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The Gymnodiniaceae –even in a strict sense– comprise a vast diversity of dinophytes regarding morphology and ecology. Taxonomy and nomenclature of their constituent species remain problematic, although crucial to fully explore the biology of the group. Here, we present the rarely documented dinophyte Gymnodinium limneticum from its type locality at Lake Morskie Oko in Poland, for which we established strains and made extensive morphological studies. The species was unusual in exhibiting capsoid cells as predominant life-history stage, which were embedded and dividing in extensive mucilage leading to an enkaptic pseudocolonial system. We also generated ribosomal RNA sequences that were included in a comprehensive molecular phylogeny. Our species was clearly identified as a member of the Gymnodiniaceae s.str. but within the lineage, it was only distantly related to the type species of Gymnodinium , G. fuscum . Rather, it constituted a monophyletic group together with species assigned to Spiniferodinium and as a nomenclatural result, we propose two new combinations (i.e., Sp. limneticum comb. nov., Sp. palustre comb. nov.). As Spiniferodinium now includes dinophyte species inhabiting marine or freshwater environments as well, our investigations may provide evidence for an evolutionary scenario with corresponding transitions being more frequent than considered before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TheScrippsiella trochoideaspecies complex (Thoracosphaeraceae, Peridiniales) consists of a cryptic diversity and multiple species, for which established scientific names are not available at present. Previously, the nameScrippsiella trochoideahas been taxonomically clarified, leaving a reliable determination of morphologically similar, but only distantly related species impossible. We isolated and cultivatedScrippsiella erinaceuscomb. nov. (strains GeoM*533 and GeoM*534) from material collected near the type locality off Rovinj, Republic of Croatia (Adriatic Sea). We barcoded the species of the Thoracosphaeraceae using rRNA sequences (including 22 new sequences) and investigated the morphology of the strains using light and electron microscopy. TheScrippsiella trochoideaspecies complex was composed of three primary clades, and the Adriatic strains were reliably assigned to one of them being distinct from the trueScrippsiella trochoidea. We designate an epitype for the basionymRhabdosphaera erinaceusprepared from the strain GeoM*534. The unambiguous links between a scientific species name, its protologue, genetic characterization and spatial distribution have particular importance for character-poor, unicellular organisms such as the Dinophyceae. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Multiple family-level subdivisions of Boraginales have been proposed in the past. The relationships of several constituent genera have been enigmatic, including Codon (Codonaceae), Hoplestigma (Hoplestigmataceae), Pholisma (Lennoaceae), Vahlia (Vahliaceae), and Wellstedia (Wellstediaceae), all of which are included in the present study. We present a molecular analysis with four chloroplast loci, including 89 ingroup taxa and a broad outgroup sampling in the asterids. The genus Vahlia is excluded from Boraginales and appears to represent an early branching lineage of Lamiales. The study provides a well supported topology for the relationships within Boraginales, including all of the genera with previously unclear relationships. Within Boraginales, two major clades are recognized, with "herbaceaous" Boraginales I resolved as [Codonaceae,[Wellstediaceae,[Boraginaceae]]] and "woody" Boraginales II resolved as [Hydrophyllaceae I,[Hydrophyllaceae II,[Heliotropiaceae,[Cordiaceae, [Ehretiaceae,Lennoaceae]]]]. A close relationship between Ehretiaceae and Lennoaceae is well supported, but the exact placement of Lennoaceae remains unresolved. The Cordiaceae lineage includes the monotypic genus Coldenia and the aberrant western and central African genus Hoplestigma. Woody Boraginales II are retrieved in two highly supported clades. Hydrophyllaceae are retrieved in two separate clades, but with poor support. There appear to be clear morphological progressions in vegetative, floral, and fruit morphology in both major Boraginales lineages. Thus capsular fruits are found in the first branching lineages of both clades, whereas reduced seed numbers in indehiscent fruits predominate in the more derived phylogenetic positions. Based on these results, we advocate the recognition of eight morphologically well defined clades in the order, namely Boraginaceae s.str., Codonaceae, Cordiaceae (incl. Coldenia and Hoplestigmataceae), Ehretiaceae (incl. Lennoaceae), Heliotropiaceae, Hydrophyllaceae I and Hydrophyllaceae II, and Wellstediaceae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tiquilia is very different from the other members of the Ehretiaceae ( Boraginales) in many aspects of morphology and ecology. Because detailed knowledge about flower and fruit traits is necessary to reliably infer character evolution of and within Tiquilia, we investigated flower to fruit ontogeny in eight species of Tiquilia using light and electron microscopy. Tiquilia accumulated a number of autapomorphies such as the prostrate growth form, the lack of lateral and ventral bundles in the gynoecium, and the formation of nutlet-like mericarpids as dispersal units instead of more or less succulent drupes. The internal architecture of the superior bicarpellate ovary resulted from the development of several secondary septa including apical, basal and false septa, as it has been reported also from other Boraginales. However, no character found in Tiquilia can be regarded as synapomorphic with any other taxon of the Ehretiaceae. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 112, 520-534. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Infection by papillomaviruses (PVs) has been linked to different types of neoplasias, in both human and non-human hosts. Knowledge about PV diversity is essential to reliably infer the evolutionary history of these pathogens and to elucidate the link between infection and disease. We cloned and sequenced the complete genome of a novel PV, EhelPV1, isolated from hair bulbs from a captive straw-colored fruit bat Eidolon helvum (Pteropodidae, Chiroptera). We also retrieved partial sequences of the E1 and L1 genes from hair bulbs from a captive Indian flying fox Pteropus giganteus (Pteropodidae, Chiroptera). The detected virus (PgigPV1) presumably corresponded to a novel type as well. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses were conducted using a representative collection of 132 PVs. EhelPV1 belonged to the Lambda+Mu-PV crown group and was most closely related to another bat PV, MschPV2. Both fragments of PgigPV1 were placed alongside with EhelPV1. The novel PVs were phylogenetically distant from other previously described bat PVs, namely MrPV1, MschPV1 and RaPV1. We have further characterized the sequence patterns of the E2-binding sites occurring in the upstream regulatory region of Lambda+Mu-PVs. Common fingerprints within this region are shared by certain PVs. However, there is not a sharp correspondence between the repertoire of transcription factor binding sites in the viral regulatory region and host range, tissue tropism or viral life style. Our results reinforce the hypothesis that PVs have undergone an initial radiation prior to the divergence of the mammalian hosts, giving rise to the present-day PV crown groups. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The diversity of extant calcareous dinophytes (Thoracosphaeraceae, Dinophyceae) is not fully recorded at present. The establishment of algal strains collected at multiple localities is necessary for a rigorous study of taxonomy, morphology and evolution in these unicellular organisms. We collected sediment and water tow samples from more than 60 localities in coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Sea and documented 15 morphospecies of calcareous dinophytes. Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) barcoding identified numerous species of the Scrippsiella trochoidea species complex that were genetically distinct, but indistinguishable in gross morphology (i.e. with the same tabulation patterns of the motile theca and similar spiny coccoid stages). We assessed a possible minimal number of cryptic species using ITS ribotype networks that indicated the existence of at least 21 species within the Scrippsiella trochoidea species complex. Species diversity of calcareous dinophytes appears higher in the Mediterranean Sea than in other parts of the world's oceans such as the North Sea. Our data underline the importance of field work to record the diversity of calcareous dinophytes and other unicellular life forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The associations between pathogens and their hosts are complex and can result from a variety of evolutionary processes including codivergence, lateral transfer, or duplication. Papillomaviruses (PVs) are double-stranded DNA viruses ubiquitously present in mammals and are a suitable target for rigorous statistical tests of potential virus–host codivergence. We analyze the evolutionary dynamics of PV diversification by comparing robust phylogenies of PVs and their respective hosts using different statistical approaches to assess topological and branch-length congruence. Mammalian PVs segregated into four diverse major clades that overlapped to varying degrees in terms of their mammalian host lineages. The hypothesis that PVs and hosts evolved independently was globally rejected (P = 0.0001), although only 90 of 207 virus–host associations (43%) were significant in individual tests. Virus–host codivergence accounted roughly for one-third of the evolutionary events required to reconcile PV–host evolutionary histories. When virus–host associations were analyzed locally within each of the four viral clades, numerous independent topological congruencies were identified that were incompatible with respect to the global trees. These results support an evolutionary scenario in which early PV radiation was followed by independent codivergence between viruses within each of the major clades and their hosts. Moreover, heterogeneous groups of closely related PVs infecting non-related hosts suggest several interspecies transmission events. Our results argue thus for the importance of alternative events in PV evolution, in contrast to the prevailing opinion that these viruses show a high degree of host specificity and codivergence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The species concept is challenged for the unicellular dinophytes, exhibiting both high intraspecific variability (in terms of morphology) and cryptic speciation (as inferred from molecular data). As one of the most abundant species assigned to calcareous dinophytes (Thoracosphaeraceae, Dinophyceae), Scrippsiella trochoidea is cosmopolitan in distribution, but its taxonomic identity is presently unclear. We collected, isolated and cultivated Scrippsiella trochoidea (strain GeoB*185) from the type locality in the Kiel Fjord (Baltic Sea, Germany). We barcoded the species of the Thoracosphaeraceae based on ITS sequences (including 22 new sequences) and investigated the morphology of strain GeoB*185 by using light, fluorescence and electron microscopy. Numerous distinct lineages that had previously been determined as Scrippsiella trochoidea constituted a species complex rather than a single species. This species complex subsequently comprised three primary clades, for which the strain GeoB*185 was assigned to one of them. We designate an epitype for Scrippsiella trochoidea, which has been prepared from the culture collected in the Kiel Fjord. The unambiguous links between a scientific species name, its protologue, genetic characterization and spatial distribution bear particular importance for character-poor, unicellular organisms such as the dinophytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a revision of Lithospermum for South America based on extensive field work and herbarium study which leads to the recognition often species including five new to science: Lithospermum bolivariensis, L. cuzcoensis, L. leymebambensis and L. rodriguezii from Peru, and L. azuayensis from Ecuador. The South American species group is morphologically heterogeneous and includes a wide range of growth forms, pollen types and corolla shapes. Molecular data indicate that the species from Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia are monophyletic (South American species group) and represent the sister group of Mexican L. distichum. Lithospermum mediale, disjunct between Colombia/Venezuela and Guatemala/Mexico, represents an independent introduction to South America. Diversification of Andean Lithospermum appears to have progressed from South to North, with the basal taxa being present in the high Andes of southern Peru. The bulk of the species is concentrated in the Arnotape-Huancabamba Zone (northern Peru to southern Ecuador), with five neo-endemic species being restricted to this area. Lithospermum apparently arrived in the Central Andes Ca. 5 Ma and subsequently migrated and diversified northwards, possibly parallel to the uplift of the northern Andes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a study which investigated the phylogenetic relationships of Trigonotideae based on micromorphology and molecular data. It offers information on the tribe Trigonotideae of the family Boragineae. Methods employed include plant microscopy, alignment and comparative sequence analysis, and DNA extraction, amplification and sequencing. A discussion on research findings, including floral morphology, pollen and fruits, is detailed.

Charles Wright made numerous plant collections in Cuba during the 19th century, and numerous new species were described based on his specimens. The application of Bourreria names (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales) described by O.E. Schulz, J. Miers, and A.H.R. Grisebach has been confused because of the unusual way, in which collection numbers and locality information was assigned to the Wright collections upon which the names were based. The confusion has been compounded by the loss of specimens in Berlin during World War II. The nomenclatural status of Bourreria names based on Wright collections is reviewed, and lectotypes are selected for Bourreria badia, Bourreria homalophylla, Bourreria polyneura, Bourreria setoso-hispida, and Crematomia attenuata (= Bourreria baccata). A complete list of Wright's Bourreria collections is provided as online supplement, along with notes on the identity of the component of each duplicate, as Wright and co-workers often assigned multiple gatherings to the same collection number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern authors have not agreed on a satisfactory system of generic delimitation among woody Boraginales. Recent treatments have recognized a broadly defined Cordia with 3-7 subgenera or sections. Molecular sequence data suggest an alignment of genera that is consistent with morphological and palynological data. In advance of publication of several major floristic studies on Boraginaceae, generic delimitation of the traditional Cordioideae is reviewed. Coldenia, formerly considered a member of Ehretioideae, is sister to Cordia s.l. Within Cordia s.l., Varronia is sister to the rest of the genus and its resurrection as a distinct genus is proposed. Thus defined, Cordiaceae comprise three genera, all of which are monophyletic and consistent with vegetative, floral, and pollen morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the taxonomic position of Auxemma, Patagonula and Saccellium (Cordiaceae, Borginales). These species are distinct from Cordia because of their highly specialized fruit morphologies. The article proposes the nomenclature changes necessary to accommodate the species in Cordia. It also notes their distributions as inferred from modern collections

Molecular analyses and subsequent morphological reinvestigation of clonal isolates germinated from cysts previously assigned toScrippsiella hangoei(Schiller) Larsen revealed considerable differences to vegetative cell isolates of this cold-water dinoflagellate from the northern Baltic Sea. The presence of hexagonal platelets on the cell surface and a characteristic acrobase on the episome agree with the description ofGymnodinium halophilumBiecheler. However, the arrangement of amphiesmal vesicles in more than nine latitudinal series indicates allocation of this dinoflagellate toWoloszynskiaThompson. We therefore reassignG. halophilumtoWoloszynskia halophila. This species exhibits ultrastructural characteristics similar toPolarella glacialisMontresor et al. and symbionticGymnodiniumStein, such as stalked pyrenoids and a central eyespot consisting of multiple layers of crystal-filled vacuoles. A close relationship between these dinoflagellates is also supported by 28s rRNA sequence data. The preference for high salinities identifiesW. halophilaas a marine species. The spiny resting cysts ofW. halophilaare identical to the cysts formed during the massive encystment events previously attributed toS. hangoeiin the Baltic Sea. This suggests thatW. halophilais a significant contributor to the dinoflagellate spring blooms in the Baltic Sea.Scrippsiella hangoeiclones, in turn, produce noncalcareous and smooth-walled cysts when crossed with a complementary mating type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phylogenetic relationships of Scrippsiella sensu lato (including cyst taxa such as Calcigonellum, Calciodinellum , and Pernambugia ) were investigated based on sequences from the ribosomal 5.8S rRNA and the Internal Transcribed Spacers ITS1 and ITS2, including interpretations on morphology and distribution. To attach importance to the cyst diversity present in calcareous dinoflagellates, a segregation of Scrippsiella sensu lato into four well-recognizable and monophyletic groups is proposed, corresponding to more- or less-established taxonomic units: (i) Calciodinellum (including Calcigonellum and a few species assigned to Scrippsiella ), (ii) Pernambugia (presumptively including Lebessphaera ), (iii) S. precaria and S. ramonii , and (iv) Scrippsiella sensu stricto comprising largely the S. trochoidea species complex. The phylogenetic relationships among these four groups are not sufficiently resolved. Molecular data suggest the existence of numerous cryptic taxa showing molecular, but not morphological, variation (especially in Scrippsiella sensu stricto ). Closely related strains have a wide range of distribution and occur (at least partly) sympatrically in cold through to tropical seas of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypotheses on the origin of the current distribution patterns and bicontinental disjunctions of Cordiaceae, Ehretiaceae, and Heliotropiaceae (Primarily Woody Boraginales) are tested by pairwise comparison of Kimura two-parameter distances. Estimated absolute dates of fossils and geological events (plate tectonics, climate changes) were used to calibrate a molecular clock. A mid-Cretaceous origin of the Primarily Woody Boraginales is proposed with an initial diversification in South America. Plate tectonics appear to play a minor role in their phylogeography. Most disjunctions are best explained by the rare events of long-distance dispersal because of the widespread occurrence of drupaceous fruits and their potential for endozoochoria. Furthermore, migrations and extinctions might have played a considerable role in the formation of the current distribution patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Prorocentrum comprises a unique group of dinophytes with several apomorphic traits, such as an apical insertion of flagella and the presence of two major, large thecal plates. Species delimitation is challenging, especially for morphologically very similar, small planktonic species. Contemporary analyses, including SEM studies and molecular phylogenetics of type material, are not available for many described species. Based on six strains isolated from Antarctic, subarctic and North Atlantic waters, Prorocentrum pervagatum sp. nov. is described. Prorocentrum pervagatum was small (12–16 μm long and deep), oval to round in outline, and moderately compressed. One small, pyrenoid‐like structure was faintly visible in some cells. Rod‐like, long trichocysts were present. Cells had one distinct apical spine (1.1–1.7 μm in length) visible in light microscopy. The plate surface appeared smooth in light microscopy with few pores located close to the plate margin visible in empty thecae. Electron microscopy revealed plates to be densely covered by small projections and two size classes of thecal pores. Cells had a row of mostly four large pores in apical‐ventral position on the right thecal plate. The periflagellar area consisted of eight small platelets. The apical spine was formed by platelet six. In molecular phylogenetics, P. pervagatum was part of a species group generally exhibiting small size and spiny thecal ornamentation, together with Prorocentrum cordatum and Prorocentrum obtusidens. The new species is distinct in DNA trees and differs from the protologues of other small species of Prorocentrum by the unique combination of size, shape (i.e. only moderately compressed or round), presence of a distinct apical spine, and position of thecal pores (i.e. located at the plate margins only). Its clear description and illustration may stimulate similar work of other small species of Prorocentrum, particularly including the re‐investigation of taxa with historical names collected at the corresponding type localities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]