Browsing by Subject "Taxonomy"

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    Anatomy, Systematics, and Evolution of Catarrhines from the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene of Eastern Africa
    (2019-10) Jansma, Rutger
    The early Miocene catarrhines are key taxa for elucidating the evolutionary history of the Hominoidea and Cercopithecoidea because they are temporally and morphologically intermediate between more primitive Oligocene faunas and modern primate communities. However, insight into the adaptive processes that led to the living catarrhine clades is obscured because of confusion over both taxonomic diversity and systematic affinities within key early Miocene groups. The research presented in this dissertation takes advantage of the increase in new, more complete fossils and taxa to overcome these limitations. The small catarrhines and nyanzapithecines are revised following a comprehensive review, resulting in the description of two new genera (Gen. nov. A and Gen. nov. B), a new species of Dendropithecus, and transfer of Nyanzapithecus harrisoni to Turkanapithecus. This revision provides evidence for increased geographic and ecological differentiation among sympatric small catarrhines, nyanzapithecines, and large-bodied hominoids during the early Miocene. A new phylogenetic analysis using maximum parsimony includes 64 taxa and 243 characters, and recovered a well-resolved consensus tree (MPTs = 18, 901 steps long) that supports monophyly of Cercopithecoidea and Hominoidea. Within Hominoidea, the Pliopithecidae, Dendropithecidae, and Proconsulidae are identified as successively more derived monophyletic clades. A monophyletic Oreopithecidae clade containing Oreopithecus and the nyanzapithecines is also well supported within Hominoidea. However, the positions of Pliopithecidae and Oreopithecidae are strongly influenced by the morphology preserved within single species in these clades. This demonstrates both the importance of comprehensive taxonomic sampling and the impact of missing data on phylogenetic results. The analysis also reveals that suspensory adaptations documented in living apes appeared independently in four hominoid clades (Pliopithecidae, Oreopithecidae, Hylobatidae, and Hominidae). This result is realized through the large taxon sampling in the analysis and demonstrate that the homoplastic character states in these taxa are expressed differently among clades. Finally, a general perspective on catarrhine evolution emphasizes that the appearance of the ancestral hominin cannot be properly interpreted without making reference to the entire Miocene ape radiation.
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    Human Cognitive Abilities: The Structure and Predictive Power of Group Factors
    (2019-04) Kostal, Jack
    General mental ability is one of the most powerful and venerable individual differences in I-O psychology. This project consists of two studies that provide comprehensive meta-analytic summaries of inter-correlations between cognitive abilities, and cognitive abilities’ validity for predicting a wide range of job performance criteria. The meta-analytic database created to address these questions consists of 2,356 independent samples from 1,030 separate studies (total N = 2,978,554). Results provide support for a newly developed compendium for classifying cognitive tests, which use would reduce idiosyncratic test classifications that are endemic to the I-O literature. Exploratory factor analyses produced solutions similar to the CHC model, albeit with important exceptions around visual processing, long-term retrieval, and quantitative knowledge. Results did not support age differentiation of cognitive abilities. Turning to validity against job performance criteria, this study found somewhat lower validities than previous work by Hunter and Schmidt. Contrary to previous work, no major differences in validity were observed between fluid and crystallized abilities.
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    Hypernym Discovery over WordNet and English Corpora - using Hearst Patterns and Word Embeddings
    (2018-07) Vallabhajosyula, Manikya Swathi
    Languages evolve over time. With new technical innovations, new terms get created and new senses are added to existing words. Dictionaries like WordNet which act as a database for English vocabulary should be updated with these new concepts. WordNet organizes these concepts in sets of synonyms and interlinks them by using semantic relations. Many Natural Language Processing applications like Machine Translation and Word Sense Disambiguation rely on WordNet for their functionality. WordNet was last updated in 2006. If WordNet is not updated with new vocabulary, the performance of applications which rely on WordNet would drop. The objective of our research is to automatically update WordNet with the new senses by using resources like online dictionaries and text corpora available over the internet. We use the ISA hierarchy structure of WordNet to insert new senses. In an ISA hierarchy, the concepts higher in a hierarchy (called hypernyms) are more abstract representations of the concepts lower in hierarchy (called hyponyms). To improve the coverage of our solution, we rely on two complementary techniques - traditional pattern matching and modern vector space models - to extract candidate hypernym from WordNet for a new sense. Our system was ranked 4 among the systems that participated in for this SemEval task SemEval 2016 Task 14 Semantic Taxonomy Enrichment. We also evaluate our system by participating in the task SemEval 2018 Task 09 Hypernym Discovery. In this task, we apply our system to the huge UMBC WebBase text corpus to extract candidate hypernyms for a given input term. Our system was ranked 3 among the systems which find hypernyms for Concepts.
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    Phylogenomics of the Caddisfly Genus Smicridea, With A Taxonomic Revision of the S. Nigripennis Species Group (Trichoptera: Hydropsychidae)
    (2020-06) Razuri Gonzales, Luis
    The genus Smicridea McLachlan, 1871 (Hydropsychidae, Trichoptera) currently contains 242 species (Holzenthal & Calor 2017), and is by far, the largest Hydropsychidae genus in the Western Hemisphere. It is distributed from southwestern USA, through Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean Islands, and South America. The genus is divided into two subgenera: the nominotypical Smicridea (137 spp.) and the subgenus Rhyacophylax (105 spp.), which are distinguished based on wing venation characters. Additionally, characters of the male genitalia were used to informally define species group within both subgenera. In Chapter 1, I tested the monophyly of the genus Smicridea, its constituent subgenera, and the species groups using 200 targeted enrichment loci for 26 taxa as well as mitochondrial COI and nuclear ribosomal RNA 28S for 17 additional species to fill the tips of the backbone phylogeny, produced with the targeted enrichment loci. I used maximum likelihood, as implemented in the software IQ-TREE, to analyze the sequence supermatrix as well as the "summary" method ASTRAL-III, which takes into consideration gene tree – species tree discordance. The resulting trees from both types of analysis showed the same relationships. However, support values for some nodes in the ASTRAL-III tree were lower than those in the concatenated tree. Both subgenera in Smicridea were recovered as monophyletic as expected by morphological characters. In the subgenus Rhyacophylax, the species S. andicola, S. ventridenticulata, and S. talamanca, members of the S. peruana species group, were recovered as monophyletic, and S. radula (S. radula species group) and S. unguiculata (unplaced) were related to one another. In the subgenus Smicridea, the S. nigripennis species groups was recovered as monophyletic. Conversely, the S. fasciatella species group was recovered as paraphyletic and composed of at least 5 different clades. The clade composed of the Chilean species of Smicridea (Smicridea) and S. (S.) curvipenis diverged from the rest of the species included in this analysis. The support values for the full dataset tree (i.e., targeted enrichment loci + COI + 28S) were even lower than the support values in the ASTRAL-III for the targeted enrichment loci, and some of the relationships from the targeted enrichment loci tree were not recovered. However, the COI/28S did recover some interesting relationships such as a group of morphologically similar Brazilian species in the subgenus Rhyacophylax or the clustering of S. (R.) appendiculata and S. (R.) murina. In Chapter 2, I presented a species-level revision of the Smicridea (Smicridea) nigripennis species group. In this chapter, I discussed the morphological structure of the male genitalia and produced descriptions and illustrations for each of the species in the group. The nigripennis species group currently contains 74 species and 20 were described as new: Smicridea blahniki new species (Peru), S. chamorroi new species (Nicaragua), S. edithae new species (Peru), S. erwini new species (Peru), S. longissima new species (Venezuela), S. luhmani new species (Peru), S. maesi new species (Nicaragua), S. manabi new species (Ecuador), S. matsigenka new species (Peru), S. migueli new species (Peru), S. nanay new species (Peru), S. napravniki new species (Peru), S. pelleti new species, S. real new species (Peru), S. refulioae new species (Peru), S. riostoumae new species (Ecuador), S. robertsoni new species (Bolivia), S. rossi new species (Peru), S. tiputini new species (Ecuador), and S. uncinata new species (Ecuador). Additionally, I proposed 2 synonymies for species in this group based on morphological evidence: S. martinica and S. karukerae are junior synonyms of S. cariba and S. mincana is a junior synonym of S. nigripennis. In Chapter 3, I examined the morphology of 2 often-confused species in Smicridea (Rhyacophylax), S. lobata (Ulmer, 1909) and S. signata (Banks, 1903), providing more detailed illustrations to aid in their identification. Additionally, I synonymized S. (R.) repula Oláh & Johanson, 2012 with S. lobata, new synonym and I transferred Leptonema islamarga Botosaneanu, 2002 to Smicridea (Rhyacophylax) as a synonym of S. lobata, new combination, new synonym. Finally, I re-examined material of S. lobata and S. signata, identified by Dr. Oliver Flint and housed at the Smithsonian Insitution. As it currently stands, S. lobata is distributed from Mexico to the northern part of South America (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela) while S. signata is distributed in the southwestern tier of US States as well as Mexico and Guatemala.
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    Studies on Puccinia coronata var. coronata and other recently observed rust fungi in Minnesota
    (2023-07) Greatens, Nicholas
    In the spring of 2017, a prolific crown rust fungus was observed on the highly invasive glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus) around Central Park, Roseville, MN. Field observation and greenhouse studies established the grass host as another invasive species, reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea), and sequencing identified the rust fungus as Puccinia coronata var. coronata sensu stricto (Pcc), a taxon of likely Eurasian origin not previously known in Minnesota. Curiously, this new pathogen appeared to have a desirable effect locally, strongly affecting only two invasive plant species. In a research project that began in 2019 and was funded in 2020 by the Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center, we pursued three goals, which correspond to the first three chapters of this dissertation: 1) to determine the distribution of Pcc in Minnesota and North America; 2) to assess its host specificity on potential buckthorn and grass hosts; and 3) to evaluate its potential as an augmentative biological control agent of one or both of its invasive hosts. We report Pcc across the range of glossy buckthorn in the Midwest and Northeastern U.S. but find that it is absent on susceptible reed canarygrass outside the range of glossy buckthorn within Minnesota. Cereal crop and turfgrass species were highly resistant to Pcc, but other grass and buckthorn species were susceptible, including some native North American species. In greenhouse trials, Pcc significantly reduced the height and biomass of both reed canarygrass and glossy buckthorn, supporting its use as a possible biological control agent of one or both of its hosts, although non-target effects and deployment strategies would require further consideration. Chapter four describes a similarly designed study around another crown rust fungus, Puccinia digitaticoronata, which we confirm for the first time in North America. We investigate its relation to other crown rust fungi and its pathogenicity on grass and buckthorn species. In greenhouse studies, the popular turfgrass species Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) is broadly susceptible, along with numerous other native and weedy Poa spp. Common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica), another widespread invasive species, is an aecial host of the rust fungus and likely facilitates its sexual cycle locally. Chapter five combines the results of two small projects published as plant disease notes: first reports of Puccinia glechomatis, a rust of creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea) in Minnesota and of a Puccinia sp. causing rust of lemongrass in Minnesota.
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    Systematic studies of the caddisfly subfamily Protoptilinae (Trichoptera: Glossosomatidae)
    (2010-06) Robertson-Thompson, Desiree Ruth
    Protoptilinae Ross 1956, is the most diverse subfamily [268 species (including 5 fossil spp.) and 17 genera] belonging to the saddle- or tortoise-case making family Glossosomatidae. The subfamily has a disjunct distribution: 4 genera are known from the East Palaearctic and Oriental regions; the remaining 13 are restricted to the Nearctic and Neotropical regions. Monophyly of Protoptilinae and each of the 17 genera was tested using 80 taxa, 99 morphological characters, and mitochondrial DNA (COI). Additionally, homologies of morphological characters were assessed across genera and a standardized terminology for those structures was established. Mitochondrial DNA (COI) data was unavailable for 55 of the 80 taxa included in this study. To test the effects of including a large set of highly incomplete taxa, 5 different datasets were analyzed using both parsimony and Bayesian methods: TOTAL COMBO (80 taxa, morphology and COI); TOTAL MORPH (80 taxa, morphology); SUBSET COMBO (25 taxa, morphology and COI); SUBSET MORPH (25 taxa, morphology); and SUBSET COI (25 taxa, COI). There was incongruence between the COI and morphological data, but results suggest the inclusion of COI data in a combined analysis, although incomplete, improved the overall phylogenetic signal. Bayesian and parsimony analyses of all 5 datasets strongly supported the monophyly of Protoptilinae. Monophyly of the following genera was also supported: Canoptila, Culoptila, Itauara, Mastigoptila, Mortoniella, Protoptila, and Tolhuaca. Monophyly for the genera Campsiophora, Cariboptila, Cubanoptila, Nepaloptila, Padunia, and Poeciloptila was not supported. Several taxonomic changes were necessary for classification to reflect phylogeny. Accordingly, I proposed that Matrioptila (Ross 1938), Poeciloptila Schmid 1991, Temburongpsyche Malicky 1992, and Nepaloptila Kimmins 1964 all become new junior synonyms of Padunia Martynov 1910. Additionally, I proposed to that the endemic Caribbean genera Cariboptila Flint 1964 and Cubanoptila Sykora 1973 become new junior synonyms of Campsiophora Flint 1964. A key to the world genera of Protoptilinae incorporating these taxonomic changes was provided. Using a fossil-calibrated relaxed molecular clock analysis (based on mitochondrial DNA and ribosomal RNA), independent geologic evidence, climatology, and Bayesian dispersal-vicariance analysis (DIVA), I constructed a biogeographic scenario for Protoptilinae. Divergence time estimates indicated that Protoptilinae arose at the Paleocene-Eocene Boundary, well after the initial Mesozoic break-up of Gondwanaland. Most major protoptiline lineages diverged during the Eocene and most modern genera arose during the Oligocene. DIVA analyses suggested Tolhuaca to be a relict of a more widespread protoptiline ancestor whose distribution encompassed Central and South America. The timing of many lineage divergences were correlated to geologic events that would have facilitated faunal movement between land-masses. Island corridors between South and Central America allowed migration northward. The GAARlandia landspan (Greater Antilles + Aves Ridge) provided a route for protoptiline range expansion from northern South America to the Greater Antilles and its subsequent re-submergence led to the divergence of Campsiophora. The presence of Padunia in Asia resulted from migration across Beringia. Pleistocene glaciation may have caused the extinction of northern populations, resulting in Padunia’s present disjunct distribution. Nearly a third of all speciation events appear to be the result of dispersal, range expansion, or subsequent re-colonization. Species-level revisions of Canoptila, Itauara, and Tolhuaca were also presented, including generic diagnoses, illustrations, and descriptions of males. Females of Canoptila and Tolhuaca were described for the first time. Additionally, the first known record of Protoptila in Bolivia was reported and a review of the occurrence of scales and androconia in Trichoptera was provided. A total of 28 species were treated, 22 vii distribution. Nearly a third of all speciation events appear to be the result of dispersal, range expansion, or subsequent re-colonization. Species-level revisions of Canoptila, Itauara, and Tolhuaca were also presented, including generic diagnoses, illustrations, and descriptions of males. Females of Canoptila and Tolhuaca were described for the first time. Additionally, the first known record of Protoptila in Bolivia was reported and a review of the occurrence of scales and androconia in Trichoptera was provided. A total of 28 species were treated, 22 described as new: Canoptila williami (Brazil), new species, Itauara alexanderi, new species (Brazil), I. bidentata, new species (Guyana), I. blahniki, new species (Brazil), I. charlotta, new species (Brazil), I. emilia, new species (Brazil), I. flinti, new species described as new: Canoptila williami (Brazil), new species, Itauara alexanderi, new species (Brazil), I. bidentata, new species (Guyana), I. blahniki, new species (Brazil), I. charlotta, new species (Brazil), I. emilia, new species (Brazil), I. flinti, new speciesdescribed as new: Canoptila williami (Brazil), new species, Itauara alexanderi, new species (Brazil), I. bidentata, new species (Guyana), I. blahniki, new species (Brazil), I. charlotta, new species (Brazil), I. emilia, new species (Brazil), I. flinti, new species (Brazil), I. guianensis, new species (Guyana), I. jamesii, new species (Brazil), I. julia, new species (Brazil), I. lucinda, new species (Brazil), I. ovis, new species (Guyana, Venezuela), I. peruensis, new species (Peru), I. rodmani, new species (Brazil), I. simplex, new species (Brazil), I. spiralis, new species (Guyana), I. stella, new species (Brazil), I. tusci, new species (Brazil), I. unidentata, new species (Guyana), Protoptila diablita, new species (Bolivia), P. julieta, new species (Bolivia), and Tolhuaca brasiliensis, new species (Brazil).
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    Systematic studies of the indo-Australian crowned weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Cryptorhynchinae)
    (2009-08) Setliff, Gregory Peter
    This dissertation focuses on the systematics of weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) from the Indo-Australian tropics. Special consideration is given to a novel group of seven genera of Cryptorhynchinae that comprise the crowned weevil group, so named for the crown-like carina or glabrous semicircular bulge on the vertex on the head of these weevils, which is one of the more salient features shared by these genera. Herein, the phylogeny of the largest crowned weevil genus, Asytesta Pascoe, is reconstructed with parsimony and Bayesian analyses based on a data set of 82 adult morphological characters (187 states) for 40 ingroup taxa. One species of Cyamobolus Schönherr and three species of Cyamotrox Heller are used as outgroups and all six genera and 14 species of the crowned weevil group as redefined here ( Cyamomistus Heller, Eudyasmus Pascoe, Glochinorhinus Waterhouse, Nothotragopus Zimmerman, Panopides Pascoe, and Zygara Pascoe), are used to test the monophyly of Asytesta. The results did not support the monophyly of the Asytesta due to the nesting of monotypic Zygara within an apical subclade of Asytesta. Accordingly, Zygara becomes a new junior synonym of Asytesta and Zygara doriae (Kirsch) is returned to its original combination with Asytesta; A. doriae Kirsch status revised. With the inclusion of Zygara, Asytesta as redefined here is monophyletic. Resolution within Asytesta was poor; however, three subclades with strong support were recovered and are formally recognized as species groups. The analyses also recovered monophyletic Nothotragopus, Panopides, and Glochinorhinus. Relationships among the genera were not resolved. The monophyly of Eudyasmus was not supported. In a strict consensus of all trees recovered, Eudyasmus collapsed into a polytomy with Glochinorhinus. A revision of Asytesta is also presented. Of the 41 species recognized here, 23 are previously described and 18 are new: A. alexanderiae, A. alexriedeli, A. allisoni, A. biakana, A. cheesmanae, A. concolora, A. emarginata, A. fayae, A. frontalis, A. gressitti, A. julieae, A. marginalis, A. morobeana, A. sedlaceki, A. thompsoni, A. tuberculata, A. vivienae, and A. woodlarkiana, new species. Asytesta bidentata Voss new status, is elevated to species status from a subspecies of A. lugubris Heller. Four Asytesta species are synonymized: A. circulifera Lea, 1928 = A. rata Heller, 1910, A. definita Faust, 1898 = A. humeralis Pascoe, 1865, A. granulifera Lea, 1928 = A. aucta Faust, 1898, and A. setipes Lea, 1928 = A. lugubris Heller, 1895 new synonyms. Two previously described species were misplaced in Asytesta and are transferred to other genera as follows: A. maura Pascoe to Microporopterus Lea and A. ypsilon Heller to Meroleptus Faust, new combinations. Three species groups, the doriae, dorsalis, and emarginata groups are newly recognized based on the phylogenetic results and are described. Lectotypes are designated for 18 species. A checklist and key for all crowned weevil genera, key to species groups and species of Asytesta, adult habitus illustrations, distribution maps, and line drawings of diagnostic characters are provided.
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    Systematics Of Cernotina Ross And Cyrnellus Banks (Insecta: Trichoptera: Polycentropodidae)
    (2020-07) Camargos, Lucas
    The family Polycentropodidae occurs worldwide, and is represented in the Americas by Cernotina Ross 1938, Cyrnellus Banks 1913, Nyctiophylax Brauer 1865, Polycentropus Banks 1907 and Polyplectropus Ulmer 1905. Cernotina and Cyrnellus are exclusive to the New World, reaching their highest diversity in the Neotropics, with 75 and 12 described species respectively. Despite this diversity, none of the two have had revisionary work done, and the taxonomic information is scattered in many different papers by many authors across the 20th and early 21st Century. In Chapter 1, I ran the first phylogenetic analyses on the diverse genus Cernotina, using morphological characters of the male adult, especially the genitalia. To analyze the character matrix, I used Maximum Parsimony and Bayesian inference. In Maximum Parsimony, I used equally-weighted analyses with two different search strategies, one simple run and another with multiple rounds saving suboptimal trees to filter for a better set of most parsimonious trees, and an implied-weights analysis, using a posteriori character weigthing to achieve better resolution. In the Bayesian inference, I used Mk model + lognormal distribution, commonly used in morphological data. The results suggest the monophyly of Cernotina, adds phylogenetic evidence for synonymization of Ce. perpendicularis with Ce. lanceolata, and Ce. hastilis with Ce. nigridentata, and group certain species with morphological and geographic congruence, such as Ce. acalyptra + Ce. cystophora + Ce. encrypta, and Ce. lutea + Ce. cadeti, respectively. However, the overall resolution of the simple maximum-parsimony and the Bayesian trees were very low. In addition, the branch support for most nodes is also very low. This result might be due to the nature of the genitalic characters of Cernotina, being extremely variable on all its components, making the task of finding character congruence difficult. With additional data such as DNA sequence and geometric morphometrics, such issues could be alleviated. In Chapter 2, I revised the genus Cernotina at species-level. I discussed the complex homology of the morphological characters of the male genitalia, especially concerning the intermediate appendage and its relation to the Xth tergum and the preanal appendage, produced illustrations and comparative diagnoses for each species in the genus, and taxonomic descriptions for 64 species. In addition, I described 16 new species. I also proposed 2 synonymies considering the phylogenetic data from Chapter 1: Ce. lanceolata as junior synonym of Ce. perpendicularis, and Ce. nigridentata as junior synonym of Ce. hastilis. In Chapter 3, I revised the genus Cyrnellus at species-level. I also discussed the homology of the morphological characters of the much simpler male genitalia of the genus, produced a key to species of Cyrnellus, provided illustrations, and full taxonomic descriptions for 11 species. In addition, I reinstated the validity of Cy. minimus based on the morphology of the inferior appendage in ventral view. I also synonymized 2 species based on morphological similarity and high variability among specimens: Cy. keskes as junior synonym of Cy. minimus, and Cy. kozepes as junior synonym of Cy. ulmeri.
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    Systematics of the American marsupial genus Marmosops (Didelphidae: Thylamyini) based on molecular and morphological data
    (2016-04) Diaz-Nieto, Juan
    This research presents the results of collaborative work with Sharon A. Jansa and Robert S. Voss on the systematics of the American marsupials of the genus Marmosops. Chapter 1 evaluates the species-level diversity of this genus using mitochondrial sequences from >200 specimens, including exemplars of every currently recognized species together with a dense intraspecific sampling. These data are analyzed using the General Mixed Yule Coalescent (GMYC) model and the results suggest that the genus could be twice as speciose as currently recognized. Additionally, the phylogenetic relationships within Marmosops are evaluated using sequences of the Breast Cancer Type 1 susceptibility gene (BRCA1). These analyses reveal a basal dichotomy between two ancient, morphologically diagnosable clades. Based on the latter results, a taxonomic proposal is made with the description of a new subgenus, Sciophanes. Chapter 2 includes a revision of the species of subgenus Sciophanes in the context of the molecular analyses of Chapter 1. This revision recognizes 12 valid species in three monophyletic species groups: the Parvidens Group (including M. pakaraimae, M. parvidens, and M. pinheiroi), the Fuscatus Group (M. carri, M. fuscatus, M. handleyi, and M. invictus), and the Bishopi Group (M. bishopi, M. juninensis, M. ojastii, and two new species). For each species, information about type material, ecogeographic distribution, and diagnostic morphological characters is presented. Chapter 3 evaluates the phylogenetic relationships of the tribe Thylamyini by using a multi-locus dataset. In particular, this chapter aims to resolve evolutionary relationships of the thylamyine genus Chacodelphys. A previous understanding of the species-level diversity within Marmosops is crucial for constructing a phylogeny of Thyamyini because this genus accounts for almost 45% of the diversity within the tribe. Phylogenetic analyses of these data convincingly resolves Chacodelphys as the sister taxon of Cryptonanus and supports most of the previous phylogenetic arrangements obtained within Marmosops.
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    Systematics of the family Polycentropodidae (Inseecta:Trichoptera: Psychomyioidea) and taxonomic revisions of New World Polyplectropus Ulmer.
    (2009-01) Chamorro, Maria Lourdes
    The monophyly and phylogenetic relationships of subfamilies and genera traditionally classified in Polycentropodidae Ulmer, 1903, one of the most diverse families in the suborder Annulipalpia, with more than 700 species in 3 subfamilies, were tested. Particular emphasis was placed on testing the monophyly of the cosmopolitan genus Polyplectropus. Larval information is unknown for 46% of the taxa included in this study. To understand the effects of including characters with large sets of missing data, three alternative datasets [TOTAL (all available data for all taxa)= 49 ingroup taxa, 122 characters (including highly incomplete characters); LPA (larval, pupal, adult) = 20 ingroup taxa, 122 characters; ADULT (only adult characters) = 49 ingroup taxa, 86 adult characters] were analyzed under parsimony and Bayesian methods. The five outgroup taxa, representing all four extant families in the Psychomyioidea and the single family in the Hydropsychoidea, remained constant in all datasets. The TOTAL and ADULT datasets included all 20 currently recognized polycentropodid genera placed in 3 subfamilies, and the LPA and TOTAL datasets included characters interpreted from structures of the larvae, pupae, and adults. Results rejected the monophyly of Polycentropodidae, as currently defined; however, the monophyly of the three largest cosmopolitan genera, Polycentropus, Polyplectropus, and Nyctiophylax, could not be rejected nor confirmed. The monophyly of the following taxa was strongly supported in all analyses: Cernotina, Cyrnellus, Kambaitipsyche, Neureclipsis, Paranyctiophylax, New World Polyplectropus sensu stricto, Placocentropus, Neotropical Nyctiophylax, and in the outgroup, Psychomyia + Xiphocentron; while monophyly was strongly supported in some, but not all analyses for the following taxa: Cyrnus, Antillopsyche, Pseudoneureclipsis, Polycentropus sensu stricto, Pseudoneureclipsinae, New Zealand Polyplectropus, Polycentropodinae, Cyrnodes scotti + Pahamunaya jihmita. The implementation of two different analytical methods revealed some areas of conflict which would not have been detected under a single method of analysis. Contradictory results among the datasets were primarily due to either inclusion or exclusion of key sets of characters (i.e., immature characters); and second, missing data negatively affected phylogenetic reconstruction when proportions of characters with missing data were high and characters without missing data were unable to provide adequate phylogenetic signal due to high variation in rates of evolution among characters. Therefore, a combination of few overall characters that have high variation in rates of change, plus an abundance of missing data may be problematic and may lead to poorly resolved trees, thus decreased accuracy. This study also emphasized the importance in phylogenetic reconstruction of including data from all available sources. Several taxonomic changes were necessary in order for classification to properly reflect phylogeny. Three new genera, all from the Neotropical region, will be described in future publications. The redefinition of Paranyctiophylax as a valid genus in Polycentropodinae was confirmed. Additionally, the recommendation was made that North American Polycentropus species previously belonging in Plectrocnemia or Holocentropus be recognized as such (either Plectrocnemia or Holocentropus depending on original designation) and not as belonging in Polycentropus. Furthermore, species described in Polycentropus post-1944 in North America are transferred to either Holocentropus or Plectrocnemia to reflect previously hypothesized sister relationships. The following new or reinstated combinations were proposed: Plectrocnemia albipuncta Banks, 1930 combinatio revivisco; Plectrocnemia aureola Banks, 1930 comb. rev.; Plectrocnemia cinerea (Hagen), 1861 comb. rev.; Plectrocnemia clinei Milne, 1936 comb. rev.; Plectrocnemia crassicornis (Walker), 1852 comb. rev.; Plectrocnemia jenula (Denning), in Denning & Sykora, 1966 combinatio nova; Plectrocnemia icula (Ross), 1941 comb. nov.; Plectrocnemia nascotia (Ross), 1941 comb. nov.; Plectrocnemia remota (Banks), 1911 comb. rev.; Plectrocnemia sabulosa (Leonard & Leonard), 1949 comb. nov.; Plectrocnemia smithae (Denning), 1949 comb. nov.; Plectrocnemia vigilatrix Navás, 1933 comb. rev.; Plectrocnemia weedi (Blickle & Morse), 1955 comb. nov.; Holocentropus chellus (Denning), 1964 comb. nov.; Holocentropus flavus Banks, 1908 comb. rev.; Holocentropus glacialis Ross, 1938 comb. rev.; Holocentropus grellus Milne, 1936 comb. rev.; Holocentropus interruptus Banks, 1914 comb. rev.; Holocentropus melanae Ross, 1938 comb. rev.; Holocentropus milaca (Etnier), 1968 comb. nov.; Holocentropus picicornis (Stephens), 1836 comb. rev. Additional taxonomic changes proposed based on current findings were: 1) the elevation of Pseudoneureclipsinae to family status: Pseudoneureclipsidae Ulmer status novus; and 2) the resurrection of Placocentropus Schmid, nomen revivisco, to include the following species: Placocentropus aspinosus (Schmid), 1964 comb. nov.; Placocentropus chilensis (Yamamoto), 1966 comb. nov.; Placocentropus obtusus Schmid, 1955 comb. rev.; Placocentropus quadriappendiculatus (Schmid), 1964 comb. nov.; Placocentropus quadrispinosus (Schmid), 1964 comb. nov.; Placocentropus tuberculatus (Flint), 1983 comb. nov.; Placocentropus valdiviensis (Flint), 1983 comb. nov. A phylogeny of New World Polyplectropus species was inferred. Characters were interpreted from structures of the male and female genitalia as well as the fore- and hind wings. Parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of 89 ingroup taxa (97% of the known New World diversity in the genus), two outgroup taxa, and 59 morphological characters were performed. Results of the parsimony and Bayesian analyses were similar, although the Bayesian tree was less resolved. Monophyly of the panamensis and charlesi Groups, as currently defined, was rejected. A total of 10 lineages, with varying amounts of support, were recognized. These groups are the alienus Group (2 species), annulicornis Group (11 species, 8 new), bredini Group (19, 7), charlesi Group (3), fuscatus Group (3, 2), guyanae Group (2, 2), manuensis Group (3, 3), narifer Group (5, 3), santiago Group (25, 6), and thilus Group (15, 7). Four species remain unassigned to any species-group: P. beccus, P. beutelspacheri, P. kanukarum, and P. nayaritensis. The distribution of the genus is mostly restricted to the Mexican and Brazilian subregions of the Neotropics. Most of the species and species-groups are regional endemics. The taxonomy of New World species of Polyplectropus Ulmer, 1905 was revised to include detailed male and female diagnoses, descriptions, illustrations, distribution records, and keys to males of all species and species-groups. A key to genera of New World Polycentropodidae, including a redescription of Polyplectropus, was provided. The homology of the male genitalia of species in the genus was discussed, as well as reassessment and diagnoses of 10 species groups, 6 newly established. A total of 92 species were treated, 39 described as new: Polyplectropus adamsae, sp. nov. (Peru), P. alatespinus, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. amazonicus, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. andinensis, sp. nov. (Argentina, Bolivia), P. blahniki, sp. nov. (Venezuela), P. bolivianus, sp. nov. (Bolivia), P. brasilensis, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. vii brborichorum, sp. nov. (Ecuador), P. cressae, sp. nov. (Venezuela), P. colombianus, sp. nov. (Colombia), P. corniculatus, sp. nov. (Peru), P. cuzcoensis, sp. nov. (Peru), P. ecuadoriensis, sp. nov. (Ecuador), P. flintorum, sp. nov. (Venezuela), P. gaesum, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. guyanae, sp. nov. (Guyana, Venezuela), P. holzenthali, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. hystricosus, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. insularis, sp. nov. (Panama), P. julitoi, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. kanukarum, sp. nov. (Guyana), P. maculatus, sp. nov. (Venezuela), P. manuensis, sp. nov. (Peru), P. matatlanticus, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. minensium, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. novafriburgensis, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. peruvianus, sp. nov. (Peru), P. petrae, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. pratherae, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. puyoensis, sp. nov. (Ecuador), P. robertsonae, sp. nov. (Bolivia), P. rodmani, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. rondoniensis, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. tragularius, sp. nov. (Brazil), P. tripunctatum, sp. nov. (Peru), P. venezolanus, sp. nov. (Venezuela), P. woldai, sp. nov. (Panama), P. zamoranoensis, sp. nov. (Honduras), and P. zuliae, sp. nov. (Venezuela). Polyplectropus buchwaldi is designated as a nomen dubium.