Starting with a few species names for populations of Sticta (lichenized fungi) in Madagascar, Simon et al., reveal based on phylogenetic inferences from DNA sequences that the diversity of Sticta  actually reaches beyond 30 species, most of which are endemic to Madagascar and Mascarenes and some even only known from individual mountains! This diversity is the result of a fairly recent rapid radiation.  Specimens of this newly discovered diversity, collected by Sérusiaux and Goffinet in 2014, will be deposited in the CONN herbarium.

Simon A., B. Goffinet, N. Magain & E. Sérusiaux. 2018. High diversity, high insular endemism and recent origin in the lichen genus Sticta (lichenized Ascomycota, Peltigerales) in Madagascar and the Mascarene archipelago. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 122: 15–28. pdf

Abstract reads: Lichen biodiversity and its generative evolutionary processes are practically unknown in the MIOI¹ biodiversity hotspot (including Madagascar and the neighboring Mascarene archipelago, formed by Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues). We sought to test the hypothesis that lichenized fungi in this region have undergone a rapid radiation, following a single colonization event, giving rise to narrow endemics, as is characteristic of other lineages of plants. We extensively sampled specimens of the lichen genus Sticta in the Mascarene archipelago (mainly Réunion) and in Madagascar, mainly in the northern range (Amber Mt and Marojejy Mt) and produced the fungal ITS barcode sequence for 148 thalli. We further produced a four-loci data matrix for 68 of them, representing the diversity and geographical distribution of ITS haplotypes. We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships within this group, established species boundaries with morphological context, and estimated the date of the most recent common ancestor. Our inferences resolve a robust clade comprising 31 endemic species of Sticta that arose from the diversification following a single recent (c. 11 Mya) colonization event. All but three species have a very restricted range, endemic to either the Mascarene archipelago or a single massif in Madagascar. The first genus of lichens to be studied with molecular data in this region underwent a recent radiation, exhibits micro-endemism, and thus exemplifies the biodiversity characteristics found in other taxa in Madagascar and the Mascarenes.

EEB 5500, Introduction to Natural History Collections, is being offered this spring and is drawing graduate and undergraduate students from across campus. Fifteen students from EEB, Political Sciences, Natural Resources and Fine Arts enrolled in the course, to learn about the role and significance of natural history collections, policy and management, or ethical questions, and also engage in preparing specimens for acquisition.

An assessment of the diversity and relationships of a group of lichenized basidiomycetes, has been completed and resulted in a global circumscription of the Lepidostromatales: Liu D., B. Goffinet, D. Ertz, A. De Kesel, Z.G. Qian, X.Y. Wang, H.X. Shi, Y.Y. Zhang, J.W. Li, X. Ye, J.S. Hur & L.S. Wang. 2017 (2018). Circumscription and phylogeny of the Lepidostromatales (lichenized Basidiomycota) following discovery of new species from China and Africa. Mycologia 109: 730–748. pdf

Collections made in China by Goffinet, including paratypes of new species, are deposited in CONN.

Abstract reads: Based on an exhaustive sampling of all known Lepidostromatales, a lineage of clavarioid lichen-forming basidiomycetes, we assess (i) the phylogenetic affinities of the six Chinese species currently accommodated in Multiclavula(Cantharellales) based on inferences from the 18S and 28S subunits of the nuclear ribosomal DNA repeat and (ii) the phylogenetic structure among Chinese populations of Lepidostromatales, based on the nuc rDNA ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 (ITS) regions. Multiclavula fossicola and M. sinensis belong to the Lepidostromatales, and are transferred to Sulzbacheromyces. Chinese reports of M. clara and M. vernalis belong to species of Lepidostromatales and specimens identified as M. mucida belong to the non-lichenized genus Clavaria. Hence, evidence of Multiclavula occurring in China is lacking. Similarly, L. calocerum is excluded from the Chinese flora. The recently described L. asianum should be regarded as conspecific with S. sinensis. Three new species of Sulzbacheromyces are described: S. bicolor and S. yunnanensis from China, and S. miomboensis from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Consequently, Sulzbacheromyces is new to Asia and Africa. A world-wide key to the species of Lepidostromatales is provided.

“Tapeworms are brainless, spineless, gutless parasites — and this scientist loves them”. The scientist in question in Dr. Janine Caira, the parasitologist in EEB. Her work and in particular her recent edited book on the tapeworms of the earth was featured in the Washington Post on January 2, 2018.

The recent exploration of the bryophyte and lichen flora of the Diego Ramirez archipelago South of Cape Horn in subantarctic Chile contributed to the development of a proposal for the extension of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, an effort led by Dr. Ricardo Rozzi, a former student in EEB and now Professor at the University of North Texas and the Universidad de Magallanes (Chile). Click on the image for access to the on-line publication.

The bryophyte collections from Gonzalo Island, the first from this island about 100 km SW of Cape Horn, are currently being studied and the inventory of the tiny, low elevation and treeless island will be shared through a co-authored publication involving Dr. J. Engel and M. von Konrat from the Field Museum and of course our Chilean colleagues. Unicates will be deposited in the herbarium of the University of Concepcion (Chile) and duplicates in CONN and F.

The recently published book “Tapeworms from the vertebrate bowels of the earth” edited by Drs. Janine Caira (EEB—UCONN) and Kirsten Jensen (EEB—University of Kansas) (see our previous post)  was featured in UCONN Today with a gallery of stunning pictures of tapeworms, a group of organisms well represented in UCONN’s Biodiversity Research Collection.

Tallying Tapeworms: New Book Details Species, Hosts

As part of the NSF funded project for the preservation of the Army Ant Guest Collection (AAGC), both videos created by Carl Rettenmeyer were shared with the public via Youtube.

This week, the documentary “Astonishing Ants” reached a milestone: the video has been viewed 10,000 times! The companion film “Associates of Eciton burchellii” has been viewed over 4200 times!

The video is widely praised by the viewers: “I learned 100x more in this video compared to a NatGeo doc” — “…refreshingly spartan” — “Fine documentaries like this should go viral” — “Possibly the best most in-depth doc i have ever seen on ants, particularly on army ants.thank u Dr.R. your hard work is appreciated” 

Medina R., M. Johnson, Y. Liu, N. Wilding, T. Hedderson, N. Wickett & B. Goffinet. 2018. Evolutionary dynamism in bryophytes: Phylogenomic inferences confirm rapid radiation in the family Funariaceae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 120: 240–247. pdf

Abstract reads: Rapid diversifications of plants are primarily documented and studied in angiosperms, which are perceived as evolutionarily dynamic. Recent studies have, however, revealed that bryophytes have also undergone periods of rapid radiation. The speciose family Funariaceae, including the model taxon Physcomitrella patens, is one such lineage. Here, we infer relationships among major lineages within the Entosthodon-Physcomitrium complex from virtually complete organellar exomes (i.e., 123 genes) obtained through high throughput sequencing of genomic libraries enriched in these loci via targeted locus capture. Based on these extensive exonic data we (1) reconstructed a robust backbone topology of the Funariaceae, (2) confirmed the monophyly of Funariaand the polyphyly of Entosthodon, Physcomitrella, and Physcomitrium, and (3) argue for the occurrence of a rapid radiation within the Entosthodon-Physcomitrium complex that began 28 mya and gave rise more than half of the species diversity of the family. This diversification may have been triggered by a whole genome duplication and coincides with global Eocene cooling that continued through the Oligocene and Miocene. The Funariaceae join a growing list of bryophyte lineages whose history is marked by at least one burst of diversification, and our study thereby strengthens the view that bryophytes are evolutionarily dynamic lineages and that patterns and processes characterizing the evolution of angiosperms may be universal among land plants.

Robert Lücking and colleagues completed a revision of a complex of lichen species, of which specimens from Chile, are deposited in CONN.

Lücking R., B. Moncada, B. McCune, E. Farkas, B. Goffinet, D. Parker, J. L. Chaves, L. Lőkös, P. R. Nelson, T. Spribille, S. Stenroos, T. Wheeler, A. Yanez-Ayabaca, K. Dillman, O. T. Gockman, T. Goward, J. Hollinger, E. A. Tripp, J. Villella, W. R. Álvaro-Alba, C. Julio Arango, M. E. S. Cáceres, L. Fernando Coca, C. Printzen, C. Rodríguez, K. Scharnagl, R. Rozzi, E. Soto-Medina & L. S. Yakovchenko. 2017. Pseudocyphellaria crocata (Ascomycota: Lobariaceae) in the Americas reveals to be ten species, and none of them is Pseudocyphellaria crocata. The Bryologist 120: 441–500.

Abstract reads: We provide a phylogenetic revision of the Pseudocyphellaria crocata complex in the Americas. Specimens traditionally identified as P. crocata, based on their cyanobacterial photobiont, yellow pseudocyphellae, at least partially white medulla, and yellow soralia or soralia-like structures, are shown to represent 13 distinct species, forming a monophyletic group divided into four large clades, three comprising one species each and one containing eight species, plus two taxa for which no molecular data are available. Seven species correspond to what was previously recognized as P. crocata and one to P. dozyana, whereas a further one is identified as the sorediate counterpart of the usually apotheciate taxon P. lechleri and another as a pseudosorediate morph of the usually phyllidiate species P. neglecta. Surprisingly, none of the species represents P. crocata s.str., which must therefore be excluded from the American lichen biota. The 13 recognized species include three species new to science and three new combinations: P. citrina (Gyeln.) Lücking, Moncada & S.Stenroos, comb. nov. [bas.: Cyanisticta citrina Gyeln., nom. nov. pro Sticta citrina Pers. nom. illeg.], P. desfontainii (Delise) Vain., P. deyi Lücking, sp. nov., P. dozyana (Mont. & Bosch) D.J.Galloway, P. epiflavoides (Gyeln.) Lücking, Farkas & Lokös, comb. nov. [bas.: Cyanisticta epiflavoides Gyeln.], P. hawaiiensis H.Magn., P. hillii (C.W.Dodge) D.J.Galloway, P. holarctica McCune, Lücking & Moncada, sp. nov., P. lechleri (Müll. Arg.) Du Rietz, P. neglecta (Müll. Arg.) H.Magn., P. punctata Lendemer, Lücking & Moncada sp. nov., P. sandwicensis (Zahlbr.) Moncada & Lücking, comb. nov. [bas.: Sticta crocata f. sandwicensis Zahlbr.], and P. xanthosticta (Pers.) Moncada & Lücking. Based on sequenced specimens, a neotype is selected for P. citrina and epitypes for P. hawaiiensis, P. lechleri, P. sandwicensis and P. xanthosticta. A key to all sorediate or pseudosorediate species of this complex in the Americas is presented, and all species are described, discussed and illustrated. pdf