Integrative taxonomy resuscitates two species in the Lasioglossum villosulum complex (Kirby, 1802) (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Halictidae)

peer reviewedMorphological and allozyme analyses suggested the occurrence of a pseudocryptic species in the Lasioglossum villosulum (Kirby, 1802) species complex (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). We analysed the morphology of more than 1500 specimens and the DNA barcode fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) of 102 specimens of this species complex from several Palaearctic countries. Our phylogenetic tree reconstructions, based on maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference revealed one clade corresponding to all specimens morphologically identified as Lasioglossum medinai (Vachal, 1895) and one divergent specimen morphologically identified as Lasioglossum berberum (Benoist, 1941). The other specimens, morphologically identified as L. villosulum, aggregated into at least three other lineages in our phylogenetic trees. The tree-based species delineations methods based on the Generalized Mixed Yule Coalescent (GMYC) model and the Bayesian Poisson Tree Process (bPTP) identified five to ten candidate species within the L. villosulum species complex, with L. medinai and L. berberum consistently recognized as separated from all other candidate species. Diagnostic morphological differences were found among L. medinai, L. berberum and the remaining specimens identified as L. villosulum. No diagnostic morphological differences were found to distinguish the different phylogenetic candidate species or lineages found within L. villosulum and L. medinai. Thus,both genetic and morphological approaches support the existence of L. medinai and L. berberum as distinct species from L. villosulum

Systematics of Afrotropical Eristalinae (Diptera: Syrphidae) using mitochondrial phylogenomics

Published online: 11 Jan 2022We examined the phylogeny and intrageneric classification of eristaline hoverfly genera from the Afrotropical Region using mitochondrial genomes. Genome skimming was used to obtain (nearly) full mtDNA and nuclear rDNA (18S, 28S) genomes of 120 museum vouchers from eight genera and 98 species. Phylogenetic reconstructions of mitogenomes and mitogenomes + nuclear rDNA yielded comparable phylogenies while that of rDNA only resulted in poorly resolved phylogenies. Phylogenetic analyses focused on six genera and supported the monophyly of the general Chasmomma Bezzi, Eristalinus Rondani, Mesembrius Rondani and Syritta Le Peletier & Serville, whereas Simoides Loew was not monophyletic and rendered Phytomia Guérin-Méneville paraphyletic. We therefore synonymize Simoides with Phytomia. Within Chasmomma, two species-groups that differ in the colour and the shape of the hind femora (Chasmomma femoratum and Chasmomma nigrum species-groups) were supported. Within Eristalinus, the monophyly of the subgenera Merodonoides Curran and Eristalodes Mik was supported, but not of the subgenus Eristalinus Rondani. Within Syritta, the monophyly of three out of the five species-groups tested was rejected. This approach illustrates the importance of integrative and iterative approaches in taxonomy and shows that genomic data may not only clarify the systematic relationships among hoverfly genera and species, but also offer perspectives into the evolution of morphological and ecological variation within the family

One year after on Tyrrhenian coasts: The ban of cotton buds does not reduce their dominance in beach litter composition

In January 2019, Italy banned the sale of plastic cotton buds, which is one of the most abundant litter items entering the sea and then washing ashore. However, since the ban came into force, no studies have been carried out to assess whether the measure has actually led to the reduction of plastic cotton buds accumulating on Italian coasts. Here we aim at evaluating the effectiveness of the ban in reducing the amount of cotton buds reaching sandy beaches of the Tyrrhenian coast. Specifically, we monitored the accumulation of beach litter for one year since the ban came into force. By surveying eight coastal sites from winter 2019 to winter 2020, we collected a total of 52,824 items mostly constituted by plastic debris (97.6%). We found that cotton buds were the most abundant item (42.3% of total litter), followed by plastic (28.5%) and polystyrene (5.43%) fragments. Our preliminary assessment suggests that the ban has so far not led to a sensible reduction in the amount of cotton buds entering the marine ecosystem. This was to be expected since implementation strategies are still lacking (i.e. no economic sanctions can be imposed in case of non-compliance) and bans are differently implemented among countries facing the Mediterranean Sea, calling for law enforcement and implementation at the national and international levels

An observational efficacy and safety analysis of the treatment of acute invasive aspergillosis using voriconazole

The purpose of this study was to evaluate efficacy and safety of voriconazole in patients with acute invasive aspergillosis (IA) in a real-life, clinical setting. This was a multicenter observational study in adult patients treated with voriconazole for invasive mycosis. The study evaluated clinical response, mortality, use of other licensed antifungal therapy (OLAT), and treatment duration. This sub-analysis evaluated treatment and outcome data specifically from adult patients with proven/probable IA, while safety data were assessed in patients with proven/probable/possible IA. Of the 141 patients enrolled, 113 were adults with proven/probable IA and six had possible IA. Voriconazole treatment duration ranged from 1 to 183 days (median, 49.5 days). Voriconazole was used exclusively in 64% (72/113) of patients and in combination/sequentially with OLAT in 36%. Overall successful treatment response was 50% (57/113 patients). Twelve percent (14/113) of patients were switched to OLAT, either because of insufficient response (four patients) or for safety reasons (10 patients). Overall and attributable (entirely or partially due to fungal infection) mortality rates were 52% (59/113) and 17%, respectively. Treatment-related adverse events were reported for 18% (22/119) of patients. This observational study confirms the results of previous clinical trials demonstrating voriconazole as an effective and safe agent for treatment of confirmed acute IA

Sustained Progression-Free Survival Benefit of Rituximab Maintenance in Patients With Follicular Lymphoma : Long-Term Results of the PRIMA Study

PURPOSE The PRIMA study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00140582) established that 2 years of rituximab maintenance after first-line immunochemotherapy significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with follicular lymphoma compared with observation. Here, we report the final PFS and overall survival (OS) results from the PRIMA study after 9 years of follow-up and provide a final overview of safety. METHODS Patients (> 18 years of age) with previously untreated high-tumor-burden follicular lymphoma were nonrandomly assigned to receive one of three immunochemotherapy induction regimens. Responding patients were randomly assigned (stratified by induction regimen, response to induction treatment, treatment center, and geographic region) 1:1 to receive 2 years of rituximab maintenance (375 mg/m(2), once every 8 weeks), starting 8 weeks after the last induction treatment, or observation (no additional treatment). All patients in the extended follow-up provided their written informed consent (data cutoff: December 31, 2016). RESULTS In total, 1,018 patients completed induction treatment and were randomly assigned to rituximab maintenance (n = 505) or observation (n = 513). Consent for the extended follow-up was provided by 607 patients (59.6%) of 1,018 (rituximab maintenance, n = 309; observation, n = 298). After data cutoff, median PFS was 10.5 years in the rituximab maintenance arm compared with 4.1 years in the observation arm (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.52 to 0.73; P <.001). No OS difference was seen in patients randomly assigned to rituximab maintenance or observation (hazard ratio, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.77 to 1.40; P = .7948); 10-year OS estimates were approximately 80% in both study arms. No new safety signals were observed. CONCLUSION Rituximab maintenance after induction immunochemotherapy provides a significant long-term PFS, but not OS, benefit over observation.Peer reviewe

Modern wolves trace their origin to a late Pleistocene expansion from Beringia

Grey wolves (Canis lupus) are one of the few large terrestrial carnivores that maintained a wide geographic distribution across the Northern Hemisphere throughout the Pleistocene and Holocene. Recent genetic studies have suggested that, despite this continuous presence, major demographic changes occurred in wolf populations between the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, and that extant wolves trace their ancestry to a single late Pleistocene population. Both the geographic origin of this ancestral population and how it became widespread remain a mystery. Here we analyzed a large dataset of novel modern and ancient mitochondrial wolf genomes, spanning the last 50,000 years, using a spatially and temporally explicit modeling framework to show that contemporary wolf populations across the globe trace their ancestry to an expansion from Beringia at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum - a process most likely driven by the significant ecological changes that occurred across the Northern Hemisphere during this period. This study provides direct ancient genetic evidence that long-range migration has played an important role in the population history of a large carnivore and provides an insight into how wolves survived the wave of megafaunal extinctions at the end of the last glaciation. Moreover, because late Pleistocene grey wolves were the likely source from which all modern dogs trace their origins, the demographic history described in this study has fundamental implications for understanding the geographical origin of the dog

Re-Identification of an exotic bee introduced to the hunter valley region, New South Wales - Seladonia hotoni (Vachal, 1903) (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

In 2004 and 2006, well-established populations of an exotic halictine bee were found in the Upper Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, Australia. On the basis of morphology, the species was identified as Halictus (Seladonia) smaragdulus Vachal, 1895 by an expert familiar with that genus. Subsequently, it was discovered that there are six species in the S. smaragdula complex, but none of the six had the same mitochondrial DNA barcode as the species found in Australia. The introduced bee has been shown to be conspecific with an African species by mitochondrial COI DNA sequences and identified as Seladonia hotoni (Vachal, 1903) by morphology

The mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I gene reveals phylogeographic structure in the African Goshawk Accipiter tachiro (Accipitridae)

We used a 298 bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI) to examine sequence variation in (mostly) museum specimens of the African Goshawk Accipiter tachiro. Our results showed two clades with high bootstrap support in a phylogenetic analysis and two groups in a nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis. Each of the two phylogenetic clades corresponded to one of the NMDS groups. One clade comprised haplotypes of the subspecies A. t. lopezi, A. t. macroscelides, A. t. toussenelli and A. t. canescens and corresponded to the morphospecies A. toussenelii. This taxon has a more north-western distribution. The second clade comprised haplotypes of the subspecies A. t. sparsimfasciatus, A. t. pembaensis and A. t. tachiro and corresponded to the morphospecies A. tachiro, which has a more south-eastern distribution. Furthermore, one branch corresponded to the morphospecies A. t. unduliventer, which is confined to the Ethiopian highlands. The genetic divergence observed among the three A. tachiro morphospecies appeared concordant with the ecological and morphological divergence and suggests the existence of three putative species. Within A. tachiro and A. toussenelii there is substantial morphological, but very little genetic, differentiation among subspecies.Keywords: Accipiter tachiro, African Goshawk, COI, nonmetric multidimensional scaling, phylogeny, taxonom

DNA barcoding reveals new insights into the diversity of Antarctic species of <i>Orchomene sensu lato</i> (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Lysianassoidea)

Recent molecular analyses revealed that several so-called "circum-Antarctic" benthic crustacean species appeared to be complexes of cryptic species with restricted distributions. In this study we used a DNA barcoding approach based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene sequences in order to detect possible cryptic diversity and to test the circumpolarity of some lysianassoid species. The orchomenid genus complex consists of the genera Abyssorchomene, Falklandia, Orchomenella, Orchomenyx and Pseudorchomene. Species of this genus complex are found throughout the Southern Ocean and show a high species richness and level of endemism. In the majority of the studied species, a genetic homogeneity was found even among specimens from remote sampling sites, which indicates a possible circum-Antarctic and eurybathic distribution. In four investigated species (Orchomenella (Orchomenopsis) acanthurus, Orchomenella (Orchomenopsis) cavimanus, Orchomenella (Orchomenella) franklini and Orchomenella (Orchomenella) pinguides), genetically divergent lineages and possible cryptic taxa were revealed. After a detailed morphological analysis, O. (O.) pinguides appeared to be composed of two distinct species, formerly synonymized under O. (O.) pinguides. The different genetic patterns observed in these orchomenid species might be explained by the evolutionary histories undergone by these species and by their different dispersal and gene flow capacities