Mark T Young, David Dufeau, Charlotte Bowman, Thomas Cowgill, Julia A Schwab, Lawrence M Witmer, Yanina Herrera, Orestis L Katsamenis, Lorna Steel, Martin Rigby, Stephen L Brusatte
{"title":"Thalattosuchian crocodylomorphs from the Sinemurian (Early Jurassic) of the UK","authors":"Mark T Young, David Dufeau, Charlotte Bowman, Thomas Cowgill, Julia A Schwab, Lawrence M Witmer, Yanina Herrera, Orestis L Katsamenis, Lorna Steel, Martin Rigby, Stephen L Brusatte","doi":"10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae079","url":null,"abstract":"Thalattosuchian crocodylomorphs were a ubiquitous component of shallow marine ecosystems during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. Alas, their origins remain a mystery. Here we describe three specimens from the Sinemurian (and possibly Early Pliensbachian) of the UK: a partial cranial rostrum, a series of cervical vertebrae, and two dorsal vertebrae adhered with matrix. These specimens are amongst the oldest known thalattosuchian fossils, with the partial cranial rostrum being the oldest known non-neothalattosuchian thalattosuchian. This partial cranial rostrum has a unique combination of rostral characters never seen before in any crocodylomorph, and helps to elucidate early thalattosuchian internal rostrum evolution, suggesting that the reduction in thalattosuchian paranasal sinuses was not related to either the reorganization of rostral neurovasculature seen in later diverging taxa or the increased cancellous bone microstructure. Based on our CT sample, a shift in cranial bone microstructure occurred in the Eoneustes + Metriorhynchidae subclade, one that coincided with the enlargement of the salt glands and decoupling of the external antorbital fenestra from the paranasal sinuses. Without extensive histological sampling we cannot determine whether the shift to an obligate aquatic lifestyle occurred prior to the evolution of Metriorhynchidae.","PeriodicalId":49333,"journal":{"name":"Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141608160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alexandra Zieritz, John Pfeiffer, Khairul Adha A Rahim, Hari Prayogo, Muhammad Sofwan Anwari, Farah Diba, Elsa Froufe, Tabitha Blackwell, Hanna Hartikainen, Manuel Lopes-Lima
{"title":"High endemic freshwater mussel (Bivalvia: Unionida) diversity in western Borneo, with description of three new species","authors":"Alexandra Zieritz, John Pfeiffer, Khairul Adha A Rahim, Hari Prayogo, Muhammad Sofwan Anwari, Farah Diba, Elsa Froufe, Tabitha Blackwell, Hanna Hartikainen, Manuel Lopes-Lima","doi":"10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae076","url":null,"abstract":"The freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionida) of the biodiversity hotspot Sundaland are experiencing severe anthropogenic threats, whilst their diversity and distribution remain poorly understood. Here, we present the first modern-day data on Unionida diversity and distribution across western Borneo. Mussels were surveyed and collected in the upper Kapuas and Pawan river basins in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, and the Sambas Besar, Sarawak and Batang Sadong river basins in Sarawak, Malaysia. DNA sequencing (COI + 16S + ND1 + 18S + 28S) and morphological analyses were conducted to delineate and identify species, and reconstruct phylogenetic relationships and population genetics. Specimens belonged to six native genera and nine species, of which seven are endemic to Borneo and three are new to science, i.e. Ctenodesma mawonae Zieritz et al., sp. nov., Sarawak basin, and Ctenodesma bersinara Zieritz et al., sp. nov., and Rectidens lauris Zieritz et al., sp. nov., both Pawan basin. The monotypic genera Caudiculatus and Discomya were phylogenetically highly divergent from other known Gonideinae taxa, potentially indicating a separate tribe (for Caudiculatus) and subfamily (for Discomya). In addition, we report new records of the non-native Sinanodonta pacifica Heude, 1878 in the Batang Sadong and Kapuas river basins.","PeriodicalId":49333,"journal":{"name":"Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141495637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Takumi Saito, Jeffrey C Nekola, Markéta Nováková, Eva Líznarová, Takahiro Hirano, Veronika Horsáková, Michal Horsák
{"title":"Diversification over deep and shallow temporal scales in the Holarctic genus Perpolita (Gastropoda: Gastrodontidae)","authors":"Takumi Saito, Jeffrey C Nekola, Markéta Nováková, Eva Líznarová, Takahiro Hirano, Veronika Horsáková, Michal Horsák","doi":"10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae078","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae078","url":null,"abstract":"The Holarctic land snail genus Perpolita was used to explore the influence of past and current biogeography on diversification. The number of empirically-supported species was determined using a consensus between mtDNA sequence, nDNA sequence, conchology, and geographic and ecological range with five valid temperate-boreal species (Perpolita binneyana, Perpolita electrina, Perpolita hammonis, Perpolita petronella, and Perpolita radiatella) being recognized. Only P. petronella was unchanged in both nomenclature and diagnostic characteristics with the remainder requiring alterations. Perhaps the most important of these was elevation of P. radiatella to a valid species, with its populations having been previously lumped either under European P. hammonis or North American P. electrina. Divergence times of 18.7–10.0 Mya were suggested through genome-wide SNPs in combination with the fossil record, indicating a pre-Pleistocene origin for all Perpolita species. Using genetically-confirmed diagnostic shell characters, we accumulated > 2000 valid occurrences and used these to estimate appropriate modern and Last Glacial Maximum climate extents for all species. These models suggest that modern intra-specific gene pool diversity may generally reflect Pleistocene palaeoclimatology.","PeriodicalId":49333,"journal":{"name":"Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141489483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Piero G Giulianini, Claude De Broyer, Ed A Hendrycks, Samuele Greco, Elisa D’Agostino, Sandro Donato, Anita Giglio, Marco Gerdol, Alberto Pallavicini, Chiara Manfrin
{"title":"A new Antarctic species of Orchomenella G.O. Sars, 1890 (Amphipoda: Lysianassoidea: Tryphosidae): is phase-contrast micro-tomography a mature technique for digital holotypes?","authors":"Piero G Giulianini, Claude De Broyer, Ed A Hendrycks, Samuele Greco, Elisa D’Agostino, Sandro Donato, Anita Giglio, Marco Gerdol, Alberto Pallavicini, Chiara Manfrin","doi":"10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae075","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this paper is to describe a new species of Antarctic amphipod of the genus Orchomenella Sars, 1890, Orchomenella rinamontiae sp. nov., and to investigate whether high-resolution images of the surface anatomy obtained ‘in situ’ with synchrotron radiation X-ray phase-contrast micro-tomography (SR-PhC micro-CT) can replace classical approaches to describe a new species. The phylogenetic analyses based on the gene COI support the morphologically based taxonomic assignment. The SR-PhC micro-CT was useful for viewing the three-dimensional reconstructions, with the great advantages that the specimen could be rotated around all axes and that it was possible digitally to remove sections of the image that might have obscured areas of the amphipod on which we were focusing. However, it is not yet a completely reliable technique to describe a new species fully. Classical descriptions using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy are still necessary. Nevertheless, SR-PhC micro-CT is a promising technique that has the potential to revolutionize the way we study biological samples, accelerating the study of biodiversity.","PeriodicalId":49333,"journal":{"name":"Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141489467","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ying Zhang, Yu Fu, Peter Vďačný, Fasheng Liang, Huan Dou, Alan Warren, Lifang Li
{"title":"Comparative genomics reveals the evolutionary history of the unicellular eukaryote class Litostomatea and its adaptive evolution based on biochemical metabolic capacity","authors":"Ying Zhang, Yu Fu, Peter Vďačný, Fasheng Liang, Huan Dou, Alan Warren, Lifang Li","doi":"10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae077","url":null,"abstract":"Ciliated protists are unicellular eukaryotic organisms characterized by their morphological diversity, ubiquitous distribution, and the important roles they play in a wide range of biological studies. The class Litostomatea is a morphologically diverse ciliate group that comprises hundreds of free-living and endosymbiotic species. Here, we sequenced 14 predatory litostomateans, i.e. 12 haptorians and two rhynchostomatians. A comparative analysis was performed with other published omics’ data on litostomateans. Our first phylogenomic analysis of litostomateans showed the monophyly of the subclasses Trichostomatia and Rhynchostomatia, the non-monophyly of the subclass Haptoria, and the monophyly of all orders and families that were analysed. Evolutionary history analysis suggested that Litostomatea diverged during the Late Neoproterozoic, the family Chaeneidae was the earliest diverging haptorian lineage, and the Rhynchostomatia probably separated from the order Lacrymariida (subclass Haptoria) during the Early Palaeozoic. Stop codon usage analysis of 28 litostomateans showed that they use TAA as the biased stop codon and reassign the other two stop codons (TAG and TGA) to code for amino acids. In addition, the preferred codons in the 14 newly sequenced litostomateans are strongly biased towards A/U bases in the third position, very probably due to the comparatively low GC content. Genes encoding carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) are more diversified in the endosymbiotic Trichostomatia than in the free-living predatory Rhynchostomatia and Haptoria, suggesting that trichostomes have the strongest capability of carbohydrate utilization. Notably, we found that three free-living litostomateans (Didinium sp.1, Myriokaryon sp., and Apodileptus visscheri) exhibit substantial differences from other free-living ciliates in terms of their number of CAZymes. Considering the potency and versatility of CAZymes in the degradation and biotransformation of carbohydates, we propose that the multifarious CAZymes in these three ciliates could be a survival strategy for nutrient acquisition and niche adaptation. Finally, the functional annotation of significantly expanded gene families in these three ciliates revealed their vigorous potency in biochemical metabolism. These findings will facilitate wider omic-scale phylogenetic analyses of Litostomatea and deepen our understanding of this group from an evolutionary standpoint.","PeriodicalId":49333,"journal":{"name":"Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141489517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sergio Sánchez-Fenollosa, Fernando Escaso, Alberto Cobos
{"title":"A new specimen of Dacentrurus armatus Owen, 1875 (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) from the Upper Jurassic of Spain and its taxonomic relevance in the European stegosaurian diversity","authors":"Sergio Sánchez-Fenollosa, Fernando Escaso, Alberto Cobos","doi":"10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae074","url":null,"abstract":"Dacentrurus armatus was the first stegosaur described in the European Upper Jurassic at the end of the 19th century. The description of a second dacentrurine taxon, ‘Miragaia longicollum’, diagnosed from material non-comparable with the D. armatus holotype, has been controversial, and its validity has been challenged. In this study, we describe a new relatively complete stegosaurian postcranial skeleton from the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Upper Jurassic, Spain). The systematic study of this new specimen and a comprehensive taxonomic assessment of the material not attributed to Stegosaurus from the Upper Jurassic of Europe, reveal high morphological homogeneity and an absence of morphological criteria for distinguishing two dacentrurine taxa. Therefore, ‘Mi. longicollum’ is proposed as a subjective junior synonym of D. armatus. Moreover, a new diagnosis for D. armatus is suggested based on the holotype and referred specimens. As a result, only two stegosaurian species, Stegosaurus stenops and D. armatus, are recognized in Europe during the Late Jurassic. Finally, the species longispinus from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic, USA) is returned to the genus Alcovasaurus.","PeriodicalId":49333,"journal":{"name":"Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141448689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evolution of spider- and ant-eating habits in crab spiders (Araneae: Thomisidae)","authors":"Stano Pekár, Vladimíra Šoltysová, Ruan Booysen, Miquel Arnedo","doi":"10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae068","url":null,"abstract":"Spiders and ants are infrequent types of prey in the diet of spiders. Both spider- and ant-eating were found in thomisid (crab) spiders but their origin remains unclear. Our goal was to gather data on spider- and ant-eating habits in thomisid spiders, construct a family-level phylogeny, and estimate when these habits evolved. Using prey acceptance experiments, we found 21 spider- and 18 ant-eating genera; based on photographic evidence there were 14 spider- and 20 ant-eating genera; and based on literature there were six spider- and seven ant-eating genera. Altogether we found evidence for 28 spider- and 30 ant-eating genera. We performed the most extensive molecular phylogenetic analysis of Thomisidae to date, using representatives of 75 nominal genera. The resulting topology was congruent with previous studies: Thomisidae were shown to be monophyletic; the genus Borboropactus was identified as a sister group to the remaining thomisids; the current subfamilies emerged as para- or polyphyletic, and Aphantochilinae was monophyletic and rendered Strophiinae paraphyletic within the ‘Thomisus clade’. Ancestral state reconstruction estimated both spider- and ant-eating as ancestral states, suggesting that common ancestors of Thomisidae were euryphagous predators that included spiders but also ants in their diet.","PeriodicalId":49333,"journal":{"name":"Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141448750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Uncovering the worldwide footprint of an ancient relictual lineage of harvestmen: new genus and species of Buemarinoidae from Australia (Opiliones: Laniatores: Triaenonychoidea)","authors":"Willians Porto, L. Monod, A. Pérez-González","doi":"10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae067","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Phocyx gen. nov. and Phocyx australis sp. nov. have been newly described from New South Wales, Australia. This represents the first record of the family Buemarinoidae in Australia, thereby remarkably extending the known distribution of this ancient and relictual group of Opiliones. Our descriptions include images of genital morphology, a critical element in group diagnosis. Additionally, we present a discourse on the conserved external morphology within Triaenonychoidea and underscore the significance of genital morphology in the taxonomy of this superfamily. Very low species diversity and relict taxa surviving in scattered isolated refugia (tropical environments of the Southern Hemisphere and hypogean habitats of the Northern Hemisphere) are a clear signature that extinction probably played a major role in shaping the current distribution ranges of Buemarinoidae. That is also reflected in buemarinoid systematics by the prevalence of monotypic genera, a product of the large-scale extinction process affecting this old harvestman lineage.","PeriodicalId":49333,"journal":{"name":"Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141377956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The pharynx of the iconic stem-group chondrichthyan Acanthodes Agassiz, 1833 revisited with micro-computed tomography","authors":"Richard P Dearden, Anthony Herrel, Alan Pradel","doi":"10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae058","url":null,"abstract":"Acanthodes has long been the primary source of information on the pharyngeal skeleton of ‘acanthodians’. Because of this its anatomy has played a disproportionate role in attempts to understand the evolution of the jawed vertebrate pharynx and the clade as a whole. However, the anatomy of the pharynx of Acanthodes, now understood to be a stem-group chondrichthyan, remains poorly characterized and subject to several competing interpretations. We used computed tomography to image the articulated pharyngeal skeletons of three specimens of Acanthodes confusus from Lebach, Germany. Acanthodes has a mélange of osteichthyan-like and chondrichthyan-like morphologies in its pharyngeal skeleton. Like many other chondrichthyans, Acanthodes lacked hypohyals, and had four pairs of posteriorly oriented pharyngobranchials. Like osteichthyans, Acanthodes possessed an interhyal, but lacked the separate infra- and supra-pharyngobranchial elements present in osteichthyans and the crown-chondrichthyan Ozarcus. Using these new data we built and animated a digital 3D model of the pharyngeal endoskeleton in Acanthodes, showing that the jaws could have swung outwards during the opening cycle, increasing the anteriorly facing area of the gape for suspension feeding. These new data provide a more definitive picture of the anatomy of a taxon that has long been of great significance in early vertebrate palaeontology.","PeriodicalId":49333,"journal":{"name":"Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141182440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Matrotrophy and polyandry partially regulate postcopulatory mechanisms and sexual selection in a bimodal viviparous salamander","authors":"Lucía Alarcón-Ríos, Guillermo Velo-Antón","doi":"10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae071","url":null,"abstract":"The evolution of matrotrophic viviparity creates new scenarios within which evolutionary processes can operate, including postcopulatory events, family conflicts, and selective processes, which are expected to intensify with polyandry. We evaluated the effect of matrotrophic viviparity and polyandry on the reproductive output and offspring fitness of a bimodal reproductive vertebrate, the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra), which presents two forms of viviparity: larviparity (i.e. females deliver many aquatic larvae) and pueriparity (i.e. females deliver a few terrestrial juveniles). Polyandry is present in both strategies, but matrotrophy only occurs in pueriparity. Analyses of paternity and offspring life-history traits in 18 pueriparous and 13 larviparous mother–offspring arrays suggest the presence of sibling conflicts in pueriparous salamanders, especially with polyandry. However, these postcopulatory processes did not increase reproductive skew in the pueriparous strategy compared to the larviparous one or lead to fitness differences across sires within a clutch, suggesting other selective processes operating earlier in the reproductive sequence. Observed male–female pairs were found to be genetically more similar than other potential pairings, although no relationship between males’ genetic traits and reproductive success was detected. This work advances our understanding of how sibling conflicts and sexual selection affect the evolution of viviparous matrotrophy and mating strategies.","PeriodicalId":49333,"journal":{"name":"Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141165185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}