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An international team from the Zoological institute RAS (St Petersburg) and the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, BAS (Sofia) showed that true bugs differed from the majority of other insects in molecular composition of telomeres. The study was published in Comparative Cytogenetics.

In the 1930s B. McClintock from the University of Missouri, Columbia and H.J. Muller from the University of Edinburgh discovered (independently of one another) that chromosomes carry special components, or “telomeres”, which stabilize their structure and protect them from destruction. At present, it is known, that telomeres regulate cellular senescence (the cellular equivalent of aging) and their shortening plays the role of a molecular clock for the organism.

In most animal and plants, the telomeres consist of short DNA tandem motifs (repeated millions of times) and associated proteins. Comparative analysis of these motifs in various groups of organisms has showed that they are evolutionarily stable being invariant within a group.

The most common and (most probably) ancestral DNA motif of insect telomeres is known to be (TTAGG)n. Some Authors suggested the absence of this motif in true bugs (a large group of insects, among them bedbugs, firebugs, and significant agricultural pests) however this conclusion was based on available data, which are very scarce.

On the basis of the results obtained in several phylogenetically distant species studied by FISH (a technique for visualizing specific DNA sequences onto chromosomes) and dot-blot hybridization (a technique for detecting the presence/absence of target biomolecules in a sample) with a TTAGG probe, we confirmed that the insect consensus telomeric motif (TTAGG)n was lost in the evolution of true bugs.

To clarify the molecular composition of telomeres in these insects we used dot-blot hybridization of the genomic DNA from several true bug species with a number of telomeric probes known as specific to other organisms (ciliates, nematodes, shrimps, vertebrates, and plants). The result of these hybridization experiments was negative allowing suggesting that these telomerase-depended sequences are likewise not characteristic of the true bug telomeres.

Hence, the question of the molecular composition of true bug telomeres remains open and needs further studies.

Original source:
Grozeva S, Kuznetsova VG, Anokhin BA (2011) Karyotypes, male meiosis and comparative FISH mapping of 18S ribosomal DNA and telomeric (TTAGG)n repeat in eight species of true bugs (Hemiptera, Heteroptera). Comparative Cytogenetics 5(4): 355–374. doi: 10.3897/CompCytogen.v5i4.2307

Contact:
Snejana Grozeva
Tel (+359 2) 9885115
E-mail: sgrozeva@yahoo.com
 

Recent findings of researchers from the North-Eastern Hill University, India show that C. indica occupies a special taxonomic position as reflected from the Karyomorphological data generated by them. The study was published in the open-access journal Comparative Cytogenetics.

A group of enthusiastic cytogeneticists (Marlykynti Hynniewta, Surendra Kumar Malik and Satyawada Rama Rao) from North Eastern Hill University show that C. indica occupies a special taxonomic position, as reflected in the karyomorphological data.

The genus Citrus is an economically important horticultural crop known for its fruit and juice. In India, there are about 30 species of Citrus of which at least nine species are available throughout India, while 17 species are confined to the North-Eastern states of India, which have been classified as a hot spot for Citrus biodiversity  and are threatened in their natural habitat as per the criteria fixed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). Seven Indian Citrus species are considered endangered or nearly so, including C. Indica, C. macroptera, C. latipes, C. assamensis, C. ichangensis, C. megaloxycarpa and C. rugulosa.

C. indica (Tanaka, 1937) is supposed to be the most primitive species and perhaps the progenitor of cultivated Citrus. From the karyomorphological data it can be observed that the asymmetry index of different species of Citrus presently investigated had shown significant variation. C. medica, C. grandis and C. reticulata which are considered as true basic species are characteristic in having low asymmetry index of 1.87, 1.89 and 2.46 respectively.  In the present investigation, the data from the karyomorphological observations on chromosome complements in 10 different Citrus species reflect that C. indica with its intermediate asymmetry index value (1.94) may be regarded as a true progenitor of cultivated Citrus. This study also supports the previous report that there are three true species of Citrus, viz. C. grandis, C. reticulata and C. medica.

Additional information:
The present work was carried out in the Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong and was supported by University Grants Commission, New Delhi through scholarship.
A part of this research work was presented as a paper in National Symposium on Biodiversity Assessment, Conservation and Value Addition organised by School of Life Science (UPE-Biosciences) North-Eastern Hill University on 17th-19th March, 2011. pp 32.

Original source:
Hynniewta M, Malik SK, Rao SR (2011) Karyological studies in ten species of Citrus (Linnaeus, 1753) (Rutaceae) of North-East India. Comparative Cytogenetics 5(4): 19–29. doi: 10.3897/CompCytogen.v5i4.1796

Coneheads (or Protura) collected from all over the territory of Italy were studied by three researchers of Genoa University (Loris Galli, Matteo Capurro and Carlo Torti). 40 species have been identified (belonging to 8 genera and 4 families), 6 of which are new records for the Italian fauna. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Coneheads (or Protura) is a group of primitive “insects” whose first species (Acerentomon doderoi) was discovered in 1907 by the famous Italian zoologist Filippo Silvestri, among the small animals collected by the coleopterologist Agostino Dodero from soil samples, taken from the grounds of a small villa in the center of Genoa, Italy. In the two following years Antonio Berlese, another very important zoologist (friend/foe of Silvestri) analyzed the morphology and anatomy of these strange and still poorly known soil-borne organisms and described a few other new species.

Normally less than 2 mm long, uncolored or pale yellow colored, eyeless, using their well developed forelegs as sense organs (they lack even the antennae) while they slowly walk between soil’s grains, the Coneheads are strongly adapted to their life in soil, litter and mosses where they eat meanly hyphae, contributing to the processes of organic matter degradation and so participating in recycling the nutrients in their ecosystems.

More than a century after their discovery, in the same town they have been collected the first time, the researchers summarize the knowledge of these animals in Italy, their “native” country. They identified 40 species (belonging to 8 genera and 4 families), 6 of which are new records for the Italian fauna, but it is very likely that many other have yet to be discovered.

The authors created also a taxonomic key to identify the Italian species and drew their distribution maps. Their survey will facilitate further work by zoologists, ecologists and soil scientists and contributes to the knowledge of the Italian biodiversity.

Original source:
Galli L, Capurro M, Torti C (2011) Protura of Italy, with a key to species and their distribution. ZooKeys 146: 19–67. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.146.1885

A list of 235 planthoppers from Iran is recorded along with distribution data. This list is based on previous studies on Iranian Auchenorrhyncha during last 100 years. In addition to the latest species names for any record, new combinations and the transferring one species at family level is proposed. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.

Planthoppers are studied relatively little, but are both economically important (they cause reduced crop yield through their feeding, oviposition and transferring pathogen microorganisms to a wide range of plants) and very interesting from a biodiversity aspect.

In a new published paper, the first complete list of Fulgoromorpha species recorded from Iran has been compiled, which is based on literature records and the addition of some new taxonomic data. The list consists of 235 species while nearly half of them are endemic from Iran. Iranissus ephedinus Dlabola, 1980 is transferred from Issidae to Nogodinidae. To resolve nomenclatural difficulty the following new combinations in Family Issidae are given: Iranodus dumetorus (Dlabola, 1981), Iranodus khatunus (Dlabola, 1981) and Iranodus repandus (Dlabola, 1981). Due to published generic synonomy the following are new combinations: Duilius seticulosus (Lethierry, 1874), D. tamaricis (Puton & Lethierry, 1887), D. tamaricicola (Dubovsky, 1966) D. vatrum (Dlabola, 1985). It is hoped that this list will encourage further studies on this important group of insects and also improve the view in practical fields such as pest control management.

Original source:
Mozaffarian F, Wilson MR (2011) An annotated checklist of the planthoppers of Iran (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha, Fulgoromorpha) with distribution data. ZooKeys 145: 1-57. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.145.1846

A new minute freshwater snail species belonging to the genus Daphniola was found by a researcher from University of Athens (Canella Radea) in a spring covered by snow on Mt. Parnassos, central Greece. This study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.

The new species, Daphniola eptalophos, has a transparent conical-flat coiled shell, grey-black pigmented soft body and a black penis with a small colorless outgrowth on the left side near its base. D. eptalophos differs from its congeners in shell dimensions, soft body pigmentation and coloration of penis.

Daphniola is an endemic genus for Greece, inhabiting most of mainland Greece. Two of the three currently known species are included in the category Endangered and Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011.1. It is notable that D. eptalophos was found in only one spring until now and its population abundance seems to be low.

The new species could be threatened by habitat destruction because the localities of freshwater gastropods in Greece, most of them springs, are prone to changes due to urbanization, water pollution, waste accumulation, tourism and agricultural practices. Effective conservation measures must be urgently taken to protect these localities before their unique gastropod fauna disappears.

Original source:
Radea C (2011) A new species of hydrobiid snails (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Hydrobiidae) from central Greece. ZooKeys 138: 53-64. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.138.1927

Aphid researchers from Chinese Academy of Sciences found one new species, Aleurodaphis sinojackiae Qiao & Jiang, 2011 from Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces, China. It forms leaf galls on Jack trees (Sinojackia xylocarpa) and is one of two known gall makers in the plant lice Aleurodaphis (Hemiptera, Aphididae, Hormaphidinae). The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Aleurodaphis was established in 1917 by van der Goot and has eight known species in the world, restricted to China, Japan, India and Indonesia. Its remarkable characteristics are the followings, body of apterae is similar to nymphs of mealywing, frontal horn is absent and wax glands are arranged along crenulated margin of body.

The range of its host plants is quite wide, but  only two of them can form leaf galls on the host plants, A. sinojackiae and A. stewartiae. The new species was named after its host plant, Jack trees (Sinojackia xylocarpa). It induced the leaves of host plants to curl and form leaf galls.

The most typical characteristic of the new species is that wax glands are arranged on each segment of body not connecting with each other in apterae, while arranged continuously along the edge of body as a crenulation in the other known species of the genus.

Aleurodaphis sinisalicis Zhang, 1982 was confirmed as a synonym with A. blumeae van der Goot, 1917 after checking the type specimens.

The holotype and some paratypes of the new species are deposited in British Natural History Museum, London, UK (BMNH), while the other paratypes in the National Zoological Museum of China, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (NZMC) and Kôgakkan University, Japan.

Original source:
Jiang LY, Qiao GX (2011) A review of Aleurodaphis (Hemiptera, Aphididae, Hormaphidinae) with the description of one new species and keys to species. ZooKeys 135: 41–56. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.135.1721

Wiki version:
http://species-id.net/wiki/Aleurodaphis
http://species-id.net/wiki/Aleurodaphis_sinojackiae

 

Through an examination of collections, both natural and experimental rearings, and DNA sequence data, three nominal species of ichneumon wasps, having very different morphologies and hitherto regarded as distinct, are shown to be seasonal forms of a single species, Scambus calobatus.

Three widely differing forms of European Scambus parasitoid wasps that had previously been regarded as distinct species are shown to be seasonal morphs of a single species. The collaboration involved National Museums Scotland (Mark Shaw), a private individual (Malcolm Jennings) as well as Imperial College London and the Natural History Museum (Donald Quicke). It was published in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research, an open access journal.

The findings depended on examination of museum collections with good data standards, targeted fieldwork to rear specimens from known hosts at different times of year, and experimental rearings of progeny from spring females through summer hosts. DNA sequence data provided confirmation that the rearing results were real, and not the result of overlooked contaminants.

The adults of these parasitoids paralyse their concealed hosts, which are small caterpillars or beetle larvae, before laying an egg beside the host. The host remains paralysed and is consumed by the resulting parasitoid larva, which then pupates and eventually becomes an adult, emerging from the same place. One morph (“S. planatus”: Fig. 1), which occurs in spring, has a robust head to accommodate the powerful muscles needed to chew out of acorns in which it has been a parasitoid of micromoth and weevil larvae attacked the previous autumn. Females of this morph live for several weeks, during which they become darker and their abdomen broadens considerably (“S. ventricosus”). Towards the middle of summer, this morph matures its eggs and parasitises micromoth larvae living in relatively soft silken retreats among foliage. Within a few weeks, adults of the next generation emerge from this substrate, having much less powerful heads (“S. calobatus”: Fig. 2), and these adults then seek tenanted acorns in which to oviposit in autumn. The spring-emerging and summer-emerging forms also differ in their ovipositor lengths. This life-cycle was confirmed experimentally by allowing the S. ventricosus morph, originating from acorns, to parasitise the summer hosts which then produced adults of the S. calobatus morph. Because S. calobatus is the oldest of the three names, this is the one that has to be used for this seasonally variable, but none-the-less single, species in the future.

“It was satisfying to be able to follow this hunch through to such a conclusive result” says the senior author Mark Shaw. “It shows the importance of good collections, careful field work, and focussed experimentation. Almost certainly there will be other similar cases.”

Original source:
Shaw MR, Jennings MT, Quicke DLJ (2011) The identity of Scambus planatus (Hartig, 1838) and Scambus ventricosus (Tschek, 1871) as seasonal forms of Scambus calobatus (Gravenhorst, 1829) in Europe (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Pimplinae, Ephialtini). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 23: 55-64. doi:10.3897/JHR.23.1974

Cave millipedes of the genus Tetracion are found on the southern Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee and Alabama, USA. New genetic analyses show that their populations are generally isolated and genetically distinct. Genetic divergence between two species of Tetracion suggests they diverged several million years ago. The study was published in the open access journal International Journal of Myriadopology.

This week the International Journal of Myriapodology published the first population genetic study of cave millipedes. This research highlights an important challenge in the conservation of cave biodiversity – that for many species caves are ‘islands’ of habitat that support isolated and genetically distinct populations.

The southern Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee and Alabama, USA is known for its high cave density. In addition, it has the highest cave biodiversity of any region in North America. Millipedes of the genus Tetracion range across this biodiversity hotspot. These millipedes, which can grow up to 8 cm in length, are common scavengers in cave communities. Like many cave animals, Tetracion millipedes have reduced pigmentation and non-functional eyes.

The authors used genetic techniques to compare Tetracion populations and species. They found that Tetracion populations were generally isolated from one another. In addition, divergence between Tetracion species was high, suggesting that members of the genus diverged several million years ago.

Original Source:
Loria, S.F., K.S. Zigler and J.J. Lewis. 2011. Molecular phylogeography of the troglobiotic millipede Tetracion Hoffman, 1956 (Diplopoda: Callipodida: Abacionidae). International Journal of Myriapodology 5:35-48. doi: 10.3897/ijm.5.1891

Durch molekulargenetische Methoden konnten bisher unbekannte Larvenstadien und eine seltene neue Art aus der Gattung der kuriosen Spinnenwasserkäfer entdeckt und wissenschaftlich beschrieben werden. Diese biologisch-systematische Studie ist Grundlage für die Entwicklung eines biologischen Indikatorsystems zur Bewertung der Wasserqualität in den Tropen. Die Arbeit im Rahmen des AQUA Palawana Forschungsprogrammes auf den Philippinen wurde jetzt von Wissenschaftlern aus Dresden und München in der Fachzeitschrift Zookeys veröffentlicht.

Seit über einem Jahrzehnt wird durch das Forschungsprogramm „AQUA Palawana” die einzigartige biologische Vielfalt der Süßwasserfauna im Biosphärenreservat der philippinischen Provinz Palawan erforscht. Forscher vom Senckenberg Museum für Tierkunde Dresden und der Zoologischen Staatssammlung München haben jetzt eine seltene unbekannte Art und erstmals Larvenstadien der ungewöhnlichen Spinnenwasserkäfer aus diesem sogenannten „Biodiversitäts-Hotspot“ wissenschaftlich beschrieben. Die Studie wurde in Kooperation mit dem Palawan Council for Sustainable Development und der De La Salle Universität Manila durchgeführt.

Die Biologen Hendrik Freitag und Michael Balke verglichen dabei mitochondriale DNA der Organismen, die sich während der Entwicklung vom Ei zum Käfer nicht verändert, während die verschiedenen Entwicklungsstadien äußerlich keinerlei Ähnlichkeit aufweisen, wie bei allen holometabolen Insekten. Diese Methode erwies sich als einfache Möglichkeit, larvale und adulte Stadien der selben Art eindeutig zuzuordnen.

Die untersuchten Insekten aus der Gattung Ancyronyx haben außergewöhnlich lange Beine, oft  in Kombination mit auffälligen kreuzartigen Mustern auf den Flügeldecken und erinnern daher spontan an Spinnen. Tatsächlich handelt es sich jedoch um Klauenkäfer (Elmidae), die sich permanent in strömendem Wasser aufhalten und durch ihr Plastron – eine durch mikroskopisch-kleine Strukturen vergrößerte Oberfläche  – aus dem Wasser lebenswichtigen Sauerstoff aufnehmen. Sie reagieren generell  sehr empfindlich auf Wasserverschmutzung und eignen sich daher als Indikatorarten für die biologische Gewässergütebewertung. Die Wissenschaftler wollen mit ihrer Arbeit Grundlagen schaffen, die mittelfristig eine Etablierung von Gewässerbewertungssystemen in den Tropen ermöglicht, wie sie in Mitteleuropa längst Standard sind.

Die Forschungsergebnisse legen weiterhin nahe, dass die südostasiatische Inselregion das Zentrum der Artenvielfalt dieser Tiergattung darstellt. Zehn der derzeit bekannten 18 Arten kommen ausschließlich auf den Philippinen vor, und sind teilweise sogar auf einzelnen Inseln endemisch.

Die neu beschriebene Klauenkäfer-Art Ancyronyx punkti aus Palawan – so benannt nach dem im Umweltschutz engagierten Verein „punkt e.V.“ – wurde kürzlich von der Initiative „BIOnet International“ für eine Kampagne ausgewählt. Auf der Nagoya-Konferenz 2010 zum Übereinkommen über die biologische Vielfalt wurde dabei auf die gesellschaftliche Relevanz taxonomischer Grundlagenforschung aufmerksam gemacht.

Originalquelle:
Freitag H, Balke M (2011) Larvae and a new species of Ancyronyx Erichson, 1847 (Insecta, Coleoptera, Elmidae) from Palawan, Philippines, using DNA sequences for the assignment of the developmental stages. ZooKeys 136: 47–82. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.136.1914

English translation.

The unknown larval stages and a new species of the curious Spider Water Beetles were described after their assignment by DNA sequences. These taxonomic works are groundwork for the development of water quality bioindicator systems in the tropics. This study of the AQUA Palawana biodiversity program in the Philippines was published in the journal ZooKeys.

The research program AQUA Palawana has been exploring the unique freshwater biodiversity of the Philippine Island and biosphere reserve of Palawan for more than a decade. Scientists from the Senckenberg Museum of Zoology Dresden and the Bavarian State Collections of Zoology in Munich have now described larvae and a new species of the curious Spider Water Beetles (Ancyronyx) from this biodiversity hotspot. Their study was realized in cooperation with the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development and the De La Salle University Manila.

The scientists conducting this study, Hendrik Freitag and Michael Balke, used mitochondrial DNA, which should be identical in all developmental stages in a species, to assign the previously unknown larval stages to adult imagines. This method was very useful because the outside appearance of immature and mature stages of holometabolous insects look completely different and would not allow an easy assignment to each other.

The studied insects of the genus Ancyronyx have extremely long legs, often accompanied by an eye-catching cross-like elytral colour pattern, so that they remind of spiders. In point of fact they are “Riffle Beetles” (Elmidae) that are able to breathe through a plastron, a microfilm of air around their body surface that is microscopically enlarged by setose structures. This enables them to remain permanently under water. Such beetles are often highly sensitive to water pollution and are therefore greatly valued as bioindicators. The researchers aim at providing basic knowledge and identification tools for tropical species that are potentially useful as freshwater bioindicators.

One of newly described Philippine species, Ancyronyx punkti – named after the German environmental NGO punkt e.V. – was recently chosen by BIOnet International for a campaign highlighting the relevance of taxonomy to society which was presented at the tenth COP meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan 2010.

The new discoveries from the Philippines lead to the assumption that the region is the actual diversity centre of the genus. By now, ten of the 18 described species are known solely from the Philippines, of which most are endemic to the country or even to single islands.

Original source:
Freitag H, Balke M (2011) Larvae and a new species of Ancyronyx Erichson, 1847 (Insecta, Coleoptera, Elmidae) from Palawan, Philippines, using DNA sequences for the assignment of the developmental stages. ZooKeys 136: 47–82. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.136.1914

German translation.