Search results for "Palaearctic"
showing 10 items of 30 documents
Carex sect. Rhynchocystis (Cyperaceae): a Miocene subtropical relict in the Western Palaearctic showing a dispersal‐derived Rand Flora pattern
2017
Aim To evaluate how Cenozoic climate changes shaped the evolution and distribution of Carex section Rhynchocystis. Location Western Palaearctic and Afrotropical regions (Rand Flora pattern). Methods DNA regions ITS, ETS (nuclear), matK and rpl32-trnLUAG (plastid) were amplified for 86 samples of species from section Rhynchocystis. Phylogenetic and phylogeographical relationships were inferred using maximum parsimony, Bayesian inference and coalescent-based species tree approaches. Divergence times and ancestral areas were also inferred. Results Carex section Rhynchocystis is a clade that diversified during the middle Miocene in Europe. Most cladogenesis events date to the middle and late Mi…
Scale dependence of species–area relationships is widespread but generally weak in Palaearctic grasslands
2021
Questions: Species–area relationships (SARs) are fundamental for understanding biodiversity patterns and are generally well described by a power law with a constant exponent z. However, z-values sometimes vary across spatial scales. We asked whether there is a general scale dependence of z-values at fine spatial grains and which potential drivers influence it. Location: Palaearctic biogeographic realm. Methods: We used 6,696 nested-plot series of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens from the GrassPlot database with two or more grain sizes, ranging from 0.0001 m² to 1,024 m² and covering diverse open habitats. The plots were recorded with two widespread sampling approaches (rooted presenc…
Palaearctic species of Charipinae (Hymenoptera, Figitidae): two new species, synthesis and identification key
2018
The Charipinae Dalla Torre & Kieffer, 1910 present in the Palaearctic region are revised; 2410 specimens have been identified, belonging to 75 species: 52 to Alloxysta, one to Apocharips, six to Dilyta and 16 to Phaenoglyphis. For 33 species, new country-level distribution records are provided. Two new species are here described: Alloxysta palearctica Ferrer-Suay & Pujade-Villar sp. nov. and Alloxysta pascuali Ferrer-Suay sp. nov. A diagnosis for these species is included and their diagnostic features are shown in different figures. A key to identify all the species of Charipinae in the Palaearctic region is also given.
Fine‐grain beta diversity of Palaearctic grassland vegetation
2021
QUESTIONS: Which environmental factors influence fine-grain beta diversity of vegetation and do they vary among taxonomic groups? LOCATION: Palaearctic biogeographic realm. METHODS: We extracted 4,654 nested-plot series with at least four different grain sizes between 0.0001 m² and 1,024 m² from the GrassPlot database, covering a wide range of different grassland and other open habitat types. We derived extensive environmental and structural information for these series. For each series and four taxonomic groups (vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, all), we calculated the slope parameter (z-value) of the power law species–area relationship (SAR), as a beta diversity measure. We tested whe…
Genetic variability in Peregrine falcon populations of the Western Palaearctic region
2018
We analyzed variation in ten polymorphic microsatellites and a portion of cytochrome b mitochondrial DNA in 4 populations of the Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus). living in northern and southern Italy. Spain and Czech Republic to assess species diversity in the poorly investigated Western Palearctic region. The Spanish population lives in the contact zone between F. peregrinus peregrinus and F. p. brookei. both the northern Italian and the Czech populations live within the range of F. p. peregrinus and the southern Italian is within the F. p. brookei. We added to our cytochrome b sequence dataset comprising 81 samples. previously published mitochondrial DNA sequences (n = 31) of English …
Description of the sexual generation of Dryocosmus destefanii (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) and disclosure of its life cycle
2020
The sexual generation of Dryocosmus destefanii Cerasa & Melika, 2018 that emerges from galls on Q. suber L. in Italy is described for the first time, establishing its heterogonic life cycle. We provide observations on its distribution, illustration of adults and galls and information on its biology as supported by morphological and molecular data. An illustrated identification key to Western Palaearctic Dryocosmus species is also given.
Late Cretaceous-Early Eocene origin of yams (Dioscorea, Dioscoreaceae) in the Laurasian Palaearctic and their subsequent Oligocene-Miocene diversific…
2015
Aim: Dioscorea (Dioscoreaceae) is a predominantly pantropical genus (< 600 species) that includes the third most important tropical tuber crop and species of pharmacological value. Fossil records from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres were used to test hypotheses about the origin of the genus Dioscorea, and to examine potential macroevolutionary processes that led to its current distribution. Location: Pantropical distribution. Methods: Divergence times were estimated using the most comprehensive phylogeny of the group published to date based on plastid sequences and fossil calibrations, applying a relaxed-clock model approach. Ancestral areas and range shifts were reconstructed us…
Is it really you,Orthotrichum acuminatum? Ascertaining a new case of intercontinental disjunction in mosses
2015
Intercontinental disjunct distributions are a main issue in current biogeography. Bryophytes usually have broad distribution ranges and therefore constitute an interesting subject of study in this context. During recent fieldwork in western North America and eastern Africa, we found new populations of a moss morphologically similar to Orthotrichum acuminatum. So far this species has been considered to be one of the most typical epiphytic mosses of the Mediterranean Basin. The new findings raise some puzzling questions. Do these new populations belong to cryptic species or do they belong to O. acuminatum, a species which then has a multiple-continent disjunct range? In the latter case, how c…
Distribution, diversity patterns and faunogenesis of the millipedes (Diplopoda) of the Himalayas
2018
The Himalayas support a highly rich, diverse, multi-layered, mostly endemic diplopod fauna which presently contains &gt;270 species, 53 genera, 23 families and 13 orders. This is the result of mixing the ancient, apparently Tertiary and younger, Plio-Pleistocene elements of various origins, as well as the most recent anthropochore (= man-mediated) introductions. At the species and, partly, generic levels, the fauna is largely autochthonous and sylvicolous, formed through aboundingin situradiation and vicariance events. In general, the species from large genera and families tend to occupy a wide range of altitudes, but nearly each of the constituent species shows a distribution highly lo…
The GenusCaenophanesFoerster, 1862 (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Doryctinae) in the Western Palaearctic
2011
The Western Palaearctic species of the genus Caenophanes Foerster are reviewed. A new species from the Canary Islands, C. lapalmaensis sp. nov., is described. The name C. rugosifrons (Picard) is restored from synonymy (stat. resurr.). The redescriptions of C. incompletus (Ratzeburg) and C. rugosifrons are given. A key to the Western Palaearctic species of Caenophanes is suggested.