An official website of the United States government
Abstract The Hawaiian Islands are known to harbour a rich and diverse fauna of troglobionts (obligate subterranean species). To date, 74 obligate cavernicolous arthropod species have been documented from across the main Hawaiian islands, the majority of which were from Hawaiʻi Island, and mostly from lava tubes of Kilauea volcano, the youngest volcano on the island. A recent bioinventory of the Kipuka Kanohina lava tube system on the south-western side of Mauna Loa volcano revealed the existence of previously unknown cave-adapted species. Among them is the first cave-adapted species of the planthopper genus Iolania, Iolania frankanstonei Hoch & Porter sp. nov. Morphological and molecular data suggest that the species is closely related to the epigean (i.e. surface-dwelling) species Iolania perkinsi, which occurs in surface environments on Hawaiʻi Island. Thus, parapatric speciation is assumed, further corroborating the assumption that adaptive shifts are the major evolutionary patterns underlying the evolution of troglobionts on young oceanic islands.
more »
« less
A New Species of Spelaeorchestia (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitroidea) from Lava Tube Caves on the Island of Hawai i in the Hawaiian Archipelago
The Hawaiian islands are recognized as a hotspot of biodiversity, including both surface and subsurface habitats. Recent studies of Hawaiian lava tube fauna have continued to reveal new species. Here, a new species of cave dwelling talitroid amphipod in the genus Spelaeorchestia is described from lava tubes on the island of Hawai i. It is compared with the only other known cave amphipod from the Hawaiian archipelago and with a closely related cave talitroid from Japan in the genus Minamitalitrus.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2204670
- PAR ID:
- 10494073
- Publisher / Repository:
- Bishop Museum
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Bishop Museum Occasional Papers
- ISSN:
- 2376-3191
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Angert, Esther (Ed.)Abstract Planthoppers in the family Cixiidae (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Fulgoromorpha) harbor a diverse set of obligate bacterial endosymbionts that provision essential amino acids and vitamins that are missing from their plant-sap diet. “Candidatus Sulcia muelleri” and “Ca. Vidania fulgoroidea” have been associated with cixiid planthoppers since their origin within the Auchenorrhyncha, whereas “Ca. Purcelliella pentastirinorum” is a more recent endosymbiotic acquisition. Hawaiian cixiid planthoppers occupy diverse habitats including lava tube caves and shrubby surface landscapes, which offer different nutritional resources and environmental constraints. Genomic studies have focused on understanding the nutritional provisioning roles of cixiid endosymbionts more broadly, yet it is still unclear how selection pressures on endosymbiont genes might differ between cixiid host species inhabiting such diverse landscapes, or how variation in selection might impact symbiont evolution. In this study, we sequenced the genomes of Sulcia, Vidania, and Purcelliella isolated from both surface and cave-adapted planthopper hosts from the genus Oliarus. We found that nutritional biosynthesis genes were conserved in Sulcia and Vidania genomes in inter- and intra-host species comparisons. In contrast, Purcelliella genomes retain different essential nutritional biosynthesis genes between surface- and cave-adapted planthopper species. Finally, we see the variation in selection pressures on symbiont genes both within and between host species, suggesting that strong coevolution between host and endosymbiont is associated with different patterns of molecular evolution on a fine scale that may be associated with the host diet.more » « less
-
Surveys of Hawaiian macroalgae over the past 15 years have yielded numerous specimens representing species new to science. Calliblepharis yasutakei sp. nov. is here described based on a plant collected at a depth of 98 m from Kapou, Papahânaumokuâkea Marine National Monument, Hawaiʻi. Phylogenetic analyses of three molecular markers (COI, rbcL, and SSU) and analyses of morphological features were used to describe the new species in the family Cystocloniaceae. Calliblepharis yasutakei sp. nov. grouped with C. fimbriata, C. rammediorum, C. occidentalis and C. jolyi in a clade with full support for the rbcL analysis, representing a distinct lineage within the genus. Phylogenetic and vegetative morphological comparisons demonstrated that the new Hawaiian species is most closely related to C. rammediorum from Israel (rbcL similarity of 96.3%), although no female reproductive structures were found to allow a more comprehensive comparison. In order to determine whether C. yasutakei represents the first confirmed report of the genus Calliblepharis in the Hawaiian Islands, phylogenetic and morphological analysis of the Hawaiian Hypnea saidana (=Calliblepharis saidana) specimen accessioned at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum was performed. These analyses demonstrated that this specimen belongs to a new species in the genus Hypnea, which is here described as H. tsudae sp. nov. C. yasutakei, in addition to being a new species, is also reported as the first confirmed record of the genus Calliblepharis in the Hawaiian archipelago, and the description of H. tsudae brings the number of species for this genus in Hawaiʻi to eight.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Haraldiophyllum hawaiiense sp. nov. is described as a new mesophotic alga and a new genus record for the Hawaiian Islands. Six specimens were collected at a depth range of 81-93 m from Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, and their morphology investigated, as well as molecular phylogenetic analyses of the plastidial ribulose-1,5- bisphosphate carboxylase–oxygenase large-subunit (rbcL) gene and a concatenated alignment of rbcL and nuclear large-subunit rRNA gene (LSU) sequences. Phylogenetic analyses supported H. hawaiiense sp. nov. as a distinct lineage within the genus Haraldiophyllum, and sister to a large clade containing the type species, H. bonnemaisonii, as well as H. crispatum and an undescribed European specimen. The six Hawaiian specimens were shown to be identical, but unique among other species of the genus as well as the recently segregated genus Neoharaldiophyllum, which comprises half of the species previously included in Haraldiophyllum. The vegetative morphology of H. hawaiiense sp. nov. resembles Neoharaldiophyllum udoense (formerly H. udoensis); however, no female or post-fertilization structures were found in the Hawaiian specimens to allow a more comprehensive comparison. The molecular phylogenies demonstrate that Haraldiophyllum is paraphyletic, suggesting either that the Myriogrammeae tribe includes undescribed genera, including Haraldiophyllum sensu stricto, or that Neoharaldiophyllum species should be transferred into the genus Haraldiophyllum. However, based on vegetative morphology and molecular analyses, and pending resolution of this taxonomic issue, the Hawaiian specimens are placed within the genus Haraldiophyllum. This new record for the Hawaiian Islands highlights the novel biodiversity from mesophotic depths, reaffirming the need for further investigation into the biodiversity of Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- The DOI is not currently available.
