扬子区志留纪十字珊瑚类属种的修订及其新资料

以萼内分裂繁殖为主的十字珊瑚类在我国扬子区广泛分布于志留系兰多维列统的香树园组、雷家屯组、石牛栏组及宁强组等,层位稳定,演化迅速,具有重要的地层意义。文章对我国扬子区发表的志留纪十字珊瑚类属种进行系统整理和修订,十字珊瑚亚科（Stauriinae）分为7属：Ceriaster Lindstr6m,1883,Eostauria Heet Li,1983,Massparaceriaster Tanggen．nov．,ParaceriasterY．X．He,1980,Stauria Edwards et Haime,1850,Cystostauria He et Li,1983和Parastauria He et Li,1974,同时讨论7属的属征,并对一些种群进行归并。此外,描述采自扬子区志留系兰多维列统的十字珊瑚6属8种,其中1新属,3个新种,它们是：Massparaceriaster Tanggen．nov．,Eostauriastauriata Tangsp．nov．,Paraceriastermicropora Tangsp．nov．和Paraceriasterbaishaensis Tangsp．nov．。     

Structure of a putative sodium channel from the sea anemoneAiptasia pallida

A cDNA encoding a full length putative sodium channel has been cloned from the sea anemoneAiptasia pallida. The deduced protein, named AiNal, has a predicted molecular weight of 205 000 Da. It shows high structural similarity to other sodium channels from both invertebrates and vertebrates, and its structure is consistent with the four domain, six transmembrane segment motif of all known voltage-gated sodium channels. In the region purported to constitute the tetrodotoxin (TTX) receptor of sodium channels, AiNal differs from the TTX-sensitive motif, suggesting that currents carried by this channel would be insensitive to TTX. The presence of a conventional sodium channel protein in anemones indicates, for the first time, that neurons in sea anemones are likely to be capable of producing fast, overshooting action, potentials.     

黔北晚奥陶世和早志留世四射珊瑚新资料

报道黔北早志留志中期（Middle Llandovery)地层中新发现的四射珊瑚7属--Cantrillia,Neocantrillia,Prototryplasma,Pycnostylus,Dalmanophyllum?.Rhegmaphyllum,Schlotheimophyllum,并描述产自黔东北石阡奥陶纪末期（Late Ashgill)观音桥层四射珊瑚2种--Grewingkia cf.bilateralis Neuman,Brachyelasma cf.medioseptatum(Neuman)及晚奥陶世（Early Ashgill期）涧草沟组中首次发现的四射珊瑚Crassilasma sp.。全文共描述四射珊瑚13属18种,其中6新种,它们是Crassilasma fenggangense sp.nov.,C.crebrumseptatum sp.nov.,Dinophyllum insolitum sp.nov.,Neocantrillia silurica sp.nov.,Prototryplasma guizhouense sp.nov.,Schlotheimophyllum regeneranum sp.nov.。     

Biogeographic associations of Silurian bryozoan genera in North America, Baltica and Siberia

Six distinct bryozoan paleobiogeographical provinces existed during the Silurian of North America, Baltica and Siberia. These provinces are based on parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE), each supported by a number of endemic genera only present in that assemblage. The area cladogram displays a nested pattern, permitting the clustering of assemblages into larger units that might be indicative of their areas of origin. Paired-group cluster analysis supports the existence of provincial assemblages. Relationships indicate the action of both vicariance and geodispersal. Geographic boundaries between the provinces include land, deep sea, and climate zone boundaries, including barriers created by the Iapetus Ocean and the Tornquist Sea.     

Phylogenomic analyses of lophophorates (brachiopods, phoronids and bryozoans) confirm the Lophotrochozoa concept

Based on embryological and morphological evidence, Lophophorata was long considered to be the sister or paraphyletic stem group of Deuterostomia. By contrast, molecular data have consistently indicated that the three lophophorate lineages, Ectoprocta, Brachiopoda and Phoronida, are more closely related to trochozoans (annelids, molluscs and related groups) than to deuterostomes. For this reason, the lophophorate groups and Trochozoa were united to Lophotrochozoa. However, the relationships of the lophophorate lineages within Lophotrochozoa are still largely unresolved. Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian analyses were performed based on a dataset comprising 11,445 amino acid positions derived from 79 ribosomal proteins of 39 metazoan taxa including new sequences obtained from a brachiopod and a phoronid. These analyses show that the three lophophorate lineages are affiliated with trochozoan rather than deuterostome phyla. All hypotheses claiming that they are more closely related to Deuterostomia than to Protostomia can be rejected by topology testing. Monophyly of lophophorates was not recovered but that of Bryozoa including Ectoprocta and Entoprocta and monophyly of Brachiozoa including Brachiopoda and Phoronida were strongly supported. Alternative hypotheses that are refuted include (i) Brachiozoa as the sister group of Mollusca, (ii) ectoprocts as sister to all other Lophotrochozoa including Platyzoa, and (iii) ectoprocts as sister or to all other protostomes except chaetognaths.     

河北唐山西域山晚寒武世长山组的树形笔石

本文对东秦岭南部湖北郧西地区早石炭世四射珊瑚进行了研究,系统描述了11科中的24属和39种,其中包含2新属和21新种。本区早石炭世四射珊瑚拟划分为4个组合带:范家坪组上部Palaeosmilia-Lithostrotion组合带,下部Yuanophyllum组合带。袁家沟组上部Shennongia majus组合带,下部Zaphrentoides组合带。范家坪组是新建的组名。文中也讨论了Cystophrentis的分布时限,及其与Shennongia的亲缘关系。此外,Neoclisiophyllum在本区与岩关期的Shennongia共生,出现的时间早于华南各地。     

贵州盘县新塘晚石炭世的四射珊瑚

文章通过贵州盘新塘原下二叠统下部紫松阶珊瑚化石的分析,将该地层划归上石炭统上部。描述上炭统威宁阶,过岩阶和紫松阶的四射珊瑚６属７种,其中５新种,通过对这些珊瑚的形态构造进行了剖析,略述了该地区在晚石炭世的环境特征。     

Components of both major axial patterning systems of the Bilateria are differentially expressed along the primary axis of a 'radiate' animal, the anthozoan cnidarian Acropora millepora

Cnidarians are animals with a single (oral/aboral) overt body axis and with origins that nominally predate bilaterality. To better understand the evolution of axial patterning mechanisms, we characterized genes from the coral, Acropora millepora (Class Anthozoa) that are considered to be unambiguous markers of the bilaterian anterior/posterior and dorsal/ventral axes. Homologs of Otx/otd and Emx/ems, definitive anterior markers across the Bilateria, are expressed at opposite ends of the Acropora larva; otxA-Am initially around the blastopore and later preferentially toward the oral end in the ectoderm, and emx-Am predominantly in putative neurons in the aboral half of the planula larva, in a domain overlapping that of cnox-2Am, a Gsh/ind gene. The Acropora homologs of Pax-3/7, NKX2.1/vnd and Msx/msh are expressed in axially restricted and largely non-overlapping patterns in larval ectoderm. In Acropora, components of both the D/V and A/P patterning systems of bilateral animals are therefore expressed in regionally restricted patterns along the single overt body axis of the planula larva, and two 'anterior' markers are expressed at opposite ends of the axis. Thus, although some specific gene functions appear to be conserved between cnidarians and higher animals, no simple relationship exists between axial patterning systems in the two groups.     

The evolution of mating systems in a group of brooding sea anemones (Epiactis)

Summary

The sea anemone genus Epiactis provides an unusually good opportunity to study the evolution of brooding and mating systems. The four Epiactis species on the Pacific coast of North America all brood their offspring up to the juvenile stage, but each has a different combination of internal vs. external brooding and gonochory vs. simultaneous or gynodioecious hermaphroditism. Two of the four species (E. prolifera and E. lisbethae) were indistinguishable with allozymes (20 loci), but could be differentiated using multilocus DNA fingerprinting. Phylogenetic analyses of the allozyme data by distance and parsimony methods using three outgroups suggest that the four nominal Epiactis species are polyphyletic, with the two internal brooders evolving independently of the two external brooders. This topology does not allow inferences about the evolutionary order of hermaphroditism, dioecy and gynodioecy. Separate sexes and obligate outcrossing are of ten believed to be ancestral, with hermaphroditism and the potential for self-fertilization being favored in taxa where restricted dispersal promotes inbreeding. Previous studies of population genetic structure in these Epiactis species is consistent with this hypothesis, as even the cross-fertile species were highly inbred.