A new Eocene swift-like bird with a peculiar feathering

A new taxon of swift-like birds is described from the Middle Eocene of Messel (Germany). It is tentatively assigned to the extinct family Jungornithidae and exhibits a completely unexpected feathering, which contrasts sharply with that of recent swifts. The short and rounded wings clearly show that it was not adapted to gliding, but might have caught its prey by sallying flights from a perch. The tail of the new taxon is very long and the tail feathers are broad and nearly symmetrical. The phylogenetic relationships between the Jungornithidae and other apodiform birds are still not convincingly resolved. The early Oligocene genus Jungornis itself shares unique derived characters with hummingbirds which are, however, absent in the Eocene genus Argornis and in the new taxon from Messel.     

The internal phylogeny of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Abstract. The higher phylogeny of the Formicidae was analysed using 68 characters and 19 taxa: the 14 currently recognized ant subfamilies plus 5 potentially critical infrasubfamilial taxa. The results justified the recognition of 3 additional subfamilies: Aenictogitoninae Ashmead (new status), Apomyrminae Dlussky & Fedoseeva (new status), and Leptanilloidinae Bolton (new subfamily). A second analysis on these better delimited 17 subfamilies resulted in 24 equally most parsimonious trees. All trees showed a basal division of extant Formicidae into two groups, the first containing (Myrmicinae, Pseudomyrmecinae, Nothomyrmeciinae, Myrmeciinae, Formicinae, Dolichoderinae, Aneuretinae) and the second the remaining subfamilies. Clades appearing within these groups included the Cerapachyinae plus 'army ants', the Nothomyrmeciinae plus Myrmeciinae, the 'formicoid' subfamilies (Aneuretinae + Dolichoderinae + Formicinae), and the Old World army ants (Aenictinae + Aenictogitoninae + Doryline), but relationships within the last two groups were not resolved, and the relative positions of the Apomyrminae, Leptanillinae and Ponerinae remained ambiguous. Moreover, a bootstrap analysis produced a consensus tree in which all branches were represented in proportions much lower than 95%. A reconstruction of the ground plan of the Formicidae indicated that the most specialized of all recent ants are the members of the subfamily Dorylinae and the least specialized ones are the monotypic Apomyrminae.     

Flapping before Flight: High Resolution,Three-Dimensional Skeletal Kinematics of Wings and Legs during Avian Development

Some of the greatest transformations in vertebrate history involve developmental and evolutionary origins of avian flight. Flight is the most power-demanding mode of locomotion, and volant adult birds have many anatomical features that presumably help meet these demands. However, juvenile birds, like the first winged dinosaurs, lack many hallmarks of advanced flight capacity. Instead of large wings they have small “protowings”, and instead of robust, interlocking forelimb skeletons their limbs are more gracile and their joints less constrained. Such traits are often thought to preclude extinct theropods from powered flight, yet young birds with similarly rudimentary anatomies flap-run up slopes and even briefly fly, thereby challenging longstanding ideas on skeletal and feather function in the theropod-avian lineage. Though skeletons and feathers are the common link between extinct and extant theropods and figure prominently in discussions on flight performance (extant birds) and flight origins (extinct theropods), skeletal inter-workings are hidden from view and their functional relationship with aerodynamically active wings is not known. For the first time, we use X-ray Reconstruction of Moving Morphology to visualize skeletal movement in developing birds, and explore how development of the avian flight apparatus corresponds with ontogenetic trajectories in skeletal kinematics, aerodynamic performance, and the locomotor transition from pre-flight flapping behaviors to full flight capacity. Our findings reveal that developing chukars (Alectoris chukar) with rudimentary flight apparatuses acquire an “avian” flight stroke early in ontogeny, initially by using their wings and legs cooperatively and, as they acquire flight capacity, counteracting ontogenetic increases in aerodynamic output with greater skeletal channelization. In conjunction with previous work, juvenile birds thereby demonstrate that the initial function of developing wings is to enhance leg performance, and that aerodynamically active, flapping wings might better be viewed as adaptations or exaptations for enhancing leg performance.     

A new ground beetle (Carabidae, Protorabinae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia, China

Cretorabus rasnitsynisp. n., belonging to the extinct subfamily Protorabinae of Carabidae, was described based on a well-preserved specimen from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Yangshuwanzi, Inner Mongolia. The diagnostic characters forCretorabus are revised, and the key to species of the genus was presented. The fossil record of Protorabinae was summarized. Sinocarabus Hong, 1982 and Obesofemoria Hong, 1982 cannot be attributed to Protorabinae.     

Gene regulatory networks reused to build novel traits: co-option of an eye-related gene regulatory network in eye-like organs and red wing patches on insect wings is suggested by optix expression

Co-option of the eye developmental gene regulatory network may have led to the appearance of novel functional traits on the wings of flies and butterflies. The first trait is a recently described wing organ in a species of extinct midge resembling the outer layers of the midge's own compound eye. The second trait is red pigment patches on Heliconius butterfly wings connected to the expression of an eye selector gene, optix. These examples, as well as others, are discussed regarding the type of empirical evidence and burden of proof that have been used to infer gene network co-option underlying the origin of novel traits. A conceptual framework describing increasing confidence in inference of network co-option is proposed. Novel research directions to facilitate inference of network co-option are also highlighted, especially in cases where the pre-existent and novel traits do not resemble each other.     

Morphological Evidence for the Phylogeny of Cetacea

A cladistic analysis of 54 extant and extinct cetacean taxa scored for 304 morphological characters supports a monophyletic Odontoceti, Mysticeti, Autoceta, and Cetacea. Forcing a sister-group relationship between Mysticeti and Physeteridae, as suggested by some, but not all, molecular studies, requires an additional 72 steps. In agreement with recent molecular studies, morphological data divide extant mysticetes into two clades: Balaenopteroidea (Eschrichtiidae + Balaenopteridae) and Balaenoidea (Balaenidae + Neobalaenidae). Cetotheriopsinae is removed from Cetotheriidae, elevated to Family Cetotheriopsidae, and placed within the Superfamily Eomysticetoidea. All extant mysticetes and all cetotheriids are placed in a new Parvorder Balaenomorpha, which is diagnosed by many morphological characters, including fusion of the anterior and posterior processes of petrosal to ectotympanic bulla, pronounced median keel on palate, and absence of ventral margin of sigmoid process of bulla. Many of the clades within Odontoceti in the most parsimonious trees of this study are at odds with recent phylogenetic analyses. For example, Platanistidae is not closely related to the extinct odontocete families Squalodontidae and Squalodelphinidae. Instead, it is more closely related to extant river-dwelling odontocetes (i.e., Lipotes, Inia), suggesting a single dispersal of odontocetes into freshwater habitats. We found several characters to support Physeteroidea (Physeteridae + Ziphiidae), a taxon considered paraphyletic by several molecular and some morphological analyses. Lack of agreement on the phylogeny within Odontoceti indicates that additional analyses, which include molecular and anatomical data as well as extant and extinct taxa, are needed.     

Identification of ichneumonid wasps using image analysis of wings

Abstract. Image analysis was used to measure the morphological characters of wings of five species of Canadian Itoplectis (Ichneumonidae). The procedure to digitize and measure various elements of the wings with an image analyser is outlined. Specimens were assigned to species by discriminant analysis and independent univariate comparisons of 144 characters from cells, veins and vertices. All the fifty specimens used were assigned to the correct species by both methods. Image analysis of ichneumonid wings is an effective alternative to the conventional identification system.     

The position of Cetacea within mammalia: phylogenetic analysis of morphological data from extinct and extant taxa

Knowledge of the phylogenetic position of the order Cetacea (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) within Mammalia is of central importance to evolutionary biologists studying the transformations of biological form and function that accompanied the shift from fully terrestrial to fully aquatic life in this clade. Phylogenies based on molecular data and those based on morphological data both place cetaceans among ungulates but are incongruent in other respects. Morphologists argue that cetaceans are most closely related to mesonychians, an extinct group of terrestrial ungulates. They have disagreed, however, as to whether Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates) or Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates) is the extant clade most closely related to Cetacea, and have long maintained that each of these orders is monophyletic. The great majority of molecule-based phylogenies show, by contrast, not only that artiodactyls are the closest extant relatives of Cetacea, but also that Artiodactyla is paraphyletic unless cetaceans are nested within it, often as the sister group of hippopotamids. We tested morphological evidence for several hypotheses concerning the sister taxon relationships of Cetacea in a maximum parsimony analysis of 123 morphological characters from 10 extant and 30 extinct taxa. We advocate treating certain multistate characters as ordered because such a procedure incorporates information about hierarchical morphological transformation. In all most-parsimonious trees, whether multistate characters are ordered or unordered, Artiodactyla is the extant sister taxon of Cetacea. With certain multistate characters ordered, the extinct clade Mesonychia (Mesonychidae + Hapalodectidae) is the sister taxon of Cetacea, and Artiodactyla is monophyletic. When all fossils are removed from the analysis, Artiodactyla is paraphyletic with Cetacea nested inside, indicating that inclusion of mesonychians and other extinct stem taxa in a phylogenetic analysis of the ungulate clade is integral to the recovery of artiodactyl monophyly. Phylogenies derived from molecular data alone may risk recovering inconsistent branches because of an inability to sample extinct clades, which by a conservative estimate, amount to 89% of the ingroup. Addition of data from recently described astragali attributed to cetaceans does not overturn artiodactyl monophyly.     

Wings versus legs in the avian bauplan: Development and evolution of alternative locomotor strategies

Wings have long been regarded as a hallmark of evolutionary innovation, allowing insects, birds, and bats to radiate into aerial environments. For many groups, our intuitive and colloquial perspective is that wings function for aerial activities, and legs for terrestrial, in a relatively independent manner. However, insects and birds often engage their wings and legs cooperatively. In addition, the degree of autonomy between wings and legs may be constrained by tradeoffs, between allocating resources to wings versus legs during development, or between wing versus leg investment and performance (because legs must be carried as baggage by wings during flight and vice versa). Such tradeoffs would profoundly affect the development and evolution of locomotor strategies, and many related aspects of animal ecology. Here, we provide the first evaluation of wing versus leg investment, performance and relative use, in birds—both across species, and during ontogeny in three precocial species with different ecologies. Our results suggest that tradeoffs between wing and leg modules help shape ontogenetic and evolutionary trajectories, but can be offset by recruiting modules cooperatively. These findings offer a new paradigm for exploring locomotor strategies of flying organisms and their extinct precursors, and thereby elucidating some of the most spectacular diversity in animal history.     

The phylogeny of the Forficulina, a suborder of the Dermaptera

The phylogeny of the Forficulina (Dermaptera) has been reassessed, examining forty-eight species and thirty characters, of which thirteen characters of the thorax and wings are described or used for phylogenetic purposes for the first time, whereas the remaining seventeen have been extracted from literature. Examination of the thirty characters demonstrates that only twenty-three characters are useful for phylogenetic construction. The characters have been analysed with PAUP 3.1 yielding two equally parsimonious trees. The results suggest an exclusion of the 'Diplatyidae' (themselves paraphyletic) and the Karschiellidae from the Pygidicranidae and support the separation of the Apachyidae from the Labiduridae. A sister-group relationship of Anisolabididae and Spongiphoridae is not supported. The monophyly of the (Spongiphoridae (Forficulidae, Chelisochidae)) is supported.     

生花植物概念简介及其名称的商榷

在上个世纪最后的 2 0年里 ,系统学家应用形态性状对种子植物进行了大量的分支分析。其结果显示灭绝的五柱木属加上灭绝的本内苏铁目及尚存的买麻藤目是被子植物的姊妹群 ,形成一个强支 ,称之为生花植物支。生花植物假说对探讨被子植物起源有着重要影响 ,它激发人们讨论被子植物起源时间可能要提前到三叠纪甚至石炭纪 ,除了支持原有的真花学说外 ,还提出新恩格勒学说。但是 ,近年来对现存种子植物进行分子系统学研究的结果是 :(1)拒绝接受生花植物概念 ;(2 )买麻藤目并不是被子植物的姊妹群而是松柏目的姊妹群 ,甚至网结于松柏类而成为松科的姊妹群。这些结果并不使人惊讶 ,因为对探讨像包含许多灭绝类群的种子植物系统 ,决不可能是仅仅单独应用现代类群资料所能完成的。假如生花植物支是成立的 ,但其名称以AGPB支代替生花植物支可能较为合理。     

The Skull of Stephanomys and a Review of Malpaisomys Relationships (Rodentia: Muridae): Taxonomic Incongruence in Murids

The cranial morphology of the extinct murid genus Stephanomys, previously known only by dental remains, is described here on the basis of partial skulls of three species of Pliocene age. Important cranial characters of the genus are a robust rostrum, a high zygoma, a wide zygomatic arch, a narrow interorbit, a large orbit, and an optic foramen in the backward position. In addition to some dental characters, Stephanomys shares most of these cranial traits with the extinct Malpaisomys from the Canary Islands. Some of these traits may be linked to the development of large eyes and life in a rocky environment. The peculiar dental pattern of Stephanomys (stephanodonty) is also present in some recent murids (Oenomys and Thamnomys) having a different skull morphology. A comparison with nine other extant genera of murids verified the relationship among Malpaisomys, Stephanomys, and Acomys, supporting our previous conclusion. Phenetic and cladistic analyses of 17 cranial and 23 dental characters show that skull morphology is phylogenetically informative but highly convergent and incongruent with other partial evidence based on dental and biochemical characters. The combined analyses of skull and teeth illustrate a case of mosaic evolution in murids.     

Loxocorone,a new genus of the family loxosomatidae (Entoprocta: Solitaria), with descriptions of two new Loxomitra (sensu stricto) and a new Loxocorone from Okinawa,the Ryukyu Archipelago,Japan

The type species of Loxomitra Nielsen, 1964, L. kefersteinii (Claparède, 1867), has following characters: A) the buds have a pair of terminal wings at the base of the stalk, and B) the liberated buds crawl on the substratum by attaching the two terminal wings to the substratum and twisting the whole body. By contrast, some other members of the genus have following characters: A') the buds lack the terminal wings but have a foot with foot groove, and B') the liberated buds glide over the substratum using the foot with foot groove. I thus propose to divide Loxomitra (sensu lato) into two genera- Loxomitra (sensu stricto) characterized by A) and B), and Loxocorone gen. nov. by A') and B'). I also describe two new Loxomitra (sensu stricto), L. mizugamaensis sp. nov., and L. tetraorganon sp. nov., and one new Loxocorone, L. allax sp. nov. from the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan. All of the currently recognized species of the Loxomitra (sensu lato) are reviewed to specify their generic allocations in response to the above change.     

Abraracourcix curvivenatus n. gen. n. sp. from the Lowermost Eocene Oise amber (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Ricaniidae)

An extinct genus Abraracourcix n. gen. with A. curvivenatus n. sp. is described based on the specimen from the Lowermost Eocene Oise amber. The venation characters and possible hostplant relationships, as well as taxonomic position and biogeographical pattern of recent Pochazoides generic group are discussed.     

First records of hindwings of Permian beetles (Coleoptera)

Three isolated hindwings of beetles are described from the locality of Isady, late Middle Permian of northern European Russia. The wings share all main features characteristic of beetles and combine plesiomorphic and apomorphic states of characters found in different suborders. The wings most probably belonged to beetles of the families Asiocoleidae and/or Taldycupedidae.     

陕西府谷晚中新世蓝牛化石(英文)

尽管中国发现的中新羚(偶蹄目,牛科,蓝牛族)化石较少,但由于其重要的生物年代学意义而备受重视,被作为与欧洲Vallesian期动物群对比的重要分子。描述了新近在陕西府谷喇嘛沟发现的头骨标本。依据下颌骨形态与牙齿特征,将其归入Miotragocerus gregarius (Schlosser,1903)。新发现的材料完善了该种的鉴定特征:中等大小的蓝牛类;角心强烈后倾, 中等分散度,具前后两条棱,横断面呈椭圆形;雄性个体角心前的额骨部分强烈隆升,雌性个体则无明显隆起;脑颅部分成梯形,其最大宽度在角心后,最小宽度在枕骨位置上;基枕骨前后突之间没有沟槽发育;P2与P3具发育且后置的次尖;p4下后尖前后向扩展。对比研究表明,该种较Miotragocerus spectabilis原始,而后者为中国发现的蓝牛类的最后代表且于中新世末期绝灭。对比巴基斯坦以及欧洲的蓝牛,认为中国的Miotragocerus可能与欧洲的种类关系较为密切,而不同于巴基斯坦的Tragoportax。最新的研究资料表明,Miotragocerus在中国主要发现于晚中新世中晚期(Turolian期),可能在8Ma之前从欧洲迁移至东亚,由于剧烈的气候及生态环境的改变于晚中新世末期与Urmiatheriinae等大型牛科化石一起绝灭。     

Significance of hind wing morphology in distinguishing genera and species of cantharid beetles with a geometric morphometric analysis

There remain some difficulties in delimitation of related genera or sibling species for cantharid beetles, because the traditionally taxonomic method and morphological characters have not been updated or introduced. In the present study, we firstly use the landmark-based geometric morphometrics to analyze and compare the hind wings of nine species belonging to three genera of Cantharinae to ascertain whether this approach may be used as a reliable method in the study of the taxonomy of this group. The results show that the shape differences of the hind wings among genera seem more variable than that within each genus, and the variations for each species are different from one another, as shown in the principal component analyses. And the canonical variates analyses show that there are significant differences among the genera and the species of each genus, which demonstrates that the hind wing shape can be diagnostic for both generic and specific identification of the cantharid beetles. This study sheds new light into clarifying the taxonomic uncertainties of Cantharidae, and lays a foundation for further studies on the evolution of the cantharid hind wing shape.     

Morphometric variation in the hominoid orbital aperture: a case study with implications for the use of variable characters in Miocene catarrhine systematics

Variable characters are ubiquitous in hominoid systematics and present a number of unique problems for phylogenetic analyses that include extinct taxa. As yet, however, few studies have quantified ranges of variation in complex morphometric characters within extant taxa and then used those data to assess the consistency with which discrete character states can be applied to poorly represented fossil species. In this study, ranges of intrageneric morphometric variation in the shape of the hominoid orbital aperture are estimated using exact randomization of average pairwise taxonomic distances (ATDs) derived from size-adjusted centroid, height-width, and elliptic Fourier (EF) variables. Using both centroid and height-width variables, 19 of the 21 possible ATDs between individuals representing seven extinct catarrhine taxa (Aegyptopithecus, Afropithecus, Ankarapithecus, Ouranopithecus, Paranthropus, Sivapithecus and Turkanapithecus) can be observed within a single extant hominoid subspecies, although generally with low probabilities. A resampling study is employed as a means for gauging the effect that this intrataxonomic variation may have on the consistency with which discrete orbital shape character states can be delimited given the small sample sizes available for most Miocene catarrhine taxa preserving this feature (i.e., n=1). For each type of morphometric variable, 100 cluster (UPGMA) analyses of pairwise ATDs are performed in which a single individual is randomly selected from each hominoid genus and analyzed alongside known extinct taxa; consensus trees are computed in order to obtain the frequencies with which different shape clusters appeared in each of the three analyses. The two major clusters appearing most frequently in all three consensus trees are found in only 57% (centroid variables), 49% (height-width variables), and 36% (EF variables) of these trees. If ranges of variation within represented extinct taxa could also be estimated, these frequencies would certainly be far lower. Hominoids clearly exhibit considerable intrageneric, intraspecific, and even intrasubspecific variation in orbit shape, and substantial morphometric overlap exists between taxa; consequently, discrete character states delimiting these patterns of continuous variation are likely to be highly unreliable in phylogenetic analyses of living and extinct species, particularly as the number of terminal taxa increases. Morphological phylogenetic studies of extant catarrhines that assess the effect of different methods (e.g., use of objective a priori weighting or frequency coding of variable characters, inclusion vs. exclusion of variable characters, use of specific vs. supraspecific terminal taxa) on phylogenetic accuracy may help to improve the techniques that systematists employ to make phylogenetic inferences about extinct taxa.