ENEOLITHIC, BABYNO AND NOUA CULTURE CEMETERIES, KLEMBIVKA, SITE 1, YAMPIL REGION, VINNITSA OBLAST: ARCHAEOMETRY, TAXONOMY AND TOPOGENETICS

The paper presents excavation results and analytical studies concerning the taxonomic classification of a funerary site identified with the communities of the ‘barrow cultures’ settling the north-western Black Sea Coast in the first half of the 3rd and the middle of the 2nd millennia BC . The study focuses on the ceremonial centres of the Eneolithic communities of the Babyno and Noua cultures .

Bioremediation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) polluted marine sediments: a study of the effectiveness of bioaugmentation and biostimulation via microbial electrochemical technologies and polyhydroxyalkanoates

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are chemicals largely employed in the industry, banned at the end of the last century yet still persistent in the environment. Bioremediation, namely exploiting bacteria to reduce PCBs’ toxicity, is receiving attention as a promising approach to remediate polluted site in situ. Natural bioremediation is constrained by several factors as the low amount of the required growth substrates (e.g. electron donors, oxygen) and the scarcity of bacteria able to metabolize PCBs. In this regard, use of biodegradable polymers or applied potentials have been demonstrated effective in priming bioremediation of freshwater environments (e.g. river sediments) polluted by chlorinated solvents or PCBs. Yet, little is known regarding the application in marine sediments, where the abundance of anaerobic competitors (i.e. sulfate reducing bacteria) and the different sediment’s features might affect the bioremediation. In this study, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and Microbial Electrochemical Technologies (METs) were applied for the first time to prime bioremediation of PCBs polluted marine sediments. The influence of PHAs was studied on the main anaerobic metabolisms and on the microbial community of the heavily polluted sediments coming from the Pialassa della Baiona, a micro-tidal coastal lagoon in Ravenna, and from Mar Piccolo, the marine basin aside Taranto. The impact of METs was deepened by monitoring the physical-chemical parameters and the main anaerobic metabolisms of the sediments coming from Ravenna. The effectiveness of biostimulating with PHAs depended on the features of the treated site, possibly due to the availability of the amendments and to the competition of the indigenous microbial communities. The bioelectrochemical stimulation inhibited the bioremediation process. In both cases, the presence of an inoculated bacterial community was required to perform bioremediation. The collected results led to a comprehensive analysis of the available literature, questioning what could be the further approaches for an effective in situ bioremediation.

Revisão taxonômica do grupo Moenkhausia dichroura (Kner, 1858) (Characiformes: Characidae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Estudos anatômicos de Cyperaceae (Poales) com ênfase na anatomia Kranz

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Embriologia e desenvolvimento de frutos e sementes de Eriocaulaceae e Cyperaceae (Poales)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Taxonomia e filogenia de algumas espécies de Mazama (Mammalia; Cervidae) da Colômbia

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Uma nova espécie de Hylodes (Anura, Hylodidae) da Serra do Japi: descrição, modo reprodutivo e comunicação

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Anatomia de espécies brasileiras de Eriocaulaceae: Comanthera e Syngonanthus

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Revisão taxonômica e análise filogenética das espécies de Daidalotarsonemus De Leon e Excelsotarsonemus Ochoa & Naskrecki (Acari: Tarsonemidae)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

The phylogeny of Simulium (Chirostilbia) (Diptera: Simuliidae) and perspectives on the systematics of the genus in the Neotropical Region

Recently, knowledge of Neotropical Simuliidae has been accumulating quickly. However, information about supra-specific relationships is scarce and diagnoses of Simulium subgenera are unsatisfactory. To investigate the relationships among Simulium (Chirostilbia) species and test the subgenus monophyly, we performed a cladistic analysis. The ingroup included all species of this subgenus and the outgroup included representatives of the 17 species groups of Neotropical Simulium and three Holarctic species. The study was based on a data matrix with 31 terminal taxa and 45 morphological characteristics of adult, pupa and larva. The phylogenetic analysis under equal weights resulted in eight most-parsimonious trees (length = 178, consistency index = 34, retention index = 67). The monophyly of the S. (Chirostilbia) was not supported in our analysis. The Simulium subpallidum species group was closer to Simulium (Psilopelmia) and Simulium (Ectemnaspis) than to the Simulium pertinax species group. Additionally, we describe the three-dimensional shape of the terminalia of male and female of Simulium (Chirostilbia) for the first time and provide comments about the taxonomic problems involving some species of the subgenus: Simulium acarayense, Simulium papaveroi, S. pertinax, Simulium serranum, Simulium striginotum and S. subpallidum.

Taxonomic Identity in Microbial Eukaryotes: A Practical Approach Using the Testate Amoeba Centropyxis to Resolve Conflicts Between Old and New Taxonomic Descriptions

The present work focuses on 12 taxa of the genus Centropyxis Stein, 1857 to explore the conflict between traditional and contemporary taxonomic practices. We examined the morphology, biometry, and ecology of 2,120 Centropyxis individuals collected from Tiete River, Sao Paulo, Brazil; with these new data we studied the consistency of previously described species, varieties, and forms. We encountered transitional forms of test morphology that undermine specific and varietal distinctions for three species and nine varieties. Biometrical analyses made comparing the organisms at the species level suggest a lack of separation between Centropyxis aculeata and Centropyxis discoides, and a possible distinction for Centropyxis ecornis based on spine characteristics. However, incongruence between recent and previous surveys makes taking any taxonomic-nomenclatural actions inadvisable, as they would only add to the confusion. We suggest an explicit and objective taxonomic practice in order to enhance our taxonomic and species concepts for microbial eukaryotes. This will allow more precise inferences of taxon identity for studies in other areas.

Taxonomy, species richness and biogeography of Finnish crane flies (Diptera, Tipuloidea).

Biodiversity is unequally spread throughout terrestrial ecosystems. The highest species richness of animals and plants is encountered around the Equator, and naturalists observe a decrease in the number of creatures with increasing latitude. Some animal groups, however, display an anomalous species richness pattern, but these are exceptions to the general rule. Crane flies (Diptera, Tipuloidea) are small to large sized, non-biting nematoceran insects, being mainly associated with moist environments. The species richness of crane flies is highest in the tropics, but these insects are species rich and abundant in all biogeographic realms, boreal and arctic biomes included. The phylogeny and systematics of crane flies are still at an early stage and somewhat controversial. New species are constantly discovered even from temperate Europe, faunistically the best known continent. Crane flies have been rather neglected group of insects in Finland. The history of Finnish crane fly taxonomy and faunistics started in 1907, the year when Carl Lundström published his two first articles on tipuloids. Within roughly 100 years there have been only a handful of entomologists studying the Finnish fauna, and the species richness and natural history of these flies have remained poorly understood and mapped. The aim of this thesis is to clarify the taxonomy of Finnish crane flies, present an updated and annotated list of species and seek patterns in regional species richness and assemblage composition. Tipula stackelbergi Alexander has been revised (I). This species was elevated to a species rank from a subspecific rank under T. pruinosa Wiedemann and T. stackelbergi was also deleted from the list of European crane flies. Two new synonyms were found: T. subpruinosa Mannheims is a junior synonym of T. freyana Lackschewitz and T. usuriensis Alexander is a junior synonym of T. pruinosa. A new species Tipula recondita Pilipenko & Salmela has been described (II). Both morphology and COI (mtDNA) sequences were used in the assessment of the status of the species. The new species is highly disjunct, known from Finland and Russian Far East. A list of Finnish crane flies was presented, including the presence of species in the Finnish biogeographical provinces (III). A total of twenty-four species were formally reported for the first time from Finland and twenty-two previously reported species were deleted from the list. A short historical review on the studies of Finnish crane flies has been provided. The current list of Finnish species consists of 338 crane flies (IV, Appendix I). Species richness of all species and saproxylic/fungivorous species is negatively correlated with latitude, but mire-dwelling species show a reversed species richness gradient (i.e. an increase in the number of species toward north). Provincial assemblages displayed a strong latitudinal gradient and faunistic distance increased with increasing geographical distance apart of the provinces. Nearly half (48 %) of the Finnish crane flies are Trans-Palaearctic, roughly one-third (34 %) are West Palaearctic and only 16 and 2 % are Holarctic and Fennoscandian, respectively. Due to the legacy of Pleistocene glaciations, endemic Fennoscandian species are problematic and it is thus concluded that there are probably no true endemic crane flies in this region. Finally, there are probably species living within Finnish borders that have hitherto remained unnoticed. Based on subjective assessment, the number of “true” (i.e. recorded + unknown species) species count of Finnish crane flies is at minimum 350.

Molecular phylogeny resolves a taxonomic misunderstanding and places Geisleria close to Absconditella s. str. (Ostropales: Stictidaceae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

The first molecular phylogeny of Chilodontidae (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Characiformes) reveals cryptic biodiversity and taxonomic uncertainty

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Proteins on microbial identification: past achievements, present state-of-the-art, and future challenges

The use of chemical analysis of microbial components, including proteins, became an important achievement in the 80’s of the last century to the microbial identification. This led a more objective microbial identification scheme, called chemotaxonomy, and the analytical tools used in the field are mainly 1D/2D gel electrophoresis, spectrophotometry, high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, and combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The Edman degradation reaction was also applied to peptides sequence giving important insights to the microbial identification. The rapid development of these techniques, in association with knowledge generated by DNA sequencing and phylogeny based on rRNA gene and housekeeping genes sequences, boosted the microbial identification to an unparalleled scale. The recent results of mass spectrometry (MS), like Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionisation Time-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF), for rapid and reliable microbial identification showed considerable promise. In addition, the technique is rapid, reliable and inexpensive in terms of labour and consumables when compared with other biological techniques. At present, MALDI-TOF MS adds an additional step for polyphasic identification which is essential when there is a paucity of characters or high DNA homologies for delimiting very close related species. The full impact of this approach is now being appreciated when more diverse species are studied in detail and successfully identified. However, even with the best polyphasic system, identification of some taxa remains time-consuming and determining what represents a species remains subjective. The possibilities opened with new and even more robust mass spectrometers combined with sound and reliable databases allow not only the microbial identification based on the proteome fingerprinting but also include de novo specific proteins sequencing as additional step. These approaches are pushing the boundaries in the microbial identification field.