Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Lagartija andaluza – Podarcis vaucheri (Boulenger, 1905)

Reptiles - Orden Squamata - Familia Lacertidae en la Enciclopedia Virtual de Vertebrados Españoles, http://www.vertebradosibericos.org/. Versiones anteriores: 12-12-2008; 27-08-2009A comprehensive review of the natural history of the Andalusian wall lizard Podarcis vaucheri in Spain.Peer reviewe

Phylogeography of Psammodromus algirus (Lacertidae) revisited: Systematic implications

Relationships among Psammodromus algirus populations from the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa, including recently described P. jeanneae and P. manuelae, were estimated from mitochondrial DNA gene sequences. This enlarged data set confirmed the presence of two divergent eastern and western mitochondrial DNA lineages on the Iberian Peninsula, the distributions for which are separated by a narrow zone of contact across the centre of the Peninsula. Paratypes of P. jeanneae and topotypes of P. manuelae represent southern and northern clades of the western lineage, respectively, making P. algirus paraphyletic. This, together with the low level of allozymic and mitochondrial DNA substructuring within western populations, is not sufficient to retain P. jeanneae and P. manuelae as valid species, and we relegate them to the status of junior synonyms of P. algirus. © 2010 Brill Academic Publishers.Financial support from the projects CGL2007-02744/BOS and CGL2009-11663/BOS was provided by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.Peer Reviewe

Impact of mountain chains, sea straits and peripheral populations on genetic and taxonomic structure of a freshwater turtle, Mauremys leprosa (Reptilia, Testudines, Geoemydidae)

Mauremys leprosa, distributed in Iberia and North-west Africa, contains two major clades of mtDNA haplotypes. Clade A occurs in Portugal, Spain and Morocco north of the Atlas Mountains. Clade B occurs south of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and north of the Atlas Mountains in eastern Algeria and Tunisia. However, we recorded a single individual containing a clade B haplotype in Morocco from north of the Atlas Mountains. This could indicate gene flow between both clades. The phylogenetically most distinct clade A haplotypes are confined to Morocco, suggesting both clades originated in North Africa. Extensive diversity within clade A in south-western Iberia argues for a glacial refuge located there. Other regions of the Iberian Peninsula, displaying distinctly lower haplotype diversities, were recolonized from within south-western Iberia. Most populations in Portugal, Spain and northern Morocco contain the most common clade A haplotype, indicating dispersal from the south-western Iberian refuge, gene flow across the Strait of Gibraltar, and reinvasion of Morocco by terrapins originating in south-western Iberia. This hypothesis is consistent with demographic analyses, suggesting rapid clade A population increase while clade B is represented by stationary, fragmented populations. We recommend the eight, morphologically weakly diagnosable, subspecies of M. leprosa be reduced to two, reflecting major mtDNA clades: Mauremys l. leprosa (Iberian Peninsula and northern Morocco) and M. l. saharica (southern Morocco, eastern Algeria and Tunisia). Peripheral populations could play an important role in evolution of M. leprosa because we found endemic haplotypes in populations along the northern and southern range borders. Previous investigations in another western Palearctic freshwater turtle (Emys orbicularis) discovered similar differentiation of peripheral populations, and phylogeographies of Emys orbicularis and Mauremys rivulata underline the barrier status of mountain chains, in contrast to sea straits, suggesting common patterns for western Palearctic freshwater turtles

New dates and new rates for divergence across the Isthmus of Panama

Sister species separated by the Isthmus of Panama have been widely used to estimate rates of molecular evolution. These estimates are based on the assumption that geographic isolation occurred nearly simultaneously for most taxa, when connections between the Caribbean and eastern Pacific closed approximately three million years ago. Here we show that this assumption is invalid for the only genus for which many taxa and multiple genetic markers have been analysed. Patterns of divergence exhibited by allozymes and the mitochondrial COI gene are highly concordant for 15 pairs of snapping shrimp in the genus Alpheus, indicating that they provide a reasonable basis for estimating time since cessation of gene flow. The extent of genetic divergence between pairs of sister species varied over fourfold. Sister species from mangrove environments showed the least divergence, as would be expected if these were among the last habitats to be divided. Using this pair yields a rate of sequence divergence of 1.4% per one million years, with implied times of separation for the 15 pairs of 3 to 18 million years ago. Many past studies may have overestimated rates of molecular evolution because they sampled pairs that were separated well before final closure of the Isthmus

Sleep neuron depolarization promotes protective gene expression changes and FOXO activation

Sleep is an essential state that allows for recuperation and survival processes. Disturbing sleep triggers stress responses that promote protective gene expression. Sleep and its deprivation grossly impact gene expression, but little is known about how normal or disturbed sleep control gene expression. Central to the induction of sleep are sleep-active neurons, which inhibit wakefulness and promote survival. Sleep and sleep-active neurons are highly conserved. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the sleep-active RIS neuron is crucial for sleep and survival. Here, we show that RIS depolarization promotes the protective gene expression response that occurs during developmental arrest. This response includes the activation of FOXO/DAF-16 and expression of DAF-16 target genes such as HSP-12.6, a small heat-shock protein that is required for starvation survival. Disturbing sleep by mechanical stimulation increases RIS depolarization. RIS activation in turn activates DAF-16 and other genes required for survival. Hence, during normal sleep, RIS depolarization promotes protective gene expression. When sleep is disturbed, protective gene expression gets further increased by raised RIS depolarization. We thus link sleep-active neuron depolarization to protective gene expression changes and suggest that the cellular stress response following sleep deprivation could be understood as a safeguarding process that is caused by the overactivation of sleep-active neurons

Acute myeloid leukemia: negative prognostic impact of early blast persistence can be in part overcome by a later remission prior to post-induction therapy

In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), there is an ongoing debate on the prognostic value of the early bone marrow (BM) assessment in patients receiving intensive therapy. In this retrospective study, we have analyzed the prognostic impact of the early response in 1008 newly diagnosed AML patients, who were treated at our institution with intensive chemotherapy followed by consolidation chemotherapy and/or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). We found that early blast persistence has an independent negative prognostic impact on overall survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS) and relapsefree survival (RFS). This negative prognostic impact may only be overcome in patients showing at least a partial remission at the early BM assessment and who subsequently achieve blast clearance by additional induction chemotherapy prior to consolidation therapy with allo-HSCT. In accordance, we propose that the time slope of remission is an additional leukemia-related dynamic parameter that reflects chemosensitivity and thus may inform postinduction therapy decision-making. In addition to patient-related factors, European LeukemiaNet (ELN) risk group, measurable residual disease (MRD) monitoring and donor availability, this may particularly apply to ELN intermediate risk patients, in whom a decision between consolidation chemotherapy and allo-HSCT remains challenging in many cases