Review of the Southeast Asian species of the Aenictus javanus and Aenictus philippinensis species groups (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Aenictinae)

The Southeast Asian species of the Aenictus javanus and Aenictus philippinensis groups are revised. Six species (four named and two new species) of the Aenictus javanus group occurring in this area are: Aenictus doydeei Jaitrong & Yamane, 2011, Aenictus duengkaei Jaitrong & Yamane, sp. n., Aenictus javanus Emery, 1896, Aenictus longinodus Jaitrong & Yamane, sp. n., Aenictus nishimurai Terayama & Kubota, 1993, and Aenictus piercei Wheeler & Chapman, 1930. Four species (three named and one new species) are recognized in the Aenictus philippinensis group: Aenictus pangantihoni Zettel & Sorger, 2010, Aenictus philippinensis Chapman, 1963, Aenictus punctatus Jaitrong & Yamane, sp. n., and Aenictus rabori Chapman, 1963. Aenictus piercei is removed from the members of the Aenictus piercei group sensu Jaitrong and Yamane (2011) and transferred to the Aenictus javanus group. Lectotypes and paralectotypes are designated for Aenictus piercei and Aenictus rabori. Size variation occurs among individuals from single colonies of the Aenictus javanus group, while the workers in the Aenictus philippinensis group are clearly monomorphic.     

Key for European species of the Cheilosia proxima group (Diptera,Syrphidae) with a description of a new species

A new hoverfly species, Cheilosia barbafacies Vujić & Radenković sp. n. (Diptera, Syrphidae), is described and distinguished from the closely related species Cheilosia pascuorum Becker, 1894, based on material collected from the mountains of the Balkan Peninsula. Diagnostic characteristics and an identification key for the members of the proxima group of Cheilosia s. str., including the new taxon, are provided.     

The effects of familiarity and social hierarchy on group membership decisions in a social fish

Members of animal groups face a trade-off between the benefits of remaining with a familiar group and the potential benefits of dispersing into a new group. Here, we examined the group membership decisions of Neolamprologus pulcher, a group-living cichlid. We found that subordinate helpers showed a preference for joining familiar groups, but when choosing between two unfamiliar groups, helpers did not preferentially join groups that maximized their social rank. Rather, helpers preferred groups containing larger, more dominant individuals, despite receiving significantly more aggression within these groups, possibly owing to increased protection from predation in such groups. These results suggest a complex decision process in N. pulcher when choosing among groups, dependent not only on familiarity but also on the social and life-history consequences of joining new groups.     

蜂桶寨自然保护区中华姬鼠及社鼠肥满度的年龄和季节变化

肥满度被广泛用于动物生长状况与环境、生存、繁殖等方面的研究。为揭示横断山脉森林环境中中华姬鼠（Apodemus draco）和社鼠（Niviventer confucianus）肥满度的变化规律及影响原因,我们于2008年4~11月对四川省蜂桶寨国家级自然保护区内中华姬鼠和社鼠肥满度在各年龄组及不同季节中的变化进行了研究。结果显示,中华姬鼠肥满度在各年龄组间的差异显著,其变化趋势为老年组>成年组>亚成年组>幼年组;亚成年组及老年组肥满度在各季节间无显著差异,而在成年组则差异明显,以春季中最高。社鼠肥满度在各年龄组间无显著性差异;亚成年组肥满度在各季节间差异显著,在夏秋季中最低,同时成年组及老年组肥满度在季节间无显著差异。中华姬鼠和社鼠亚成年组、成年组及老年组肥满度与海拔无显著的线性关系。分析认为,中华姬鼠老年组个体可能在应对外界环境方面要强于幼年个体而具有最高的肥满度,成年个体肥满度的季节变化可能受食物资源季节差异和繁殖能量需求的影响;社鼠成年及老年个体能通过相应的季节性调节维持肥满度的稳定,而亚成年个体在调节方面较弱,故其肥满度在夏秋季最低。     

A revision of the interrelationships of Schistosoma including the recently described Schistosoma guineensis

In light of the recently described human schistosome Schistosoma guineensis and recent phylogenetic studies of the genus Schistosoma, a revision of the interrelationships of the members of this genus is needed. This paper adds to previous phylogenetic studies on the family Schistosomatidae and offers the most up to date and robust phylogeny of the group based on complete small and large nuclear subunit rRNA genes and partial mitochondrial cox1, incorporating most of the 21 species of Schistosoma. Our findings show that the group retains the same topology as that resolved in previous studies except Schistosoma margrebowiei was resolved as the sister taxon to all others in the Schistosoma haematobium species group and S. guineensis was placed as sister species to both Schistosoma bovis and Schistosoma curassoni. The S. haematobium species group contains eight species of which many are of significant medical and veterinary importance. Additionally, many of these species have been shown to hybridise both in the wild and experimentally, making the correct identification and recognition of species very important. A pairwise comparison of cox1 among Schistosoma species suggests this gene alone would fail as a reliable barcode for species identification. Phylogenetic results clearly treat Schistosoma intercalatum and S. guineensis as separate taxa with each more closely related evolutionarily to S. haematobium than to each other. The study also highlights the problems associated with wrongly attributed sequences on public databases such as GenBank.     

Mobbing calls signal predator category in a kin group-living bird species

Many prey species gather together to approach and harass their predators despite the associated risks. While mobbing, prey usually utter calls and previous experiments have demonstrated that mobbing calls can convey information about risk to conspecifics. However, the risk posed by predators also differs between predator categories. The ability to communicate predator category would be adaptive because it would allow other mobbers to adjust their risk taking. I tested this idea in Siberian jays Perisoreus infaustus, a group-living bird species, by exposing jay groups to mounts of three hawk and three owl species of varying risks. Groups immediately approached to mob the mount and uttered up to 14 different call types. Jays gave more calls when mobbing a more dangerous predator and when in the presence of kin. Five call types were predator-category-specific and jays uttered two hawk-specific and three owl-specific call types. Thus, this is one of the first studies to demonstrate that mobbing calls can simultaneously encode information about both predator category and the risk posed by a predator. Since antipredator calls of Siberian jays are known to specifically aim at reducing the risk to relatives, kin-based sociality could be an important factor in facilitating the evolution of predator-category-specific mobbing calls.     

Distribution of phenotypes among Bacillus thuringiensis strains

An extensive collection of Bacillus thuringiensis isolates from around the world were phenotypically profiled using standard biochemical tests. Six phenotypic traits occurred in 20–86% of the isolates and were useful in distinguishing isolates: production of urease (U; 20.5% of isolates), hydrolysis of esculin (E; 32.3% of isolates), acid production from salicin (A; 37.4% of isolates), acid production from sucrose (S; 34.0% of isolates), production of phospholipase C or lecithinase (L; 79.7% of isolates), and hydrolysis of starch (T; 85.8% of isolates). With the exception of acid production from salicin and hydrolysis of esculin, which were associated, the traits assorted independently. Of the 64 possible combinations of these six phenotypic characteristics, 15 combinations accounted for ca. 80% of all isolates, with the most common phenotype being TL (23.6% of isolates). Surprisingly, while the biochemical traits generally assorted independently, certain phenotypic traits associated with the parasporal crystal were correlated with certain combinations of biochemical traits. Crystals that remained attached to spores (which tended to be non-toxic to insects) were highly correlated with the phenotypes that included both L and S. Among the 15 most abundant phenotypes characterizing B. thuringiensis strains, amorphous crystals were associated with TLE, TL, T, and Ø (the absence of positive tested biochemical traits). Amorphous crystal types displayed a distinct bias toward toxicity to dipteran insects. Although all common phenotypes included B. thuringiensis isolates producing bipyramidal crystals toxic to lepidopteran insects, those with the highest abundance of these toxic crystals displayed phenotypes TLU, TLUA, TLUAE, and TLAE.     

Partial identification of carbohydrate-binding sites of a Galalpha1,3Galbeta1,4GlcNAc-specific lectin from the mushroom Marasmius oreades by site-directed mutagenesis

The Galalpha1,3Galbeta1,4GlcNAc-specific lectin from the mushroom Marasmius oreades (MOA) contains a ricin B chain-like (QXW)(3) domain at its N-terminus that is composed of three identical subdomains (alpha, beta, and gamma) and a C-terminal domain of unknown function. Here, we investigate the structure-function relationship of MOA to define the number and location of its carbohydrate-binding sites. Based on the sequence alignment of MOA to the ricin B-chain lactose-binding sites, we systematically constructed mutants by site-directed mutagenesis. We have used precipitation and hemagglutination assay for the primary analyses, and surface plasmon resonance for the kinetic analysis. Among amino acid residues at the putative carbohydrate-binding sites, Gln(46) in the alpha subdomain and Trp(138) in the gamma subdomain have been identified to be important amino acid residues directly or indirectly involved in carbohydrate recognition. By surface plasmon resonance, Q46A and W138A were 2.4- and 4.3-fold less active than that of the wild-type MOA (K(a) = 2 x 10(7)), respectively. A double-site mutant (Q46A/W138A) had activity similar to W138A. The C-terminal deletion mutant MOADeltaC showed hemagglutination and precipitation activity, although its binding constant was 12.5-fold less active (K(a) = 1.6 x 10(6)) than that of the wild-type MOA. A C-terminal deletion mutant with mutations at both Gln(46) and Trp(138) (MOADeltaC-Q46A/W138A) was 12,500-fold less active (K(a) = 1.6 x 10(3)) than that of the wild-type MOA. On the basis of this observation, we conclude that both alpha and gamma subdomains are most probably involved in carbohydrate binding, but the beta subdomain appears to be inactive.     

Two CRM protein subfamilies cooperate in the splicing of group IIB introns in chloroplasts

Chloroplast genomes in angiosperms encode approximately 20 group II introns, approximately half of which are classified as subgroup IIB. The splicing of all but one of the subgroup IIB introns requires a heterodimer containing the peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase homolog CRS2 and one of two closely related proteins, CAF1 or CAF2, that harbor a recently recognized RNA binding domain called the CRM domain. Two CRS2/CAF-dependent introns require, in addition, a CRM domain protein called CFM2 that is only distantly related to CAF1 and CAF2. Here, we show that CFM3, a close relative of CFM2, associates in vivo with those CRS2/CAF-dependent introns that are not CFM2 ligands. Mutant phenotypes in rice and Arabidopsis support a role for CFM3 in the splicing of most of the introns with which it associates. These results show that either CAF1 or CAF2 and either CFM2 or CFM3 simultaneously bind most chloroplast subgroup IIB introns in vivo, and that the CAF and CFM subunits play nonredundant roles in splicing. These results suggest that the expansion of the CRM protein family in plants resulted in two subfamilies that play different roles in group II intron splicing, with further diversification within a subfamily to accommodate multiple intron ligands.     

A taxonomic revision of the silphaeformis species-group of the genus Tachinus Gravenhorst (Staphylinidae,Tachyporinae) from China

The Chinese species of the silphaeformis group of the genus Tachinus Gravenhorst are revised with fifteen species being treated. Thirteen of them are described as new: T. armatus Feng & Li, sp. n. (Sichuan), T. cavazzutii Feng, Li & Schülke, sp. n. (Sichuan), T. coronatus Feng, Li & Schülke, sp. n. (Ningxia, Qinghai), T. hercules Feng, Li & Schülke, sp. n. (Sichuan), T. hujiayaoi Feng, Li & Schülke, sp. n. (Shaanxi), T. jiuzhaigouensis Feng, Li & Schülke, sp. n. (Sichuan), T. linzhiensis Feng & Li, sp. n. (Tibet), T. maderianus Feng & Li, sp. n. (Sichuan), T. mengdaensis Feng, Li & Schülke, sp. n. (Qinghai), T. oblongoelytratus Feng & Li, sp. n. (Sichuan), T. parahercules Feng, Li & Schülke, sp. n. (Sichuan), T. paralinzhiensis Feng & Li, sp. n. (Tibet), and T. yini Feng, Li & Schülke, sp. n. (Sichuan). The two known species are redescribed based on the holotypes and additional material. Illustrations of the habitus and major diagnostic characters, distributional maps, and identification keys of all species are included.