Phylogenetics and historical biogeography of the Teloganodidae (Ephemeroptera)

The Teloganodidae are a mayfly family endemic to the southwestern Cape (South Africa), with relatives in Madagascar and Asia. Like many other aquatic invertebrates in Africa, they have been considerably understudied. Research into biodiversity and biogeography allows an understanding of the earth’s biota, producing knowledge which can be used to develop strategies to preserve and monitor this biota. Mismanagement of water systems places biodiversity of river fauna under an ever-increasing extinction threat. This investigation explores rivers in under-collected areas to determine how well teloganodids have been represented in the literature, with four genera and five species described at the onset of this study. A lectotype for Lestagella penicillata Barnard (1940) has been elected and described in detail, setting “benchmark” characters for future descriptions. Standard DNA sequencing methods provide portions of three mitochondrial genes; cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI), small subunit ribosomal 16S RNA (16S), 12S ribosomal DNA (12S) and two nuclear genes, Histone 3 (H3) and 28S ribosomal DNA (28S) for up to 255 specimens. Fore and hind wings of 79 teloganodid adults were used to examine phylogenetic signal and evolutionary divergence using geometric morphometrics. A multi-faceted approach is used to investigate relationships between clades and the effects of deep-time climatic and landform changes which have influenced the diversity and distribution seen today. Tree (Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood) and network (parsimony) phylogenies, ancestral reconstruction, historical biogeography and wingevolution of the Teloganodidae are investigated. Species tree analyses discovered 27 species and six genera. Distinct lineages are restricted to catchments, and strong phylogeographic structure was found within most genera. Southern African Teloganodidae are shown to have originated in the Cretaceous, with divergence and dispersal of lineages depended on their established locality at the time of tectonic events (uplift) and climatic changes (sea level regressions and transgressions). Geographic clines in wing-shape of Lestagella across its range imply evolutionary adaptations to specific catchment landscape and environment. A detailed analysis of biodiversity has many valuable contributions, from directing future research, understanding adaptive processes, fine-tuning phylogeographical and evolutionary hypotheses, to improving management and conservation decisions in order to preserve endemic biodiversity hotspots

Metabarcoding unsorted kick‐samples facilitates macroinvertebrate‐based biomonitoring with increased taxonomic resolution, while outperforming environmental DNA

Pereira‐da‐Conceicoa, L, Elbrecht, V, Hall, A, Briscoe, A, Barber‐James, H, Price, B. Metabarcoding unsorted kick‐samples facilitates macroinvertebrate‐based biomonitoring with increased taxonomic resolution, while outperforming environmental DNA. Environmental DNA. 2020; 00: 1– 19. https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.116© 2020 The Authors. Environmental DNA published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The attached file is the published pdf

Mayfly taxonomy (Arthropoda: Hexapoda: Ephemeroptera) during the first two decades of the twenty-first century and the concentration of taxonomic publishing

The twentieth anniversary of the first issue of Zootaxa (De Moraes & Freire, 2001) provides an appropriate opportunity to reflect on some trends in global Ephemeroptera taxonomy publishing over the last two decades, with a focus on the description of new species and the outsized role of the journals Zootaxa and ZooKeys, in particular. Detailed reviews of world Ephemeroptera knowledge up to about 2000 were collected in a series of nine papersfrom a symposium on the subject, published together in the proceedings of the ninth International Conference on Ephemeroptera (Domínguez 2001). Domínguez & Dos Santos (2014) provided updates and analysis for South America up to the year 2012. More recent detailed accounts of regional and taxonomic diversity, and other aspects of mayfly biology and ecology, were reviewed by Jacobus et al. (2019), while Ogden et al. (2019) discussed current issues involving higher classification.Fil: Jacobus, Luke M.. Purdue University; Estados UnidosFil: Falcao Salles, Frederico. Universidade Federal de Viçosa; BrasilFil: Price, Ben. British Museum (Natural History); Reino UnidoFil: Pereira da Conceicoa, Lyndall. Natural History Museum; Reino UnidoFil: Dominguez, Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; ArgentinaFil: Suter, P. J.. la Trobe University. División Of Biological Sciences; AustraliaFil: Molineri, Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical; ArgentinaFil: Tiunova, Tatyana M.. Federal Scientific Center Of The East Asia Terrestrial; RusiaFil: Sartori, M.. Musee Cantonal de Zoologie; Suiz

A sampling strategy for genome sequencing the British terrestrial arthropod fauna

The Darwin Tree of Life (DToL) project aims to sequence and assemble high-quality genomes from all eukaryote species in Britain and Ireland, with the first phase of the project concentrating on family-level coverage plus species of particular ecological, biomedical or evolutionary interest. We summarise the processes involved in (1) assessing the UK arthropod fauna and the status of individual species on UK lists; (2) prioritising and collecting species for initial genome sequencing; (3) handling methods to ensure that high-quality genomic DNA is preserved; and (4) compiling standard operating procedures for processing specimens for genome sequencing, identification verification and voucher specimen curation. We briefly explore some lessons learned from the pilot phase of DToL and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic

The genome sequence of the King Ragworm, Alitta virens (Sars, 1835) [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

We present a genome assembly from an individual Alitta virens (the King Ragworm; Annelida; Polychaeta; Phyllodocida; Nereididae). The genome sequence is 671.2 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 14 chromosomal pseudomolecules. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 15.83 kilobases in length

Redescription and lectotype designation of the endemic South African mayfly Lestagella penicillata (Barnard, 1932) (Ephemeroptera: Teloganodidae)

Pereira-Da-Conceicoa, Lyndall L., Barber-James, Helen M. (2013): Redescription and lectotype designation of the endemic South African mayfly Lestagella penicillata (Barnard, 1932) (Ephemeroptera: Teloganodidae). Zootaxa 3750 (5): 450-464, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3750.5.

Disentangling wing shape evolution in the African mayfly, Teloganodidae (Ephemeroptera)

Wings are one of the most important structures in the evolution of insects and winged insects are widely accepted as being monophyletic. In Ephemeroptera, wing structure and shape is important for interpreting taxonomic relationships. Morphological variation in wing shape of 14 distinct operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of South African Teloganodidae mayfly was examined using landmark-based geometric morphometric methods and molecular phylogenetics to determine evolutionary shape change and allometry. Fore and hind wing shape data were tested for phylogenetic structure using an independently derived molecular phylogeny, which were then mapped into PCA shape space. The effect of evolutionary allometry as a factor contributing to shape change was examined and quantified. Significant phylogenetic signal was found in fore and hind wing shape, and evolutionary allometry was found to have a significant effect on fore wing but not hind wing shape variation. In the fore wing, evolutionary allometry was removed to explore the non-allometric component of shape variation and discuss possible implications on flight performance. The principal findings of this research show that the relationships between wing shape and size are complex and taxon-specific. We have revealed that evolutionary size changes have a considerable effect on the evolutionary shape changes of Teloganodidae fore wings, however this does not account for all the variation in shape. An increased fore wing size is associated with a broader wing base and narrower, raked wing apex, promoting less-energetically demanding flight, possibly with a higher range of speeds. The smaller species have a relatively narrow wing base and increased wing area at the apex, suggesting a slower flight with more agility, which is more energetically costly. The non-allometric variation involves similar, but less distinct shape changes compared to the allometric component, indicating that other processes must also contribute to the same features of evolutionary shape variation

Let’s talk about the (lady)birds and the bees: how insects can whisper a multitude of stories

If you have watched A Bug’s Life, you would have seen that insects come in an assortment of colours, shapes, and sizes. They are the perfect organism that could be used to describe the myriad diversity of all life on earth. These six-legged creatures are one of the most diverse groups of species, accounting for more than 80% of all documented living animals Ødegaard 2008. This huge diversity also makes it extremely time- and labour-intensive to carry out large-scale monitoring of insects. High-throughput sequencing technologies and the use of DNA barcodes for species identification have paved the way for the rapid biomonitoring of insects Hebert et al. 2003. However, millions of insect species are not well-represented in DNA reference databases, making species-level identification challenging for molecular research. Projects such as the Darwin Tree of Life (DToL) aim to cover this gap and generate DNA barcodes for all eukaryotic species found in the UK Blaxter et al. 2022. At the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the BIOSCAN UK for Flying Insects project has two main aims;Documenting the diversity of UK flying insectsDiscovering insect-cobiont interactionsTo meet these aims, we will be documenting the diversity of one million malaise-caught insects from 100 sites across the UK in the next five years. We will be using a non-destructive DNA extraction technique to preserve insect specimen integrity for museum collections or educational purposes Korlević et al. 2021. COI barcoding will be carried out using ONT and/or PacBio long-read technology to identify each insect specimen. To tease apart insect conbiont interactions, we will carry out mini barcoding using primers targeting microbes, parasites, vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants Fig. 1. Together, this molecular dataset consisting of one million specimens collected over space and time in the next five years will allow us to discover how insects interact with the ecosystem and advance insect biomonitoring research in the UK

Disentangling wing shape evolution in the African mayfly, Teloganodidae (Ephemeroptera)

Wings are one of the most important structures in the evolution of insects and winged insects are widely accepted as being monophyletic. In Ephemeroptera, wing structure and shape is important for interpreting taxonomic relationships. Morphological variation in wing shape of 14 distinct operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of South African Teloganodidae mayfly was examined using landmark-based geometric morphometric methods and molecular phylogenetics to determine evolutionary shape change and allometry. Fore and hind wing shape data were tested for phylogenetic structure using an independently derived molecular phylogeny, which were then mapped into PCA shape space. The effect of evolutionary allometry as a factor contributing to shape change was examined and quantified. Significant phylogenetic signal was found in fore and hind wing shape, and evolutionary allometry was found to have a significant effect on fore wing but not hind wing shape variation. In the fore wing, evolutionary allometry was removed to explore the non-allometric component of shape variation and discuss possible implications on flight performance. The principal findings of this research show that the relationships between wing shape and size are complex and taxon-specific. We have revealed that evolutionary size changes have a considerable effect on the evolutionary shape changes of Teloganodidae fore wings, however this does not account for all the variation in shape. An increased fore wing size is associated with a broader wing base and narrower, raked wing apex, promoting less-energetically demanding flight, possibly with a higher range of speeds. The smaller species have a relatively narrow wing base and increased wing area at the apex, suggesting a slower flight with more agility, which is more energetically costly. The non-allometric variation involves similar, but less distinct shape changes compared to the allometric component, indicating that other processes must also contribute to the same features of evolutionary shape variation

Habitat requirements affect genetic variation in three species of mayfly (Ephemeroptera, Baetidae) from South Africa

This study investigates genetic diversity in three species of Ephemeroptera, one eurytopic and therefore widespread (Afroptilum sudafricanum) and two stenotopic and thus endemic (Demoreptus natalensis and Demoreptus capensis) species, all of which co-occur in the southern Great Escarpment, South Africa. Mitochondrial DNA was analysed to compare the genetic diversity between the habitat generalist and the two habitat specialists. Afroptilum sudafricanum showed no indication of population genetic structure due to geographic location, while both Demoreptus species revealed clear genetic differentiation between geographic localities and catchments, evident from phylogenetic analyses and high FST values from AMOVA. In addition, the phylogenetic analyses indicate some deeper haplotype divergences within A. sudafricanum and Demoreptus that merit taxonomic attention. These results give important insight into evolutionary processes occurring through habitat specialisation and population isolation. Further research and sampling across a wider geographic setting that includes both major mountain blocks of the Escarpment and lowland non-Escarpment sites will allow for refined understanding of biodiversity and associated habitat preferences, and illuminate comparative inferences into gene flow and cryptic speciation.http://zookeys.pensoft.netam2021Plant Production and Soil Scienc