Structure of the β-orcinol depsidones,connorstictic and consalazinic acids

The structures of connorstictic acid from Pertusaria pseudocorallina and consalazinic acid from Parmotrema subisidiosum were determined.     

Behavioral syndromes influence mating systems: floater pairs of a lizard have heavier offspring

Variation in correlated behaviors or behavioral syndromes couldhave interesting effects on mating systems, especially if thevariation in syndrome exists in both sexes. Both males and femalesof the lizard Eulamprus heatwolei display two behavioral typesof a behavioral syndrome, defined by correlations between territorial,exploratory, and predator avoidance behaviors. We tested howthis variation in behavioral syndrome influences reproductivesuccess, pairing patterns, and offspring weight. We used spatialbehavior and residency in the field to identify territorialand floater individuals. Females were relocated to the laboratoryto give birth, and all offspring, dams, and potential sireswere genotyped to determine offspring paternity. During fieldsurveys, 164 lizards were caught of which 27.5% were territorialand the rest were floaters. Paternity was assigned to 66% ofthe 104 offspring produced by 33 dams. Territorial sires fathereda greater proportion of the offspring of territorial dams thanfloater sires. Larger territorial males were more likely tosire the entire clutch or share paternity with fewer additionalsires than smaller territorial males. Floater sire size, however,did not influence the number of fathers per litter. Floaterfemales produced heavier offspring than their territorial counterparts,and offspring fathered by floaters were heavier than maternalhalf-sibs fathered by territorial males. We speculate that differencesin offspring weight may be the result of differences in yolkprovisioning by females and parent genetic compatibility.     

Ancient drainages divide cryptic species in Australia's arid zone: morphological and multi-gene evidence for four new species of Beaked Geckos (Rhynchoedura)

Deserts and other arid zones remain among the least studied biomes on Earth. Emerging genetic patterns of arid-distributed biota suggest a strong link between diversification history and both the onset of aridification and more recent cycles of severe aridification. A previous study based on 1 kb of mtDNA of the monotypic gecko genus Rhynchoedura identified five allopatric clades across the vast Australian arid zone. We supplemented this data with 2.2kb from three nuclear loci and additional mtDNA sequences. Phylogenetic relationships estimated from the mtDNA data with ML and Bayesian methods were largely concordant with relationships estimated with the nDNA data only, and mtDNA and nDNA data combined. These analyses, and coalescent-based species-tree inference methods implemented with (?)BEAST, largely resolve the relationships among them. We also carried out an examination of 19 morphological characters for 268 museum specimens from across Australia, including all 197 animals for which we sequenced mtDNA. The mtDNA clades differ subtly in a number of morphological features, and we describe three of them as new species, raise a fourth from synonymy, and redescribe it and the type species, Rhynchoedura ornata. We also describe a morphologically distinctive new species from Queensland based on very few specimens. The distribution of arid zone clades across what is now relatively homogeneous sand deserts seems to be related to a topographic divide between the western uplands and eastern lowlands, with species' distributions correlated with dryland rivers and major drainage divides. The existence of five cryptic species within the formerly monotypic Rhynchoedura points to ancient divergences within the arid zone that likely were driven by wet phases as well as dry ones.     

Molecular phylogeny of the Australian frog genera Crinia, Geocrinia, and allied taxa (Anura: Myobatrachidae).

We present a mitochondrial gene tree for representative species of all the genera in the subfamily Myobatrachinae, with special emphasis on Crinia and Geocrinia. This group has been the subject of a number of long-standing taxonomic and phylogenetic debates. Our phylogeny is based on data from approximately 780 bp of 12S rRNA and 676 bp of ND2, and resolves a number of these problems. We confirm that the morphologically highly derived monotypic genera Metacrinia, Myobatrachus, and Arenophryne are closely related, and that Pseudophryne forms the sister group to these genera. Uperoleia and the recently described genus Spicospina are also part of this clade. Our data show that Assa and Geocrinia are reciprocally monophyletic and together they form a well-supported clade. Geocrinia is monophyletic and the phylogenetic relationships with the genus are fully resolved with two major species groups identified: G. leai, G. victoriana, and G. laevis; and G. rosea, G. alba, and G. vitellina (we were unable to sample G. lutea). We confirm that Taudactylus forms the sister group to the other myobatrachine genera, but our data are equivocal on the phylogenetic position of Paracrinia. The phylogenetic relationships among Crinia species are well resolved with strong support for a number of distinct monophyletic clades, but more data are required to resolve relationships among these major Crinia clades. Crinia tasmaniensis and Bryobatrachus nimbus form the sister clade to the rest of Crinia. Due to the lack of generic level synapomorphies for a Bryobatrachus that includes C. tasmaniensis, we synonymize Bryobatrachus with Crinia. Crinia georgiana does not form a clade distinct from other Crinia species and so our data do not support recognition of the genus Ranidella for other Crinia species. Crinia subinsignifera, C. pseudinsignifera, and C. insignifera are extremely closely related despite differences in male advertisement call. A preliminary investigation of phylogeographic substructure within C. signifera revealed significant divergence between samples from across the range of this species.