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Sunday, November 28th, 2021
| Time | Event | ||||
| 3:45a | [Herpetology • 2021] Phylogeographic Advances in Midwife Toads (Alytes) support the Existence of A Novel Taxon Endemic to the Central Pyrenees
Abstract Although necessary to promote conservation, defining evolutionary units and naming biodiversity remain a difficult task, especially in problematic species groups that experienced a dynamic biogeographic history. In this article, we undertake such task for midwife toads of the Alytes obstetricans complex by integrating recent molecular studies altogether—multilocus phylogenies and population genetic barcoding. Despite a partly unresolved phylogeny underlain by deep cyto-nuclear discordances, nuclear and mitochondrial evidence support the validity of six genuine lineages assigned to two different species (A. obstetricans and A. almogavarii), which could be accurately mapped across most of their ranges. In particular, we demonstrate the existence for an overlooked yet genetically distinct lineage previously confounded with A. almogavarii, confined to the northern part of Huesca Province in the Spanish Central Pyrenees. We describe this micro-endemic as the subspecies Alytes almogavarii inigoi ssp. nov., with reports on the mating call and the larvae. Conservation genetics of eight populations of this new taxon revealed two independent conservation units, separated by topographic barriers. In the wait for upcoming genomic analyses to unravel many elusive aspects of the evolution, diversity and systematics of Alytes, the present paper offers an integrative phylogeographic overview to guide future investigations and generally illustrates how multiple lines of molecular evidence can be combined to clarify the confusing taxonomy of complex species groups. Keywords: Alytes almogavarii inigoi, Alytes obstetricans, Amphibian, cyto-nuclear discordance, Iberian Peninsula, micro-endemism  Alytes almogavarii inigoi ssp. nov. Christophe Dufresnes and Axel Hernandez. 2021. Phylogeographic Advances in Midwife Toads (Alytes) support the Existence of A Novel Taxon Endemic to the Central Pyrenees. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12564 | ||||
| 3:46a | [Botany • 2021] Allium judaeum (Amaryllidaceae) • A New Species endemic to Israel and the West Bank
Summary The genus Allium includes important food plants including onion, garlic, chives, and leeks, as well as cultivars traded widely in the horticultural industry. Yet species limits and diversity in the genus still require further work. The eastern Mediterranean has emerged as a centre of diversity for the genus Allium in recent years. Here we describe a new species, Allium judaeum that is a rare endemic, apparently restricted to the Judean Mountains of Israel and the West Bank, and discuss the ecology and outlook for the plant, and recommendations for its conservation.    Allium judaeum Ben-Natan & Fragman sp. nov. Type: ISRAEL/PALESTINE. Judean Mountains, Efrat, ..., 900 m, ...   Dar Ben-Natan and Ori Fragman-Sapir. 2021. Allium judaeum sp. nov.: Amaryllidaceae. Curtis's Botanical Magazine. DOI: 10.1111/curt.12420 Illustration by Rubin Krief  | ||||
| 3:47a | [Mollusca • 2022] Global Diversification and Evolutionary History of Onchidiid Slugs (Gastropoda, Pulmonata: Onchidiidae)
Highlights: • A global molecular phylogeny of onchidiid slugs is reconstructed. • The common ancestor of onchidiid slugs likely lived in the rocky intertidal. • Onchidiids transitioned into new habitats in mangrove forests during the Miocene. • Diversification is the result of allopatric and sympatric (ecological) speciation. Abstract Many marine species are specialized to specific parts of a habitat. In a mangrove forest, for instance, species may be restricted to the mud surface, the roots and trunks of mangrove trees, or rotting logs, which can be regarded as distinct microhabitats. Shifts to new microhabitats may be an important driver of sympatric speciation. However, the evolutionary history of these shifts is still poorly understood in most groups of marine organisms, because it requires a well-supported phylogeny with relatively complete taxon sampling. Onchidiid slugs are an ideal case study for the evolutionary history of habitat and microhabitat shifts because onchidiid species are specialized to different tidal zones and microhabitats in mangrove forests and rocky shores, and the taxonomy of the family in the Indo-West Pacific has been recently revised in a series of monographs. Here, DNA sequences for onchidiid species from the North and East Pacific, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic are used to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships among Onchidella species, and are combined with new data for Indo-West Pacific species to reconstruct a global phylogeny of the family. The phylogenetic relationships of onchidiid slugs are reconstructed based on three mitochondrial markers (COI, 12S, 16S) and three nuclear markers (28S, ITS2, H3) and nearly complete taxon sampling (all 13 genera and 62 of the 67 species). The highly-supported phylogeny presented here suggests that ancestral onchidiids most likely lived in the rocky intertidal, and that a lineage restricted to the tropical Indo-West Pacific colonized new habitats, including mudflats, mangrove forests, and high-elevation rainforests. Many onchidiid species in the Indo-West Pacific diverged during the Miocene, around the same time that a high diversity of mangrove plants appears in the fossil record, while divergence among Onchidella species occurred earlier, likely in the Eocene. It is demonstrated that ecological specialization to microhabitats underlies the divergence between onchidiid genera, as well as the diversification through sympatric speciation in the genera Wallaconchis and Platevindex. The geographic distributions of onchidiid species also indicate that allopatric speciation played a key role in the diversification of several genera, especially Onchidella and Peronia. The evolutionary history of several morphological traits (penial gland, rectal gland, dorsal eyes, intestinal loops) is examined in relation to habitat and microhabitat evolutionary transitions and provides the first evidence that the rectal gland of onchidiids is an adaptation to high intertidal and terrestrial habitats. Keywords: Biogeography, divergence time, ecological speciation, habitat transition, mangroves, rocky intertidal  
Tricia C. Goulding, Munawar Khalil, Shau Hwai Tan, Rebecca A. Cumming and Benoît Dayrat. 2022. Global Diversification and Evolutionary History of Onchidiid Slugs (Gastropoda, Pulmonata). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. In Press, 107360. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107360   |
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