Cave insects with sex‐reversed genitalia had their most recent common ancestor in West Gondwana (Psocodea: Prionoglarididae: Speleketorinae)

The divergence date and ancestral distributional area of the psocid subfamily Speleketorinae, which includes taxa with reversed genitalia (female penis and male vagina of Afrotrogla and Neotrogla, tribe Sensitibillini), were estimated. The most basal divergence of the subfamily (between the North American Speleketor and the tribe Sensitibillini) was estimated to have occurred according to the separation between the North American continent and Gondwana, ca. 175 Ma. The most basal divergence of Sensitibillini (between African Afrotrogla + Sensitibilla and Brazilian Neotrogla) was estimated to have occurred according to the split of West Gondwana (separation between the African and South American continents), ca. 127 Ma. The biome of the ancestral distributional area of Sensitibillini (inland of West Gondwana) is believed to be arid to semi‐arid, which might strengthen the reversed sexual selection and then facilitate the origin of preadaptive features related to the evolution of a female penis. All extant Sensitibillini species inhabit carbonatic caves, but geological evidence suggested independent shifts of these genera to the carbonatic cave habitat in the Tertiary/Quaternary.     

试论二叠纪牙形石古地理分区、演化及其控制因素

阐述二叠纪6个时期牙形石的分布及其古地理分区的划分和演变,探讨牙形石古地区分区的主控因素及其与古气候演变的关系,应用上述古地理分区模式恢复科迪勒拉山脉有关地体牙形石群落的古地理。     

The last diadectomorph sheds light on Late Palaeozoic tetrapod biogeography

Diadectomorpha is a clade of Late Palaeozoic vertebrates widely recognized as the sister group of crown-group Amniota and the first tetrapod lineage to evolve high-fibre herbivory. Despite their evolutionary importance, diadectomorphs are restricted stratigraphically and geographically, with all records being from the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian of North America and Germany. We describe a new diadectomorph, Alveusdectes fenestralis, based on a partial skull from the Upper Permian of China. The new species exhibits the derived mechanism for herbivory and is recovered phylogenetically as a deeply nested diadectid. Approximately 16 Myr younger than any other diadectomorph, Alveusdectes is the product of at least a 46 Myr ghost lineage. How much of this time was probably spent in Russia and/or central Asia will remain unclear until a specimen is described that subdivides this cryptic history, but the lineage assuredly crossed this region before entering the relatively isolated continent of North China. The discovery of Alveusdectes raises important questions regarding diadectomorph extinction dynamics including what, if any, ecological factors limited the diversity of this group in eastern Pangea. It also suggests that increased sampling in Asia will likely significantly affect our views of clade and faunal insularity leading up to the Permo-Triassic extinction.     

Phylogenetic relationships of Dalyat mirabilis Mateu, 2002, with a revised molecular phylogeny of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae)

Dalyat mirabilis Mateu 2002 (Coleoptera: Carabidae) is a cave species recently described from SE Spain, which, based on morphological analyses, has been related to the Promecognathinae (with one genus in western North America and four genera in South Africa). In this paper, we investigated the phylogenetic relationships of the main lineages of family Carabidae, and the placement of Dalyat among them, with the 18S rRNA full sequence and a fragment of wingless with the use of parsimony, a fast maximum likelihood algorithm (implemented in the program phyml ), and Bayesian posterior probabilities. Although with wingless alone the relationships of Dalyat were not robustly supported, both with 18S rRNA and in a combined analysis there was a strong support for a sister relationship between Promecognathus and Dalyat with the three methods used. Using a molecular-clock approach the two lineages were estimated to have diverged at a similar (or slightly earlier) age than the origin of Harpalinae, known to have radiated in the Cretaceous. This is compatible with a vicariant origin of the lineage leading to Dalyat because of the isolation of the Iberian plate from Pangea in the late Jurassic to early Cretaceous. Other robust relationships within the Carabidae are the monophyly of Harpalinae (including Morionini, Peleciini and Pseudomorphini), its sister relationship with Brachininae, and the inclusion of these two subfamilies together with Scaritini and the austral Psydrinae in a strongly supported clade (the 'higher' Carabidae).     

Biogeography of the world: a case study from cyphophthalmid Opiliones, a globally distributed group of arachnids

Aim To test the hypothesis that continental drift drives diversification of organisms through vicariance, we selected a group of primitive arachnids which originated before the break‐up of Pangaea and currently inhabits all major landmasses with the exception of Antarctica, but lacks the ability to disperse across oceanic barriers. Location Major continental temperate to tropical landmasses (North America, South America, Eurasia, Africa, Australia) and continental islands (Bioko, Borneo, Japan, Java, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatra). Methods Five kb of sequence data from five gene regions for more than 100 cyphophthalmid exemplars were analysed phylogenetically using different methods, including direct optimization under parsimony and maximum likelihood under a broad set of analytical parameters. We also used geological calibration points to estimate gross phylogenetic time divergences. Results Our analyses show that all families except the Laurasian Sironidae are monophyletic and adhere to clear biogeographical patterns. Pettalidae is restricted to temperate Gondwana, Neogoveidae to tropical Gondwana, Stylocellidae to Southeast Asia, and Troglosironidae to New Caledonia. Relationships between the families inhabiting these landmasses indicate that New Caledonia is related to tropical Gondwana instead of to the Australian portion of temperate Gondwana. The results also concur with a Gondwanan origin of Florida, as supported by modern geological data. Main conclusions By studying a group of organisms with not only an ancient origin, low vagility and restricted habitats, but also a present global distribution, we have been able to test biogeographical hypotheses at a scale rarely attempted. Our results strongly support the presence of a circum‐Antarctic clade of formerly temperate Gondwanan species, a clade restricted to tropical Gondwana and a Southeast Asian clade that originated from a series of early Gondwanan terranes that rifted off northwards from the Devonian to the Triassic and accreted to tropical Laurasia. The relationships among the Laurasian species remain more obscure.     

Amphisbaenian paleobiogeography: Evidence of vicariance and geodispersal patterns

Paleobiogeographic patterns within the Amphisbaenia were evaluated using the modified Brooks Parsimony Analysis (BPA) and recently published morphological and molecular phylogenies. Extant amphisbaenians are present in Africa, South America, North America, Europe, and the Middle East. The modified BPA was used to determine the relative effects of Pangean breakup, sea-level change, and climate change on evolutionary and distributional patterns within the Amphisbaenia. The modified BPA also tested the biogeographic effect of the Rhineuridae's phylogenetic position as either most basal in the morphologic phylogeny or most derived in the molecular phylogeny. The morphological and molecular analyses resulted in two different biogeographic hypotheses. The morphological analysis indicated three major biogeographic regions for the Amphisbaenia: 1) Africa, South America, and the Caribbean, 2) western Asia, and 3) North America. The molecular analysis indicated two major biogeographic regions: 1) Africa, western Asia, and North America, and 2) South America. The morphological biogeographic pattern corresponds with the known timing of the breakup of Pangea and the resulting paleogeographic reconstructions of the Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic. While the molecular pattern is similar to patterns recovered from dinosaurian biogeographic studies, the closer connection of Africa with North America rather than South America does not match well-constrained geologic evidence for the sequence of Pangean breakup. Both paleobiogeographic analyses, however, resulted in congruent patterns of speciation through vicariance and geodispersal. This suggests that in addition to the breakup of Pangea, such cyclical Earth history processes as sea-level and climate changes played an important role in the biogeographic patterns of the Amphisbaenia.     

Evolutionary and biogeographical history of an ancient and global group of arachnids (Arachnida: Opiliones: Cyphophthalmi) with a new taxonomic arrangement

We investigate the phylogeny, biogeography, time of origin and diversification, ancestral area reconstruction and large‐scale distributional patterns of an ancient group of arachnids, the harvestman suborder Cyphophthalmi. Analysis of molecular and morphological data allow us to propose a new classification system for the group; Pettalidae constitutes the infraorder Scopulophthalmi new clade , sister group to all other families, which are divided into the infraorders Sternophthalmi new clade and Boreophthalmi new clade . Sternophthalmi includes the families Troglosironidae, Ogoveidae, and Neogoveidae; Boreophthalmi includes Stylocellidae and Sironidae, the latter family of questionable monophyly. The internal resolution of each family is discussed and traced back to its geological time origin, as well as to its original landmass, using methods for estimating divergence times and ancestral area reconstruction. The origin of Cyphophthalmi can be traced back to the Carboniferous, whereas the diversification time of most families ranges between the Carboniferous and the Jurassic, with the exception of Troglosironidae, whose current diversity originates in the Cretaceous/Tertiary. Ancestral area reconstruction is ambiguous in most cases. Sternophthalmi is traced back to an ancestral land mass that contained New Caledonia and West Africa in the Permian, whereas the ancestral landmass for Neogoveidae included the south‐eastern USA and West Africa, dating back to the Triassic. For Pettalidae, most results include South Africa, or a combination of South Africa with the Australian plate of New Zealand or Sri Lanka, as the most likely ancestral landmass, back in the Jurassic. Stylocellidae is reconstructed to the Thai‐Malay Penisula during the Jurassic. Combination of the molecular and morphological data results in a hypothesis for all the cyphophthalmid genera, although the limited data available for some taxa represented only in the morphological partition negatively affects the phylogenetic reconstruction by decreasing nodal support in most clades. However, it resolves the position of many monotypic genera not available for molecular analysis, such as Iberosiro, Odontosiro, Speleosiro, Managotria or Marwe, although it does not place Shearogovea or Ankaratra within any existing family. The biogeographical data show a strong correlation between relatedness and formerly adjacent landmasses, and oceanic dispersal does not need to be postulated to explain disjunct distributions, especially when considering the time of divergence. The data also allow testing of the hypotheses of the supposed total submersion of New Zealand and New Caledonia, clearly falsifying submersion of the former, although the data cannot reject the latter. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 105 , 92–130.     

Pangea Megasequences of Tethyan Gondwana-margin reflect global changes of climate and tectonism in Late Palaeozoic and Early Triassic times—A review

The maximum concentration of continental crust at the Pangea stage is characterized by a specific depositional sequence generally referred to as the Pangea Megasequence. Extending in time from the Late Carboniferous to the middle of the Triassic, the succession exhibits similar trends across the whole of Gondwana. Invariably, the sequence was initiated by Late Carboniferous to Early Permian glacial and periglacial deposits. Deglaciation occurred in Early Sakmarian time, evidenced by a typical, commonly transgressive facies. The succeeding formations comprise, in ascending order, coal measures, redbeds, some more coal measures and again redbeds with an intercalation of fluviatile sands in the Early Triassic.After deglaciation the basic depositional theme was modified, depending on postglacial adjustments of climate and on the type of regional tectonic regimes. Extension of the tropical climatic belt after deglaciation was one factor that governed the resulting sediment facies. Coal deposition that prevailed in central Gondwana in the Early Permian gave way to dominance of redbeds in the Middle and Late Permian and, in more distal positions, evaporitic deposits were laid down, following deglaciation. Within marine realms, coralline limestones were formed.Within Gondwana the depositional period of the Pangea Megasequence was governed by three distinctive tectonic regimes: collision dominated the Panthalassa margin, transpressional sag controlled the interior basins, and extension and rifting was experienced along the entire Tethyan margin. In the Early Permian, large and complex graben structures commenced to develop between Africa and India (Malagasy Trough) and between India and Australia (West Australian Trough), giving access to Tethyan waters during deglaciation, commencing in the late Early Sakmarian.Rifting along the Tethyan margin commenced in the Early Permian and was associated with active volcanism between Cashmere and Yunnan and in north-western Australia. Spreading of Neo-Tethys and the formation of oceanic crust, leading to the separation of the Cimmerian Blocks from Gondwana, commenced in the late Early Permian and continued into the Triassic. Thus two facies realms developed, an intracratonic rift facies comprising the Cashmere, Lhasa and Baoshan blocks and a facies controlled by detachment, comprising more distal blocks, such as Tengchong, Malay and Sumatra. The present distribution of individual blocks was governed by fold movements of the Himalayan Orogeny, complicated by transpression along the eastern Himalayan Syntaxis.     

Novel Relationships Among Ten Fish Model Species Revealed Based on a Phylogenomic Analysis Using ESTs

The power of comparative phylogenomic analyses also depends on the amount of data that are included in such studies. We used expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from fish model species as a proof of principle approach in order to test the reliability of using ESTs for phylogenetic inference. As expected, the robustness increases with the amount of sequences. Although some progress has been made in the elucidation of the phylogeny of teleosts, relationships among the main lineages of the derived fish (Euteleostei) remain poorly defined and are still debated. We performed a phylogenomic analysis of a set of 42 of orthologous genes from 10 available fish model systems from seven different orders (Salmoniformes, Siluriformes, Cypriniformes, Tetraodontiformes, Cyprinodontiformes, Beloniformes, and Perciformes) of euteleostean fish to estimate divergence times and evolutionary relationships among those lineages. All 10 fish species serve as models for developmental, aquaculture, genomic, and comparative genetic studies. The phylogenetic signal and the strength of the contribution of each of the 42 orthologous genes were estimated with randomly chosen data subsets. Our study revealed a molecular phylogeny of higher-level relationships of derived teleosts, which indicates that the use of multiple genes produces robust phylogenies, a finding that is expected to apply to other phylogenetic issues among distantly related taxa. Our phylogenomic analyses confirm that the euteleostean superorders Ostariophysi and Acanthopterygii are monophyletic and the Protacanthopterygii and Ostariophysi are sister clades. In addition, and contrary to the traditional phylogenetic hypothesis, our analyses determine that killifish (Cyprinodontiformes), medaka (Beloniformes), and cichlids (Perciformes) appear to be more closely related to each other than either of them is to pufferfish (Tetraodontiformes). All 10 lineages split before or during the fragmentation of the supercontinent Pangea in the Jurassic. [Reviewing Editor: Dr. Rafael Zardoya]     

The evolution of the Brachycytheride Ostracoda in the context of the breakup of Pangea

The ostracode Family Brachycytheridae is one of the most common taxa of Late Cretaceous shallow marine microfossils, and occurs in the marginal basins of Africa, Madagascar, the Middle East, South and North America and the Caribbean region. Their migration pathways were controlled largely by the plate tectonic events associated with the breakup of Pangea and the formation of the North and South Atlantic Oceans, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. This study is an attempt to combine specific information on the plate tectonic events as evidenced by the timings of continental-scale structural movements, sea level dynamics (largely the product of mantle processes), the creation and destruction of migration pathways, and taxonomy of the group, and thus relate deep-seated Earth processes, surficial expression of these movements, and biological evolution. Although the Late Cretaceous Brachycytheridae are very widely distributed, their use for correlation has been hampered due to their conservative external morphology, with all of them having a posteriorly-sloped dorsal margin and a swollen ventrolateral carapace, and all of them were long assigned to a single genus, Brachycythere. In 2002, Puckett defined a new genus, Acuminobrachycythere, based on a distinctive clade of North American brachycytherids. It was also recognized at that time that the members of the family from Gondwana (mainly Africa and South America) were distinct in having a single (unsplit) second adductor muscle scar, whereas all of those from North America had a split second adductor. This tiny difference holds significant paleogeographic—and presumably evolutionary—information. Two new genera are therefore described herein, Sapucariella, which is restricted to Gondwana, and Tricostabrachycythere, which is an early, short-lived genus that occurred around the margins of Gondwana. Three new species are described and one is re-described. In all, there are six genera in the Family Brachycytheridae, which include Acuminobrachycythere, Brachycythere, Kaesleria (which is restricted to the Middle East), Opimocythere (which evolved in the Paleogene of North America and is the last of the Brachycytheridae), Sapucariella and Tricostabrachycythere. Taxonomic information is presented for 85 species, including new images of many of the type specimens. A summary of the breakup of Pangea is also presented, with precise paleogeographic reconstructions based on global magnetic anomalies.