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Named Species (named + species)
Selected AbstractsOnthophagus pilularius and its close relatives in Sundaland: a taxonomic reappraisal (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae)MITTEILUNGEN AUS DEM MUSEUM FUER NATURKUNDE IN BERLIN-DEUTSCHE ENTOMOLOGISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT, Issue 1 2009Jan Krikken Abstract Onthophagus pilularius Lansberge, 1883, a small, poorly known scarab from Sundaland, is redescribed, and a lectotype is designated. A scrutiny of collections reputedly containing O. pilularius and/or its close relative semicupreus Harold, 1877 led to an increased taxonomic resolution, including the recognition of four new species, here described: O. danumcupreus (Malaysia: Sabah), javacupreus (Indonesia: Java), monticupreus (Malaysia: Sabah), peninsulocupreus (Peninsular Malaysia). The species are all placed in Boucomont's (1914) semicupreus group of Onthophagus Latreille, 1802, subgenus Parascatonomus Paulian, 1932. A redefinition of the O. semicupreus group, and a list of the species now included (classified into two subgroups) are given. The eight named species with a distinctly metallic forebody (here called the semicupreus subgroup) are distinguished in a key based on morphological characters, with emphasis on the structure of the aedeagus. Published records of species in the O. semicupreus subgroup require revision on the basis of the present reappraisal. (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Origin, diversification and conservation status of talus snails in the Pinaleño Mountains: a conservation biogeographic studyANIMAL CONSERVATION, Issue 3 2010K. F. Weaver Abstract For many taxa, determining conservation status and priority is impeded by lack of adequate taxonomic and range data. For these problematic groups, we propose combining molecular techniques with careful geographic sampling to evaluate the validity, extent and phylogenetic relatedness of the proposed units of diversity. We employed such a strategy to document monophyletic lineages, range extents and phylogenetic relatedness for talus snails (genus Sonorella) in the Pinaleño Mountains of Arizona, an isolated range that has the most vertical relief of any of the sky islands in Arizona. Three of the four species found in the Pinaleño Mountains have been considered candidate species for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Further, one of these taxa, Sonorella macrophallus, is of particular concern and was protected under an USFS conservation agreement until 2004, due to its presumed endemicity to a narrow portion of one canyon. We collected a large dataset of 12S and COI mitochondrial DNA, and subsamples of reproductive morphology from specimens collected throughout the Pinaleños and from adjacent ranges (e.g. the Huachucas, Chiricahuas and Santa Catalinas). We generated a phylogeny based on the mitochondrial data, and matched clades with named species utilizing reproductive morphology. Our results show that both S. macrophallus and Sonorella imitator are relatively widespread across the Pinaleños while Sonorella grahamensis and Sonorella christenseni are restricted to very small areas. These results dramatically change our previous knowledge about range extents, especially for S. macrophallus. Given these results, land managers may need to reassess the status of all four Sonorella species. Finally, all Sonorella species from the Pinaleños are more closely related to each other than to other taxa on other ranges. This result strongly suggests that diversification of the four Sonorella species in the Pinaleños occurred in situ. [source] Deep, hierarchical divergence of mitochondrial DNA in Amplirhagada land snails (Gastropoda: Camaenidae) from the Bonaparte Archipelago, Western AustraliaBIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 1 2010MICHAEL S. JOHNSON Continental islands have experienced cycles of isolation and connection. Although complex genetic patterns have been described for mainland species affected by glacial cycles of isolation, island biotas have received little attention. We examined mitochondrial DNA in Amplirhagada land snails from 16 islands and two adjacent mainland areas of the Bonaparte Archipelago, in the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia. Four major clades, with sequence divergence of 16,27% in the 16S ribosomal RNA gene, correspond to the major geographic groupings, separated by 10,160 km. Distinct lineages also characterize islands that are only a few kilometres apart. The large differences indicate that the lineages are much older than the islands themselves, and show no evidence of geologically recent connection. Three of the major clades match the morphological description of Amplirhagada alta. Either this named species comprises several morphologically cryptic species, or it is a single, genetically very diverse species, distributed over much of the Bonaparte Archipelago. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 100, 141,153. [source] Historical DNA from museum type specimens clarifies diversity of Asian leaf turtles (Cyclemys)BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 1 2008BRYAN L. STUART Species boundaries in Asian leaf turtles of the genus Cyclemys are difficult to define on the basis of morphology, primarily because many populations exhibit considerable ontogenetic variation in shell and head coloration. Two recent molecular phylogenetic hypotheses of Cyclemys species relationships, based largely on market and pet-trade samples of uncertain provenance, were highly incongruent. We used historical DNA methods to sequence fragments of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene from eight type specimens of Cyclemys (including one collected by Alfred Russel Wallace), and phylogenetically placed these type sequences into the context of published cytochrome b variation. Our phylogenetic hypothesis supports the recognition of four named species (Cyclemys atripons, Cyclemys dentata, Cyclemys oldhamii, and C. pulchristriata), as well as a fifth species of unknown geographical provenance obtained from the Hong Kong pet trade. The type sequences show that previous molecular phylogenetic studies were hampered by misidentifications, supporting the notion that Cyclemys of unknown provenance are not reliably identified to species solely on the basis of morphology. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 94, 131,141. [source] Testing hypotheses of speciation in the Plethodon jordani species complex with allozymes and mitochondrial DNA sequencesBIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 1 2006DAVID W. WEISROCK Salamander populations of the Plethodon jordani species complex form a challenging system for applying the general lineage concept of species to diagnose population-level lineages. The present study reports and analyses mitochondrial-DNA haplotypes (,1200 nucleotide bases from the genes encoding ND2, tRNATrp, and tRNAAla from 438 salamanders) from 100 populations representing six species of the P. jordani complex (Plethodon amplus, Plethodon cheoah, Plethodon jordani, Plethodon meridianus, Plethodon metcalfi, and Plethodon montanus) with comparative analyses of previously published allozymic data to reconstruct the evolutionary history of this group and to diagnose species lineages. Analyses of mitochondrial haplotypic data include nested-cladistic analysis of phylogeography, analysis of molecular variance, hierarchical analysis of nucleotide-diversity measures, and likelihood-based estimates of recent temporal changes in population size. New analyses of allozymic data include multidimensional scaling and principal component analyses, and both data sets are analysed and compared for congruent genetic structure using Mantel correlation tests. These analyses in combination identify the six named species as distinct evolutionary lineages despite sporadic genetic exchanges among them and some discordance between mitochondrial DNA and allozymic markers. Sexual isolation is not complete for any pair of these six species, but they replace each other geographically and appear to block the geographical spreading of their neighbours. The P. jordani complex is a strong study system for investigating the genetic and ecological processes responsible for vicariant speciation. © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2006, 89, 25,51. [source] | ||||||||||