Contribution to the knowledge on the genus Oroplexia Hampson, 1908 (Lepidoptera,Noctuidae), with descriptions of two new subspecies from Sichuan,China

Two new subspecies, Oroplexia fortunata siranga Volynkin, Saldaitis & Gyulai, ssp. n. and Oroplexia erinacea cunicula, Saldaitis, Volynkin & Gyulai, ssp. n. are described from western Sichuan (China). The male genitalia of Oroplexia fortunata fortunata Hreblay and Ronkay, 1997 are illustrated for the first time.     

Taxonomy and biology of leafhoppers of the genus Macropsis (Homoptera, Cicadellidae, Macropsinae) living on Berberis spp. (Berberidaceae)

Two Berberis-dwelling Macropsis species, M. berberidis Dub., 1966 and M. berberidicola Dub., 1966 from the West Tien Shan Mountains are redescribed. Macropsis berberidis arkytica Tishetshkin ssp. n., M. berberidis pallidicephala Tishetshkin ssp. n., and M. berberidicola narynensis Tishetshkin ssp. n. are described, the data on their host specialization, male calling signals, and distribution are provided. In spite of identical ecological preferences, the two species were never found in the same locality. Such vicariance appears to be the result of similarity of their signal pattern and competition for acoustic communication channels.     

Arctodiaptomus (Rhabdodiaptomus) michaeli n.sp. (Copepoda,Calanoida) from Kashmir,India

Arctodiaptomus (Rhabdodiaptomus) michaeli n.sp. is described from the material collected in Alapathar Lake and Marsar Lake of Kashmir, India.     

Metallopolia, a new subgenus of Polia (Noctuidae,Noctuinae, Hadenini), with the description of two new species and a new subspecies

A new subgenus of Polia, Metallopolia subgen. n., two new species (Polia (Metallopolia) dysgnorima sp. n. and P. (M.) metagnorima sp. n.) from China (Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu), and a new subspecies, P. (M.) subviolacea kanchenjunga ssp. n. from Nepal and SE Tibet (Sikkim) are described. Habitus, antennae, male and female genitalia of all Metallopolia species are characterised, depicted and compared with the related species.     

The genus Omphreus in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro,with two new subspecies of O. morio (Coleoptera,Carabidae, Omphreini)

Two new ground beetle subspecies, Omphreus (Omphreus) morio sandeli ssp. n. (from Mts. Zelengora and Maglić, eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Omphreus (Omphreus) morio durmitorensis ssp. n. (from Mt. Durmitor, northwestern Montenegro) are here described and diagnosed. The male and female genitalia and other taxonomically important characters are illustrated. The new taxa are distinctly different from the nearest relatives and represent both endemics and relicts inhabiting limited high-altitude Dinaric areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. A key to Omphreus taxa from Montenegro and a key to subspecies of Omphreus (Omphreus) morio Dejean, 1828 are presented.     

The composition and properties of gum exudates from subspecies of Acacia tortilis

Gum specimens from Acacia tortilis ssp. spirocarpa, ssp. raddiana var. pubescens (two specimens) and ssp. heteracantha (three specimens) have been analysed. The results are of chemotaxonomic interest. Although the gum from ssp. raddiana var. pubescens appears to be intermediate between those from ssp. spirocarpa and ssp. heteracantha in terms of some of the analytical parameters, the overall impression is that ssp. raddiana is more similar chemically to ssp. spirocarpa than to ssp. heterocantha. The latter yields a viscous, proteinaceous polysaccharide that differs from those from both ssp. spirocarpa and ssp. raddiana by having a much higher ratio of arabinose to galactose, higher nitrogen and methoxyl contents, and much higher intrinsic viscosity and molecular weight; preliminary experiments have shown this gum to consist of two components.     

Two new species and one subspecies of Craniophora Snellen, 1867 (Lepidoptera,Noctuidae, Acronictinae) from China

Three Craniophora taxa from China, C. fujianensis Kiss and Gyulai, sp. n., C. fujianensis hainanensis Kiss and Gyulai, ssp. n. and C. sichuanensis Kiss, Gyulai and Saldaitis, sp. n., are newly described. Adult habitus and male genitalia are illustrated and compared with those of C. harmandi (Poujade) and C. praeclara (Graeser). Females of the new taxa are unknown.     

Sesquiterpene lactones of Artemisia: TLC analysis and taxonomic significance

Samples of Artemisia arbuscula ssp. arbuscula, A. tridentata ssp. tridentata, ssp. wyomingensis, ssp. vaseyana and ssp. vaseyana f. spiciformis were collected from various locations in Montana and analyzed by TLC for their sesquiterpene lactone content. Artemisia tridentata ssp. tridentata and ssp. wyomingensis are distinct morphologically and chemically, whereas ssp. vaseyana has three distinct chemical groups not yet separated morphologically. Artemisia arbuscula ssp. arbuscula and A. tridentata ssp. vaseyana f. spiciformis are easily separated by morphology but have identical TLC patterns. It has been further shown that the sesquiterpene lactones produced for a particular species or subspecies are the same regardless of the time of the year collected, although the quantity varies from winter to summer.     

Numerical analysis of the floristic composition of localities including Hierochloë(Poaceae) species in Northern Europe

Lists were made of the vascular plant species associated with Hierochloë australis (5 localities), H. odorata ssp. odorata (79 localities), H. odorata ssp. baltica (20 localities), H. hirta ssp. hirta (17 localities), H. hirta ssp. arctica (53 localities) and H. alpina ssp. alpina (5 localities). The localities were classified by the TABORD computer program to produce phytosociological tables. An ordination of localities and of selected species was also made using the ORDINA program. Significant groups of species were distinguished by using Fisher's exact test of probability. All the H. australis localities were in mixed forests. In general, the natural habitats of H. odorata spp. odorata are fens and grasslands in the mountains and on the seashores of Scandinavia, those of H. odorata ssp. baltica are on brackish-water shores of the Baltic, those of H. hirta ssp. hirta on sandy or gravelly river banks and lake-shores, and those of H. hirta ssp. arctica are on fens and grasslands in the northern boreal forests. These latter four taxa occur, in addition, in various anthropogenic, or semi-natural, disturbed and/or unstable habitats. Their scattered occurrence in S Scandinavia and C Europe is probably more related to sporadic long-distance dispersal, than to their being glacial relicts. The natural habitats of H. alpina ssp. alpina are exposed mountain heaths. It is suggested that H. odorata ssp. odorata, and possibly H. alpina ssp. alpina, survived the last glaciation in refugia off the Norwegian coast, and that H. odorata ssp. baltica and H. hirta ssp. hirta may have arisen by polyploidy within Scandinavia during the Post-glacial period. H. hirta ssp. arctica probably immigrated into Scandinavia from the east during the Post-glacial and H. australis from the south. The results are considered in relation to the views previously expressed in the literature and the analytic techniques used are discussed. This work has been supported by grants from the University of Lund, for which I am duly grateful.     

A Retrospective Study on Genetic Heterogeneity within Treponema Strains: Subpopulations Are Genetically Distinct in a Limited Number of Positions

Background

Pathogenic uncultivable treponemes comprise human and animal pathogens including agents of syphilis, yaws, bejel, pinta, and venereal spirochetosis in rabbits and hares. A set of 10 treponemal genome sequences including those of 4 Treponema pallidum ssp. pallidum (TPA) strains (Nichols, DAL-1, Mexico A, SS14), 4 T. p. ssp. pertenue (TPE) strains (CDC-2, Gauthier, Samoa D, Fribourg-Blanc), 1 T. p. ssp. endemicum (TEN) strain (Bosnia A) and one strain (Cuniculi A) of Treponema paraluisleporidarum ecovar Cuniculus (TPLC) were examined with respect to the presence of nucleotide intrastrain heterogeneous sites.

Methodology/Principal Findings

The number of identified intrastrain heterogeneous sites in individual genomes ranged between 0 and 7. Altogether, 23 intrastrain heterogeneous sites (in 17 genes) were found in 5 out of 10 investigated treponemal genomes including TPA strains Nichols (n = 5), DAL-1 (n = 4), and SS14 (n = 7), TPE strain Samoa D (n = 1), and TEN strain Bosnia A (n = 5). Although only one heterogeneous site was identified among 4 tested TPE strains, 16 such sites were identified among 4 TPA strains. Heterogeneous sites were mostly strain-specific and were identified in four tpr genes (tprC, GI, I, K), in genes involved in bacterial motility and chemotaxis (fliI, cheC-fliY), in genes involved in cell structure (murC), translation (prfA), general and DNA metabolism (putative SAM dependent methyltransferase, topA), and in seven hypothetical genes.

Conclusions/Significance

Heterogeneous sites likely represent both the selection of adaptive changes during infection of the host as well as an ongoing diversifying evolutionary process.     

Molecular evidence for the presence of cryptic evolutionary lineages in the freshwater copepod genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Hemidiaptomus</Emphasis> G.O. Sars, 1903 (Calanoida,Diaptomidae)

The pattern of morphological and mtDNA cytochrome b diversity of three calanoid copepod species belonging to the diaptomid genus Hemidiaptomus has been investigated with the aim of checking the reliability of the morphological characters currently used for species identification, and the possible presence of cryptic taxa. A sharply different molecular structuring has been observed in the studied species: while Hemidiaptomus amblyodon exhibits a remarkable constancy throughout the European range of its distribution area (maximum inter-populations cytochrome b divergence of 3%), observed distances between presumed conspecific lineages of Hemidiaptomus gurneyi (maximum divergence of 21.5%) and Hemidiaptomus ingens (maximum 19.1%) suggest that under these binomens are in fact included complexes of cryptic, or currently just unrecognized, independent evolutionary lineages. The application of the “4x rule” shows that the two lineages singled out within H. ingens are in fact independent evolutionary units, while the complex molecular structure observed in H. gurneyi s.l. could not be resolved based on the currently available data. Applying standard crustacean mtDNA evolutionary rates to the observed divergence values, the separation of the main lineages within both H. ingens and H. gurneyi might dates back to the Miocene; however, it has also to be considered that the rate of mtDNA evolution might be accelerated in copepods, as already observed in other arthropod taxa. Present results gives further evidences of the high potential for copepod speciation with no or little morphological changes, and stress the need of a revision of the most controversial Palaearctic diaptomid genera.     

Introgressive hybridization between Plantago major L. taxa

Occurrence and direction of introgressive hybridization between Plantago major taxa were tested. Plantago major plants were collected from 10 Egyptian locations. Four populations of two European taxa were used for comparison. These are ecologically and geographically separated and were identified as the subspecies Plantago major ssp. major and Plantago major ssp. intermedia. In the Egyptian populations, most individuals fall within the variation range of P. major ssp. intermedia. Only one population, from Burg El-Arab, morphologically resembled clearly P. major ssp. major and showed some ISSR fragments that characterize pure populations of this taxon. All individuals of population 2 (Alexandria) and some individuals of populations 1, 3, 5, 6 and 10 (Alexandria, Aswan) morphologically corresponded to P. major ssp. intermedia. All individuals collected from Egypt had ISSR fragments characterizing both pure P. major ssp. major and pure P. major ssp. intermedia. Most of these individuals had a higher percentage of intermedia-type fragments than major-type fragments, suggesting that P. major ssp. intermedia in Egypt shows some introgression towards P. major ssp. major. The pure populations were distinct from each other, while the Egyptian populations were intermediate according to principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of ISSR data. In the populations collected from Egypt, major and intermedia cannot be seen as separate species. The study suggests that the dominant taxa introgressed to the minority population(s). Taxon frequency may be a key component in determining the direction of introgression.     

Clonal integration facilitates invasiveness of the alien aquatic plant Myriophyllum aquaticum L. under heterogeneous water availability

The avoidance of visually feeding fish has long been considered as the primary driver of diel vertical migration of zooplankton. The diurnal vertical distribution of Cyclops gr. abyssorum, Arctodiaptomus alpinus, and Daphnia gr. longispina from 13 alpine lakes with fish (Salvelinus fontinalis) and without, was compared in order to understand whether fish in transparent lakes reduce the presence of large zooplankton from the irradiated zone. We used the light level at each sampling depth and the size of each specimen as proxies of predation risk, and we tested two predictions: (P1) the relative abundance of zooplankton in the well-lit surface waters vs. the darker waters will be greater in fishless lakes; (P2) the size of zooplankton in the well-lit surface waters vs. the deeper, darker waters will be greater in fishless lakes. We did not find any evidence of the validity of P1, but we confirmed P2 for Arctodiaptomus alpinus. These results support with new field data the Transparency Regulator Hypothesis, which argues that in transparent lakes, fish predation is less important for the vertical distribution of zooplankton than ultraviolet radiation, and further suggest that zooplankton size rather than vertical distribution may be more effective against visual predators in transparent lakes.     

Efficiency of PCR-based methods in discriminating Bifidobacterium longum ssp. longum and Bifidobacterium longum ssp. infantis strains of human origin

Bifidobacterium longum is considered to play an important role in health maintenance of the human gastrointestinal tract. Probiotic properties of bifidobacterial isolates are strictly strain-dependent and reliable methods for the identification and discrimination of this species at both subspecies and strain levels are thus required. Differentiation between B. longum ssp. longum and B. longum ssp. infantis is difficult due to high genomic similarities. In this study, four molecular-biological methods (species- and subspecies-specific PCRs, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method using 5 primers, repetitive sequence-based (rep)-PCR with BOXA1R and (GTG)₅ primers and amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA)) and biochemical analysis, were compared for the classification of 30 B. longum strains (28 isolates and 2 collection strains) on subspecies level. Strains originally isolated from the faeces of breast-fed healthy infants (25) and healthy adults (3) showed a high degree of genetic homogeneity by PCR with subspecies-specific primers and rep-PCR. When analysed by RAPD, the strains formed many separate clusters without any potential for subspecies discrimination. These methods together with arabionose/melezitose fermentation analysis clearly differentiated only the collection strains into B. longum ssp. longum and B. longum ssp. infantis at the subspecies level. On the other hand, ARDRA analysis differentiated the strains into the B. longum/infantis subspecies using the cleavage analysis of genus-specific amplicon with just one enzyme, Sau3AI. According to our results the majority of the strains belong to the B. longum ssp. infantis (75%). Therefore we suggest ARDRA using Sau3AI restriction enzyme as the first method of choice for distinguishing between B. longum ssp. longum and B. longum ssp. infantis.     

Earthworms newly from Mongolia (Oligochaeta,?Lumbricidae,Eisenia)

Two new megadrile earthworms from the steppes, the first species wholly from Outer Mongolia, are ascribed to the partially parthenogenetic Eisenia nordenskioldi (Eisen, 1879) species-complex. Taxonomic justification of sympatric Eisenia nordenskioldi mongol and Eisenia nordenskioldi onon ssp. n. are supported by mtDNA COI barcodes. The unreliability of molecular differentiation based on voucher names compared to definitive types is again demonstrated, as pertains to the ultimate Eisenia andrei Bouché, 1972 synonym of the Eisenia fetida (Savigny, 1826) sibling species-complex composed of more than a dozen prior names. Similar species described from Northeast China [formerly Manchuria] and North Korea are briefly considered, albeit they are intermittently held in synonymy of cosmopolitan Aporrectodea rosea (Savigny, 1826) along with many other taxa including some exotic lumbricids initially found in India. Japanese and North American lumbricids are also mentioned. Distributions are discussed and an annotated checklist of all nine Siberian/sub-arctic Eisenia nordenskioldi ssp. is appended.     

New species of the primitive oribatid mite families Brachychthoniidae and Phthiracaridae (Acariformes, Oribatida) from the Caucasus

Seven new species and a new subspecies of the families Brachychthoniidae Thor, 1934 and Phthiracaridae Perty, 1841 from the Caucasus are described: Liochthonius murtazalievi sp. n., Sellnickochthonius ilyinae sp. n., Atropacarus achmedovi sp. n., A. kremenitsai sp. n., A. yarovenkoi sp. n., A. chernovae sp. n., A. obesus minimus ssp. n., and Steganacarus (Tropacarus) adelaidae sp. n., and also the species Synchthonius elegans Forsslund, 1957, Atopochthonius maimaensis Grishina, 1971, and Atopochthonius artiodactylus Grandjean, 1949 from the Caucasus are figured.     

Genetic differentiation and postglacial migration of the Dactylorhiza majalis ssp. traunsteineri/lapponica complex into Fennoscandia

Eight variable regions (microsatellites, insertion/deletion and duplication regions) from the plastid DNA genome were analyzed for 91 populations belonging to Dactylorhiza majalis ssp. traunsteineri and closely related taxa. A total of 36 composite plastid haplotypes were found. The two dominating haplotypes had a clear geographic distribution suggesting at least two separate immigration routes into Scandinavia after the last glaciation: one southwestern route and one or two southeastern routes. D. majalis ssp. traunsteineri could not be clearly separated from any of the other taxa included in the study except for D. majalis ssp. sphagnicola. The morphologically similar taxa D. majalis ssp. traunsteineri, D. majalis ssp. lapponica and D. majalis ssp. russowii showed no genetic differentiation, and therefore we suggest an amalgamation of the three taxa into one broadly circumscribed subspecies; D. majalis ssp. lapponica. The plastid data also revealed incidents of hybridization and possible introgression between D. majalis ssp. lapponica and other members of the genus, e.g., D. incarnata.     

A new species of Elasmia Möschler from New Mexico and Texas, and a new subspecies of Elasmia mandela (Druce) from Texas and Oklahoma (Lepidoptera, Notodontidae, Nystaleinae)

Hippia packardii (Morrison) and Hippia insularis (Grote) are moved to the genus Elasmia Möschler as comb. n. Elasmia cave Metzler, sp. n. is described from New Mexico and Texas, and Elasmia mandela santaana Metzler & Knudson, ssp. n. is described from Texas and Oklahoma. A key to the species of Elasmia of southwestern U.S. is provided. Adult male and female moths of Elasmia from southwestern U.S. and their genitalia are illustrated.