Taxonomy of five species of cyrtophorids (Protozoa: Ciliophora) including consideration of the phylogeny of two new genera

Cyrtophorids are a specialized group of ciliated protozoa with multitudinous morphotypes. In the present work, the morphology and infraciliature of two new and three rarely known species, including two new genera of cyrtophorid ciliates, Heterohartmannula fangi gen. et sp. nov. , Aporthotrochilia pulex (Deroux, 1976) gen. et comb. nov. , Trochilia alveolata sp. nov. , Trochochilodon flavus Deroux, 1976, and Hypocoma acinetarum Collin, 1907, are described. Heterohartmannula gen. nov. is mainly characterized by a combination of features: two circumoral kineties obliquely arranged, podite not surrounded by somatic kineties, and no distinct gap between left and right ciliary field. Aporthotrochilia gen. nov. is diagnosed mainly by: podite present, oral ciliature reduced to two fragments, several kinety fragments positioned on the right posterior of frontoventral kineties and several terminal fragments. Phylogenetic analyses based on the small subunit rRNA (SSU rRNA) gene sequences support the establishment of two new genera and indicate that Heterohartmannula is most closely related to Hartmannula, and Aporthotrochilia is basal to the Cyrtophoria‐Chonotrichia clade. Trochilia alveolata sp. nov. differs from its congeners mainly by having a conspicuous alveolar layer. In addition, detailed live and infraciliature data of Hypocoma acinetarum and Trochochilodon flavus are supplied. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 164 , 1–17.     

Two new species in the Chaetoceros socialis complex (Bacillariophyta): C. sporotruncatus and C. dichatoensis,and characterization of its relatives,C. radicans and C. cinctus

The diatom genus Chaetoceros is one of the most abundant and diverse phytoplankton in marine and brackish waters worldwide. Within this genus, Chaetoceros socialis has been cited as one of the most common species. However, recent studies from different geographic areas have shown the presence of pseudo‐cryptic diversity within the C. socialis complex. Members of this complex are characterized by curved chains (primary colonies) aggregating into globular clusters, where one of the four setae of each cell curves toward the center of the cluster and the other three orient outwards. New light and electron microscopy observations as well as molecular data on marine planktonic diatoms from the coastal waters off Chile revealed the presence of two new species, Chaetoceros sporotruncatus sp. nov. and C. dichatoensis. sp. nov. belonging to the C. socialis complex. The two new species are similar to other members of the complex (i.e., C. socialis and C. gelidus) in the primary and secondary structure of the colony, the orientation pattern of the setae, and the valve ultrastructure. The only morphological characters that can be used to differentiate the species of this complex are aspects related to resting spore morphology. The two newly described species are closely related to each other and form a sister clade to C. gelidus in molecular phylogenies. We also provide a phylogenetic status along with the morphological characterization of C. radicans and C. cintus, which are genetically related to the C. socialis complex.     

The monospecific genus Meredithia (Kallymeniaceae,Gigartinales) is species rich and geographically widespread with species from temperate Atlantic,Pacific, and Indian Oceans

Using sequences of 5′ region of the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 gene, large subunit rDNA, and ribulose‐1,5‐bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase large subunit gene as genetic markers to elucidate their phylogenetic positions, six unknown species from Western Australia, Tasmania, Lord Howe Is., and Norfolk Is. cluster with Meredithia in the Kallymeniaceae (Gigartinales), and are described as new members of this previously monospecific genus. Specimens from Bermuda referable to Kallymenia limminghei Mont. in the 20th century also clustered with this genetic grouping, not with the generitype of Kallymenia. The Bermudian specimens are further shown to be morphologically distinct from the type of K. limminghei (Guadeloupe, Caribbean Sea) and are described as a new species, Meredithia crenata. Using these Indo‐Pacific and Bermudian collections, our analyses further show that Psaromenia is closely related to Meredithia, and that Cirrulicarpus nanus sensu stricto should be returned to Meredithia.     

Taxonomy of the genus Acymatopus Takagi (Diptera: Dolichopodidae)

Two new species of the genus Acymatopus from Japan and China are described. This is the first record of Acymatopus outside Japan. A key to all six valid species of the genus is given, and their distributions are mapped and discussed.     

A Plains‐wanderer (Pedionomidae) that did not wander plains: a new species from the Oligocene of South Australia

The remarkable fauna of Australia evolved in isolation from other landmasses for millions of years, yet understanding the evolutionary history of endemic avian lineages on the continent is confounded by the ability of birds to disperse over geographical barriers even after vicariance events. The Plains‐wanderer Pedionomus torquatus (Charadriiformes) is an enigmatic, predominantly sedentary, quail‐like bird that occurs exclusively in sparse native grasslands of southeastern Australia. It is the only known species of its family (Pedionomidae), and its closest relatives are the South American seedsnipes (Thinocoridae). Here we describe a further representative of this lineage, Oligonomus milleri gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Oligocene of South Australia (26–24 Ma), which pre‐dates the earliest record of P. torquatus by c. 22 Ma and attests to the presence of this lineage during Australia's period of isolation (50–15 Ma). Based on the morphology of the coracoid and the palynological record, we propose that O. milleri and P. torquatus were ecologically disparate taxa and that, similar to coeval marsupials, O. milleri inhabited well‐wooded habitats, suggesting that the preference for grassland in the extant P. torquatus and thinocorids is likely to be convergent and not ancestral. The speciation event leading to the evolution of the extant Plains‐wanderer was probably triggered by the spread of grasslands across Australia in the Late Miocene–Pliocene, which this record pre‐dates. The presence of a pedionomid in the Late Oligocene of Australia strengthens the hypothesis of a Gondwanan divergence of the lineages giving rise to Thinocoridae and Pedionomidae.     

Phylogeography of the Indo‐West Pacific maskrays (Dasyatidae,Neotrygon): a complex example of chondrichthyan radiation in the Cenozoic

Maskrays of the genus Neotrygon (Dasyatidae) have dispersed widely in the Indo‐West Pacific being represented largely by an assemblage of narrow‐ranging coastal endemics. Phylogenetic reconstruction methods reproduced nearly identical and statistically robust topologies supporting the monophyly of the genus Neotrygon within the family Dasyatidae, the genus Taeniura being consistently basal to Neotrygon, and Dasyatis being polyphyletic to the genera Taeniurops and Pteroplatytrygon. The Neotrygon kuhlii complex, once considered to be an assemblage of color variants of the same biological species, is the most derived and widely dispersed subgroup of the genus. Mitochondrial (COI, 16S) and nuclear (RAG1) phylogenies used in synergy with molecular dating identified paleoclimatic fluctuations responsible for periods of vicariance and dispersal promoting population fragmentation and speciation in Neotrygon. Signatures of population differentiation exist in N. ningalooensis and N. annotata, yet a large‐scale geological event, such as the collision between the Australian and Eurasian Plates, coupled with subsequent sea‐level falls, appears to have separated a once homogeneous population of the ancestral form of N. kuhlii into southern Indian Ocean and northern Pacific taxa some 4–16 million years ago. Repeated climatic oscillations, and the subsequent establishment of land and shallow sea connections within and between Australia and parts of the Indo‐Malay Archipelago, have both promoted speciation and established zones of secondary contact within the Indian and Pacific Ocean basins.     

A new genus of cave‐dwelling microcrustaceans from the Dinaric Region (south‐east Europe): adaptations of true stygobitic Cladocera (Crustacea: Branchiopoda)

We revise ‘true’ stygobitic cladocerans and lift three species from Alona Baird, 1843 (Cladocera: Chydoridae). Species of Brancelia gen. nov. are inhabitants of saturated karst, collected in pools of residual water in the amphibious zones of a few caves in the Dinaric Region, Europe. All species are blind (regression of eye and ocellus), have elongated sensorial equipment (aesthetascs) and a short rostrum, reduced antennal spines, and a globular body. In contrast to earlier hypotheses, there is no epigean chydorid taxon from the Palaearctic that can be linked to Brancelia gen. nov. The new genus may be an offshoot of six‐limbed Aloninae, but a littoral‐benthic ancestor is not apparent and most likely extinct. Evolution of Brancelia gen. nov. parallels that of other subterranean Cladocera like Phreatalona Van Damme, Brancelj & Dumont, 2009. We discuss the functional morphology of Brancelia gen. nov. and compare its adaptations to a subterranean life mode with those of Phreatalona. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 161 , 31–52.     

Etheliaceae fam. nov. (Gigartinales,Rhodophyta), with a clarification of the generitype of Ethelia and the addition of six novel species from warm waters

Based upon COI‐5P, LSU rDNA, and rbcL sequence data and morphological characteristics, six new members of the noncalcified crustose genus of red algae Ethelia are described in a new family, Etheliaceae (Gigartinales), sister to the recently described Ptilocladiopsidaceae. The novel species are described from subtropical to tropical Atlantic and Indo‐Pacific Ocean basins; E. mucronata sp. nov. and E. denizotii sp. nov. from southern and northern Western Australia respectively, E. wilcei sp. nov. from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands of Australia, E. suluensis sp. nov. from the Philippines, E. umbricola sp. nov. from Bermuda and E. kraftii sp. nov. from Lord Howe Island, Australia. The generitype, Ethelia biradiata, originally reported from the Seychelles, Indian Ocean, is added to the Western Australian flora.     

SYSTEMATICS OF ANADYOMENE SPECIES (ANADYOMENACEAE,CHLOROPHYTA) IN THE TROPICAL WESTERN ATLANTIC1

Three new species of Anadyomene are described. Anadyomene lacerata has pinnately branched veins and a unique lacerated margin formed by elongated vein cells. Anadyomene linkiana consists of a perforate blade arising by polychotomous branching from a distinct stripe, and A. howei has an eperforate, delicate blade of polychotomously branched cells and a smooth margin of elongated vein cells. Distinguishing features of the five previously described species are clarified, and all eight taxa are illustrated. Observations in the field and from more than 400 herbarium specimens form the basis for a discussion of Indo-Pacific affinities, ecological adaptations, cell division, reproduction, and ordinal status. A phylogenetic analysis based on 17 equally weighted characters produced a cladistic gradation, indicating that Anadyomene is a monophyletic genus. The most basal species (A. saldanhae, A. linkiana, A. howei, A. menziesii) show only polychotomous branching. In contrast, the distal group (A. pavonina, A. stellata, A. rhizoidifera, A. lacerata) have pinnate interstitial cells along the veins in addition to polychotomous branching at the vein apices.     

Phase contrast X‐ray synchrotron microtomography and the oldest damselflies in amber (Odonata: Zygoptera: Hemiphlebiidae)

Electrohemiphlebia barucheli gen. et sp. nov. and Jordanhemiphlebia electronica gen. et sp. nov. , two new genera and species are described, based on exceptional inclusions of hemiphlebiid damselflies in Cretaceous amber from France and Jordan. The type specimen of E. barucheli was studied using phase contrast X‐ray synchrotron microtomography, giving exceptional images and detailed information. Its comparison with the recent Hemiphlebia mirabilis confirms the attribution of several Cretaceous damselflies to the Hemiphlebiidae, showing that this particular group was widespread in the Early Cretaceous and probably originated in the Late Jurassic or earlier. The ecological niches today occupied by the small coenagrionoid damselflies were occupied during the Triassic and Jurassic by Protozygoptera, hemiphlebiids during the Early Cretaceous, and modern taxa in the Cenozoic.     

A revision of the genus Cryptonemia (Halymeniaceae,Rhodophyta) in Bermuda,western Atlantic Ocean,including five new species and C. bermudensis (Collins & M. Howe) comb. nov.

Cryptonemia specimens collected in Bermuda over the past two decades were analysed using gene sequences encoding the large subunit of the nuclear ribosomal DNA and the large subunit of RuBisCO as genetic markers to elucidate their phylogenetic positions. They were additionally subjected to morphological assessment and compared with historical collections from the islands. Six species are presently found in the flora including C. bermudensis comb. nov., based on Halymenia bermudensis, and the following five new species: C. abyssalis, C. antricola, C. atrocostalis, C. lacunicola and C. perparva. Of the eight species known in the western Atlantic flora prior to this study, none is found in Bermuda. Specimens reported in the islands in the 1900s attributed to C. crenulata and C. luxurians are representative of the new species, C. antricola and C. atrocostalis, respectively.     

The Larva and Pupa of Pseudoneureclipsis lusitanicus Malicky, 1980 (Trichoptera: Hydropsychoidea): Description,Ecological Data and Taxonomical Considerations

Pseudoneureclipsis lusitanicus Malicky, 1980, is reported from a large tributary of the Loire River, the first record of this genus and species from France. In Europe, this genus was previously known from Portugal. Larval and pupal characters suggest that the genus does not belong to the family Polycentropodidae, as currently classified.     

An integrative approach to reveal speciation and species richness in the genus Diasporus (Amphibia: Anura: Eleutherodactylidae) in eastern Panama

We have applied an integrative taxonomic approach, including bioacoustics, ecology, morphology, and molecular genetics (barcoding and phylogeography), to explore species richness in the genus Diasporus in eastern Panama, from where only Diasporus quidditus (Lynch, 2001) was previously known. During fieldwork in eastern Panama in 2011 and 2012 we found six additional species, four of which we are describing here as new to science, plus two species that are new for this region. We have evaluated the presence of Diasporus diastema (Cope, 1875) in eastern Panama by comparing morphological, genetic, and bioacoustic characters of specimens from near the type locality in central Panama with specimens from eastern Panama. We further describe and compare male advertisement calls of most Diasporus species. The phylogeographic analysis suggests the allopatric speciation of Diasporus species in eastern Panama following the completion of the Panamanian isthmus in the middle Miocene. Subsequent geological events concur with the vicariant evolution of different lineages in situ, suggesting eastern Panama to be a centre of endemism for this group of frogs. We present an integrative analysis of the species from eastern Panama and include an identification key for all species of the genus.