36 research outputs found
Biotopical distribution and seasonal activity of model species of the family Gnaphosidae (Araneae) in Zemen gorge (SW Bulgaria)
A faunistic study was carried out for three years in Zemen gorge (1984-1986). With the help of Barber-traps 675 gnaphosid spiders were caught in 4 localities, each with 2 habitats, meadow and forest. 23 species were found in total and their biotopical distribution was recorded. The investigated habitats are faunistically similar, mainly in qualitative respect. In addition data about the phenology of the most frequent species are presented. The males are most abundant in spring and summer and disappear in VIII, the females are most numerous after VII and can be found till the end of IX, whereas the juveniles can be found till the end of X. The species abundance reaches its peak in V-VI
A survey of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Prince of Wales Island, Alaska : combining morphological and DNA barcode identification techniques
Surveys during the summer of 2004 and August 2009 on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, USA resulted in collection of 1064 adult spiders representing 84 species. Barcoding of spiders collected in 2009 resulted in DNA barcode data for 212 specimens representing 63 species. DNA barcode data were then used to facilitate the identification of otherwise unidentifiable juvenile and female specimens as well as to investigate phylogenetically four lineages with large branch lengths between specimens. Using morphological and DNA barcode identifications provided a more complete list of identified specimens than was possible using morphological data alone
Description of Ozyptila balcanica sp. n. from the Balkan Peninsula and its Comparison with the closely related O. umbraculorum Simon, 1932 (Araneae: Thomisidae)
Ozyptila balcanica sp. n. is described (based on both males and females) from Bulgaria (Zemen Gorge),
Greece (Arkadia, Mainalo) and FYR Macedonia (Skopje Region, Osogovo Mts.). The new species resembles
the poorly known O. umbraculorum Simon, 1932, recorded from France, Portugal and Spain, but
is clearly a distinct species. Illustrations of both taxa are presented. Due to the isolated position of both
species in the genus, we proposed a new species group â umbraculorum, characterised by a large intermediate apophysis (ITA), armed with well-developed teeth, and a long scimitar-shaped tegular apophysis.
The females have similar epigynes with pan-shaped median septum.This study has been supported by the SYNTHESYS
Project (http://www.synthesys.info/) financed by EC Research
Infrastructure Action under the FP7 âCapacitiesâ Program. Part of
this project was co-founded also by the European Union (European
Social Fund) and National Resources under the Operational Programme
âEducation and Lifelong Learningâ Action 81324 â SPIDOnetGR,
ARISTEIA II Programme, NSRF 2007-2013.Peer reviewe
DNA barcoding indicates hidden diversity of \u3cem\u3eEuscorpius\u3c/em\u3e (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) in Turkey
The Anatolian fauna of the genus Euscorpius (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) is in the process of reassessment. Twelve species of this genus are currently recognized for Anatolia, of which seven have been recently described on the basis of morphology. We demonstrate additional cryptic diversity in Anatolian Euscorpius by applying molecular markers (mitochondrial COI and 16S rDNA genes) from 14 populations, of which 13 were morphologically characterized by âem=3,â a phenotypic marker on the pedipalp patella. All studied Anatolian forms are strongly supported as a single clade compared to the European (from the Alps to the Balkans) taxa of the subgenus Alpiscorpius. Of these, six are assigned to known species (E. ciliciensis, E. mingrelicus, E. eskisehirensis, E. phrygius, and E. uludagensis); and three (Aksaray, Ankara, Sakarya) are closely related to a clade containing E. phrygius and E. uludagensis. Four clades represent undescribed taxonomic forms, possibly of species level: Balikesir/Canakkale (KazdaÄları National Park), Konya, Denizli, and Trabzon, all with em=3. Another putative species from Kayseri Province, AladaÄlar (=Antitaurus) Mts., is related to (E. ciliciensis + E. eskisehirensis) clade; however, it exhibits em=4, which appears to be the first case of reversal in this important trait for the genus Euscorpius
Euscorpius sicanus (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae) from Tunisia: DNA Barcoding Confirms Ancient Disjunctions Across the Mediterranean Sea
We used a DNA barcoding marker (mitochondrial cox1) to investigate the controversial natural occurrence of Euscorpius sicanus (C.L. Koch) in North Africa. We tested this hypothesis by comparing a sample collected from a mountain in Tunisia to disjunct populations in Sardinia, Malta, and Greece. Using these samples, and a few additional Euscorpius spp. from southern Europe as outgroups, we reconstructed the maternal phylogeny. We then used a molecular clock to place the phylogeny in a temporal context. The Tunisian sample grouped closest to a specimen from Sardinia, with both being more distantly related to E. sicanus from Malta, which is known to be genetically similar to samples from Sicily. Molecular clock estimates suggest an ancient disjunction across the Mediterranean Sea, with the divergence between samples from Sardinia and Tunisia estimated to have occurred between the Late Miocene and late Pliocene. The divergence date (mean = 5.56 Mya) closely corresponds with the timing of a sudden refilling of the Mediterranean Sea after it had evaporated during the Messinian salinity crisis. This rapid influx of water, in conjunction with tectonic activity, could have sundered connections between Euscorpius in North Africa and what is now the island of Sardinia. These results provide yet another case in which DNA barcodes have proven useful for more than just identifying and discovering species
A reference library for Canadian invertebrates with 1.5 million barcodes, voucher specimens, and DNA samples
The synthesis of this dataset was enabled by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, from Genome Canada through Ontario Genomics, from NSERC, and from the Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science in support of the International Barcode of Life project. It was also enabled by philanthropic support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and from Ann McCain Evans and Chris Evans. The release of the data on GGBN was supported by a GGBN â Global Genome Initiative Award and we thank G. Droege, L. Loo, K. Barker, and J. Coddington for their support. Our work depended heavily on the analytical capabilities of the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD, www.boldsystems.org). We also thank colleagues at the CBG for their support, including S. Adamowicz, S. Bateson, E. Berzitis, V. Breton, V. Campbell, A. Castillo, C. Christopoulos, J. Cossey, C. Gallant, J. Gleason, R. Gwiazdowski, M. Hajibabaei, R. Hanner, K. Hough, P. Janetta, A. Pawlowski, S. Pedersen, J. Robertson, D. Roes, K. Seidle, M. A. Smith, B. St. Jacques, A. Stoneham, J. Stahlhut, R. Tabone, J.Topan, S. Walker, and C. Wei. For bioblitz-related assistance, we are grateful to D. Ireland, D. Metsger, A. Guidotti, J. Quinn and other members of Bioblitz Canada and Ontario Bioblitz. For our work in Canadaâs national parks, we thank S. Woodley and J. Waithaka for their lead role in organizing permits and for the many Parks Canada staff who facilitated specimen collections, including M. Allen, D. Amirault-Langlais, J. Bastick, C. Belanger, C. Bergman, J.-F. Bisaillon, S. Boyle, J. Bridgland, S. Butland, L. Cabrera, R. Chapman, J. Chisholm, B. Chruszcz, D. Crossland, H. Dempsey, N. Denommee, T. Dobbie, C. Drake, J. Feltham, A. Forshner, K. Forster, S. Frey, L. Gardiner, P. Giroux, T. Golumbia, D. Guedo, N. Guujaaw, S. Hairsine, E. Hansen, C. Harpur, S. Hayes, J. Hofman, S. Irwin, B. Johnston, V. Kafa, N. Kang, P. Langan, P. Lawn, M. Mahy, D. Masse, D. Mazerolle, C. McCarthy, I. McDonald, J. McIntosh, C. McKillop, V. Minelga, C. Ouimet, S. Parker, N. Perry, J. Piccin, A. Promaine, P. Roy, M. Savoie, D. Sigouin, P. Sinkins, R. Sissons, C. Smith, R. Smith, H. Stewart, G. Sundbo, D. Tate, R. Tompson, E. Tremblay, Y. Troutet, K. Tulk, J. Van Wieren, C. Vance, G. Walker, D. Whitaker, C. White, R. Wissink, C. Wong, and Y. Zharikov. For our work near Canadaâs ports in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax, we thank R. Worcester, A. Chreston, M. Larrivee, and T. Zemlak, respectively. Many other organizations improved coverage in the reference library by providing access to specimens â they included the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Smithsonian Institutionâs National Museum of Natural History, the Canadian Museum of Nature, the University of Guelph Insect Collection, the Royal British Columbia Museum, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Pacifc Forestry Centre, the Northern Forestry Centre, the Lyman Entomological Museum, the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, and rare Charitable Research Reserve. We also thank the many taxonomic specialists who identifed specimens, including A. Borkent, B. Brown, M. Buck, C. Carr, T. Ekrem, J. Fernandez Triana, C. Guppy, K. Heller, J. Huber, L. Jacobus, J. Kjaerandsen, J. Klimaszewski, D. Lafontaine, J-F. Landry, G. Martin, A. Nicolai, D. Porco, H. Proctor, D. Quicke, J. Savage, B. C. Schmidt, M. Sharkey, A. Smith, E. Stur, A. Tomas, J. Webb, N. Woodley, and X. Zhou. We also thank K. Kerr and T. Mason for facilitating collections at Toronto Zoo and D. Iles for servicing the trap at Wapusk National Park. This paper contributes to the University of Guelphâs Food from Thought research program supported by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. The Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD; www.boldsystems.org)8 was used as the primary workbench for creating, storing, analyzing, and validating the specimen and sequence records and the associated data resources48. The BOLD platform has a private, password-protected workbench for the steps from specimen data entry to data validation (see details in Data Records), and a public data portal for the release of data in various formats. The latter is accessible through an API (http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/resources/api?type=webservices) that can also be controlled through R75 with the package âboldâ76.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
A molecular-based identification resource for the arthropods of Finland
Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Resources published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.To associate specimens identified by molecular characters to other biological knowledge, we need reference sequences annotated by Linnaean taxonomy. In this study, we (1) report the creation of a comprehensive reference library of DNA barcodes for the arthropods of an entire country (Finland), (2) publish this library, and (3) deliver a new identification tool for insects and spiders, as based on this resource. The reference library contains mtDNA COI barcodes for 11,275 (43%) of 26,437 arthropod species known from Finland, including 10,811 (45%) of 23,956 insect species. To quantify the improvement in identification accuracy enabled by the current reference library, we ran 1000 Finnish insect and spider species through the Barcode of Life Data system (BOLD) identification engine. Of these, 91% were correctly assigned to a unique species when compared to the new reference library alone, 85% were correctly identified when compared to BOLD with the new material included, and 75% with the new material excluded. To capitalize on this resource, we used the new reference material to train a probabilistic taxonomic assignment tool, FinPROTAX, scoring high success. For the full-length barcode region, the accuracy of taxonomic assignments at the level of classes, orders, families, subfamilies, tribes, genera, and species reached 99.9%, 99.9%, 99.8%, 99.7%, 99.4%, 96.8%, and 88.5%, respectively. The FinBOL arthropod reference library and FinPROTAX are available through the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (www.laji.fi) at https://laji.fi/en/theme/protax. Overall, the FinBOL investment represents a massive capacity-transfer from the taxonomic community of Finland to all sectors of society.Peer reviewe
Biotopical distribution and seasonal activity of model species of the family Gnaphosidae (Araneae) in Zemen gorge (SW Bulgaria)
Volume: 7Start Page: 20End Page: 3
Spiders of Albania â Faunistic and Zoogeographical Review (Arachnida: Araneae)
The spider fauna of Albania is still insuffi ciently studied. The present list was compiled after a critical
review of the existing literature data and taxonomic review of some available collections. The study
comprises 335 species from 36 families. In this number, 197 species are new to the spider fauna of the
country. According to their current distribution the species can be assigned to 18 zoogeographical categories,
grouped into 5 complexes (Cosmopolitic, Holarctic, European, Mediterranean, Endemics). Dominant
are Holarctic species (56.4%) followed by European (16.4%) and Mediterranean (16.2%). The endemics
(8%) are also well presented and refl ect the local character of the fauna and the main role of the Balkan
Peninsula in its origin and formation.The research received also support from the SYNTHESYS Project which is fi nanced by
the European Community Research Infrastructure Action under
the FP6 âStructuring the European Research Areaâ Program.Peer reviewe
A new species of Alopecosa (Araneae: Lycosidae) from Canada: a morphological description supported by DNA barcoding of 19 congeners
Blagoev, Gergin A., Dondale, Charles D. (2014): A new species of Alopecosa (Araneae: Lycosidae) from Canada: a morphological description supported by DNA barcoding of 19 congeners. Zootaxa 3894 (1): 152-160, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3894.1.1