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1. Phylogeny and biogeography of the pantropical whip spider family Charinidae (Arachnida: Amblypygi)

   https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa101  

   De Miranda, Gustavo Silva ; Giupponi, Alessandro P ; Scharff, Nikolaj ; Prendini, Lorenzo ( August 2021 , Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society)

   Abstract The present contribution addresses the phylogeny and biogeography of the pantropical whip spider family Charinidae Quintero, 1986, the most species-rich in the arachnid order Amblypygi Thorell, 1883, based on morphology and multilocus DNA sequences, analysed simultaneously using parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. The morphological matrix comprises 138 characters, scored for four outgroup taxa and 103 ingroup terminals representing all genera and 64% of the species of Charinidae. The multilocus dataset comprises sequences from two nuclear and three mitochondrial gene loci for four outgroup taxa and 48 ingroup representing 30 (23%) taxa of Charinidae. Charinidae are monophyletic, with Weygoldtia Miranda et al., 2018 sister to a monophyletic group comprising Charinus Simon, 1892 and Sarax Simon, 1892, neither of which are reciprocally monophyletic. Charinidae diverged from other amblypygid families in the Late Carboniferous, c. 318 Mya, on the supercontinent Pangaea. Weygoldtia diverged from the common ancestor of Charinus and Sarax during the Late Permian, c. 257 Mya, when changes in climate reduced tropical forests. The divergence of Charinus and Sarax coincides with the fragmentation of Pangaea, c. 216 Mya. Sarax colonized South-East Asia via Australia. The charinid fauna of New Caledonia originated before the Oligocene, when the island separated from Australia, c. 80 Mya. 

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2. Cicada fossils (Cicadoidea: Tettigarctidae and Cicadidae) with a review of the named fossilised Cicadidae

   https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4438.3.2  

   MOULDS, M. S. ( June 2018 , Zootaxa)

   The Cicadoidea comprise two families, the Cicadidae and the Tettigarctidae. This paper evaluates the status and taxonomy of all named Cicadoidea fossils belonging to the Cicadidae. Shcherbakov (2009) has previously revised the Tettigarctidae. Two new genera are described, Camuracicada gen. n. and Paleopsalta gen. n., for Camuracicada aichhorni (Heer, 1853) comb. n. and Paleopsalta ungeri (Heer, 1853) comb. n. A lectotype is designated for Cicada emathion Heer, 1853.          Cicada grandiosa Scudder, 1892 is transferred to Hadoa Moulds, 2015 as Hadoa grandiosa comb. n.; Oncotympana lapidescens J. Zhang, 1989 is transferred to Hyalessa China, 1925 as Hyalessa lapidescens comb. n.; Meimuna incasa J. Zhang, Sun & X. Zhang, 1994 and Meimuna miocenica J. Zhang & X. Zhang, 1990 are transferred to Cryptotympana Stål, 1861 as Cryptotympana incasa comb. n. and Cryptotympana miocenica comb. n.; Tibicen sp. aff. japonicus Kato, 1925 is transferred to Auritibicen as Auritibicen sp. aff. japonicus comb. n., and Terpnosia sp. aff. vacua Olivier, 1790 is transferred to Yezoterpnosia Matsumura, 1917 as Yezoterpnosia sp. aff. vacua comb. n. The generic placement of two other fossils is changed to reflect current classification, those species now being Auritibicen bihamatus (Motschulsky, 1861) and Yezoterpnosia nigricosta (Motschulsky, 1866).         Two species, Davispia bearcreekensis Cooper, 1941 and Lithocicada perita Cockerell, 1906, are transferred from the subfamily Cicadinae to the Tibicininae, tribe Tibicinini. Cicadatra serresi (Meunier, 1915) is also transferred from the Cicadinae to the Cicadettinae because the Cicadatrini have recently been transferred from the Cicadinae to the Cicadettinae (Marshall et al. 2018).         Miocenoprasia grasseti Boulard and Riou, 1999 is transferred from the tribe Prasiini to the Lamotialnini. Tymocicada gorbunovi Becker-Migdisova, 1954 is transferred from the Dundubiini to the Cryptotympanini; Paracicadetta oligocenica Boulard & Nel, 1990 is transferred from the Cicadettini to the Pagiphorini and Minyscapheus dominicanus Poinar et al., 2011 is assigned to the Taphurini. Names of species once considered to belong in Cicadidae, but now excluded, are listed with explanation. 

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3. Another puzzle piece in the systematics of the chewing louse genus Myrsidea, with a description of a new genus Apomyrsidea

   https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2021.748.1339  

   Kolencik, Stanislav ; Sychra, Oldřich ; Allen, Julie M. ( May 2021 , European Journal of Taxonomy)

   null (Ed.)

   A new avian chewing louse genus Apomyrsidea gen. nov. is described based on species parasitizing birds in the family Formicariidae. Diagnostic characteristics and phylogenetic analyses were used to evaluate and confirm the generic status and merit its recognition as unique and different from Myrsidea Waterston, 1915. Three species previously belonging to the genus Myrsidea are placed in the new genus Apomyrsidea gen. nov. and are discussed: Apomyrsidea circumsternata (Valim & Weckstein, 2013) gen. et comb. nov., Apomyrsidea isacantha (Valim & Weckstein, 2013) gen. et comb. nov. and Apomyrsidea klimesi (Sychra in Sychra et al., 2006) gen. et comb. nov. 

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4. Revisions to the fossil sporophyte record of Marsilea

   https://doi.org/10.2478/acpa-2019-0005  

   Hermsen, Elizabeth J. ( June 2019 , Acta Palaeobotanica)

   Abstract The fossil record of Marsilea is challenging to assess, due in part to unreliable reports and conflicting opinions regarding the proper application of the names Marsilea and Marsileaceaephyllum to fossil leaves and leaflets similar to those of modern Marsilea . Specimens examined for this study include material assigned to Marsileaceaephyllum johnhallii , purportedly the oldest fossil record of a Marsilea -like sporophyte from the Lower Cretaceous of the Dakota Formation, Kansas, U.S.A.; leaves and leaf whorls of the extinct aquatic angiosperm Fortuna from several Late Cretaceous and Paleocene localities in western North America; and leaves and leaflets resembling Marsilea from the Eocene Green River Formation, Colorado and Utah, U.S.A. Literature on the fossil record of Marsilea was also reviewed. As a result, several taxonomic changes are proposed. Marsileaceaephyllum johnhallii is reinterpreted as an aquatic angiosperm that shares some architectural features with the genus Fortuna , although Marsileaceaephyllum is here maintained as a distinct genus with an emended diagnosis; under this reinterpretation, the name Marsileaceaephyllum can no longer be applied to sporophyte organs with affinities to Marsileaceae. Three valid fossil Marsilea species are recognized on the basis of sporophyte material that includes characteristic quadrifoliolate leaves and reticulate-veined leaflets: Marsilea campanica (J. Kvaček & Herman) Hermsen, comb. nov., from the Upper Cretaceous Grünbach Formation, Austria; Marsilea mascogos Estrada-Ruiz et al., from the Upper Cretaceous Olmos Formation, Mexico; and Marsilea sprungerorum Hermsen, sp. nov., from the Eocene Green River Formation, U.S.A. The species are distinguished from one another based on leaflet dimensions. Leaves from the Eocene Wasatch Formation, U.S.A., are transferred from Marsileaceaephyllum back to Marsilea , although not assigned to a fossil species. Finally, an occurrence of Marsilea from the Oligocene of Ethiopia is reassigned to Salvinia . A critical evaluation of the fossil record of Marsilea thus indicates that (1) the oldest fossil marsileaceous sporophytes bearing Marsilea -like leaves are from the Campanian; (2) only four credible records of sporophyte material attributable to Marsilea are known; and (3) the oldest dispersed Marsilea spores are known from the Oligocene. 

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5. Sitticine jumping spiders: phylogeny, classification, and chromosomes (Araneae, Salticidae, Sitticini)

   https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.925.39691  

   Maddison, Wayne P. ; Maddison, David R. ; Derkarabetian, Shahan ; Hedin, Marshal ( April 2020 , ZooKeys)

   The systematics of sitticine jumping spiders is reviewed, with a focus on the Palearctic and Nearctic regions, in order to revise their generic classification, clarify the species of one region (Canada), and study their chromosomes. A genome-wide molecular phylogeny of 23 sitticine species, using more than 700 loci from the arachnid Ultra-Conserved Element (UCE) probeset, confirms the Neotropical origins of sitticines, whose basal divergence separates the new subtribe Aillutticina (a group of five Neotropical genera) from the subtribe Sitticina (five genera of Eurasia and the Americas). The phylogeny shows that most Eurasian sitticines form a relatively recent and rapid radiation, which we unite into the genus Attulus Simon, 1868, consisting of the subgenera Sitticus Simon, 1901 (seven described species), Attulus (41 described species), and Sittilong Prószyński, 2017 (one species). Five species of Attulus occur natively in North America, presumably through dispersals back from the Eurasian radiation, but an additional three species were more recently introduced from Eurasia. Attus palustris Peckham & Peckham, 1883 is considered to be a full synonym of Euophrys floricola C. L. Koch, 1837 (not a distinct subspecies). Attus sylvestris Emerton, 1891 is removed from synonymy and recognized as a senior synonym of Sitticus magnus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1944. Thus, the five native Attulus in North America are Attulus floricola , A. sylvestris , A. cutleri , A. striatus , and A. finschi . The other sitticines of Canada and the U.S.A. are placed in separate genera, all of which arose from a Neotropical radiation including Jollas Simon, 1901 and Tomis F.O.Pickard-Cambridge, 1901: (1) Attinella Banks, 1905 ( A. dorsata , A. concolor , A. juniperi ), (2) Tomis ( T. welchi ), and (3) Sittisax Prószyński, 2017 ( S. ranieri ). All Neotropical and Caribbean “ Sitticus ” are transferred to either Jollas (12 species total) or Tomis (14 species). Attinella (three species) and Tomis are both removed from synonymy with Sitticus ; the synonymy of Sitticus cabellensis Prószyński, 1971 with Pseudattulus kratochvili Caporiacco, 1947 is restored; Pseudattulus Caporiacco, 1947 is synonymized with Tomis . Six generic names are newly synonymized with Attulus and one with Attinella . Two Neotropical species are described as new, Jollas cupreus sp. nov. and Tomis manabita sp. nov. Forty-six new combinations are established and three are restored. Three species synonymies are restored, one is new, and two are rejected. Across this diversity of species is a striking diversification of chromosome complements, with X-autosome fusions occurring at least four times to produce neo-Y sex chromosome systems (X 1 X 2 Y and X 1 X 2 X 3 Y), some of which ( Sittisax ranieri and S. saxicola ) are sufficiently derived as to no longer preserve the simple traces of ancestral X material. The correlated distribution of neo-Y and a base autosome number of 28 suggests that neo-Y origins occurred preferentially in lineages with the presence of an extra pair of autosomes. 

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