scholarly journals Taxonomic review of Australian Mecyclothorax Sharp (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Moriomorphini) with special emphasis on the M. lophoides (Chaudoir) species complex

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
James K. Liebherr
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Species Complex ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Sister Species ◽  
Sister Group Relationship ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Species Pair ◽  
Spermathecal Duct ◽  
Biogeographic History

The Australian fauna ofMecyclothoraxSharp (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Moriomorphini) is reviewed, with special focus on species assigned to the monophyletic subgenus Eucyclothorax Liebherr:M.isolatus,sp. n.from Western Australia,M.mooreiBaehr,M.punctatus(Sloane),M.curtus(Sloane),M.blackburni(Sloane);M.eyrensis(Blackburn);M.peryphoides(Blackburn);M.darlingtoni,sp. n.from Queensland;M.jameswalkeri,sp. n.from Western Australia;M.lophoides(Chaudoir); andM.cordicollis(Sloane). The last six species listed above–theM.lophoidesspecies complex–have been the source of long-term confusion for taxonomists, with male genitalic characters providing trouble-free species circumscription. One new subspecies,M.lewisensisestriatus,subsp. n.from Queensland is added to the seven previously described taxa of the monophyletic subgenus Qecyclothorax Liebherr. The balance of the fauna consists of four species in the subgenus Mecyclothorax:1and2, the sister-species pairM.lateralis(Castelnau) andM.minutus(Castelnau);3,M.ambiguus(Erichson); and4,M.punctipennis(MacLeay).Mecyclothoraxfortis(Blackburn),syn. n., is newly synonymized withM.minutus.MecyclothoraxovalisSloane is recombined asNeonomiusovalis(Sloane),comb. n., and a neotype is designated to replace the destroyed holotype. Phylogenetic relationships for the AustralianMecyclothoraxare proposed based on information from 68 terminal taxa and 139 morphological characters. The biogeographic history of AustralianMecyclothoraxis deduced based the sister-group relationship betweenMecyclothoraxand theAmblytelus-related genera, with both groups hypothesized to have originated during the late Eocene. Diversification withinMecyclothoraxhas occurred since then in montane rainforests of tropical Queensland, temperate forest biomes of the southwest and southeast, and in grasslands and riparian habitats adjacent and inland from those forests. Several species presently occupy interior desert regions, though no sister species mutually occupy such climatically harsh habitats. TheM.lophoidesspecies complex exhibits profound male genitalic diversification within the context of conserved external anatomy. This disparity is investigated with regard to the functional interaction of the male internal sac flagellum and female spermathecal duct. Though limited association of flagellar and spermathecal duct configurations can be documented, several factors complicate proposing a general evolutionary mechanism for the observed data. These include:1, the occurrence of derived, elongate spermathecal ducts in three species, two of which exhibit very long male flagella, whereas males of the third exhibit a very short flagellum; and2, a highly derived and exaggerated male flagellar configuration shared across a sister-species pair even though the two species can be robustly diagnosed using external anatomical characters, other significant genitalic differences involving male parameral setation, and biogeographic allopatry associated with differential occupation of desert versus forest biomes.

Phylogenetic relationships in the lizard genus Diplodactylus Gray and resurrection of Lucasium Wermuth (Gekkota, Diplodactylidae)

2007 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Oliver ◽  
Mark N. Hutchinson ◽  
Steven J. B. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Arid Zone ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sister Group Relationship ◽  
Considerable Uncertainty ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Species Groups

Diplodactylid geckos offer a model system for investigating the biogeographic history of Australia and adaptive radiations in the arid zone, but there is considerable uncertainty in the systematics of several key genera. We used sequence data from mitochondrial DNA to carry out a comprehensive analysis of phylogenetic relationships of geckos in the genus Diplodactylus. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses were highly concordant and allocated all species to one of two monophyletic clades, one comprising the species placed in the vittatus and conspicillatus species groups, the other comprising species placed in the stenodactylus and steindachneri species groups, plus D. byrnei, formerly in the vittatus group. The distinctness of these two clades is supported by external morphology of the digits, body and limb proportions, and osteology of the bones in the orbital region, and we use these characters to formally define the two clades as genera. We revive and expand the genus Lucasium for D. byrnei, D. steindachneri and the stenodactylus group, with the other species staying in a redefined Diplodactylus. The monotypic Rhynchoedura is distinct from Lucasium, although the Bayesian mtDNA analysis (but not parsimony) gives some support for a sister-group relationship between Lucasium and Rhynchoedura. Molecular data suggest that each of these clades represents a distinct radiation into semiarid and arid terrestrial habitats during the mid-Tertiary, well before the hypothesised Pliocene onset of major aridification.

Two new sympatric Sarotherodon species (Pisces: Cichlidae) endemic to Lake Ejagham, Cameroon, west-central Africa, with comments on the Sarotherodon galilaeus species complex

Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2765 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIRK NEUMANN ◽  
MELANIE L. J. STIASSNY ◽  
ULRICH K. SCHLIEWEN
Keyword(s):  
Species Complex ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Sister Group Relationship ◽  
Molecular Evidence ◽  
West Central ◽  
Sarotherodon Galilaeus ◽  
Gill Raker ◽  
Pharyngeal Jaw

Morphometric differentiation among 25 populations of the widespread Sarotherodon galilaeus species complex is investigated, and two new species are described from Lake Ejagham, Cameroon in west-central Africa. Sarotherodon lamprechti sp. nov. is characterized by a prognathous lower jaw, scales over the pectoral fin-base restricted at maximum to the basal third, and an elongate ventral keel on the lower pharyngeal jaw. Sarotherodon knauerae sp. nov. is characterized by the possession of an inflated second pharyngobranchial element of the upper pharyngeal jaw, and small size at maturation. It is further differentiated from its sympatric congener in having a shorter anal fin (12.0–14.6 % SL vs. 14.1–15.7 % SL), larger eyes (24.0–31.2 % HL vs. 20.4– 29.2 % HL), higher total gill raker count (24–30 vs. 20–25), and a terminal mouth. Molecular evidence for a sister group relationship for these two sympatric species is corroborated by the shared possession of a reduced number of teeth on the second pharyngobranchial element of the upper pharyngeal jaw.

Obscuromyia, a remarkable new genus of the endemic Australian tribe Myiotrixini (Diptera : Tachinidae : Tachininae)

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 825 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Barraclough ◽  
James O'Hara
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Sister Group Relationship ◽  
Monotypic Genus ◽  
Segment 8 ◽  
Diagnostic Key ◽  
The Relationship

The endemic Australian tribe Myiotrixini is reviewed and a new genus andspecies described. The monotypic genus Myiotrixa Brauer & Bergenstamm, 1893, is known from all States except the NorthernTerritory, but has been most frequently collected from south-easternAustralia; the single species, M. prosopina, is aparasite of the native Australian cockroachPlatyzosteria castanea Brunner.Obscuromyia, a new monotypic genus of Myiotrixini fromnorthern Western Australia, is described and the relationship between it andMyiotrixa discussed. Striking synapomorphies of the maleand female terminalia corroborate the sister-group relationship betweenObscuromyia and Myiotrixa. These synapomorphies are the medially fused pregonites which encircle the base ofthe aedeagal apodeme in the male, and in the female the lack of sclerotisedsternites in most of the abdomen and ovipositor, and the non-extensible andnon-piercing ovipositor in which segment 8 forms a sclerotised cylinderincised dorsally and ventrally. A revised diagnosis of the Myiotrixini isprovided along with a diagnostic key to the two genera.

Is south-western Western Australia a centre of origin for eastern Australian taxa or is the centre an artefact of a method of analysis? A comment on Hakea and its supposed divergence over the past 12 million years

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd G. B. McLay ◽  
Michael J. Bayly ◽  
Pauline Y. Ladiges
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Molecular Dating ◽  
Basal Node ◽  
Centre Of Origin ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Clade B ◽  
Great Confidence ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetic ◽  
New Finding

Lamont et al. (2016) concluded that the Australian sclerophyllous genus Hakea (Proteaceae) arose 18million years ago in the South West of Western Australia (SWA) and dispersed 18 times to eastern (EA) and central Australia (CA) only 12million years ago (mid-Miocene). Their explanation of the biogeographic history of Hakea was based on the following: accepting a fully resolved molecular phylogenetic tree, although ~40% of nodes had posterior probability values below 0.95; using all nodes including geographically paralogous nodes to determine ancestral area probabilities; and applying a strict clock to estimate clade divergence times. Our re-analyses of the same dataset using a relaxed clock model pushes the age of Hakea to 32.4 (21.8–43.7) million years ago relative to its nearest outgroups, and the age of the divergence of two major clades (A and B) to 24.7 (17.2–33.7) million years ago. Calibration based on a new finding of Late Cretaceous fossil Banksia pushes these dates to 48.0 (24.3–75.2) million years ago and 36.6 (18.5–55.4) million years ago respectively. We confirm that each of the two main clades includes lineages in SWA, CA and EA. At the basal node of Clade A, two eastern Australian species form the sister group to three SWA scrub–heath–Eremaean species. These two groups together are sister to a large, mostly unresolved clade of SWA, CA and EA taxa. Similarly, at the base of Clade B is a polytomy of lineages from the SWA, CA and EA, with no resolution of area relationships. There is no evidence of a centre of origin and diversification of the genus is older than the mid-Miocene, being at least Oligocene, and probably older, although calibration points for molecular dating are too far removed from the ingroup to provide any great confidence in the methodology. Consideration should be given to the possibility of vicariance of multiple, widespread ancestral lineages as an explanation for lineages now disjunct between EA and SWA.

Corrigendum to: Phylogenetic relationships in the lizard genus Diplodactylus Gray and resurrection of Lucasium Wermuth (Gekkota, Diplodactylidae)

2011 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 344
Author(s):  
Paul M. Oliver ◽  
Mark N. Hutchinson ◽  
Steven J. B. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Relationships ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Arid Zone ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sister Group Relationship ◽  
Considerable Uncertainty ◽  
Biogeographic History ◽  
Species Groups

Diplodactylid geckos offer a model system for investigating the biogeographic history of Australia and adaptive radiations in the arid zone, but there is considerable uncertainty in the systematics of several key genera. We used sequence data from mitochondrial DNA to carry out a comprehensive analysis of phylogenetic relationships of geckos in the genus Diplodactylus. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses were highly concordant and allocated all species to one of two monophyletic clades, one comprising the species placed in the vittatus and conspicillatus species groups, the other comprising species placed in the stenodactylus and steindachneri species groups, plus D. byrnei, formerly in the vittatus group. The distinctness of these two clades is supported by external morphology of the digits, body and limb proportions, and osteology of the bones in the orbital region, and we use these characters to formally define the two clades as genera. We revive and expand the genus Lucasium for D. byrnei, D. steindachneri and the stenodactylus group, with the other species staying in a redefined Diplodactylus. The monotypic Rhynchoedura is distinct from Lucasium, although the Bayesian mtDNA analysis (but not parsimony) gives some support for a sister-group relationship between Lucasium and Rhynchoedura. Molecular data suggest that each of these clades represents a distinct radiation into semiarid and arid terrestrial habitats during the mid-Tertiary, well before the hypothesised Pliocene onset of major aridification.

scholarly journals On the osteology and phylogenetic affinities of Morsoravis sedilis (Aves) from the early Eocene Fur Formation of Denmark

2011 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 23-35
Author(s):  
Gerald Mayr
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Original Description ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Sister Group Relationship ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Early Oligocene ◽  
Small Bird ◽  
Phylogenetic Affinities

Morsoravis sedilis is a small bird from the early Eocene Fur Formation of Denmark, which in the original description was considered to be most closely related to Charadriiformes. Because Morsoravis has subsequently been likened to Pumiliornis tesselatus, an equally enigmatic bird from the middle Eocene of Messel in Germany, I perform here the first phylogenetic analysis including the two taxa. This analysis supports a sister group relationship between Morsoravis and Pumiliornis, and the clade including the two taxa is recovered as the sister taxon of the late Eocene/early Oligocene Eocuculus.I report a possible, albeit lost, second specimen of Morsoravis, and identify derived characters in support of a sister group relationship between Morsoravis and Pumiliornis. The analysis did not resolve the higher-level affinities of the clade including Morsoravis, Pumiliornis, and Eocuculus, and did not confirm charadriiform affinities of Morsoravis. More data on the osteology of the fossils, as well as an improved understanding of the interrelationships of extant birds, are needed for a well-established phylogenetic assignment of these fossil taxa.

First description of the male of Cretaconiopteryx grandis Liu & Lu, 2017 (Neuroptera: Coniopterygidae) from the Cretaceous Burmese amber

Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4674 (4) ◽  
pp. 482-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
HONGYU LI ◽  
BO WANG ◽  
XINGYUE LIU
Keyword(s):  
Male Genitalia ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Sister Group Relationship ◽  
Burmese Amber ◽  
Representative Species ◽  
First Time

The male of Cretaconiopteryx grandis Liu & Lu, 2017, which is the only representative species of the extinct dustywing subfamily Cretaconiopteryginae, is described for the first time from the Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber. The male genitalia, well preserved in the examined specimen, show a number of plesiomorphic characters, which support the sister group relationship between Coniopterygidae and the rest of extant lacewing families. 

Systematic studies in Paniceae (Poaceae): Homopholis and Whalleya gen. et sp. nov.

2000 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen E. Wills ◽  
R. D. B. Whalley ◽  
Jeremy J. Bruhl
Keyword(s):  
Sister Group ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sister Species ◽  
Parsimonious Tree ◽  
The Third ◽  
Putative Species ◽  
Anatomical Data ◽  
Cladistic Analyses

The taxonomy ofHomopholis C.E.Hubb. is revised, and anew genus Whalleya K.E.Wills & J.J.Bruhl isdescribed. Relationships among the known species ofHomopholis (H. belsonii C.E.Hubb.,H. proluta F.Muell., and a putative species,H. sp. nov.), and the relationships betweenHomopholis and other genera within the Paniceae were investigated. Morphological and anatomical data forHomopholis and selected species ofDigitaria and Panicum were analysed phenetically and cladistically. The value and contribution ofcharacters to the findings were assessed. In the phenetic analyses, threedistinct clusters of species were formed. The first cluster includedDigitaria coenicola (F.Muell.) Hughes,D. divaricatissima (R.Br.) Hughes andD. papposa (R.Br.) P.Beauv.; the second,Panicum effusum R.Br.,P. queenslandicum Domin var.queenslandicum and P. simileDomin; and the third, H. sp. nov.,H. proluta, H. belsonii andP. subxerophilum Domin. Specimens ofH. belsonii noticeably separated from the other threespecies. For the cladistic analyses, species ofEntolasia and Thyridolepis were used as outgroup taxa. One most parsimonious tree was produced.Homopholis belsonii was well supported as the most basalmember of the ingroup. The three species ofDigitariaformed a well-supported clade.Panicum effusum, P. queenslandicumvar. queenslandicum and P. simileformed a well-supported clade, and were the sister group toEntolasia marginata (R.Br.) Hughes andE. stricta (R.Br.) Hughes.Panicum subxerophilum was in a clade (=Whalleya) with H. sp. nov. andH. proluta, with P. subxerophilumand H. proluta as sister species.

The postcranial skeleton, phylogenetic position, and probable lifestyle of the Early Triassic reptile Procolophon trigoniceps

2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 527-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael deBraga
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Morphological Study ◽  
Lower Triassic ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Phylogenetic Position ◽  
Sister Group Relationship ◽  
Early Triassic ◽  
Postcranial Skeleton ◽  
Sister Clade ◽  
Key Innovations

A morphological study of the postcranial skeleton of Procolophon trigoniceps from the Lower Triassic of South Africa and Antarctica is undertaken. Procolophon shares a sister-group relationship with the procolophonid Tichvinskia from the Lower Triassic of Russia and is a basal member of Procolophonidae. This clade also includes the enigmatic taxon Sclerosaurus, believed most recently to be a pareiasaur relative. Owenettids form a separate lineage from Procolophonidae and are predominantly restricted to the Permian of both South Africa and Madagascar. A phylogenetically based assessment is considered, in which specialized modern taxa (sand lizards) are compared to their nonfossorial sister clade, allowing for "key innovations" to be identified. A similar comparison between owenettids and procolophonids reveals a number of apparent "key innovations" within procolophonids that are suggestive of a burrowing lifestyle for Procolophon.

Ordosemys leios, n.gen., n.sp., a new turtle from the Early Cretaceous of the Ordos Basin, Inner Mongolia

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 2128-2138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald B. Brinkman ◽  
Jiang-Hua Peng
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Inner Mongolia ◽  
Cervical Vertebrae ◽  
Ordos Basin ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Sister Group Relationship ◽  
Articular Surfaces ◽  
Caudal Vertebrae ◽  
The Ordos Basin

Ordosemys leios, n.gen., n.sp., from the Early Cretaceous Luohandong Formation, Zhidan Group, Ordos Basin, Inner Mongolia, is a primitive aquatic turtle with a reduced, fenestrated plastron. It shares with the members of the Centrocryptodira the presence of well-formed articular surfaces on the cervical and caudal vertebrae. Within the Centrocryptodira, characters of the cervical vertebrae suggest it is more closely related to the Polycryptodira than is the Meiolaniidae. Ordosemys shares with the Chelydridae the presence of two procoelous anterior caudals, but this character may be primitive for the Polycryptodira. Characters of the basicranial region of the braincase shared by Ordosemys and the Chelonioidea support a sister-group relationship between these two taxa, but a sister-group relationship between Ordosemys and the Polycryptodira is more strongly supported by characters shared by the Chelonioidea and other members of the Polycryptodira.

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