Search results for "Systematics"
showing 10 items of 6702 documents
Molecular phylogeny of hyperoliid treefrogs: biogeographic origin of Malagasy and Seychellean taxa and re-analysis of familial paraphyly
2003
Treefrogs of the family Hyperoliidae are distributed in Africa, Madagascar and the Seychelles. In this study, their phylogeny was studied using sequences of fragments of the mitochondrial 16Sand 12SrRNA and cytochrome b genes. The molecular data strongly confirmed monophyly of the subfamily Hyperoliinae but indicated that the genus Leptopelis (subfamily Leptopelinae) is more closely related to species of the African family Astylosternidae. The Seychellean genus Tachycnemis was the sister group of the Malagasy Heterixalus in all molecular analyses; this clade was deeply nested within the Hyperoliinae. A re-evaluation of the morphological data did not contradict the sister group relationships…
The phylogeny of (Gentianaceae) and its colonization of the southern hemisphere as revealed by nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequence variation
2001
Abstract The generic circumscription and infrageneric phylogeny of Gentianella was analysed based on matK and ITS sequence variation. Our results suggested that Gentianella is polyphyletic and should be limited to species with only one nectary per petal lobe. Gentianella in such a circumscription is most closely related to one part of a highly polyphyletic Swertia. within uninectariate Gentianella two major groups could be recognized: 1) northern hemispheric species with vascularized fimbriae at the base of the corolla lobes, and 2) northern hemispheric, South American, and Austrlia/New Zealand species without vascularized fimbriae. When fimbriae are present in this latter group, they are n…
The emergence of lobsters: phylogenetic relationships, morphological evolution and divergence time comparisons of an ancient group (decapoda: achelat…
2014
Lobsters are a ubiquitous and economically important group of decapod crustaceans that include the infraorders Polychelida, Glypheidea, Astacidea and Achelata. They include familiar forms such as the spiny, slipper, clawed lobsters and crayfish and unfamiliar forms such as the deep-sea and "living fossil" species. The high degree of morphological diversity among these infraorders has led to a dynamic classification and conflicting hypotheses of evolutionary relationships. In this study, we estimated phylogenetic relationships among the major groups of all lobster families and 94% of the genera using six genes (mitochondrial and nuclear) and 195 morphological characters across 173 species of…
Phylogeny and quaternary history of the European montane/alpine endemicSoldanella(Primulaceae) based on ITS and AFLP variation
2001
Soldanella contains 16 species of herbaceous perennials that are endemic to the central and south European high mountains. The genus is ecogeographically subdivided into forest/montane and alpine species. Evolutionary relationships and large-scale biogeographic patterns were inferred from parsimony analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA, and genetic distance analyses based on amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers. The ITS region proved useful for examining subgeneric relationships and testing hypotheses on genus-wide divergence times, whereas the AFLP markers were suitable for studying relationships among closely related taxa and b…
The phylogeny ofPapaver s. l. (Papaveraceae): Polyphyly or monophyly?
1997
An RFLP analysis of the chloroplast genetrnK of 32 species of the generaPapaver, Roemeria, Stylomecon, andMeconopsis leads to the following conclusions: (1) AsianMeconopsis consists of two distinct clades and is paraphyletic in relation toPapaver, Roemeria, Stylomecon, and the W EuropeanMeconopsis cambrica. (2) Sister group relationships ofRoemeria toPapaver sect.Argemonidium and ofStylomecon toPapaver californicum are well-supported. (3)Meconopsis cambrica is nested withinPapaver (incl.Roemeria andStylomecon). The consideration of morphology, geographical distribution and ecology leads to the conclusion thatM. cambrica is best regarded as a member ofMeconopsis, and thatPapaver arose polyph…
A molecular analysis of some Eastern Atlantic grouper from the Epinephelus and Mycteroperca genus
2005
Abstract Mitochondrial cytochrome b (397 bp) and 16S rDNA (516 bp) sequences analysis was used to investigate the phylogenetic relationships among some Eastern Atlantic Epinephelinae species. Six species of Epinephelus ( E. aeneus , E. caninus , E. costae , E. haifensis , E. marginatus and E. tauvina ) and two species of Mycteroperca ( M. rubra and M. fusca ) were analysed. Neighbour-joining and maximum-parsimony analysis support the paraphyletic grouping of the Epinephelus and Mycteroperca analysed. The maximum pairwise nucleotide divergence value in cyt b among all taxa was 0.196 between E. aeneus and E. marginatus and the minimum value was 0.006 between E. costae and M. rubra . Meanwhile…
Phylogeny and Biogeography of <I>Epimedium</I>/<I>Vancouveria</I> (Berberidaceae): Western North American - East Asian Disjun…
2007
Using ITS and atpB-rbcL spacer sequences of 38 (of 55) species of the highly disjunct Eurasian/North African Epimedium and all three species of its western North American sister genus Vancouveria, we reconstructed the phylogeny of these two genera and dated major splits with a molecular clock approach. Epimedium was found to be monophyletic with a stem age dated to between 9.7 and 7.4 million years ago (My). Within Epimedium, almost all sections as recognized in the most recent classification of the genus were found to be monophyletic but subg. Epimedium was found to be paraphyletic in relation to subg. Rhizophyllum. Range formation in Eurasia proceeded as follows: in a first step, the west…
New articulated protospongiid sponges from the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota
2015
Sponges are among the earliest diverging crown-group animals and widely regarded as the earliest biomineralizing animals. Indeed, unambiguous hexactine sponge spicules first occur in the lowermost Cambrian strata of the Fortunian Stage. Articulated sponge skeletons interpreted as hexactinellids and demosponges have been reported from Cambrian Stage 2–3 strata at multiple localities. Articulated sponge skeletons in the Chengjiang biota (Cambrian Stage 3), however, are dominated by forms interpreted as demosponges, despite the exceptional preservation in this biota. Here, we report new articulated sponge skeletons from the Chengjiang biota, including Paradiagoniella magna n. gen. n. sp. and P…
First record of Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae (Rondani) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) parasitizing pupae of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephr…
2015
The Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera : Tephritidae), isone of the most devastating pests of fruits and vegetables worldwide (Liquido et al. 1991; Chueca et al. 2007). It is the most invasive species of all members of the Tephritidae (Zucchi 2001) and a key pest of citrus and other fruits in the Mediterranean countries, including Tunisia (Enkerlin & Mumford 1997; Jerraya 2003). Serious economic damage is caused by this insect in Tunisia; in mixed fruit cultivation crop losses can be from 80 to 100% (Jerraya 2003). Citrus is the most affected host crop, with direct annual losses attributed to C. capitata of up to 38% of annual income from Tunisian citr…
The ‘giant phyllosoma’ are larval stages of Parribacus antarcticus (Decapoda : Scyllaridae)
2014
Early reports on larval distributions are frustratingly obscure due to ambiguous identification of plankton samples. A particularly striking case is posed by the so-called ‘giant phyllosoma’ which attain 80 mm in total length and are among the largest larvae known in marine invertebrates. Based on the supposition that these giant larvae are produced by local species, Philip Robertson (1968) assigned them to Parribacus. In the present study, 12 phyllosoma larvae collected in the Coral Sea and corresponding to intermediate stages VI to IX are described in detail. The identity of these freshly caught specimens was confirmed as belonging to Parribacus antarcticus (Lund, 1793) by using DNA barco…