◽  
History Of ◽  
Character Complexes ◽  
Anthophilous Insects

The Cretaceous-Paleogene history of plants and insects reveals a discernible pattern in the evolution of floral character complexes and insects. Earliest Cretaceous flowers were small apetalous magnoliids with few parts. They co-occurred with a greater variety of anthophilous insects than has previously been supposed, and the idea that Coleoptera were the principal early insect pollinators is in need of review. By the mid-Cretaceous rosid flowers are known with well-developed corollas and the Rosidae are diverse by the late Cretaceous. The more derived asterid floral types are not firmly established until the Tertiary. Nectaries are present in many of the late Cretaceous rosids and may signal the beginning of the most significant evolutionary interaction between H ym enoptera and angiosperms. Advanced floral types in M aastrichtian and early Tertiary deposits are consistent with the appearance of meliponine Apideae (Stingless honeybees) in the late Cretaceous.

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