Phylogenetic relationships of the genus Cheilosia and the tribe Rhingiini (Diptera, Syrphidae) based on morphological and molecular characters

The phylogenetic relationships of the tribe Rhingiini and the genus Cheilosia (Diptera, Syrphidae) were investigated using morphological and molecular characters. The genus Cheilosia is one of the most diverse lineages of hoverflies (Syrphidae). The mitochondrial protein coding gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), and the D2‐3 region of the nuclear 28S rRNA gene were chosen for sequencing, and morphological characters were scored for both adults and immature stages. The combined dataset included 56 ingroup taxa. The datasets were analyzed separately and in conjunction, using both static and dynamic alignment under the parsimony criterion. The aim of the study was to assess the phylogenetic relationships of the tribe Rhingiini, and to explore if the subgenera of Cheilosia were supported as monophyletic clades. Results showed that the monophyly of subtribes of Rhingiini remained ambiguous, especially due to unstable phylogenetic placements of the genera Portevinia and Rhingia. We recovered most subgenera of Cheilosia as monophyletic clades. Dynamic alignment, using the optimization alignment program POY, always recovered more parsimonious topologies under all parameter weighting schemes, than did parsimony analyses using static alignment and analyzed with NONA.     

Influence of landscape structure and land use on <Emphasis Type="Italic">Merodon</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cheilosia</Emphasis> (Diptera: Syrphidae): contrasting responses of two genera

Recent advances in landscape ecology have revealed the importance of landscape structure on insect species diversity and composition. We investigated how landscape structure and land use influence species compositions of Cheilosia and Merodon (Diptera: Syrphidae); two phytophagus genera of hoverflies. Our study shows that Shannon’s Diversity Index, Connectance Index, Grazing Intensity, Mean Fractal Dimension Index and Percentage of Agricultural Patches explained 38.6% of the variance in species composition at a 2 km scale, with the total ordination being significant (P?=?0.04, Monte Carlo test, 499 permutations). Merodon and Cheilosia species differ in their responses to land-use change and connectivity, with the latter genus being positively correlated with connectivity and negatively correlated with all other variables. We conclude that connectivity is the primary factor affecting Cheilosia, while most Merodon species demonstrated greater resistance to changes in human-modified ecosystems. Our results suggest that different management efforts, focused on land-use intensity (grazing) or connectivity, seem to be appropriate when trying to conserve these taxa.     

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.     

Hover fly fauna (Diptera,Syrphidae) of Karaginskii Island (the Bering Sea)

The hover fly fauna of Karaginskii Island, located in the southwestern part of the Bering Sea near Kamchatka Peninsula, was investigated. A total of 39 species belonging to 22 genera were found on the coastal plain covered with the shrub tundra and meadows of various types. Cheilosia with 7 species was the most diverse genus in the fauna. The chorological structure of the fauna has a typical boreal pattern being dominated by widespread species (77% of the fauna), whereas the fraction of arctoboreal species is distinctly smaller (8%). The subspecies Cheilosia illustrata magnifica, one of the dominants in the hover-fly community (9%), was a single subendemic element of the fauna.     

Features of inheritance of several morphological characters in the hybrids between Siberian sturgeon <Emphasis Type="Italic">Acipenser baerii</Emphasis> and beluga <Emphasis Type="Italic">A. huso</Emphasis> (Acipenseridae) and in gynogenetic individuals of Siberian sturgeon

Comparative analysis of several morphological characters is conducted in experimentally obtained hybrids between Siberian sturgeon Acipenser baerii and beluga A. huso, in parental species, and in gynogenetic progeny of Siberian sturgeon. The gynogenetic individuals are similar to Siberian sturgeon by all characters used for differentiation between Siberian sturgeon and beluga that supports gynogenetic origin of these individuals. Based on the data obtained on the hybrid specimens, the features of inheritance of the studied characters in sturgeons and their variation in postlarval ontogeny are discussed.     

Taxonomic status of ribbonfishes of the genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Trachypterus</Emphasis> (Trachipteridae) from the northern part of the Pacific Ocean

Morphometric characteristics and distribution of ribbonfishes of the genus Trachypterus from the northern part of the Pacific Ocean are analyzed. T. fukuzakii differs from other species in the lowest number of vertebrae. It is endemic to eastern boundary currents of the Pacific Ocean. Large-sized specimens of T. altivelis and T. ishikawae do not differ in principal meristic characters from T. Trachypterus from other regions of the world ocean. Plastic characters tend to vary in the course of allometric growth. Therefore, only fish of the same size may be used in analysis. Juveniles of T. ishikawae are unknown. In the north-western part of the Pacific Ocean, only juveniles of T. Trachypterus are recorded, while adults of this species are not found in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. Juveniles of T. altivelis does not significantly differ in all characters from those of T. Trachypterus. Distribution of adults T. altivelis and T. ishikawae demonstrated that they have no clear area: they are indicated for the whole northern part of the Pacific Ocean. Juveniles of T. Trachypterus occur in subtropical and tropical waters of the western and eastern parts of the Pacific Ocean. Taking into consideration absence of reliable differences by meristic characters and a common area, we suppose that the northern part of the Pacific Ocean is populated by the widely tropical cosmopolitan species T. Trachypterus (Gmelin, 1789), while T. altivelis Kner, 1859, and T. ishikawae Jordan et Snyder, 1901, are its junior synonyms, as described later.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Rhodocollybia</Emphasis> in neotropical montane forests

Traditional concepts of Collybia (Agaricales) have included a variety of morphologically disparate taxa. Reapplication of some characters used in circumscribing Collybia s.l. suggests realignment of well-known North American and European species into three genera, viz. Collybia s.s, Rhodocollybia, and Gymnopus. Rhodocollybia is recognized here at generic rank based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic signaling. Seven new species epithets under Rhodocollybia, and a new combination under Gymnopus, are proposed. A key to species of Rhodocollybia found in neotropical montane forests is provided.     

Two new species of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Microlicia</Emphasis> D. Don (Melastomataceae) from Bahia,NE Brazil

Two new species of Microlicia (Melastomataceae), M. flavovirens and M. contasensis, from the Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil are described and illustrated and their diagnostic characters discussed. Conservation assessments based on IUCN criteria are given for both species.     

Variability in epidermal characters of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ginkgo tzagajanica</Emphasis> Samylina (Ginkgoales) from the Paleocene of the Tsagayan formation (Amur Region) and the taxonomy of tertiary species of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ginkgo</Emphasis>

The study of new material on Ginkgo tzagajanica Samylina and earlier published data has shown that the epidermal morphology of the species in highly variable; several new characters were found. Occurrence of different states of characters was analyzed, their frequency distribution was revealed, and typical and rare states of characters within variation rows were determined. The specific diagnosis of G. tzagajanica was emended. The most variable characters are degree of undulation of the anticlinal walls of cells of abaxial and adaxial epidermises (the latter is more variable) and degree of development and number of papillae on ordinary epidermal cells. Less variable characters are degree of development of papillae on subsidiary cells of stomata and how the papillae cover the stomatal apertures. These are characters that bear maximal diagnostic significance for Cenozoic Ginkgo.     

Molecular phylogeny,analysis of character evolution,and submersible collections enable a new classification of a diverse group of gobies (Teleostei: Gobiidae: Nes subgroup), including nine new species and four new genera

The Nes subgroup of the Gobiosomatini (Teleostei: Gobiiformes: Gobiidae) is an ecologically diverse clade of fishes endemic to the tropical western Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans. It has been suggested that morphological characters in gobies tend to evolve via reduction and loss associated with miniaturization, and this, coupled with the parallel evolution of adaptations to similar microhabitats, may lead to homoplasy and ultimately obscure our ability to discern phylogenetic relationships using morphological characters alone. This may be particularly true for the Nes subgroup of gobies, where several genera that are diagnosed by ‘reductive characters’ have been shown to be polyphyletic. Here we present the most comprehensive phylogeny to date of the Nes subgroup using mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data. We then evaluate the congruence between the distribution of morphological characters and our molecular tree using maximum‐likelihood ancestral state reconstruction, and test for phylogenetic signal in characters using Pagel's λ tree transformations (Nature, 401 , 1999 and 877). Our results indicate that all of the characters previously used to diagnose genera of the Nes subgroup display some degree of homoplasy with respect to our molecular tree; however, many characters display considerable phylogenetic signal and thus may be useful in diagnosing genera when used in combination with other characters. We present a new classification for the group in which all genera are monophyletic and in most cases diagnosed by combinations of morphological characters. The new classification includes four new genera and nine new species described here, many of which were collected from rarely sampled deep Caribbean reefs using manned submersibles. The group now contains 38 species in the genera Carrigobius gen. nov., Chriolepis, Eleotrica, Gobulus, Gymneleotris, Nes, Paedovaricus gen. nov., Pinnichthys gen. nov., Psilotris, and Varicus. Lastly, we provide a key to all named species of the Nes subgroup along with photographs and illustrations to aid in identification.     

Comparative morphology,biology and phylogeny of terminal‐instar larvae of the European species of Toryminae (Hym., Chalcidoidea,Torymidae) parasitoids of gall wasps (Hym. Cynipidae)

We present a phylogenetic and taxonomic study of the morphology and biology of the terminal‐instar larval stage of 19 species representing all the genera of Torymidae parasitoids of gall wasps in Europe, with the single exception of Megastigmus. The genera studied include Adontomerus Nikol'skaya, Idiomacromerus Crawford, Chalcimerus Steffan & Andriescu, Glyphomerus Förster, Pseudotorymus Masi and Torymus Dalman. We primarily used chaetotaxy and some head structures. The terminal‐instar larvae of all studied species are thoroughly described for the first time and illustrated with SEM images. We provide diagnostic characters for the family and the genera studied, and keys to genera and species for the identification of torymid larvae associated with cynipid galls. The majority of the torymid larvae studied are solitary monophagous parasitoids. Finally, to assess the potential use of larval characters in systematic studies of the family, a phylogenetic analysis of the studied taxa based on 42 larval morphological characters is proposed and compared with the current taxonomy of Torymidae. Our results suggest that body chaetotaxy, and characters of the head and mouthparts could be used for genera and species discrimination. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 154 , 676–721.     

A revision of the genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Talbotiella</Emphasis> Baker f. (Caesalpinioideae: Leguminosae)

A revision of the genus Talbotiella Baker f. (Caesalpinioideae: Leguminosae) is presented. Four species from Cameroon are described as new and a species of Hymenostegia, also from Cameroon, is transferred to Talbotiella bringing the number of species in Talbotiella to eight: T. bakossiensis Cheek, T. batesii Baker f., T. breteleri (Aubrév.) Mackinder & Wieringa, T. ebo Mackinder & Wieringa, T. eketensis Baker f., T. gentii Hutch. & Greenway, T. korupensis Mackinder & Wieringa and T. velutina Burgt & Wieringa. The centre of diversity is Cameroon where six of the eight species occur, five of which are country endemics. Vegetative characters that can be used to distinguish the species are provided in tabular form. Species distributions are mapped and all species are assessed for conservation status.