The first sawfly from the Oligocene of Céreste (Southern France) (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae)

Luberotenthredo cerestensis gen. et sp. nov. is the first record of the sawfly family Tenthredinidae from the Oligocene of Céreste (Southern France). This taxon is described and illustrated based on a well-preserved specimen. This genus resembles the extant genus Perineura (subfamily Tenthredininae, tribe Perineurini) with which it shares forewing venation similarities and numerous morphological characters. This new taxon is the first fossil representative of the tribe Perineurini and can be used as a calibration point for future investigation of the diversification of the family Tenthredinidae

T4 apoptosis in the acute phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection predicts long COVID

BackgroundAs about 10% of patients with COVID-19 present sequelae, it is important to better understand the physiopathology of so-called long COVID.MethodTo this aim, we recruited 29 patients hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2 infection and, by Luminex®, quantified 19 soluble factors in their plasma and in the supernatant of their peripheral blood mononuclear cells, including inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, Th1/Th2/Th17 cytokines, and endothelium activation markers. We also measured their T4, T8 and NK differentiation, activation, exhaustion and senescence, T cell apoptosis, and monocyte subpopulations by flow cytometry. We compared these markers between participants who developed long COVID or not one year later.ResultsNone of these markers was predictive for sequelae, except programmed T4 cell death. T4 lymphocytes from participants who later presented long COVID were more apoptotic in culture than those of sequelae-free participants at Month 12 (36.9 ± 14.7 vs. 24.2 ± 9.0%, p = 0.016).ConclusionsOur observation raises the hypothesis that T4 cell death during the acute phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection might pave the way for long COVID. Mechanistically, T4 lymphopenia might favor phenomena that could cause sequelae, including SARS-CoV-2 persistence, reactivation of other viruses, autoimmunity and immune dysregulation. In this scenario, inhibiting T cell apoptosis, for instance, by caspase inhibitors, could prevent long COVID

Pelecyogyra (Mollusca) from the Early Ordovician of the Montagne Noire, France

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A new Caloneurodea family (Insecta, Archaeorthoptera) increases the insect palaeodiversity of the middle Permian Salagou Formation (southern France)

International audienceA new genus and species of the archaeorthopteran order Caloneurodea are described and illustrated from the Salagou Formation (France) as Lodevogramma pumilia gen. et sp. nov. The particular wing venation of this species precludes its placement within one of the already described families of Caloneurodea. Consequently, the family Lodevogrammatidae fam. nov. is created to accommodate this specimen. A detailed comparison of the new species with other Caloneurodea is provided. This new species differs from all other Caloneurodea because it has: petiolate wings; the area between C and R/RA is very narrow; vein RA ends near the wing apex; vein RP has two branches; the fork of CuP basad the base of M; and two very short anal veins are present. This new species increases the diversity of Caloneurodea in the Salagou Formation and provides additional information on the diversity of the order around the late Capitanian extinction. We compared the diversity of Caloneurodea with that of Megasecoptera, another order with a similar history between the Carboniferous and the Permian, and hypothesized that the decrease in the size of both groups could be an indicator of their declines, possibly related to floral changes, following a pattern similar to that of Permian tetrapods. The decline of Caloneurodea could also be related to the diversification of the Orthoptera during the middle–late Permian

A new ‘grylloblattodean’ genus and species (Insecta: Polyneoptera) from the middle Permian Salagou Formation (France)

International audienceLodevoisadia coheni gen. et sp. nov. is described as the ninth species of ‘Grylloblattodea’ from the middle Permian of the Salagou Formation, near Lodève town (France). It is currently not reasonable to place this species into a specific family, even though it seems to share most characters with the small family Tunguskapteridae. The lack of phylogenetic analysis and the current poor delineation of the majority of the grylloblattodean families (lacking synapomorphies) render any attribution of new taxa to a particular family often uncertain

Perineurini Rohwer 1911

<p>Tribe Perineurini Rohwer, 1911 (sensu Wei & Nie 1998)</p> Remark <p> Most fossil species currently placed in the genus <i>Tenthredo</i> Linnaeus, 1758 should be revised because, in many cases, these attributions were only a way to indicate affinities with the family Tenthredinidae.</p>Published as part of <i>Nel, André, Wei, Meicai, Niu, Gengyun, Coster, Pauline, Boderau, Mathieu, Josse, Hugo, Kundura, Jean-Paul, Kundura, Marie-Hélène, Brisac, Patrick, Boudet, Loup & Jouault, Corentin, 2024, The first sawfly from the Oligocene of Céreste (Southern France) (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), pp. 1-18 in European Journal of Taxonomy 917</i> on page 3, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2024.917.2383, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10453406">http://zenodo.org/record/10453406</a&gt

Luberotenthredo cerestensis Nel & Wei & Niu & Coster & Boderau & Josse & Kundura & Kundura & Brisac & Boudet & Jouault 2024, sp. nov.

<i>Luberotenthredo cerestensis</i> sp. nov. <p>urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: C0B3232C-A6E4-4769-8830-1175B235 CAD 9</p> <p>Figs 1–4</p> Diagnosis <p>As for the genus, by monotypy (vide supra).</p> Etymology <p>Named after the small village of Céreste (Luberon, Southern France).</p> Type material <p> <b>Holotype</b></p> <p>FRANCE • ♀ (imprint of a complete specimen fossilized in dorsal view); Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, South of the village of Céreste; Early Oligocene, ‘ Calcaire de Campagne-Calavon’ Formation; PNRL 2716, stored in the Musée de Géologie, Réserve géologique du Luberon, Parc naturel régional du Luberon, Apt, France.</p> Type locality and horizon <p>France, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, South of the village of Céreste, Early Oligocene, ‘Calcaire de Campagne-Calavon’ Formation.</p> Description <p>MEASUREMENTS. Body length 8.7 mm.</p> <p>COLOR. Body brown with darker head; compound eyes dark brown; wings hyaline, pterostigma dark brown anteriorly and lighter posteriorly.</p> <p>HEAD. Deformed and poorly preserved, 1.4 mm long, 2.0 mm wide; compound eyes large, occupying most of head lateral surface, deformed; mouthparts not preserved except left mandible with at least one apical and two preapical teeth; antennae very long, slightly longer than abdomen; scape and pedicel very short; seven flagellomeres; third antennomere as long as fourth; preapical flagellomeres cylindrical, elongate, slightly truncate obliquely.</p> <p>THORAX. ca 3.0 mm long, 2.8 mm wide, apparently smooth (deformed by compression); pronotum markedly constricted medially; propleuron short and head close to thorax; legs not preserved.</p> <p>FOREWING. Complete, 7.5 mm long, 2.9 mm wide; short anterior Sc branch located slightly anteriad Sc+R and 1-M meeting point; pterostigma 1.3 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, strongly arched along cell 2R1, slightly arched along anterior wing margin; M+Cu slightly curved; 1-M slightly longer than 1-Cu, nearly straight; vein R clearly deviated between junctions of 1-M and Sc; fusion of M with R very long, longer than half length of vein 1-M; vein 2-M meeting R more than halfway between short anterior Sc branch and pterostigma; vein 2-M slightly longer than 1rs-m; Rs emerging at pterostigmal base; 2-Rs nearly straight, longer than 3-Rs; r-rs crossvein located in pterostigma distalmost part, meeting Rs anteriad 3rsm, enclosing cell 2R1; 4-Rs and 5-Rs nearly aligned with 4-Rs extremely short (more than twice shorter than 3-Rs); cell 1R1 trapezoidal, 0.5 mm long; cell 1Rs 1.2 mm long, enclosed distally by subvertical 2rs-m (the latter lightly longer than 1rs-m); 3-M shorter than 4-M; cell 2Rs 0.9 mm long, distinctly wider along sinusoidal 3rs-m; 1-Cu and 2-Cu nearly straight, 1-Cu longer than 2-Cu; lm-cu meeting Cu at an angle of ca 110°, 1-M and 1m-cu subparallel and of similar lengths; cell 1Cu elongate, longer than cell R; 1cu-a (nervulus) located slightly distad middle of cell 1M; cell 2Cu short trapezoidal; cell 2M fully enclosed distally by long slightly sinusoidal crossvein 2m-cu; vein 1-A long, nearly straight; vein 2A+3-A complete, strongly sinuate in first half, fused with to 1-A on a short distance; cell 1A shorter than cell 2A, ca 0.8× length of cell 2A.</p> <p>HIND WING. ca 6.3 mm long; thin costal cell present; thin space between C and R along anterior wing margin; M+Cu long, nearly straight, fork located anteriad Rs origin: 1M long, slightly arched, apparently meeting Rs (i.e., no rs-m crossvein present); abscissae of Rs distad meeting point with 1-M long and nearly straigth; cell R1 elongate and thin; cell Rs virtually fully enclosed (second abscissa of M difficult to interpret); crossvein 1rs-m located near middle of cell R1; cell 1M trapezoidal, rather broad, 1.4 times as long as wide; 1-Cu and 2-Cu of similar lengths, closed distally by 1m-cu; cell 1Cu elongate, rectangular, closed distally by cu-a; 1-A long slightly sinusoidal; crossvein a-a located at level of 1-M origin; 2-A long, slightly arched; cell 1A wider than 1Cu but shorter; vein 3-A present, short.</p> <p>ABDOMEN (partly preserved). Without visible surface sculpture, virtually 4.5 mm long, 2.4 mm wide; ovipositor sheath short and broad, 0.8 mm long.</p> Remarks <p> The new fossil differs from the genus <i>Sambia</i> Vilhelmsen & Engel, 2012 (Eocene Baltic amber) in the forewing veins 2+3-A, which are fused with 1-A on a short distance (vs a long crossvein in-between) and its elongate flagellomeres (Vilhelmsen & Engel 2012). With the lower Oligocene genus <i>Nortonella</i> Rohwer, 1908 it shares the vein 2+3-A shortly fused with 1-A (Rohwer 1908: fig. 1). But <i>Nortonella</i> has the crossvein 1cu-a very close to the base of 1-M, versus about midway between the base of 1-M and 3-Cu in the new fossil and in several extant species of the genus <i>Perineura</i> Hartig, 1837 (see photographs of the holotype UCM 4517: https://invertpaleosearch.colorado.edu/). The new fossil can be separated from the lower Oligocene genus <i>Taeniurites</i> Cockerell, 1917 by the vein 2+3-A, which is shortly fused with 1-A (vs separated) and vein 1cu-a about midway between the base of 1-M and 3-Cu, vs very close to the base of 1-M (Cockerell 1917). The Uppermost Oligocene genus <i>Tenthredinites</i> Meunier, 1915 is based on a poorly preserved specimen (Meunier 1915), which is probably lost. Rodriguez <i>et al.</i> (2017) suggested it could be a Pompilidae Latreille, 1805. The Miocene genus <i>Tenthredoides</i> Zhang, 1989 differs from the new fossil in the vein 1cu-a, which is very close to the base of 1-M (Zhang 1989: textfig. 224).</p>Published as part of <i>Nel, André, Wei, Meicai, Niu, Gengyun, Coster, Pauline, Boderau, Mathieu, Josse, Hugo, Kundura, Jean-Paul, Kundura, Marie-Hélène, Brisac, Patrick, Boudet, Loup & Jouault, Corentin, 2024, The first sawfly from the Oligocene of Céreste (Southern France) (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), pp. 1-18 in European Journal of Taxonomy 917</i> on pages 4-8, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2024.917.2383, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10453406">http://zenodo.org/record/10453406</a&gt

Luberotenthredo Nel & Wei & Niu & Coster & Boderau & Josse & Kundura & Kundura & Brisac & Boudet & Jouault 2024, gen. nov.

Genus <i>Luberotenthredo</i> gen. nov. <p>urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 9AF5CFB2-D294-4091-9FC9-CA37383A1B0C</p> Type species <p> <i>Luberotenthredo cerestensis</i> sp. nov.</p> Diagnosis <p> Antennae very long; antennomeres very long (more than twice as long as wide); all flagellomeres elongate and slightly truncate obliquely distally; 3 rd antennomere as long as 4 th; tergum 1 with median furrow. Forewing with crossvein 1cu-a distad middle of cell 1M; 2+3-A strongly sinuous, short fusion of 2+3-A with 1-A; ratio of lengths of basal/distal parts of forewing anal cells 0.8. Hind wing with two central cells (i.e., Rs and 1M); anal cell not sessile.</p> Etymology <p> Named after the Luberon mountain and the genus <i>Tenthredo</i>. Gender neutral.</p>Published as part of <i>Nel, André, Wei, Meicai, Niu, Gengyun, Coster, Pauline, Boderau, Mathieu, Josse, Hugo, Kundura, Jean-Paul, Kundura, Marie-Hélène, Brisac, Patrick, Boudet, Loup & Jouault, Corentin, 2024, The first sawfly from the Oligocene of Céreste (Southern France) (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), pp. 1-18 in European Journal of Taxonomy 917</i> on pages 3-4, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2024.917.2383, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10453406">http://zenodo.org/record/10453406</a&gt

Crinoïdes ordoviciens de France : données nouvelles du Darriwilien du Massif armoricain et implications paléobiogéographiques

International audienceAll known occurrences of crinoids in the Ordovician of France (Armorican Massif, Montagne Noire, Corbières and Pyrénées) are reviewed and replaced stratigraphically. Fully articulated crinoids are described for the first time in the Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) of the Armorican Massif. The disparid crinoid Heviacrinus melendezi is reported from the middle and late Darriwilian (artus and teretiusculus zones) of both Brittany and Normandy, which extends both its geographic distribution and its temporal range. In addition, a new species of Heviacrinus, H. tromelini is described from the late Darriwilian (teretiusculus zone) of both Brittany and Normandy. Finally, three successive French Ordovician crinoid faunas are identified. They show strong palaeobiogeographic affinities with other Gondwanan and peri-Gondwanan assemblages, and in particular with those of the Mediterranean Province.Toutes les occurrences de crinoïdes signalées dans l’Ordovicien de France (Massif armoricain, Montagne Noire, Corbières et Pyrénées) sont examinées et replacées stratigraphiquement. Des restes de crinoïdes complets, en connexion, sont décrits pour la première fois dans le Darriwilien (Ordovicien moyen) du Massif armoricain. Le crinoïde disparide Heviacrinus melendezi est signalé dans le Darriwilien moyen et supérieur (zones à artus et à teretiusculus) de Bretagne et de Normandie, ce qui accroît son extension géographique et temporelle. De plus, une nouvelle espèce d’Heviacrinus, H. tromelini, est décrite dans le Darriwilien supérieur (zone à teretiusculus) de Bretagne et de Normandie. Enfin, trois faunes successives de crinoïdes sont identifiées dans l’Ordovicien de France. Elles montrent de fortes affinités avec les assemblages des autres régions (péri) gondwaniennes et, en particulier, avec ceux de la Province méditerranéenne

Angiotensin II induces reactive oxygen species, DNA damage, and T-cell apoptosis in severe COVID-19

International audienceBackground: Lymphopenia is predictive of survival in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).Objective: The aim of this study was to understand the cause of the lymphocyte count drop in severe forms of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.Methods: Monocytic production of reactive oxygen species (ROSs) and T-cell apoptosis were measured by flow cytometry, DNA damage in PBMCs was measured by immunofluorescence, and angiotensin II (AngII) was measured by ELISA in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 at admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) (n 5 29) or not admitted to an ICU (n 5 29) and in ageand sex-matched healthy controls.Results: We showed that the monocytes of certain patients with COVID-19 spontaneously released ROSs able to induce DNA damage and apoptosis in neighboring cells. Of note, high ROS production was predictive of death in ICU patients. Accordingly, in most patients, we observed the presence of DNA damage in up to 50% of their PBMCs and T-cell apoptosis. Moreover, the intensity of this DNA damage was linked to lymphopenia. SARS-CoV-2 is known to induce the internalization of its receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, which is a protease capable of catabolizing AngII. Accordingly, in certain patients with COVID-19 we observed high plasma levels of AngII. When looking for the stimulus responsible for their monocytic ROS production, we revealed that AngII triggers ROS production by monocytes via angiotensin receptor I. ROSs released by AngII-activated monocytes induced DNA damage and apoptosis in neighboring lymphocytes.Conclusion: We conclude that T-cell apoptosis provoked via DNA damage due to the release of monocytic ROSs could play a major role in COVID-19 pathogenesis