小鲵科线粒体16S rRNA基因序列分析及其系统发育

To study the phylogeny of Hynobiidae, we amplified DNA fragments of 470 bp 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) gene on mitochondrial DNA from Ranodon sibiricus and Ranodon tsinpaensis. PCR products were cloned into PMD18 T vector after purification. These sequences were determined and deposited in the GenBank (accession numbers: AY373459 for Ranodon sibiricus, AY372534 for Ranodon tsinpaensis). By comparing the nucleotide differences of 16S ribosomal RNA sequences among Liua shihi, Pseudohynobius flavomaculatus and Batrachuperus genus from GenBank database, we analyzed the divergences and base substitution among these sequences with the MEGA software. The molecular results support that B. tibetanus, B. pinchonii and B. karlschmidti are classified into three valid species. Liua shihi has closer phylogenetic relationships to Ranodon tsinpaensis than to other species. More our results reveal that Pseudohynobius flavomaculatus is not a synonym of Ranodon tsinpaensis. [Acta Zoologica Sinica 50 (3) : 464 - 469,2004].     

Synopsis of Leymus Hochst. （Triticeae： Poaceae）

Leymus is a genus in the Triticeae tribe, Poaceae. The taxa of this genus are allopolyploid species which possess the Ns and Xm genomes. According to cytological, cytogenetic and molecular genetic analyses, some species of Hystrix and Elymus ought to be transferred to this genus. A world revision of the genus Leymus is needed. In this paper we summarize experimental results, provide a key to sections, species and varieties, and list all the taxa we recognize in Leymus with their synonyms. This synopsis is a new taxonomic system to be used for the revision of Leymus.     

Molecular phylogenetic relationships of China Seas groupers based on cytochrome b gene fragment sequences

The classification and evolutionary relationships are important issues in the study of the groupers. Cytochrome b gene fragment of twenty-eight grouper species within six genera of subfamily Epinephelinae was amplified using PCR techniques and the sequences were analyzed to derive the phylogenetic relationships of the groupers from the China Seas. Genetic information indexes, including Kimura-2 parameter genetic distance and Ts/Tv ratios, were generated by using a variety of biology softwares. With Niphon spinosus, Pagrus major and Pagrus auriga as the designated outgroups, phylogenetic trees, which invoke additional homologous sequences of other Epinephelus fishes from GenBank, were constructed based on the neighbor-joining (NJ), maximum-parsimony (MP), maximum-likelihood (ML) and minimum-evolution (ME) methods. Several conclusions were drawn from the DNA sequences analysis: (1) genus Plectropomus, which was early diverged, is the most primitive group in the subfamily Epinephelinae; (2) genus Variola is more closely related to genus Cephalopolis than the other four genera; (3) genus Cephalopolis is a monophyletic group and more primitive than genus Epinephelus; (4) Promicrops lanceolatus and Cromileptes altivelis should be included in genus Epinephelus; (5) there exist two sister groups in genus Epinephelus.     

REPORT ON 12 SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF CHIGGERS IN CHINA, INCLUDING SIX NEW SPECIES AND TWO NEW VARIETIES, AND THE CREATION OF A NEW GENUS

The present paper reports in detail 12 species and varieties of trombiculid mites. Of these eight are believed to be new to science. Besides, a new genus is also created to accommodate certain species which are incompatible with other species originally found in the same genus. The 12 species and varieties are distributed in three subfamilies, and their names are as follows:     

Global comparisons of beta diversity among mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians across spatial scales and taxonomic ranks

Beta diversity is the change in species composition among areas in a geographic region. The proportion of species shared between two areas often decreases when the distance separating them increases, leading to an increase in beta diversity. This study compares beta diversity among four classes of terrestrial vertebrates （mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians） at both regional （biogeographic realm） and global extents, using the same sets of faunal sample units for all four groups in each comparison. Beta diversity is lower for the two endothermic taxa （birds and mammals） than for the two ectothermic taxa （reptiles and amphibians） in all six biogeographic realms examined. When the four taxa in the six biogeographic realms are combined, beta diversity at the species rank is higher than that of the genus rank by a factor of 1.24, and is higher than that of the family rank by a factor of 1.85. The ratio of beta diversity at the genus rank to that at the family rank is 1.50. Beta diversity is slightly higher for ecoregions of 5000-99,999 km^2 than for ecoregions of 100,000-5,000,000 km^2.     

基于28S rRNA基因D2序列的优茧蜂亚科分子系统发育（膜翅目：茧蜂科）

The D2 variable region of 28S ribosomal RNA was sequenced from ethanol specimens or obtained from the literature to provide the first phylogenetie reconstruction of the subfamily Euphorinae (Hymenoptera;Braconidae). Phylogenetic relationships were established by comparing the results using two different methods (distance-based neighbor-joining, NJ; and maximum parsimony, MP) and three different outgroups. The monophyly of the Euphorinae is well supported by all trees generated from molecular data. All phylogenetic reconstructions yielded trees with very similar topologies that only partially resolved the morphologically defined tribes and the relationships within the subfamily. We found no evidence for the monophyletic natures of the tribes Euphorinl, Dinocampini,Perilitini, Syntretini, Comsophorini and Centisitini, but we did find some evidence for the tribes Meteorini and Microctonini. The monophyletic nature of the tribe Meteodnl was well-supported in all trees. We also found the clade containing the LecythodeUa,Microctonus, Orionis and Streblocera to be a monophyletic group, which corresponded to the tribe Microtonini, with Orionis transferred from the tribe Eupholini into Microtonini.Among the genera of Euphorini our results showed strong support for a paraphyletic nature of this group, which can be roughly divided into two clades, one consisting of Aridelus Wesmaelia, the other of Leiophron Peristenus, suggesting both of which may be given tribal rank. The placement of the genus Chrysopophorus is largely uncertain. Two clades,Dinocampus Perilitus and Cosmophorus Rhopalophorus, were constantly resolved in our analyses, with 42-96 and 97-100 bootstrap value support, respectively, suggesting that both of them form monophyletic groups. For members of the Centistini, Pygostolus may be removed and included in Microctonini or other relative tribe.     

Molecular differentiation of the microgastrine species commonly found in paddy fields from Southeast Asia,with additional data on their phylogeny （Hymenoptera：Braconidae）

Partial DNA sequences of three genes, that is, mitochondrial large ribosomal subunit (16S), nuclear large ribosomal subunit (28S D2) and mitochondrial NADH1 dehydrogenase (NADH1) gene, were sequenced from different microgas trine species(Braconidae: Microgastrinae) collected fresh from paddy fields. The DNA sequences were used to determine the extent of sequence variation among species in order to evaluate the specific status of each species. Cladistic analysis was also used to infer a phylogenetic relationship among these species. The results showed that sequence divergence among species of the same genus Cotesia was much lower than those among different genera, such as Cotesia, Exoryza and Apanteles; the sequence similarity of 16S rDNA and NADH 1 genes between Cotesia sp. and C. chilonis was higher than that between C. sp. and C. ruficrus.Phylogenetic analyses suggested that four species of Cotesia were always grouped in the same clade regardless of using different analysis methods; Cotesia sp. and C. chilonis are more closely related to each other than to C. ruficrus, different from previous morphological results. Additionally, sequence analyses indicated that NADH1 gene has more parsimony informative characters than 28S rDNA D2 and 16S rDNA at the species-level analysis,indicating that NADH1 gene might be a useful marker for species-level analysis.     

Genome organization and variation in the 3′-partial sequence of garlic latent virus in China

Ten different isolates of a carlavirus were detected by degenerate PCR from 12 garlic samples collected from 6 provinces in China, and the complete genome sequence of the Zhejiang isolate ZJ1 and 3'-terminal sequences of 9 other isolates were determined. The RNA genome of isolate ZJ1 consisted of 8363nts excluding the 3'-poly (A) tail, and the genome organization was similar to other carlaviruses with 6 open reading frames encoding a replicase, TGB1, TGB2, TGB3, CP and NABP respectively. Sequence comparisons showed that all 10 isolates were Garlic latent virus (GarLV). The variations in the TGB2, TGB3 and NABP were more significant than those in the CP. High homology was also detected between those isolates and Shallot latent virus (ShLV). Phylogenetic analysis suggested that GarLV isolates from garlic can be divided into 4 main groups and Chinese isolates belonged to each group. This is the first reported molecular analysis of members of the genus Carlavirus in China.     

Characteristics of serial cross-sections of hairs of the Japanese monkey (Macaca fuscata fuscata)

The characteristics of serial cross-sections of hairs collected from an adult male Japanese monkey were investigated. Cross-sections were made of five to eight pieces per hair. The shapes of the cross-sections were elliptical or rounded on the whole. The fibre indices of the sections ranged from 83 to 100. In particular, those of proximal (basal) sections were close to 100. The hair diameter was 86.4 μ at maximum and 27.2 μ at minimum. A tendency was observed for the longer hairs to have thicker diameters. The changes in thickness along the fibre shaft were slightly different in relation to hair length. The thickest point was at around the middle of the fibre in the intermediate hair, somewhat towards the top of the central part in the long hair, and somewhat towards the base in the short hair. The hair of the Japanese monkey, however, was considered to be scanty in changes along the fibre shaft in comparison with many other animals. Medullae could scarcely be seen in the short hair and in the terminal and proximal sections of all hairs. Their shapes in cross-section were not uniform and rough at the margins. The fibre-medulla indices were generally less than 30 and smaller than those of many other mammals. Pigmentary granules were observed in all sections examined. The granules were black-grey in sections of the black-grey coloured part and yellow in the yellowish sections. They were dense in distal sections and scarce in sections close to the base. The cross-sectional appearance of the thickest part of the long hair was considered to be useful for hair identification, since it was good in pigmentation and medullation and relatively small fibre index.     

Effects of taxon sampling on molecular dating for within-genus divergence events, when deep fossils are used for calibration

A universal method of molecular dating that can be applied to all families and genera regardless of their fossil records, or lack thereof, is highly desirable. A possible method for eudicots is to use a large phylogeny calibrated using deep fossils including tricolpate pollen as a fixed （124 mya） calibration point. This method was used to calculate node ages within three species-poor disjunct basal eudicot genera, Caulophyllum, Podophyllum and Pachysandra, and sensitivity of these ages to effects such as taxon sampling were then quantified. By deleting from one to three accessions related to each genus in 112 different combinations, a confidence range describing variation due only to taxon sampling was generated. Ranges for Caulophyllum, Podophyllum and Pachysandra were 8.4-10.6, 7.6-20.0, and 17.6-25.0 mya, respectively. However, the confidence ranges calculated using bootstrapping were much wider, at 3-19, 0-32 and 11-32 mya, respectively. Furthermore, deleting 10 adjacent taxa had a large effect in Pachysandra only, indicating that undersampling effects are significant among Buxales. Changes to sampling density in neighboring clades, or to the position of the fixed fossil calibration point had small to negligible effects. Non-parametric rate smoothing was more sensitive to taxon sampling effects than was penalized likelihood. The wide range for Podophyllum, compared to the other two genera, was probably due to a high degree of rate heterogeneity within this genus. Confidence ranges calculated by this method could be narrowed by sampling more individuals within the genus of interest, and by sequencing multiple DNA regions from all species in the phylogeny.     

Geometric morphometric analysis of Eysarcoris guttiger,E.annamita and E.ventralis (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

The genus Eysarcoris can be easily distinguished from other genera through the two spots in the basal angle of the scutellum.Nevertheless,Eysarcoris species show complex variances.Geometric morphometric methods have been increasingly applied to distinguish species and to define the boundary of genera among insects.In the present study,geometric morphometric approach was firstly employed to evaluate the shape variation of three characters (fore wing,hind wing and pygophore) of E.guttiger,E.annamita and E.ventralis using E.aeneus as outgroup to ascertain whether this approach is a reliable method for the taxonomy of Eysarcoris.Analysis was conducted on the landmarks of the three characters of these species.Multivariate regression of procrustes coordinates against centroid size was conducted to test the presence of allometry.Principal component analysis (PCA),canonical variate analysis (CVA)and cluster analysis were utilized to describe variations in shapes among the studied species.For all of the three characters,though PCA analysis showed some overlap among species,p-values for procrustes distance and mahalanobis distance were all less than 0.0001.The distribution of the three studied species corresponds with their species status.This study demonstrates that the geometric morphometrics of both the fore wing and the hind wing might represent a possible tool for the identification of species within this genus.     

Reproduction strategy of Trias verrucosa (Orchidaceae) from China

Trias, an orchid genus, was reported in this paper from China as a newly recorded genus for the first time. The genus and its new species, T. verrucosa Z. J. Liu, L. J. Chen et S. P. Lei, were described and discussed. Trias consists of 19 species ranging from Assam of India to Indonesia and Australia in the southeast via Myanmar to Deccan of India in the southwest. Its occurrence in West Yunnan of China is a further indication of phytogeographical relations between this region and the tropical Asia. This new species grows on shady rocks in forests. By observing of its biological characteristics such as phenology and blooming biology, lots of cloned ramets of generation overlap were found, but there were no fruited plants, and that clonal reproduction could repeat had nothing to do with whether the ramet bloomed or not. The flowering season of this species is from early April to early May. The opening of flowers on plants or inflorescence was irregular and the florescence of single flowers was rather short, only lasting 4–5 d, and no fruited flowers were found. Based on the detection of mating systems, no flowers of artificial self-pollination and artificial cross-pollination have fruited. Since the flowering period is just before the rainy season in this region, the ecological conditions of dryness, strong wind, low temperature and weak light during that period of time are evidently unfavorable to plant blooming, pollinating and fruiting. Apparently, the short duration and sterility of each flower would avoid the invalid energy waste in unfavorable circumstances and save the limited energy for more valid asexual reproduction so that the opportunity of multiplication in an uncertain environment would be increased to ensure the progenitive success. The P/O value of T. verrucosa is 187.4 ± 22.4, which is obviously related with the highly valid usage of its conglutinated and hard tuberous pollinarium during pollination, indicating that this species could hold the characteristic of sexual reproduction. This is an adaptation of this type of plants to the rather atrocious ecological circumstance there by its reproduction strategy of strengthening asexual reproduction and weakening sexual reproduction, and so it enables the plants to survive in this region, long-distanced from the places where its relatives dwell.     

Reproduction strategy of Trias verrucosa (Orchidaceae) from China

Trias, an orchid genus, was reported in this paper from China as a newly recorded genus for the first time. The genus and its new species, T. verrucosa Z. J. Liu, L. J. Chen et S. P. Lei, were described and discussed. Trias consists of 19 species ranging from Assam of India to Indonesia and Australia in the southeast via Myanmar to Deccan of India in the southwest. Its occurrence in West Yunnan of China is a further indication of phytogeographical relations between this region and the tropical Asia. This new species grows on shady rocks in forests. By observing of its biological characteristics such as phenology and blooming biology, lots of cloned ramets of generation overlap were found, but there were no fruited plants, and that clonal reproduction could repeat had nothing to do with whether the ramet bloomed or not. The flowering season of this species is from early April to early May. The opening of flowers on plants or inflorescence was irregular and the florescence of single flowers was rather short, only lasting 4–5 d, and no fruited flowers were found. Based on the detection of mating systems, no flowers of artificial self-pollination and artificial cross-pollination have fruited. Since the flowering period is just before the rainy season in this region, the ecological conditions of dryness, strong wind, low temperature and weak light during that period of time are evidently unfavorable to plant blooming, pollinating and fruiting. Apparently, the short duration and sterility of each flower would avoid the invalid energy waste in unfavorable circumstances and save the limited energy for more valid asexual reproduction so that the opportunity of multiplication in an uncertain environment would be increased to ensure the progenitive success. The P/O value of T. verrucosa is 187.4 ± 22.4, which is obviously related with the highly valid usage of its conglutinated and hard tuberous pollinarium during pollination, indicating that this species could hold the characteristic of sexual reproduction. This is an adaptation of this type of plants to the rather atrocious ecological circumstance there by its reproduction strategy of strengthening asexual reproduction and weakening sexual reproduction, and so it enables the plants to survive in this region, long-distanced from the places where its relatives dwell.     

Phenology of high-arctic butterflies and their floral resources： Species-specific responses to climate change

Current global warming is particularly pronounced in the Arctic and arthropods are expected to respond rapidly to these changes. Long-term studies of individual arthropod species from the Arctic are, however, virtually absent. We examined butterfly specimens collected from yellow pitfall traps over 14 years （1996-2009） at Zackenberg in high-arctic, north-east Greenland. Specimens were previously sorted to the family level. We identified them to the species level and examined long-term species-specific phenological responses to recent summer wanning. Two species were rare in the samples （Polaris fritillary Boloria polaris and Arctic blue Plebejus glandon） and statistical analyses of phenological responses were therefore restricted to the two most abundant species （Arctic fritillary, B. chariclea and Northern clouded yellow Colias hecla）. Our analyses demonstrated a trend towards earlier flight seasons in B. chariclea, but not in C. hecla. The timing of onset, peak and end of the flight season in B. chariclea were closely related to snowmelt, July temperature and their interaction, whereas onset, peak and end of the flight season in C. hecla were only related to timing of snowmelt. The duration of the butterfly flight season was significantly positively related to the temporal overlap with floral resources in both butterfly species. We further demonstrate that yellow pitfall traps are a useful alternative to transect walks for butterfly recording in tundra habitats. More phenological studies of Arctic arthropods should be carded out at the species level and ideally be analysed in context with interacting species to assess how ongoing climate change will affect Arctic biodiversity in the near future [Current Zoology 60 （2）： 243-251, 2014].     

The mechanism of pattern formation in the developing drosophila retina

The biological patterning of the drosophila retina in vivo has striking resemblance to liquid bubbles, in which the surface mechanics due to N-cadherin within a sub-group of retina cells can be mimicked by surface tension. In this work, the aggregating patterns were reasonably simplified into 2D clusters consisting of 2—6 identical bubbles confined within a shrinking boundary. By using a hybrid fluid dy-namics model proposed for liquid foams, the aggregating process of 2―6 retina cells was studied. Assuming the minimal perimeter for patterning cells to be the condition of stability patterns, the stable converged patterns we simulated in this work are the same as the experimental observations. More importantly, a new pattern of 6 cells was obtained which was found physically more stable than the other two reported by Hayashi and Carthew[1]. Aggregating perimeters of cells, i.e. the surface energy, showed a good linear fit with the cell numbers.