Two new species and a new subgenus of toothed Brachyhypopomus electric knifefishes (Gymnotiformes,Hypopomidae) from the central Amazon and considerations pertaining to the evolution of a monophasic electric organ discharge

We describe two new, closely related species of toothed Brachyhypopomus (Hypopomidae: Gymnotiformes: Teleostei) from the central Amazon basin and create a new subgenus for them. Odontohypopomus, new subgenus of Brachyhypopomus, is diagnosed by (1) small teeth present on premaxillae; (2) medialmost two branchiostegal rays thin with blades oriented more vertically than remaining three rays; (3) background color in life (and to lesser extent in preservation) distinctly yellowish with head and sides peppered with small, widely spaced, very dark brown stellate chromatophores that greatly contrast with light background coloration; (4) a dark blotch or bar of subcutaneous pigment below the eye; (5) electric organ discharge waveform of very long duration (head-positive phase approx. 2 milliseconds or longer, head-negative phase shorter or absent) and slow pulse repetition rate (3–16 Hz). The type species of the new subgenus, Brachyhypopomus (Odontohypopomus) walteri sp. n., is diagnosed by the following additional character states: (1) subcutaneous dark pigment at base of orbit particularly prominent, (2) body semi-translucent and nearly bright yellow background coloration in life, (3) a biphasic electric organ discharge (EOD) waveform of very long duration (between 3.5 and 4 milliseconds at 25° C) with head-positive first phase significantly longer than second head-negative phase in both sexes. Brachyhypopomus (Odontohypopomus) bennetti sp. n. is diagnosed by two character states in addition to those used to diagnose the subgenus Odontohypopomus: (1) a deep electric organ, visible as large semi-transparent area, occupying approximately 14–17% body depth directly posterior to the abdominal cavity in combination with a short, but deep, caudal filament, and (2) a monophasic, head-positive EOD waveform, approximately 2.1 milliseconds in duration in both sexes. These are the only described rhamphichthyoid gymnotiforms with oral teeth, and Brachyhypopomus bennetti is the first Brachyhypopomus reported to have a monophasic (head-positive) EOD waveform. Unlike biphasic species, the waveform of its EOD is largely unaffected by tail damage from predators. Such injuries are common among specimens in our collections. This species’ preference for floating meadow habitat along the major channels of the Amazon River basin may put it at particularly high risk of predation and “tail grazing.”     

Systematics of Old World Odontacolus Kieffer s.l. (Hymenoptera,Platygastridae s.l.): parasitoids?of?spider?eggs

The genera Odontacolus Kieffer and Cyphacolus Priesner are among the most distinctive platygastroid wasps because of their laterally compressed metasomal horn; however, their generic status has remained unclear. We present a morphological phylogenetic analysis comprising all 38 Old World and four Neotropical Odontacolus species and 13 Cyphacolus species, which demonstrates that the latter is monophyletic but nested within a somewhat poorly resolved Odontacolus. Based on these results Cyphacolus syn. n. is placed as a junior synonym of Odontacolus which is here redefined. The taxonomy of Old World Odontacolus s.str. is revised; the previously known species Odontacolus longiceps Kieffer (Seychelles), Odontacolus markadicus Veenakumari (India), Odontacolus spinosus (Dodd) (Australia) and Odontacolus hackeri (Dodd) (Australia) are re-described, and 32 new species are described: Odontacolus africanus Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Congo, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe), Odontacolus aldrovandii Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Nepal), Odontacolus anningae Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Cameroon), Odontacolus australiensis Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Australia), Odontacolus baeri Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Australia), Odontacolus berryae Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Australia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island), Odontacolus bosei Valerio & Austin sp. n. (India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka), Odontacolus cardaleae Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Australia), Odontacolus darwini Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Thailand), Odontacolus dayi Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Indonesia), Odontacolus gallowayi Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Australia), Odontacolus gentingensis Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Malaysia), Odontacolus guineensis Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Guinea), Odontacolus harveyi Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Australia), Odontacolus heratyi Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Fiji), Odontacolus heydoni Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Malaysia, Thailand), Odontacolus irwini Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Fiji), Odontacolus jacksonae Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Cameroon, Guinea, Madagascar), Odontacolus kiau Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Papua New Guinea), Odontacolus lamarcki Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Thailand), Odontacolus madagascarensis Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Madagascar), Odontacolus mayri Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Indonesia, Thailand), Odontacolus mot Valerio & Austin sp. n. (India), Odontacolus noyesi Valerio & Austin sp. n. (India, Indonesia), Odontacolus pintoi Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Australia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island), Odontacolus schlingeri Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Fiji), Odontacolus sharkeyi Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Thailand), Odontacolus veroae Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Fiji), Odontacolus wallacei Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Australia, Indonesia, Malawi, Papua New Guinea), Odontacolus whitfieldi Valerio & Austin sp. n. (China, India, Indonesia, Sulawesi, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam), Odontacolus zborowskii Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Australia), and Odontacolus zimi Valerio & Austin sp. n. (Madagascar). In addition, all species of Cyphacolus are here transferred to Odontacolus: Odontacolus asheri (Valerio, Masner & Austin) comb. n. (Sri Lanka), Odontacolus axfordi (Valerio, Masner & Austin) comb. n. (Australia), Odontacolus bhowaliensis (Mani & Mukerjee) comb. n. (India), Odontacolus bouceki (Austin & Iqbal) comb. n. (Australia), Odontacolus copelandi (Valerio, Masner & Austin) comb. n. (Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Thailand), Odontacolus diazae (Valerio, Masner & Austin) comb. n. (Kenya), Odontacolus harteni (Valerio, Masner & Austin) comb. n. (Yemen, Ivory Coast, Paskistan), Odontacolus jenningsi (Valerio, Masner & Austin) comb. n. (Australia), Odontacolus leblanci (Valerio, Masner & Austin) comb. n. (Guinea), Odontacolus lucianae (Valerio, Masner & Austin) comb. n. (Ivory Coast, Madagascar, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe), Odontacolus normani (Valerio, Masner & Austin) comb. n. (India, United Arab Emirates), Odontacolus sallyae (Valerio, Masner & Austin) comb. n. (Australia), Odontacolus tessae (Valerio, Masner & Austin) comb. n. (Australia), Odontacolus tullyae (Valerio, Masner & Austin) comb. n. (Australia), Odontacolus veniprivus (Priesner) comb. n. (Egypt), and Odontacolus watshami (Valerio, Masner & Austin) comb. n. (Africa, Madagascar). Two species of Odontacolus are transferred to the genus Idris Förster: Idris longispinosus (Girault) comb. n. and Idris amoenus (Kononova) comb. n., and Odontacolus doddi Austin syn. n. is placed as a junior synonym of Odontacolus spinosus (Dodd). Odontacolus markadicus, previously only known from India, is here recorded from Brunei, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The relationships, distribution and biology of Odontacolus are discussed, and a key is provided to identify all species.     

Two newly recognized species of Hemidactylus (Squamata,Gekkonidae) from the Arabian Peninsula?and Sinai,Egypt

A recent molecular phylogeny of the Arid clade of the genus Hemidactylus revealed that the recently described H. saba and two unnamed Hemidactylus species from Sinai, Saudi Arabia and Yemen form a well-supported monophyletic group within the Arabian radiation of the genus. The name ‘Hemidactylus saba species group’ is suggested for this clade. According to the results of morphological comparisons and the molecular analyses using two mitochondrial (12S and cytb) and four nuclear (cmos, mc1r, rag1, rag2) genes, the name Hemidactylus granosus Heyden, 1827 is resurrected from the synonymy of H. turcicus for the Sinai and Saudi Arabian species. The third species of this group from Yemen is described formally as a new species H. ulii sp. n. The phylogenetic relationships of the members of ‘Hemidactylus saba species group’ are evaluated and the distribution and ecology of individual species are discussed.     

De Novo Assembly and Functional Annotation of the Olive (Olea europaea) Transcriptome

Olive breeding programmes are focused on selecting for traits as short juvenile period, plant architecture suited for mechanical harvest, or oil characteristics, including fatty acid composition, phenolic, and volatile compounds to suit new markets. Understanding the molecular basis of these characteristics and improving the efficiency of such breeding programmes require the development of genomic information and tools. However, despite its economic relevance, genomic information on olive or closely related species is still scarce. We have applied Sanger and 454 pyrosequencing technologies to generate close to 2 million reads from 12 cDNA libraries obtained from the Picual, Arbequina, and Lechin de Sevilla cultivars and seedlings from a segregating progeny of a Picual × Arbequina cross. The libraries include fruit mesocarp and seeds at three relevant developmental stages, young stems and leaves, active juvenile and adult buds as well as dormant buds, and juvenile and adult roots. The reads were assembled by library or tissue and then assembled together into 81 020 unigenes with an average size of 496 bases. Here, we report their assembly and their functional annotation.     

Phylogeny and morphology of Hirsutella tunicata sp. nov. (Ophiocordycipitaceae), a novel mite parasite from Peru

A new species of Hirsutella was isolated from unidentified mites on Petri plates inoculated with soil and root fragments collected from asparagus rhizosphere at Virú, Northern Peru. The fungus differs from other Hirsutella species by an envelope surrounding the conidium, conidia dimension and DNA sequences. In PDA cultures, the mycelium produced aerial hyphae with conidiogenous cells mainly at right angles, occasionally showing a secondary conidiophore. The solitary conidia are cymbiform, slightly apiculate, 5.0–6.0 × 3.0–4.0 μm. Phylogenetic analyses with partial rRNA and β-tubulin gene sequences confirmed the fungus as an Hirsutella (Ophiocordycipitaceae). Closest species shown by maximum likelihood and neighbor-joining trees were H. nodulosa and H. aphidis, from which the new species differs for conidium or conidiogenous cells dimensions, lack of synnemata and host type. A recombination event was also detected in the rRNA of the holotype strain, involving Ophiocordyceps sinensis as major parent and O. cochlidiicola as minor parent. A complement, inverted insertion was also found in its rRNA, involving part of the ITS2 and 5.8S regions, flanked by two short nucleotide arrays. Due to conidia dimension and phylogenetic position, the fungus is described as Hirsutella tunicata sp. nov. A review of mononematous Hirsutella species is provided.     

Climatic and geometric constraints as driving factors of butterfly species richness along a Neotropical elevational gradient

We tested the effects of temperature, humidity and geographical constraints upon butterfly species richness along an elevational gradient covering an altitude ranging from 117 to 3,104 m above sea level (m. a.s.l.), in Southern Mexico. Ten transect sites were sampled 219 times from May 2010 to May 2011, along the elevational gradient to estimate range and population abundance of butterfly species. The effects of temperature, humidity and geometric constraints (mid-domain effects) on species richness along the study gradient were assessed using ordinary least squares regression. A total of 7,005 specimens representing 193 species were recorded. Species richness was relatively higher at elevations between 117 and 1,000 m. a.s.l. with an observed decline in richness values as elevation increased. Butterfly species richness along the study environmental gradient was predominantly determined by climatic constraints, rather than geometric constraints—a mid-domain model fit well only for large-ranged Pieridae species. Temperature and humidity explained the variation species richness for the entire butterfly community and for the three families evaluated; however the effect of predictor variables varied according to the measure of species richness and taxonomic family. This discrepancy in the response of butterfly richness to temperature, humidity and geometric constraints emphasizes the need to evaluate the response of different taxa to elevational gradients, to establish general patterns that help us to prioritize conservation measures that reduce population declines and local extinctions predicted by climate change in highly diverse tropical mountain ecosystems.     

Continuous production of selenomethionine-enriched Chlorella sorokiniana biomass in a photobioreactor

This article describes the enrichment of the fresh-water green microalga Chlorella sorokiniana in selenomethionine (SeMet). The microalga was cultivated in a 2.2 L glass-vessel photobioreactor, in a culture medium supplemented with selenate (SeO₄^2?) concentrations ranging from 5 to 50 mg L^?1. Although selenate exposure lowered culture viability, C. sorokiniana grew well at all tested selenate concentrations, however cultures supplemented with 50 mg L^?1 selenate did not remain stable at steady state. A suitable selenate concentration in fresh culture medium for continuous operation was determined, which allowed stable long-term cultivation at steady state and maximal SeMet productivity. In order to do that, the effect of dilution rate on biomass productivity, viability and SeMet content of C. sorokiniana at several selenate concentrations were determined in the photobioreactor. A maximal SeMet productivity of 21 μg L^?1 day^?1 was obtained with 40 mg L^?1 selenate in the culture medium. Then a continuous cultivation process at several dilution rates was performed at 40 mg L^?1 selenate obtaining a maximum of 246 μg L^?1 day^?1 SeMet at a low dilution rate of 0.49 day^?1, calculated on total daily effluent volume. This paper describes for the first time an efficient long-term continuous cultivation of C. sorokiniana for the production of biomass enriched in the high value amino acid SeMet, at laboratory scale.