A New Species of \u3ci\u3eHydrochara\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) from the Western Great Lakes Region

A new species Hydrochara simula (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) is described from Wis- consin and separated from other western Great Lakes species by a key. It is similar to H. obtusata (Say) and H. soror Smetana, but males can be easily recognized by a dorso-basal concavity of the aedeagus. Females can be distinguished from H. obtusata and H. soror by the more elongate penultimate segment of the maxillary palpus and other less consistent characters

Professor Edward Drinker Cope’s Travels Through North Carolina, August–December 1869: Insights from the Transcriptions and Annotations of Letters to His Father and His Contributions to North Carolina Ichthyology

Since 1870, ichthyologists have pondered Edward Drinker Cope’s two publications: “On some Etheostomine Perch from Tennessee and North Carolina” and “A Partial Synopsis of the Fishes of the Fresh Waters of North Carolina”, along with correspondences to his father while traveling in North Carolina. We transcribed and annotated four of his letters searching for further knowledge regarding his field notebook(s) and original data (meristics, morphometrics, life coloration, etc.) from his travels across NC during Summer and Fall of 1869. However, unresolved questions remained - many related to unaccounted for periods of time. We did not achieve insights into who helped him with his collections. The loss of some of his larger specimens or their unavailability to be re-examined by Cope at a later date, lead us to question if Cope hastily wrote some of the descriptions in the field, or wrote them from memory afterwards in his lodging, or did he write them in a field notebook? We did not discover the existence or whereabouts of field notes or field book. We surmised he did record field notes and original data, because he could not have remembered meristic counts and which data went with which species after encountering a myriad of specimens in the field. We marveled how Cope was able to successfully achieve the rapidity in naming, writing, and publishing shortly after his trip. We concluded Cope must have been extremely impatient and perhaps consumed by his more important paleontological interests when writing two fish manuscripts in a short period of time. Cope’s two publications resulting from this trip laid a foundation for all ensuing studies of NC’s freshwater fish fauna the past 151 years. Of the 242 described species of freshwater fish in NC 45 were described by him between 1865-1871. He described 25 species from his NC trip of which 15 species are presently considered valid; the other species having since been synonymized. Cope recounted collecting 91 described and undescribed species from NC during his trip, excluding four genera, Acipenser, Carpiodes, Ictiobus, and Sander (Stizostedion), whose specimens were lost, unavailable, or unseen. We accounted for all of the species and specimens he had collected during this trip. Lots, totaling 138, representing 63 species and 943 specimens were subsequently curated at Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, the National Museum of Natural History, and the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. No additional lots were found at other museums. Various type specimens are represented in 49 lots, with the remaining 89 lots representing non-type specimens

An Annotated Atlas of the Freshwater Fishes of North Carolina

North Carolina’s first state-specific checklist of freshwater fish species was published in 1709 by John Lawson. Subsequent species lists with descriptions included: Brickell (1737), Cope (1870a), Jordan (1889a), Jordan and Evermann (1896-1900), Smith (1907), Jordan et al. (1930), Fowler (1945), Louder (1962), Ratledge et al. (1966), Menhinick et al. (1974). In 1991, Menhinick published “The Freshwater Fishes of North Carolina”, which is still widely in use because a comprehensive update has not been produced since its publication. The increase in the availability of historical records in globally accessible databases and the surge of collections post-1991 made by federal and state resource agencies, and academic and museum researchers, allowed for the creation of an update of North Carolina’s freshwater fish species in an annotated atlas. Herein we discuss the distribution of the 257 currently described and undescribed freshwater fish species within North Carolina. Annotations for each species include a distributional map with type locality noted where appropriate, remarks concerning questionable records and misidentifications, extirpations, introductions and interbasin transfers, and imperilment status

BEAST tip-dated maximum clade credibility tree showing divergence times from Hidden species diversity in an iconic living fossil vertebrate

Ancient, species-poor lineages persistently occur across the Tree of Life. These unique lineages are likely to contain unrecognized species diversity masked by the low rates of morphological evolution that characterize living fossils. Halecomorphi is a lineage of ray-finned fishes that diverged from its closest relatives over 200 Ma and is represented by only one living species in eastern North America, the Bowfin Amia calva Linnaeus. We use double digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing and morphology to illuminate recent speciation in bowfins. Our results support the delimitation of a second living species of Amia with the timing of diversification dating to the Plio-Pleistocene. This delimitation expands the species diversity of an ancient lineage that is integral to studies of vertebrate genomics and development, yet is facing growing conservation threats driven by the caviar fishery

Supplemental information from Hidden species diversity in an iconic living fossil vertebrate

Ancient, species-poor lineages persistently occur across the Tree of Life. These unique lineages are likely to contain unrecognized species diversity masked by the low rates of morphological evolution that characterize living fossils. Halecomorphi is a lineage of ray-finned fishes that diverged from its closest relatives over 200 Ma and is represented by only one living species in eastern North America, the Bowfin Amia calva Linnaeus. We use double digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing and morphology to illuminate recent speciation in bowfins. Our results support the delimitation of a second living species of Amia with the timing of diversification dating to the Plio-Pleistocene. This delimitation expands the species diversity of an ancient lineage that is integral to studies of vertebrate genomics and development, yet is facing growing conservation threats driven by the caviar fishery

Morphological data from Hidden species diversity in an iconic living fossil vertebrate

Ancient, species-poor lineages persistently occur across the Tree of Life. These unique lineages are likely to contain unrecognized species diversity masked by the low rates of morphological evolution that characterize living fossils. Halecomorphi is a lineage of ray-finned fishes that diverged from its closest relatives over 200 Ma and is represented by only one living species in eastern North America, the Bowfin Amia calva Linnaeus. We use double digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing and morphology to illuminate recent speciation in bowfins. Our results support the delimitation of a second living species of Amia with the timing of diversification dating to the Plio-Pleistocene. This delimitation expands the species diversity of an ancient lineage that is integral to studies of vertebrate genomics and development, yet is facing growing conservation threats driven by the caviar fishery

Meristics Data from Hidden species diversity in an iconic living fossil vertebrate

Ancient, species-poor lineages persistently occur across the Tree of Life. These unique lineages are likely to contain unrecognized species diversity masked by the low rates of morphological evolution that characterize living fossils. Halecomorphi is a lineage of ray-finned fishes that diverged from its closest relatives over 200 Ma and is represented by only one living species in eastern North America, the Bowfin Amia calva Linnaeus. We use double digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing and morphology to illuminate recent speciation in bowfins. Our results support the delimitation of a second living species of Amia with the timing of diversification dating to the Plio-Pleistocene. This delimitation expands the species diversity of an ancient lineage that is integral to studies of vertebrate genomics and development, yet is facing growing conservation threats driven by the caviar fishery

Health status after invasive or conservative care in coronary and advanced kidney disease

BACKGROUND In the ISCHEMIA-CKD trial, the primary analysis showed no significant difference in the risk of death or myocardial infarction with initial angiography and revascularization plus guideline-based medical therapy (invasive strategy) as compared with guideline-based medical therapy alone (conservative strategy) in participants with stable ischemic heart disease, moderate or severe ischemia, and advanced chronic kidney disease (an estimated glomerular filtration rate of <30 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 or receipt of dialysis). A secondary objective of the trial was to assess angina-related health status. METHODS We assessed health status with the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) before randomization and at 1.5, 3, and 6 months and every 6 months thereafter. The primary outcome of this analysis was the SAQ Summary score (ranging from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating less frequent angina and better function and quality of life). Mixed-effects cumulative probability models within a Bayesian framework were used to estimate the treatment effect with the invasive strategy. RESULTS Health status was assessed in 705 of 777 participants. Nearly half the participants (49%) had had no angina during the month before randomization. At 3 months, the estimated mean difference between the invasive-strategy group and the conservative-strategy group in the SAQ Summary score was 2.1 points (95% credible interval, 120.4 to 4.6), a result that favored the invasive strategy. The mean difference in score at 3 months was largest among participants with daily or weekly angina at baseline (10.1 points; 95% credible interval, 0.0 to 19.9), smaller among those with monthly angina at baseline (2.2 points; 95% credible interval, 122.0 to 6.2), and nearly absent among those without angina at baseline (0.6 points; 95% credible interval, 121.9 to 3.3). By 6 months, the between-group difference in the overall trial population was attenuated (0.5 points; 95% credible interval, 122.2 to 3.4). CONCLUSIONS Participants with stable ischemic heart disease, moderate or severe ischemia, and advanced chronic kidney disease did not have substantial or sustained benefits with regard to angina-related health status with an initially invasive strategy as compared with a conservative strategy

Management of coronary disease in patients with advanced kidney disease

BACKGROUND Clinical trials that have assessed the effect of revascularization in patients with stable coronary disease have routinely excluded those with advanced chronic kidney disease. METHODS We randomly assigned 777 patients with advanced kidney disease and moderate or severe ischemia on stress testing to be treated with an initial invasive strategy consisting of coronary angiography and revascularization (if appropriate) added to medical therapy or an initial conservative strategy consisting of medical therapy alone and angiography reserved for those in whom medical therapy had failed. The primary outcome was a composite of death or nonfatal myocardial infarction. A key secondary outcome was a composite of death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or hospitalization for unstable angina, heart failure, or resuscitated cardiac arrest. RESULTS At a median follow-up of 2.2 years, a primary outcome event had occurred in 123 patients in the invasive-strategy group and in 129 patients in the conservative-strategy group (estimated 3-year event rate, 36.4% vs. 36.7%; adjusted hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.79 to 1.29; P=0.95). Results for the key secondary outcome were similar (38.5% vs. 39.7%; hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.79 to 1.29). The invasive strategy was associated with a higher incidence of stroke than the conservative strategy (hazard ratio, 3.76; 95% CI, 1.52 to 9.32; P=0.004) and with a higher incidence of death or initiation of dialysis (hazard ratio, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.04 to 2.11; P=0.03). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with stable coronary disease, advanced chronic kidney disease, and moderate or severe ischemia, we did not find evidence that an initial invasive strategy, as compared with an initial conservative strategy, reduced the risk of death or nonfatal myocardial infarction