The life cycle of the little known and endangered endemic Madeiran Brimstone Butterfly Gonepteryx maderensis Felder, 1862 (Pieridae)

Volume: 32Start Page: 145End Page: 15

Complete DNA barcode reference library for a country's butterfly fauna reveals high performance for temperate Europe

DNA barcoding aims to accelerate species identification and discovery, but performance tests have shown marked differences in identification success. As a consequence, there remains a great need for comprehensive studies which objectively test the method in groups with a solid taxonomic framework. This study focuses on the 180 species of butterflies in Romania, accounting for about one third of the European butterfly fauna. This country includes five eco-regions, the highest of any in the European Union, and is a good representative for temperate areas. Morphology and DNA barcodes of more than 1300 specimens were carefully studied and compared. Our results indicate that 90 per cent of the species form barcode clusters allowing their reliable identification. The remaining cases involve nine closely related species pairs, some whose taxonomic status is controversial or that hybridize regularly. Interestingly, DNA barcoding was found to be the most effective identification tool, outperforming external morphology, and being slightly better than male genitalia. Romania is now the first country to have a comprehensive DNA barcode reference database for butterflies. Similar barcoding efforts based on comprehensive sampling of specific geographical regions can act as functional modules that will foster the early application of DNA barcoding while a global system is under development

A New Species of \u3ci\u3eIstiodactylus\u3c/i\u3e (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea) from the Lower Cretaceous of Liaoning, China

Istiodactylus sinensis, sp. nov., from the Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning, People\u27s Republic of China, is described on the basis of a single nearly complete and nearly osteologically adult specimen. This is the tenth pterosaur described from this formation and the eighteenth pterosaur species described from northeastern China in almost half as many years. The species is placed in the Istiodactylidae, which was previously a monospecific family of pterodactyloid pterosaurs known only from the Isle of Wight, England. The new form is distinct from the two other istiodactylid species. It is smaller, more plesiomorphic, and younger than Istiodactylus latidens, but larger and more derived than the contemporaneous Nurhachius ignaciobritoi. Istiodactylus sinensis is very similar to I. latidens, so that almost all of the previous autapomorphies of I. latidens are now synapomorphies of Istiodactylus. They differ most in that I. sinensis is much smaller than I. latidens. The length of the wingspan, skull, and most of the preserved limb elements of I. sinensis are about 63 percent of the wingspan and elements of I. latidens. This new specimen demonstrates that Istiodactylus is diagnosed by, among other characters, a dorsoventrally depressed but not laterally expanded rostrum, and the presence of a suborbital vacuity. A dorsal deflection of the alveolar margins of the jaws and a humerus between 55 percent and one and a half times the length of metacarpal IV are synapomorphies uniting the Istiodactylidae and the Anhangueridae