虎脂鯉科(牙魚)Hoplias lacerdae種群的分類檢討與產於烏拉圭河與亞馬遜盆地北方的兩個新種

文獻來源: Oyakawa, O.T. & Mattox, G.M.T. (2009): Revision of the Neotropical trahiras of the Hoplias lacerdae species-group (Ostariophysi: Characiformes: Erythrinidae) with descriptions of two new species. Neotropical Ichthyology 7 (2): 117-140. [全文連結]

Abstract
Hoplias lacerdae was originally described from the rio Ribeira de Iguape, Iporanga, São Paulo State. The Hoplias lacerdae group is defined as containing generally large trahiras with the medial margins of dentaries running parallel to each other and lacking teeth on the basihyal compared to the H. malabaricus group in which the medial margins of the dentaries converge towards the mandibular symphysis and which have teeth on the basihyal. A taxonomic revision of the group based on meristic and morphometric data identified five distinct species: H. lacerdae distributed in the rio Ribeira de Iguape and rio Uruguai; H. intermedius from the rio São Francisco, upper rio Paraná basin, and rio Doce; H. brasiliensis from rivers of the Atlantic Coastal drainage from the rio Paraguaçu to the rio Jequitinhonha; H. australis new species, endemic to the rio Uruguai; and H. curupira new species present in northern South America, including the rios Negro, Trombetas, Tapajós, Xingu, Tocantins and Capim in the Amazon basin, upper rio Orinoco near the rio Casiquiare (Venezuela), and coastal rivers of Guyana and Suriname. A lectotype for Hoplias intermedius and a neotype for H. brasiliensis are designated.

紅翅戰車鼠體表腫瘤為間葉組織形成的纖維瘤但原因不明

文獻來源: Caruso D, Keith P, Palssiart G. 2009. Skin nodular neoplasm in the armoured catfish, cascarudo (Callichthys callichthys), in French Guiana, South America. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 19(2): 126-128. [網址]

Microscopically, the lesions consisted of non-encapsulated dermal (sub-epithelial) mesenchymal proliferation. In the slide coloured with Masson's trichrome, the tumoral cells showed a fibroblastic phenotype and haphazardly scattered arrangements in collagen-rich stroma (Fig. 2). The surface of the tumour appeared to be covered by a hyperplastic epidermis devoid of simple cylindrical epithelium and was composed of the serous cells typical of the Siluriformes. This epithelium is well represented in the normal adjacent areas. Neither nuclear abnormality nor obvious mitotic activity was present. No parasitic structure was observed in the lesions at microscopic observation. The proliferating tissue occasionally infiltrated the underlying osseous dermal plaque (Fig. 3), but the osseous plaque structure appeared to be healthy. All examined lesions shared the same histological aspects (Fig. 4). Although a periostal origin of the tumour cannot be excluded, the histological findings of the lesions are consistent with a fibroma or benign fibrohystiocytoma in humans. Fibroma is considered one of the most frequently observed mesenchymal tumours in fish (Richards, 1977; Roberts, 1979). This neoplasm has been found in different marine species such as the striped mullet (Mugil cephalus) from Tunisia (Lopez and Ribaud, 1981) and the redband parrotfish (Sparisoma autofrenatus) in the Caribbean region (Grizzle and Williams, 1983). To the knowledge of the authors, few cases of fibroma have been reported on Amazonian freshwater fish in the literature. A fibroma localized in the branchial arc has been reported in pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) (Ferraz de Lima et al., 1993) from fish-pond facilities in Brazil, and another has been found in the abdomen of captive red piranha (Serrasalmus nattereri) (Heckman, 1994). Although the idiopathic origin cannot be excluded, the high prevalence observed (66%) and some histological features – such as the haphazardly disposed elongated cell – analogous to equine sarcoid caused by bovine papilloma DNA virus (Trenfield et al., 1985; Lancaster et al., 1997), could suggest an infectious aetiology, possibly of viral origin. Getchell et al. (1998) reported that at least 11 types of virus are implicated in skin tumours of wild fish, and different virus families have been involved in fish fibroma. Rhabdovirus carpio have been observed in the swim bladder fibroma in carp (Cyprinus carpio) (Inchausty and Heckman, 1996) and retrovirus particles were found in lip fibroma from captive Pterophyllum sp. (Francis-Floyd et al., 1993). Lentivirus-like particles have been responsible for skin tumours classified as fibroma or possible fibrosarcoma in another armoured fish, the hooknose (Agonus cataphractus) (Anders et al., 1991). Otherwise, the histological features observed in the fibroma of cascarudo allowed differential diagnosis from two other viral cutaneous tumours of fish: the fish lymphocystis disease (FLD) and the walleye dermal sarcoma (WDS). Indeed, the fibroblastic cells did not appear hypertrophied and surrounded by a hyaline capsule as typical for FLD (Paperna, 1982; Bowden et al., 1995; Williams Jr et al., 1996), and differed from WDS by the absence of vacuolar degeneration in the tumour cells and centrally located coagulation necrosis (Martineau et al., 1990; Earnest-Koons et al., 1996). No other species of fish collected in Marais de Panato showed similar skin lesions. This was also true for another sympatric armoured catfish, M. thoracata, very close to the cascarudo. This specificity could suggest a close relationship between the host and etiologic agent. Further study will be required to deepen epidemiological, histological and etiological considerations, but this note reports for the first time neoplastic skin lesions with high prevalence from a wild population of Amazonian fish.

翡翠巨蜥因皰疹病毒造成口腔炎

文獻來源: Wellehan, J.F.X., Johnson, A.J., Latimer, K.S., Whiteside, D.P., Crawshaw, G.J., Detrisac, C.J., Heard, D.J., Terrell, S.P., Childress, A., and Jacobson, E.R. 2005. Varanid herpesvirus-1: a novel herpesvirus associated with proliferative stomatitis in green tree monitors (Varanus prasinus). Vet. Micro. 105(2): 83-92. [網址]

Abstract
Stomatitis is a common problem in lizards, and the etiologies of stomatitis in lizards are not well understood. Four green tree monitor lizards (previous termVaranusnext term prasinus) from two different collections were evaluated because of proliferative stomatitis. Degenerate PCR primers targeting a conserved region of herpesvirus DNA-dependent DNA polymerase were used to amplify and sequence a product from gingival tissue of three of four lizards (cases 1, 3, and 4). DNA in situ hybridization of tissues from three lizards was positive for herpesvirus in the oral mucosa of all three lizards tested (cases 1–3) and the brain of two lizards (cases 1 and 3). Comparative sequence analysis suggests that this virus is a novel member of the subfamily α-herpesvirinae, and is here termed varanid herpesvirus 1.

翡翠巨蜥經食用白鼠感染無乳鏈球菌引發敗血症死亡

文獻來源: Hetzel U; König A; Yildirim A O; Lämmler Ch; Kipar A. 2003. Septicaemia in emerald monitors (Varanus prasinus Schlegel 1839) caused by Streptococcus agalactiae acquired from mice. Veterinary microbiology 2003;95(4):283-93. [網址]

Abstract
The present study was performed to investigate both the identity and the source of the bacteria responsible for a fatal septicaemia observed in a group of three subadult emerald monitors (Varanus prasinus Schlegel 1839). The emerald monitors were necropsied and examined by light microscopy, including immunohistology, and by electron microscopy. Tissue samples were additionally submitted for bacteriological, virological and parasitological examinations. The virological and parasitological results were noncontributory, whereas the bacteriological investigation resulted in the isolation of gram-positive cocci which were characterized biochemically and serologically and by molecular analysis. The death of the emerald monitors was caused by a partially leukocyte-associated septicaemic infection with streptococci of serological group B of serotype V. Phenotypically and genotypically identical group B streptococci were isolated from the intestine of subadult mice, obtained from the feed used for the monitors. The genotypical characterization included an identical DNA fingerprint of strains of both origins, indicating the epidemiological relation between the feeding mice and the infections of the monitors.

2009-06-15新進魚隻

Corydoras sp. Venezuela 委內瑞拉叉叉鼠 x 1
Corydoras C130 C130鼠 x 1
Hyphessobrycon sp. cf. peruvianus 帝王藍燈 (=紅翅夢幻藍帝燈, 紅翅紫水晶, 夢幻紫帝王藍燈) x 2
Hemigrammus sp. cf. coeruleus 粉紅霓虹 x 2
Hemigrammus sp. 森巴紅尾燈 x 10
Hemigrammus (?) sp. 森巴紅尾燈中挑出雜燈 x 1 (此連結最下面那隻)
Hemigrammus sp. cf. pulcher 森巴紅尾燈中挑出雜燈 x 2
Moenkhausia sp. cf. colletti 森巴紅尾燈中挑出雜燈 x 1
Charax sp. cf. condei 森巴紅尾燈中挑出雜燈 x 1
Hyphessobrycon sp. 聖加百列三色燈 (=聖加百列紅眼金線燈?) x 2
Curimatopsis sp. cf. crypticus x 1 (森巴紅尾燈中挑出)
Odontostilbe kriegi ?? 月光燈 x 20 (鑑定有一點疑義) (基本上很可能就是evcafe所認為的新月光鼠燈, 但應該不是Curimatopsis屬的種類)
Characidae sp. 黃水晶燈 x 5
Sphaerichthys acrostoma 巨人巧克力飛船 x 5
Garra? sp. 某底棲鯉科小雜魚 x 1

今日主題就是貴三三雜燈挑挑樂, 有關那些長得像月光鼠的脂鯉的分類問題有空再聊.

魚隻來源: 石頭水族 & APT, 台族水族, 小黑的店
圖片連結: petfrd.com,

水晶燈的學名是Leptagoniates pi

水晶燈是2009年2月由APT引進的脂鯉科魚種, 當時一時找不到資料, 從日本網頁上引用了一個不是很確定的學名Phenacogaster pectinatus, 後來就沒有繼續查證. 剛剛突然翻到Glaser的魚種介紹, 發現這條魚被鑑定為Leptagoniates pi, 經查閱原始發表文獻Vari, R. P. 1978. The genus Leptagoniates (Pisces: Characoidei) with a description of a new species from Bolivia. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington v. 91 (no. 1): 184-190.之後, 我認為這個鑑定在目前是可以信賴的.

圖片連結: Glaser

蛇藉著鱗片產生的磨擦力與改變體重分布在平面上滑行

文獻來源: Hu DL. Nirody J, Scott T, Shelley MJ. 2009. The mechanics of slithering locomotion. Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America doi: 10.1073/pnas.0812533106

Abstract
In this experimental and theoretical study, we investigate the slithering of snakes on flat surfaces. Previous studies of slithering have rested on the assumption that snakes slither by pushing laterally against rocks and branches. In this study, we develop a theoretical model for slithering locomotion by observing snake motion kinematics and experimentally measuring the friction coefficients of snakeskin. Our predictions of body speed show good agreement with observations, demonstrating that snake propulsion on flat ground, and possibly in general, relies critically on the frictional anisotropy of their scales. We have also highlighted the importance of weight distribution in lateral undulation, previously difficult to visualize and hence assumed uniform. The ability to redistribute weight, clearly of importance when appendages are airborne in limbed locomotion, has a much broader generality, as shown by its role in improving limbless locomotion.

另外請見Science Daily的文摘, 以及中興大學生物物理研究群blog對此文章與作者胡立德的簡介

演化可在10年內快速發生 - 無捕食壓力的孔雀魚產生更大但更少的子代

文獻來源: Gordeon SP. Reznick DN, Kinnison MT, Bryant MJ, Weese DJ, Räsänen K, Millar NP, Hendry AP. 2009. Adaptive Changes in Life History and Survival following a New Guppy Introduction. American Naturalist 174: 34-45. DOI: 10.1086/599300 [摘要下載] (另見Science Daily的文摘)

Abstract
Numerous studies of wild populations have shown that phenotypic traits can change adaptively on short timescales, but very few studies have considered coincident changes in major fitness components. We here examine adaptive changes in life‐history traits and survival rates for wild guppies introduced into new environments. Female life‐history traits in the derived (Damier River) populations diverged from the ancestral (Yarra River) population, as a result of adaptation to predation regime (high vs. low) and other aspects of the local river. Moreover, some components of the derived Damier populations, particularly juveniles, now show higher survival in the Damier than do contemporary representatives from the ancestral Yarra population. These results suggest that adaptive change can improve survival rates after fewer than 10 years (fewer than 30 guppy generations) in a new environment.

圖片連結: www.nature.com有關Y-chromosome-linked trait的解說圖片

攝食螞蟻所獲得之正甲基十氫喹啉首次被發現被Ameerega屬箭蛙使用作為化學防禦物質

Daly et al. 2009. Methyldecahydroquinolines: An Unexpected Class of Alkaloids from Amazonian Poison Frogs (Dendrobatidae). Journal of Natural Products, DOI: 10.1021/np900094v (另見Science Daily之簡介)

Abstract The dominant alkaloids previously identified in skin extracts of Amazonian dendrobatid frogs of the genus Ameerega are histrionicotoxins and 2,5-disubstituted decahydroquinolines. Analysis of alkaloids in skin extracts of Ameerega picta from Bolivia revealed that the alkaloid 257A, previously reported as a 2,5-disubstituted decahydroquinoline, is an N-methyl-2,5-disubstituted decahydroquinoline. We characterized alkaloids of another 12 of the more than 25 species recently assigned to the genus Ameerega, and five additional N-methyldecahydroquinolines were identified. In some cases, the relative configuration of the N-methyldecahydroquinolines was determined by comparison with the N-methylated products prepared from the corresponding 2,5-disubstituted decahydroquinolines of known relative configuration. A dietary source for N-methyldecahydroquinolines is unknown; however, myrmicine ants are the likely source for the 2,5-disubstituted decahydroquinolines. The alkaloids in skin extracts of three species of another genus of Amazonian poison frog, Adelphobates, were also characterized, but N-methyldecahydroquinolines were not detected.

圖片連結: Junglenews之flickr相簿

2009-06-14新進魚隻

Liosomadoras oncinus 豹紋石虎 (=尼格羅石虎) x 2 (大隻可愛又便宜所以又買)

Danio kyathit 七彩珍珠斑馬 (=多彩豹紋斑馬, 網紋斑馬) x 4 (不是血紅翅斑馬)
Puntius orphoides 法國飛鳳 (=紅胸鰂) x 2 (西屯路叫 - 飛燕雙鯊, 一整個很威的名字, 但絕對不是鳳仙子)
Hypsibarbus pierrei (=Barbodes pierrei, Puntius pierrei) 武鯧 (=粗鱗武昌魚, 高體四鬚鲃) x 2
Poropuntius deauratus 黃尾銀鯊 x 2

今日主題叫作"食用魚兼台灣的外來種"系列. 南部的水族館有時候會有一些北部盤商沒有或做得比較少的魚. 這些食用魚樣的中型鯉科魚類就是一個例子. 今天看到那個"法國飛鳳"的時候大笑了一下, 想說這個名字是怎樣啊? 魚明明就是中南半島的東西, 和法國有什麼關係? 而且飛鳳都不飛鳳啦, 為啥會取這個名字? 這條魚其實就是紅胸鰂. 至少在2006年就有人在台灣東北部釣到(見這邊與塔內植物園的討論). 其實我不清楚這條魚是否真的在市面上以食用魚流通, 但是以觀賞魚流通倒是我第一次見到(顯然是我孤陋寡聞, 太少出去逛), 但若在2006年就已經可以釣到一堆, 那麼表示因為人工養殖逸出已經有一陣子了, 而且表示這條魚可以適應台灣東北部冬季的水域環境. 另一條魚叫"武鯧", 其實應該是盤商或店家把"昌"和"鯧"搞在一起. 高體四鬚鲃也是已經進入台灣南部水域的外來物種. 至於那個黃尾銀鯊我就是在台灣第一次見到, 不過因為那整缸的黃尾銀鯊與高體四鬚鲃混在一起, 令我不禁懷疑這個物種是不是也已經可能在台灣進行人工繁殖並已經可能逸出到野外去了? 另一條今天忘了買的魚被某水族館叫作"螢光大暴牙"(其實應該是銀光大暴牙之誤). 我們發現在台灣市面流通的"銀光大暴牙"可能因為盤商店家以訛傳訛所以造成同一魚名使用在兩個完全不相干的魚種上. 一個是產自南美洲的真正的銀光大暴牙(Rhaphiodon vulpinus) (上圖), 另一種, 也就是我們今天看到的, 是產在中南半島至印尼的金線大暴牙(Macrochirichthys macrochirus) (中圖), 是鯉科的怪咖, 這個種偶爾會從東南亞線進口, 然而報價單上卻偶然會以南美產的Rhaphiodon來標示此魚.

魚隻來源: 永信水族(文衡店), 永豐魚水族, 公園水族
圖片連結: 雷魚圖鑑, siamfishing.com,Tiara (大宮店)

中國廣東蓮花溪一新種蝦虎 - 周氏吻蝦虎

文獻來源: Li, F. & Zhong, J.-s. (2009): Rhinogobius zhoui, a New Goby (Perciformes: Gobiidae) from Guangdong Province, China. Zoological Research, 30 (3): 327-333. [全文下載]

Abstract
A new freshwater goby, Rhinogobius zhoui sp. nov., was found in the stream of Lianhua Mountain（23º01'N，115º17'E）in Haifeng County, Guangdong Province, China. The new species can be distinguished from related species by combination of characters: second dorsal fin rays I, 8−9; anal fin rays I, 7−8; pectoral fin rays 16−18; longitudinal scale series 29−31; predorsal scales 10−12; vertebral count 10+16=26; In adult male, first dorsal fin without black spot, each median fin with broad white band, cheek and branchiostegal membrane unpigmented, 6−8 red blotches on body side.

2009-06-12新進動物與魚隻

Callichthyidae 甲鯰科

Corydoras davidsandi Santa Isabel 大衛鼠"聖塔伊莎貝產" x 3
Corydoras sp. 紅頭皇冠豹鼠 III " 細點型" C01 x 2 (參考這個)
Corydoras C38 帝王紅頭鼠 C38 x 2
Corydoras serratus 薩瑞塔鼠 x 2
Corydoras sp. cf. agassizii 西屯路阿卡西鼠 x 1
Corydoras trilineatus 三線豹鼠 x 1
Corydoras sodalis 小花網鼠 x 2
Corydoras elegans 艾利根鼠 x 6
Corydoras sp. 金線芝麻鼠 x 1
Corydoras sp. cf. kanei 廉價假白豹鼠 x 3
Loricariidae 吸甲鯰科
Hisonotus sp. 似紅尾小精靈 x 1
Aspredinidae 蝌蚪鯰科
Xyliphius sp. cf. barbatus 紫羅蘭斑鳩貓 x 1
Schilbeidae 錫伯鯰科
Pareutropius buffei 非洲玻璃貓 x 7
Bagridae 鱨科
Hyalobagrus flavus 亞洲水晶貓 x 14
Auchenipteridae 頸鰭鯰(=頂鰭鯰)科
Trachycorystes sp. 咖啡魔鯨 x 2
Auchenipteridae sp. 麻花魔鯨 x 1
Apteronotidae 光背電鰻科
Compsaraia samueli 恐龍飛刀 x 1
Sternopygidae 胸肛魚科
Eigenmannia sp. 琥珀玻璃飛刀 x 1
Mastacembelidae 棘鰍科
Mastacembelus pancalus 黃尾迷你象鼻龍 x 5
Mastacembelus sp. 非洲產棘鰍 x 1
Heptapteridae 七鰭鯰科
Brachyrhamdia meesi 紅頭藍線貓 x 3
Brachyrhamdia sp. x 1
Gobiidae 蝦虎科
Gobioides broussonnetii 南美巨型鳍龍 (=南美鰭龍, 排骨龍) x 2
Gobiopterus chuno 玻璃蝦虎 x 20
Cyprinidae 鯉科
Devario annandalei 緬甸紅翅鑽紋斑馬 x 3
Characidae 脂鯉科
Hyphessobrycon sp. 橘燄水晶旗 x 2
Hyphessobrycon bifasciatus 黃銅旗 x 1
Testudinidae 陸龜科
Testudo hermanni 赫曼陸龜 x 2

所謂的南美鰭龍倒底是那一隻蝦虎呢? 進口報單上有時出現Gobioides peruanus這個學名, 不過實際上進口的魚應該是Gobioides broussonnetii, Murphy(1997)的文章指出幾個可以鑑別兩者的特徵, 例如口裂的斜度以及口裂的深度是否超過眼眶後方等等.

魚隻來源: 石頭水族 & APT, 某低調不願透露性別的大大
圖片連結: Fishlandishihara Staff, rva

聖加百列三色燈是什麼碗糕?

多數魚類學家都承認Hemigrammus, Astyanax, Hyphessobrycon, Moenkhausia這幾個南美脂鯉的大屬基本上都只是因為表型相似而被集合在一起的類群, 目前沒有一個屬被相信可能是單系群, 屬下的種群也幾乎都只仰賴一些很淺薄的色彩斑紋鱗列數之類的特徵進行初步的歸群. 在燈魚愛好者心目中有一群在側線處具有紅色條紋的魚被稱為所謂的"赤目金線系列"(也被細分成赤目赤線型, 金線型, 三色燈型等), 基本上所有的具有這樣的斑紋的種類都被脂鯉分類學者包含在"幻眼三色燈種群", 也就是Hyphessobrycon heterorhabdus種群之類, 然而這個種群事實上還包含了其它體側具有明顯條紋的物種. 雖然近年來魚類學者已經很努力地開始整理這個種群的分類工作, 但是近幾年的研究尚未擴及這些"體側有紅線"的種類, 而這些種類卻是水族市場上較常流通且在鑑定上最為困難的. 這隻巴西產的聖加百列三色燈與亞馬帕三色燈(H. amapaensis)與幻眼三色燈可以簡單地以具有側線下的金黃色線條區分, 感覺上與據說產自蘇利南的這條魚最像, 不過兩者是否是同一個種還是留給真正的魚類學者.

魚隻來源: 台族水族

以4個核基因之序列資訊推測鯉目之科級親緣關係

文獻來源: Mayden RL, Chen WJ, Bart HL, Doosey MH, Simons AM, Tang KL, Wood RM, Agnew MK, Yang L, Hirt MV, Clements MD, Saitoh K, Sado T, Mita M, Nishida M. 2009. Reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships of the earth’s most diverse clade of freshwater fishes—order Cypriniformes (Actinopterygii: Ostariophysi): A case study using multiple nuclear loci and the mitochondrial genome. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 51(3): 500-514. [全文連結]

Abstract
The order Cypriniformes is the most diverse clade of freshwater fishes and is natively distributed on all continents except South America, Australia, and Antarctica. Despite the diversity of the group and the fundamental importance of these species in both ecosystems and human culture, relatively little has been known about their relationships relative to their diversity. In recent years, with an international effort investigating the systematics of the group, more information as to their genealogical relationships has emerged and species discovery and their descriptions have increased. One of the more interesting aspects of this group has been a traditional lack of understanding of the relationships of the families, subfamilies, and other formally or informally identified groups. Historical studies have largely focused on smaller groups of species or genera. Because of the diversity of this group and previously published whole mitochondrial genome evidence for relationships of major clades in the order, this clade serves as an excellent group to investigate the congruence between relationships reconstructed for major clades with whole mitogenome data and those inferred from a series of nuclear gene sequences. As descent has resulted in only one tree of life, do the phylogenetic relationships of these major clades converge on similar topologies using the large number of available characters through this suite of nuclear genes and previously published mitochondrial genomes? In this study we examine the phylogenetic relationships of major clades of Cypriniformes using previously published mitogenomes and four putative single-copy nuclear genes of the same or closely related species. Combined nuclear gene sequences yielded 3810 bp, approximately 26% of the bp found in a single mitogenome; however homoplasy in the nuclear genes was measurably less than that observed in mitochondrial sequences. Relationships of taxa and major clades derived from analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial sequences were nearly identical and both received high support values. While some differences of individual gene trees did exist for species, it is predicted that these differences will be minimized with increased taxon sampling in future analyses.

圖片連結:

半寄生毛鼻鯰才是吸血鯰的祖先

文獻來源: Fernándeza L, Schaefer A. 2009. Relationships among the Neotropical Candirus (Trichomycteridae, Siluriformes) and the evolution of parasitism based on analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 52(2): 416-423. [全文連結]
Abstract Phylogenetic relationships among the trichomycterid catfishes are investigated for the first time using molecular sequence data. Data derived from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences for representatives of 17 genera were analyzed to test previous hypotheses of relationships among trichomycterid subfamilies, the monophyly of the subfamily Stegophilinae, and the monophyly and relationships among the genera of parasitic members of the family. We analyzed 2325 aligned base-pairs from mitochondrial 12S, 16S, ND4 (tRNAHis tRNASer), and the nuclear histone H3 gene for representatives of 10 of 12 stegophiline and 3 of 4 vandelliine genera, plus 10 outgroup taxa selected to represent the range of subfamilial diversity. Maximum parsimony and likelihood approaches resolved a monophyletic semiparasitic Stegophilinae as the sister-group of the obligate hematophagous Vandelliinae. At the level of subfamilies, the pattern of relationships of the parasitic members among the remainder of the family is fully congruent with the most recent hypothesis of relationships for trichomycterids based exclusively on morphological data. Within stegophilines, our results differ from multiple previous morphological studies in recovery of (1) Haemomaster and Ochmacanthus as sister-taxa, (2) the morphologically plesiomorphic Pareidon microps nested within a relatively distal part of the tree topology, (3) Apomatoceros as sister to Henonemus, rather than to the morphologically similar Megalocentor. These result indicate that parasitism arose once and was unreversed within the Trichomycteridae. Survey of diet and feeding morphology among trichomycterids suggests that the semiparasitic lifestyle of the members of the Stegophilinae was retained in the enigmatic Pareiodon microps, despite reversal to the generalized trichomycterid condition of the associated morphological specializations found in all other stegophilines. These results further support the reconstruction of semiparasitism, rather than blood feeding, for the shared common ancestor of the parasitic Trichomycteridae.

圖片連結: Jeffrey Leow WordPress

馬達加斯加產盾尾鬣蜥亞科起源自侏儸紀中晚期

文獻來源: Okajima Y, Kumazawa Y. 2009. Mitogenomic perspectives into iguanid phylogeny and biogeography: Gondawanan vicariance for the origin of Madagascan oplurines. Gene 441(1-2): 28-35. [全文連結]

Abstract
Complete or nearly complete nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial genomes (mtDNAs) were determined from eight species which, together with previous mtDNA data for two other taxa, cover most subfamilies of Iguanidae sensu lato. These iguanid mtDNAs were found to be rather conservative with respect to gene arrangements and molecular evolutionary rates, which contrasts with mtDNAs of Acrodonta (Agamidae and Chamaeleonidae) in which several gene rearrangements and highly accelerated molecular evolutionary rates have been known. Phylogenetic analyses consistently suggested the earliest shoot-off of a Malagasy subfamily Oplurinae and an affinity of Polychrotinae and Tropidurinae sensu stricto. However, even with the ample molecular characters derived from complete mtDNA sequences, phylogenetic relationships between iguanid subfamilies were poorly resolved in general, presumably due to the rapid ancient cladogenesis. Divergence time estimation without assuming the molecular clock suggested the Late Triassic/Early Jurassic divergence of Iguanidae from acrodonts and the Middle/Late Jurassic divergence of Oplurinae from the other iguanids. Together with geological and paleontological evidence, these results led us to propose Gondwanan vicariance for the origin of Malagasy oplurines without invoking a land bridge connection between South America/Antarctica and drifting Madagascar/India.

圖片連結: Missouri Botanical Garden (Photo credit: David R. Parks)

素食性的王者蜥的咬合力與其它的飛蜥沒有顯著差異

文獻來源: Herrel A, De Vree F. 2009. Jaw and hyolingual activity patterns and bite forces in the herbivorous lizard Uromastyx acanthinurus. Achives of Oral Biology doi: 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2009.05.002 [全文連結]

Abstract
Uromastyx lizards are basal agamid lizards that are characterized by an herbivorous diet and a robust akinetic skull. Recently, lizards in general, and Uromastyx lizards in particular, have become a model system for mechanical analyses of skull function. However, quantitative models of skull function are hampered by a lack of knowledge on the activation patterns of jaw and hyolingual muscles. Moreover, in vivo bite force or strain data, essential to test the validity of these modelling efforts, are lacking. Here we provide data on the muscle activation patterns and bite forces in the lizard Uromastyx acanthinurus. Our results show that muscle recruitment patterns during intra-oral transport and swallowing, are qualitatively similar to those observed for other lizards. Whereas during the slow opening phase the hyolingual muscles show a pronounced activity, the fast opening phase is characterised by strong activity in the jaw opener and the tongue and hyoid retractors. During fast closing the jaw closers become active and at the end of this phase, the jaw closers become silent momentarily before showing a renewed and strong activity during the slow closing/power stroke phase. Measurements of bite forces indicate bite force levels similar to those of agamid lizards of similar size, and similar to those predicted based on recent modelling efforts. These data should allow further refinement and validation of recently published models of biting in lizards of the genus Uromastyx.

圖片連結: flickr (photo credit: Gabri Mtnez)

基於5個基因所推測的日守宮親緣關係彰顯於印度洋各島群的演化輻射

文獻來源: Rocha S, Vences M, Glaw F, Harris DJ. 2009. Multigene phylogeny of Malagasy day geckos of the genus Phelsuma. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 52(2): 530-537. [全文網址]

Introduction
Geckos of the genus Phelsuma are amongst the most conspicuous lizards of the Malagasy region. The genus contains around 43 extant species, of which ca. 29 occur in Madagascar, and 25 of these are endemic to this island. Rhoptropella ocellata, endemic to a small region of Namibia and South Africa is, together with Lygodactylus sp., the closest relative of Phelsuma, which is considered a monophyletic genus (Austin et al., 2004). With Madagascar as their main centre of diversity, Phelsuma are also present on almost all neighbouring islands and locally at the East African coast (Fig. 1). The Comoros harbour seven species (five of them endemic), theMascarenes have seven endemic extant species (two extinct species are known: P. gigas and P. edwardnewtoni), with one subspecies endemic to Agalega island (1100 km north of Mauritius), one (non-endemic) species in two islands of the Aldabra archipelago, two endemic species in the granitic islands of the Seychelles, one endemic species in the island of Pemba off the East African coast of Tanzania, and one species in the Andaman islands, off Myanmar, in the Bay of Bengal. Within Madagascar, Phelsuma species are found in a variety of habitats spanning the island, mainly in primary forest regions, either dry southern seasonal forests (e.g. P. breviceps), scrublands (e.g. P. mutabilis, P. modesta, P. hielscheri), western coastal forests (e.g. P. abbotti), low and mid-altitude humid forests (P. madagascariensis, P. guttata, P. lineata ssp., P. quadriocellata ssp.) and even in some high-altitude regions (P. barbouri, P. malamakibo). Despite extensive work on Phelsuma taxonomy, ecology, biogeography and ethology, even its alpha-taxonomy is not fully understood. Many taxa, especially subspecies, are based only on chromatic characters and not well defined. In several cases color transitions/polymorphisms can be observed and thus some species may represent artificial taxa based on local color morphs. Previous studies, based on phenetic characters (Loveridge, 1942; Mertens, 1962; Glaw et al., 1999; Van Heygen, 2004), have led to recognition of eight species groups of Malagasy species. Close relationships between some of the groups were postulated (e.g. P. guttata- and P. madagascariensis-group and the Mascarene Islands species with the P. modesta-group) but some species were not assigned to any particular phenetic group (e.g. P. vanheygeni). The main potential difficulty with Phelsuma taxonomy is thus its reliance on highly variable coloration characters, which has led to the description of a large number of species and subspecies. Taxon sampling has always been incomplete in previous molecular studies of Phelsuma (Radtkey, 1996; Austin et al., 2004; Sound et al., 2006; Rocha et al., 2007; Raxworthy et al., 2007; Harmon et al., 2008), making it difficult to evaluate intrageneric relationships. Additionally, the validity of many taxa is yet to be assessed using molecular markers. Here, we present the most comprehensive molecular phylogenetic analysis of Phelsuma to date, based on a near-complete taxon sampling of all but two species, as well as most subspecies, and on a multilocus dataset including both fast-evolving mitochondrial genes and more moderate-to-slow-evolving nuclear DNA markers.

2009-06-11新進動物

Cuora mouhotii 高背八角龜 x 3

高雄養白虎做什麼? 當搖錢樹? 讓民眾丟石塊? 還是排擠其它動物的管理經費?

議長呼籲／別讓保育公約 阻擋白虎登台【聯合報╱記者楊濡嘉／高雄報導】2009.06.10 04:14 am

高雄市議會議長莊啟旺，昨天對市府迄今未引進白老虎表達不滿。市長陳菊表示是否引進白老虎，正由觀光局聯繫中，她尊重局處的專業；觀光局則說另計畫明年引進無尾熊。

觀光局目前有處理白老虎原則：會遵守華盛頓公約對保育類動物的相關規定，要化解動物保護協會反對引進白老虎的聲音，萬一無法順利引進白老虎，可能向六福村野生動物園借展園內的白老虎。

除了白老虎，觀光局正擬向中央爭取經費，明年引進澳洲無尾熊。
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^一整個就是人家有我也要有的幼稚心態
莊啟旺說，去年他訪問中國大陸並參觀廣州香江動物園，香江動物園同意送給壽山動物園一對白老虎，可是到現在壽山未見白虎蹤影。

他認為市府要求引進白老虎需符合華盛頓公約規定，是政治意識形態，實不可取；高雄市可以比照台北市引進貓熊模式，迎接白老虎進壽山動物園，否則，市府應負起所有責任。

莊啟旺表示，去年他向廣州人大會爭取到這對白老虎時，原希望能在今年世運前入園並對外開放，可是市府一再以應符合華盛頓公約規定為由阻擾白老虎入園，世運會前見到白老虎的願望已難實現了。
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^台灣最不需要的就是這些趕場作秀的政治人物
市府觀光局雖曾派員到香江動物園洽商引進白老虎相關事宜，莊啟旺仍不滿市府推動進度，認為陳菊都已前往中國大陸參訪，市府實不應再對白老虎引進抱持意識形態。

陳菊在市政會議後得知莊啟旺對白老虎之事有怒氣，即表示會尊重不同聲音、不同意見，議會的意見，都會請觀光局參考。

現在封園整建的壽山動物園，將分二階段開放園區，第一階段是下個月。觀光局指出，動物園展示區改善工程涵蓋36個展示區，7月間將先開放西側園區，7月到9月的例假日也將延長4小時參觀時間。

【2009/06/09 聯合報】