An extraordinary new family of spiders from caves in the Pacific Northwest (Araneae, Trogloraptoridae, new family)

The new spider genus and species Trogloraptor marchingtoni Griswold, Audisio & Ledford is described as the type of the new family Trogloraptoridae. The oblique membranous division of the basal segment of the anterior lateral spinnerets of Trogloraptor suggests that this haplogyne family is the sister group of the other Dysderoidea (Dysderidae, Oonopidae, Orsolobidae and Segestriidae). Trogloraptor is known only from caves and old growth forest understory in the Klamath-Siskiyou region of Oregon and California.     

Three new species of Lathrobium Gravenhorst (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Paederinae) from Sichuan, Southwest China

Three new species of the genus Lathrobium Gravenhorst, 1802 from Sichuan Province, Southwest China are described and illustrated: Lathrobium acutissimumsp. n., Lathrobium hailuogouensesp. n. and Lathrobium labahensesp. n. A checklist of Chinese Lathrobium is provided.     

Two new apterous species of Lathrobium Gravenhorst (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Paederinae) from Fujian, East China

Two new apterous species of the genus Lathrobium Gravenhorst, 1802 from Fujian Province, East China, Lathrobium daocongchaoi Peng & Li, sp. n. and Lathrobium fujianense Peng & Li,sp. n., are described and illustrated.     

Preface: Speciation research in ancient lakes – classic concepts and new approaches

The fifth conference of the European Pond Conservation Network (Luxembourg, June 2012) brought together researchers, environmental managers, and other stakeholders with the aim to share state-of-the-art knowledge on the ecology, management, and conservation of ponds in the context of the many challenges facing the wider water environment. Although well-known ecological patterns apply to most ponds in Europe and elsewhere, recent data highlight that part of the environmental variables governing pond biodiversity remain specific to climatic/biogeographic regions and to elevation ranges, suggesting that, in addition to common practice, management plans should include range-specific measures. Beyond the contribution of individual ponds to the aquatic and terrestrial life, connected networks of ponds are vital in the provision of new climate space as a response to global climate change, by allowing the observed northward and/or upward movements of species. In terms of services, ponds offer sustainable solutions to key issues of water management and climate change such as nutrient retention, rainfall interception, or carbon sequestration. While the ecological role of ponds is now well-established, authoritative research-based advice remains needed to inform future direction in the conservation of small water bodies and to further bridge the gap between science and practice.     

Eriophyoid mites from Qinghai Province, northwestern China with descriptions of nine new species (Acari, Eriophyoidea)

Eriophyoid mites from Qinghai Province, northwestern China were studied herein. Up to now, only six species have been reported from Qinghai Province. In field surveys, 17 eriophyoid mite species were collected, among which nine species were found new to science. The new species and their host plants are listed as follows: Acaphyllisa tuberculumaesp. n. on Populus sp. (Salicaceae); Proiectus xiningensissp. n. on Pinus sp. (Pinaceae); Phyllocoptes beishaniensissp. n. on Spiraea mongolica Maxim. (Rosaceae); Tetra prunianasp. n. on Prunus tomentosa Thunb. (Rosaceae) Rupr. (Berberidaceae); Tetra pyrianasp. n. on Pyrus calleryana Decne. (Rosaceae); Tetra simoniasp. n. on Populus simonii Carr. (Salicaceae); Diptacus berberinussp. n. on Berberis amurensis Rupr. (Berberidaceae); Diptacus mengdaensissp. n. on Lonicera elisae Franch. (Caprifoliaceae); Rhyncaphytoptus spinussp. n. on Lonicera rupicola Hook. f. et Thoms. (Caprifoliaceae). Aculops ulmi Hong & Xue, 2005 was re-described.     

Two new Amphipod families recorded in South America shed light on an old biogeographical enigma

The known diversity of freshwater amphipods in South America is substantially lower than on other continents. This has puzzled biologists for decades. Two hypotheses have been proposed in attempts to explain this pattern. According to the first one, the majority of amphipod lineages never dispersed across South America. The alternative hypothesis is that the recently diversified hyalellids have outcompeted and depleted the ancestral amphipod fauna. The recently discovered freshwater amphipod species Seborgia potiguar sp. nov. (Seborgidae) and Potiberaba porakuara gen. nov., sp. nov. (Mesogammaridae) from Brazil reveals the existence of two additional families of amphipods in South America. In the light of these discoveries we have analysed the amphipod faunistic structure of South America to test the above two biogeographic hypotheses. First, the number of amphipod families in South America is not as low as was thought. Falklandellididae are limited to the Falkland Islands and Chile. All other families (Ingolfiellidae, Bogidiellidae, Phreatogammaridae, Paraleptamphopidae, Pseudoingolfiellidae, Paracorpohiinae, Mesogammaridae and Seborgidae) but one (Dogielinotidae) share two properties: (1) they have a transoceanic distribution and (2) they are from subterranean waters. Since the dispersal ability of amphipods is limited, trans-oceanic disjunctions are best explained by plate tectonics, which implies their early origin, negating the first biogeographical hypothesis. These ancient families, for unknown reasons, survived only in a stable subterranean environment which can be regarded as a refuge. The only recent colonizer of the continent might be Dogielinotidae with the species-rich genus Hyalella. Although it cannot be determined whether hyallelids truly out-competed ancient amphipods, we suggest that the second hypothesis fits better to the data. Further findings of amphipods are expected in South America, especially from subterranean waters. This habitat is highly endangered in Brazil, and should be more rigorously protected. http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CBE21C1E-4748-4237-9EAD-FBD240A7D501     

Synthesis of new oligosaccharides from raffinose by Aspergillus niger fructosyltransferase

Purified fructosyltransferase from Aspergillus niger exhibited transfructosylation activities, producing fructose, DP2, DP4, and DP5 from raffinose. The structures of two products synthesized from raffinose were identified as O--d-galactopyranosyl (16)--d-glucopyranose and O--d-galactopyranosyl (16)--d-glucopyranosyl-[O--d-fructofuranosyl (21)]--D-fructofuranoside, which means that C-2 hydroxyl group of fructose released from one raffinose molecule were linked to the C-1 hydroxyl group of fructose of another raffinose.     

Two new species and one newly recorded species of Elaphropeza Macquart from Taiwan (Diptera, Empididae, Tachydromiinae)

Previously 11 Elaphropeza species were known from Taiwan. The following two species of the genus Elaphropeza are described: Elaphropeza flaviscutumsp. n. and Elaphropeza trimaculasp. n. One species, Elaphropeza plumata Yang, Merz & Grootaert, is newly recorded from Taiwan. A key to 14 known species of Elaphropeza from Taiwan is presented.     

Edraianthus × lakusicii (Campanulaceae) a new intersectional natural hybrid: morphological and molecular evidence

The genus Edraianthus A.DC. has a center of distribution in the Balkans and it is one of the most prominent groups of endemic plants in this region. During our recent fieldtrip to Mt. Lov?en (Montenegro), putative hybrid individuals were encountered, morphologically intermediate between two sympatric taxa, E. tenuifolius (E. sect. Edraianthus) and E. wettsteinii subsp. lovcenicus (E. sect. Uniflori). Multivariate morphometric and molecular analyses were carried out to investigate the occurrence of hybridization between these two species. As a result, a new nothospecies is described here, Edraianthus × lakusicii V. Stevanovi? & D. Laku?i?, a natural hybrid between E. tenuifolius and E. wettsteinii subsp. lovcenicus. At present, this hybrid is known only from the single locality of Mt. Lov?en. Its population size is estimated to be <50 mature individuals and the estimated “area of occupancy” is smaller than 1 km².     

Hieracium madoniense (Asteraceae) – a new species from Sicily

Abstract

A new endemic species of Hieracium is described from the Madonie Mountains (northern Sicily). Named Hieracium madoniense, this new taxon is confined to the Rocca di Mele, along the borders of Fagus sylvatica woods, on carbonate substrate. Relationships with the closest taxa are discussed.     

InvertNet: a new paradigm for digital access to invertebrate collections

InvertNet, one of the three Thematic Collection Networks (TCNs) funded in the first round of the U.S. National Science Foundation's Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections (ADBC) program, is tasked with providing digital access to ~60 million specimens housed in 22 arthropod (primarily insect) collections at institutions distributed throughout the upper midwestern USA. The traditional workflow for insect collection digitization involves manually keying information from specimen labels into a database and attaching a unique identifier label to each specimen. This remains the dominant paradigm, despite some recent attempts to automate various steps in the process using more advanced technologies. InvertNet aims to develop improved semi-automated, high-throughput workflows for digitizing and providing access to invertebrate collections that balance the need for speed and cost-effectiveness with long-term preservation of specimens and accuracy of data capture. The proposed workflows build on recent methods for digitizing and providing access to high-quality images of multiple specimens (e.g., entire drawers of pinned insects) simultaneously. Limitations of previous approaches are discussed and possible solutions are proposed that incorporate advanced imaging and 3-D reconstruction technologies. InvertNet couples efficient digitization workflows with a highly robust network infrastructure capable of managing massive amounts of image data and related metadata and delivering high-quality images, including interactive 3-D reconstructions in real time via the Internet.     

The phylogeny,evolutionary developmental biology,and paleobiology of the Deuterostomia: 25 years of new techniques,new discoveries,and new ideas

Over the past 25 years, new techniques, new discoveries, and new ideas have profoundly impacted our understanding of deuterostome interrelationships and, ultimately, deuterostome evolution. During the late 1980s and early 1990s morphological cladistic analyses made predictions about both taxonomic history and homology, predictions that would be tested independent of the morphological characters themselves with the advent of molecular systematics, the rise of evolutionary developmental biology, and continued exploration of the fossil record. Thanks to these three areas of inquiry, we have gone from scenarios where animals like mobile enteropneust hemichordates and chordates were derived from sessile filter-feeding animals like modern lophophorates, echinoderms, and pterobranch hemichordates, to a new perspective where hemichordates are recognized as the nearest living relative of the echinoderms, and that vagile gill-bearing animals like Cambrian vetulicolians are seen—at least by some—as close to the deuterostome last common ancestor, with both sessility and filter-feeding convergent features of deuterostomes (e.g., echinoderm) and non-deuterostomes (e.g., lophophorates) alike. Although much of the backbone of the new deuterostome phylogeny is supported by multiple independent data sets, as are statements of homology of several different morphological characters, in particular the homology of gill slits across Deuterostomia, nonetheless, the next quarter century of study on this remarkable group of animals promises to be as equally illuminating and exciting as the past quarter century.     

Lz-0 × Berkeley: a new Arabidopsis recombinant inbred line population for the mapping of complex traits

This study describes the generation and test of a genetic resource suited to identify determinants of cell biological traits in plants. The use of quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping for a better genetic understanding of cell biological traits is still at an early stage, even for biotechnologically important cell properties, such as the dimensions of fiber cells. A common strategy, the mapping of QTLs in recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations, is limited by the fact that the existing RIL populations exploit only a small fraction of the existing natural variation. Here, we report the mapping of QTLs impacting on the length of fiber cells in Arabidopsis inflorescence stems in a newly generated RIL population derived from a cross between the accessions Berkeley and the little known Lz-0. Through inbreeding of individual F₂ plants, a total of 159 new F₈ lines were produced and genotyped with a set of 49 single nucleotide polymorphism markers. The population was successfully used not only for the mapping of three QTLs controlling fiber length, but also to map five QTL controlling flowering time under short and long-day conditions. Our study demonstrates the usefulness of this new genetic resource by mapping in it QTLs underlying a poorly explored cellular trait as well as an already better explored regulatory pathway. The new RIL population and an online platform for the continuous supplementation of genetic markers will be generally available to substantially broaden the genetic diversity through which loci with impact on plant quantitative traits can be identified.     

Serological identification and molecular characterization of B (A) 02 subtype in patients and blood donors from Eastern China

This study was designed to identify the rare?type?ABO?blood?groups, B(A) 02, from Eastern China. Three samples with discordant serological results during routine blood type identification and four samples from one sample’ family were selected. All of them were detected by serological method. The exon 6 and 7 of the ABO genes were amplified by PCR and sequenced. They were typed as AsubB by serology and as BO by genotype. In AsubB samples, nt 700C>G mutation was detected in B gene, which was previously defined as B(A)02 alleles. In these seven samples, six showed B(A)02/O01 and one showed B(A)02/O02.B(A)02 allele was found to be more common in this study than B(A)04 which is considered to be more frequent than B(A)02. The careful identification of rare blood types is important for the safety of clinical blood transfusion.     

In situ fluorochrome calcein marking of deep-sea molluscs using a new growth chamber

A new instrument designed for in situ chemical marking experiments was developed and applied to the deep-sea seep clams Calyptogena soyoae and Calyptogena okutanii. Fluorochrome calcein was used for vital staining of four living clams kept in a specially designed in situ growth chamber that was placed on the seafloor at a cold-seep site off Hatsushima Island, Sagami Bay, central Japan. The shell margins of both C. soyoae and C. okutanii were clearly stained, forming a thin fluorescent band. This method will be useful for age and growth-rate determinations of many other marine organisms with accretionary growing skeletons.     

A new broccoli × broccoli immortal mapping population and framework genetic map: tools for breeders and complex trait analysis

A unique broccoli × broccoli doubled haploid (DH) population has been created from the F₁ of a cross between two DH broccoli lines derived from cultivars Green Duke and Marathon. We genotyped 154 individuals from this population with simple sequence repeat and amplified fragment length polymorphism markers to create a B. oleracea L. var. italica ‘intra-crop’ specific framework linkage map. The map is composed of nine linkage groups with a total length of 946.7 cM. Previous published B. oleracea maps have been constructed using diverse crosses between morphotypes of B. oleracea; this map therefore represents a useful breeding resource for the dissection of broccoli specific traits. Phenotype data have been collected from the population over five growing seasons; the framework linkage map has been used to locate quantitative trait loci for agronomically important broccoli traits including head weight (saleable yield), head diameter, stalk diameter, weight loss and relative weight loss during storage, as well as traits for broccoli leaf architecture. This population and associated linkage map will aid breeders to directly map agronomically important traits for the improvement of elite broccoli cultivars.     

Gigantonoclea guizhouensis Gu et Zhi 的叶部解剖研究

一、材料来源和研究方法解剖研究所用的D-1标本是笔者于1984年5月在贵州水城大河边煤矿二采区新开辟的运输巷侧壁砂岩中采到的,其层位经对比与田宝霖和张连武(1980)描述的水城汪家寨矿区综合地层柱中龙潭组下部第8分层的中部砂岩相当。该叶片沉积时受水流冲击,以中脉为对称轴向远轴侧对折成约20°角状(图版Ⅰ,图2)。     

Off-site primary percutaneous coronary intervention in a new centre is safe: comparing clinical outcomes with a hospital with surgical backup

Objectives

To evaluate the procedural and clinical outcomes of a new primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) centre without surgical back-up (off-site PCI) and to investigate whether these results are comparable with a high volume on-site PCI centre in the Netherlands.

Background

Controversy remains about the safety and efficacy of PPCI in off-site PCI centres.

Methods

We retrospectively analysed clinical and procedural data as well as 6?month follow-up of 226 patients diagnosed with ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) who underwent PPCI at VieCuri Medical Centre Venlo and 115 STEMI patients who underwent PPCI at Catharina Hospital Eindhoven.

Results

PPCI patients in VieCuri Medical Centre had similar procedural and clinical outcomes to those in Catharina Hospital. Overall there were no significant differences. The occurrence of procedural complications was low in both groups (8.4?% VieCuri vs. 12.3?% Catharina Hospital). In the VieCuri group there was one procedural-related death. No patients in either group needed emergency surgery. At 30 days, 17 (7.9?%) patients in the VieCuri group and 9 (8.1?%) in the Catharina Hospital group had a major adverse cardiac event.

Conclusion

Performing PPCI in an off-site PCI centre is safe and effective. The study results show that the procedural and clinical outcomes of an off-site PPCI centre are comparable with an on-site high-volume PPCI centre.

     

A new species of Apechoneura Kriechbaumer (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Labeninae) from Colombia

A new species of the ichneumonid subfamily Labeninae, Apechoneura seminigrasp. n., is described. Specimens were collected from the Amazon Rainforest of Colombia.     

Development of 81 new polymorphic EST-derived microsatellite markers for the olive flounder,Paralichthys olivaceus

Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) can be used to identify microsatellite markers. We developed 81 polymorphic microsatellite markers from 4,940 ESTs of the olive flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus. Out of 100 EST-derived microsatellites for which PCR primers were designed, 81 loci were polymorphic in 30 individuals from a single natural population with 2–28 (mean 10.6) alleles per locus. The observed and expected heterozygosities of these loci were 0.033–1.000 and 0.033–0.965, respectively. Segregation analysis within a mapping family revealed non-amplifying null alleles at five loci. These new EST-derived microsatellite markers should be useful for population genetic analyses, pedigree tracing and constructing a linkage map for olive flounder.