203 research outputs found

    Distribution and genetic variability of Staphylinidae across a gradient of anthropogenically influenced insular landscapes

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    This paper describes the distribution and genetic variability of rove beetles (Coleoptera Staphylinidae) in anthropogenically influenced insular landscapes. The study was conducted in the Azores archipelago, characterized by high anthropogenic influence and landscape fragmentation. Collections were made in five islands, from eight habitats, along a gradient of anthropogenic influence. The species of Staphylinidae from the Azores collected for this study were widely distributed and showed low habitat fidelity. Rove beetle richness was associated with anthropogenic influence and habitat type, increasing from less to more anthropogenic impacted habitats. However, genetic diversity of profiled species (i.e. with three or more specimens per species/habitat) does not seem affected by anthropogenic influence in the different habitat types, isolation or landscape fragmentation. COI haplotypes were, as a rule, not exclusive to a given island or habitat. High level of genetic divergence and nucleotide saturation was found in closely related morphological designated species, demonstrating possible disparities between currently defined taxonomic units based on morphology and molecular phylogenies of Staphylinidae. This study found evidence of cryptic speciation in the Atheta fungi (Gravenhorst) species complex which had thus far remained undetected. Similar trends were found for Oligota parva Kraatz, Oxytelus sculptus Gravenhorst, Oligota pumilio Kiesenwetter. Previous studies with lower taxonomical resolution may have underestimated the biotic diversity reported in the Azores in comparison to other Macaronesian archipelagos.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Comparative analysis of the dorsal chaetotaxy of Troglopedetes, Trogolaphysa, and Campylothorax supports the synonymization of tribes paronellini and troglopedetini (Collembola: Paronellidae)

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    Genera in subfamily Paronellinae have been grouped into five tribes, in part based on chaetotaxy. Tribes Bromacanthini, Paronellini, and Troglopedetini are characterized by having rounded scales and reduced or no macrochaetae, and although Bromacanthini harbors two well-differentiated genera, the core genera in tribes Paronellini and Troglopedetini form a homogeneous group where even generic diagnoses were, until recently, unclear. The genera assigned to Troglopedetini (Troglopedetes Absolon, Trogolaphysa Mills, and Cyphoderopsis Carpenter) harbor many species with reduced eyes number, whereas the tribe Paronellini (genera Paronella Schött, Dicranocentruga Wray and Campylothorax Schött) includes species with 6-8 eyes. Recent analyses of the chaetotaxy of Trogolaphysa and Cyphoderopsis suggest that these genera represent specialized forms related to species in Paronellini. The taxonomy of Troglopedetes, the type genus of Troglopedetini, is based almost exclusively on claw and mucro shape and dorsal macrochaetae pattern, and few details of the complete dorsal chaetotaxy of the species are known. This contribution presents a comparative analysis of the complete dorsal chaetotaxy of two species of Troglopedetes from Spain (one new to science), two new species of Trogolaphysa from the Dominican Republic and Martinique, and Campylothorax sabanus with the purpose of identifying aspects of the chaetotaxy that could provide diagnostic characters for the separation of Trogolaphysa and Troglopedetes, and a new diagnosis for tribe Troglopedetini. The analysis shows that neither the number of chaetae nor its organization or pattern of macrochaeta provides diagnostic differences between Trogolaphysa and Troglopedetes. It is also concluded that the separation of Paronellini and Troglopedetini is not justified. Troglopedetini is here synonymized with Paronellini, and a new diagnosis of Paronellini is provided

    Variables físicas, químicas y biológicas del suelo sobre las poblaciones de colémbolos en Costa Rica

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    Se ha discutido que las variables físicas, químicas y biológicas del suelo influyen sobre las poblaciones de colémbolos; sin embargo, la información acerca de la interacción de estas variables, en conjunto, con relación a la diversidad y abundancia de colémbolos, es escasa. En el presente estudio se determinó la relación entre estas variables y la diversidad y abundancia de colémbolos en los suelos de un bosque primario, un bosque secundario y un cafetal en el Parque Nacional Tapantí. El bosque primario presentó los contenidos más altos de materia orgánica y biomasa microbiana, contrario a lo sucedido con la resistencia a la penetración y el pH. Los resultados mostraron una clara asociación entre estas variables y algunas especies de colémbolos, lo cual indica que los cambios en la estructura de las comunidades de colémbolos, por efecto de los cambios en las variables físicas, químicas y biológicas del suelo, pueden ser utilizados como un bioindicador de calidad del suelo y de manejo de los ecosistemas

    Diversidad y abundancia de colémbolos edáficos en un bosque primario, un bosque secundario y un cafetal en Costa Rica

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    Se estudió la diversidad y abundancia de los colémbolos del suelo en 3 ecosistemas: un bosque primario; un bosque secundario; y un cafetal, en el Parque Nacional Tapantí, Costa Rica. Mensualmente, se tomó 8 muestras de suelo en cada ecosistema, para un total de 360 muestras. Se encontró un total de 23751 colémbolos distribuidos en 9 familias y 16 especies, de las cuales 10 no habían sido descritas. Dentro de esas especies se encontró a Harlomillsia oculata como nuevo informe para Centroamérica. De los 3 ecosistemas, el bosque primario fue el más diverso (H'=2,406), seguido por el bosque secundario (H'=2,174) y por último el cafetal, que presentó la menor diversidad (H'=1,651). Contrario a lo sucedido con la diversidad, la mayor abundancia se encontró en el cafetal con 10111 colémbolos

    A bioinventory of select terrestrial insects at Braidwood Dunes and Savanna Nature Preserve (Will County, Illinois)

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    We conducted an inventory of select terrestrial insect groups at Braidwood Dunes and Savanna Nature Preserve in 2011 and 2012. A total of 823 unique species, representing 19 orders of Hexapods, were recorded using a variety of sampling methods (including: light trapping, pitfall trapping, sweep net, vacuum sample, litter sample, soil core, wine rope, visual transect). Intensive studies focused on springtails (Collembola), grasshoppers, crickets and katydids (Orthoptera), true bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), leafhoppers and kin (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha), ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and butterflies and macromoths (Lepidoptera). We estimate that our records comprise around 11% of the total fauna of Hexapoda that occur at this 315--‐acre site. We evaluated sampling completeness for each group and compared, richness, diversity and evenness across habitat types. Special attention was focused on midwestern remnant dependent species, conservative prairie and savanna insects of the Chicago Wilderness region, and species that appear on Illinois' list of species in greatest need of conservation. We provide the Forest Preserve District of Will County with management recommendations relating to the terrestrial for this site, as well as a large collection of images covering many of the species we encountered. Braidwood Dunes and Savanna Nature Preserve contains a variety of rare and understudied species, some of which have only infrequently been encountered. These animals play a Cover photo: Papaipema speciosissima (Noctuidae), the Osmunda Borer Moth 3 wide variety of roles within the ecosystem and various habitats, and warrant special consideration and appreciation not only by land managers but also by the members of the public with an interest in the natural world.unpublishednot peer reviewe

    Fully automated sequence alignment methods are comparable to, and much faster than, traditional methods in large data sets: an example with hepatitis B virus

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    Aligning sequences for phylogenetic analysis (multiple sequence alignment; MSA) is an important, but increasingly computationally expensive step with the recent surge in DNA sequence data. Much of this sequence data is publicly available, but can be extremely fragmentary (i.e., a combination of full genomes and genomic fragments), which can compound the computational issues related to MSA. Traditionally, alignments are produced with automated algorithms and then checked and/or corrected “by eye” prior to phylogenetic inference. However, this manual curation is inefficient at the data scales required of modern phylogenetics and results in alignments that are not reproducible. Recently, methods have been developed for fully automating alignments of large data sets, but it is unclear if these methods produce alignments that result in compatible phylogenies when compared to more traditional alignment approaches that combined automated and manual methods. Here we use approximately 33,000 publicly available sequences from the hepatitis B virus (HBV), a globally distributed and rapidly evolving virus, to compare different alignment approaches. Using one data set comprised exclusively of whole genomes and a second that also included sequence fragments, we compared three MSA methods: (1) a purely automated approach using traditional software, (2) an automated approach including by eye manual editing, and (3) more recent fully automated approaches. To understand how these methods affect phylogenetic results, we compared resulting tree topologies based on these different alignment methods using multiple metrics. We further determined if the monophyly of existing HBV genotypes was supported in phylogenies estimated from each alignment type and under different statistical support thresholds. Traditional and fully automated alignments produced similar HBV phylogenies. Although there was variability between branch support thresholds, allowing lower support thresholds tended to result in more differences among trees. Therefore, differences between the trees could be best explained by phylogenetic uncertainty unrelated to the MSA method used. Nevertheless, automated alignment approaches did not require human intervention and were therefore considerably less time-intensive than traditional approaches. Because of this, we conclude that fully automated algorithms for MSA are fully compatible with older methods even in extremely difficult to align data sets. Additionally, we found that most HBV diagnostic genotypes did not correspond to evolutionarily-sound groups, regardless of alignment type and support threshold. This suggests there may be errors in genotype classification in the database or that HBV genotypes may need a revision

    Unusually low genetic divergence at COI barcode locus between two species of intertidal Thalassaphorura (Collembola: Onychiuridae)

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    Species classification is challenging when taxa display limited morphological differences. In this paper, we combined morphology and DNA barcode data to investigate the complicated taxonomy of two Onychiurid Collembolan species. Thalassaphorura thalassophila and Thalassaphorura debilis are among the most common arthropod species in intertidal ecosystems and are often considered to be synonymous. Based on morphological and barcode analyses of fresh material collected in their type localities, we redescribed and compared the two species. However, their morphological distinctiveness was supported by a molecular divergence much smaller than previously reported at the interspecific level among Collembola. This divergence was even smaller than inter-population divergences recognized in the related edaphic species T. zschokkei, as well as those known between MOTUs within many Collembolan species. Our results may indicate a link between low genetic interspecific divergence and intertidal habitat, as the only biological peculiarity of the two species of interest compared to other Collembolan species analyzed to date is their strict intertidal life
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