The decay of similarity over geographical distance in parasite communities of marine fishes

Aim We evaluate, for the first time, the decay of similarity over distance in four species of marine fishes with different vagility: Trachurus murphyi (pelagic, highly vagile), Merluccius gayi (demersal, highly vagile), Sebastes capensis (demersal, low vagility) and Hippoglossina macrops (benthic, non‐vagile). Location We use our own data of the species composition of parasite communities in four host species: T. murphyi (Perciformes), M. gayi (Gadiformes), H. macrops (Pleuronectiformes) and S. capensis (Scorpaeniformes), from the coast of Chile and southern Argentina. Trachurus murphyi, M. gayi and H. macrops in the area studied live closely associated with the cold waters of the Humboldt Current System, while S. capensis in southern Chile is associated with the fjord areas south of c. 43° S, and in Argentina this species lives in close association with the cold water of the Malvinas Current, which mixes with the warm water of the Brazilian Current in the sampled area. Thus, for all four host species there are no known geographical (oceanographic) barriers that interrupt their continuous distributions. Methods Fish were collected and frozen (?18 °C) until examination in the laboratory. After thawing, each visceral organ was dissected separately, washed in running water, filtered using a mesh of 0.25 mm, and examined under a stereomicroscope (20×). For S. capensis, only ectoparasites were included in this study because data on endoparasites for some locations are not available. The approach of Poulin [Journal of Biogeography 30 (2003) 1609] was used. For each host species, we computed similarity in parasite composition using the Bray–Curtis distance on a presence/absence matrix. Similarity between each pair of localities was correlated (linear regression on raw and transformed data) with the distance (in nautical miles) among those sites. Results Among conspecific populations of host fish, there was no correlation between sample size and parasite species richness. The same pattern was evident when all host populations were pooled and treated as a single sample. Except for H. macrops, an important proportion of the geographical ranges of the host species was covered. The decay in similarity of parasite communities over distance was recorded in three of the four hosts analysed. For H. macrops, no relationship between distances and decay of similarity was evident. A linear regression on non‐transformed data provided a good fit, and the regression on log(n + 1) does not change significantly for both r² and probability, but slopes are smaller for log‐transformed than for non‐transformed data. Main conclusions Three of the four fish parasite systems studied fit well with the expected decay of similarity over distance. The slopes of the relationship between distance and similarity in the marine fishes studied are lower, but significant (three orders of magnitude) than those recorded in freshwater fishes by Poulin (2003) . In our case, Hippoglossina macrops (benthic, non‐vagile host) does not show any relationship, suggesting homogeneity over the geographical area studied for this species.     

Patterns of population subdivision and gene flow in the ant Nothomyrmecia macrops reflected in microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA markers

The Australian endemic ant Nothomyrmecia macrops is renowned for having retained a large proportion of 'primitive' morphological and behavioural characters. Another less studied peculiarity of this species is the production of short-winged (brachypterous) female sexuals, which presumably are poor dispersers. The males, in contrast, bear a full set of normally developed wings and thus may disperse widely. We investigated patterns of genetic differentiation within and among three distantly separated populations in South Australia using nine polymorphic microsatellite loci and four regions of mitochondrial DNA (COI, COII, Cytb, lrRNA). We sampled eight subpopulations, one in the Lake Gilles CP, two near Penong and five around Poochera where distances ranged from 360 km to sites separated by 2-10 km. Only little differentiation was found at the local scale (within the assumed dispersal distance of males) using nuclear markers, whereas the three distant locations were moderately differentiated (FST = 0.06). Mitochondrial DNA genetic structure was much more pronounced on all scales (phiST = 0.98), with regular differences in both haplotype composition and frequency even occurring among closely located sites. This lack of congruence between nuclear and mitochondrial markers strongly suggests limited female dispersal and male-biased gene flow among populations. As to the conservation status of the species there is no evidence for severe population reductions in the recent past, which would have left populations genetically depauperate.     

云南省爬行类新记录——纹尾斜鳞蛇

2008年6月,宜宾学院生命科学与食品工程系学生在动植物野外实习期间,在云南威信县与四川省交界的长安镇大雪山白鹤池林场(27°53'605'N,104°46'15.3E,1510m)采到一蛇类标本.     

大眼华鳊和伍氏华鳊的形态差异及其物种有效性

分别对大眼华鳊和伍氏华鳊 137尾标本 7个可数性状和 18个可量性状进行主成分分析 ,以探讨这两个种之间的形态差异及其物种有效性。研究结果显示 :无论是在可数性状上还是可量性状上 ,大眼华鳊和伍氏华鳊之间的形态差异并不显著 ,而且大眼华鳊大陆的标本和台湾的标本无明显的不同。此表明 ,大眼华鳊和伍氏华鳊应该为同一个种。根据国际动物命名法规 ,伍氏华鳊应是大眼华鳊的次定同物异名。     

Polyandry and colony genetic structure in the primitive ant Nothomyrmecia macrops

The Australian endemic ant Nothomyrmecia macrops is considered one of the most ‘primitive’ among living ants. We investigated the genetic structure of colonies to determine queen mating frequencies and nestmate relatedness. An average of 18.8 individuals from each of 32 colonies, and sperm extracted from 34 foraging queens, were genotyped using five highly variable microsatellite markers. Queens were typically singly (65%) or doubly mated (30%), but triple mating (5%) also occurred. The mean effective number of male mates for queens was 1.37. No relationship between colony size and queen mate number was found. Nestmate workers were related by b=0.61 ± 0.03, significantly above the threshold under Hamilton’s rule over which, all else being equal, altruistic behaviour persists, but queens and their mates were unrelated. In 25% of the colonies we detected a few workers that could not have been produced by the resident queen, although there was no evidence for worker reproduction. Polyandry is for the first time recorded in a species with very small mature colonies, which is inconsistent with the sperm‐limitation hypothesis for the mediation of polyandry levels. Facultative polyandry is therefore not confined to the highly advanced ant genera, but may have arisen at an early stage in ant social evolution.     

江西武夷山自然保护区发现大眼斜鳞蛇

<正>2014年7月23日,在江西武夷山国家级自然保护区叶家厂附近(27°52′42.07″N,117°43′25.24″E,海拔963 m)采集到蛇类标本1号,鉴定为大眼斜鳞蛇(Pseudoxenodon macrops)。经查阅文献,为江西省首次发现该物种(钟昌富2004,赵尔宓2006,程松林等2009),距离本发现地最近的该物种分布地位于福建省邵武县(赵尔宓1998)。标本保存在江西武夷山国家级自然保护区标本室(编号:WYS2014072501)。该标本为幼体,体长255 mm,尾长50 mm,头宽5.5 mm。头顶有两条黑色横纹,中间有1道相当于顶鳞长     

斜鳞蛇核型高分辨显带及减数分裂的观察

本文报道了斜鳞蛇的核型和银带。二倍体数目２ｎ－３６,其中包括８对８对大染色体（６对中着丝粒染色体,２对亚中着丝粒染色体）和１０对小梁色体。其核仁组织区（ＮＯＲｓ）位于第１对小梁色体末端。并采用ＴｄＲ－ＢｒｄＵ处理方法,显示斜鳞蛇复制带,实验证明,用大剂量的胸腺嘧啶核苷阻断细胞周期,再以ＢｒｄＵ渗入Ｓ期细胞中复制的染色体区域,并显示带纹。同时还斜鳞蛇的减数分裂进行了观察。