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A second species in the siphonous green algal genus Avrainvillea was recently discovered off the island of O‘ahu in the Main Hawaiian Islands. Specimens were collected from Honolulu Harbor, including its entrance channel, and near Ke‘ehi Harbor. These locations are both in Mālama Bay on O‘ahu’s south shore in or adjacent to urbanized estuaries, respectively. In situ observations, morphological and molecular assessments were conducted to examine the alga’s habit and distribution, as well as to assess its putative species identification. The alga occurred in sand as single individuals or in clusters of several individuals at both sites, and near or within seagrass beds ( Halophiladecipiens ) and algal meadows composed of the green alga Halimedakanaloana and an unidentified Udotea species at the Ke‘ehi Harbor site. All analyses supported both populations as representative of the same taxa, reported until further investigation in the broad Pacific as Avrainvilleacf.erecta based on morphological and molecular analyses. This record of a second Avrainvillea species in Hawai'i is of particular concern considering that an alga recognized as A.amadelpha , first observed in 1981 from two locales on O‘ahu’s south shore, has become invasive in Hawai‘i’s intertidal to mesophotic environments.
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Phylogeny of the troglomorphic scorpion genus Troglotayosicus (Scorpiones: Troglotayosicidae) with description of a new species from Colombia.
The troglomorphic scorpion genus Troglotayosicus Lourenço, 1981, occurs in hypogean and epigean habitats in the Andean and Amazonian rainforests of Colombia and Ecuador. The phylogenetic relationships among the species of Troglotayosicus are currently unknown. In the present contribution, a new species, Troglotayosicus akaido, sp. nov., is described from specimens collected in the leaf litter of a primary rainforest in the Colombian Amazon, near the border with Peru, raising the number of species in the genus to seven. The new species represents the easternmost record of the genus and further extends its distribution into the Amazon. Its phylogenetic position was tested in an analysis of all species of the genus and two outgroup taxa, scored for 131 morphological characters (16 new and 115 legacy; 104 binary and 27 mulstistate) analyzed with maximum likelihood under the MK model. Troglotayosicus was recovered as monophyletic and composed of two main clades. The morphological survey revealed that the ventral macrosetae of the leg telotarsi of the type species, Troglotayosicus vachoni Lourenço, 1981, are simple, subspiniform macrosetae, irregularly distributed, but not arranged into clusters nor forming elongated clusters of setae/spinules, as previously suggested. A distribution map and key to the identification of the species of Troglotayosicus are provided. Further research, incorporating molecular data, is needed to understand the evolution and biogeographical history of this enigmatic scorpion genus.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2003382
- PAR ID:
- 10523264
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Museum of Natural History
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- American Museum Novitates
- ISSN:
- 0003-0082
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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