Immature Characters Research Articles

First Report of the Immature Stages of the Leaf-Mining Genus Subclemensia Kozlov, 1987 (Lepidoptera: Incurvariidae), with a Re-Illustration of the Type Species and a Generic Concept Discussion Based on Immature Characters.

Simple SummaryCaterpillars and pupae are important sources of evidence for the identification of primitive moths, and they can often provide quite different but useful morphological characters from those of adults. Incurvariidae is one of the most primitive groups of extant Lepidoptera, but half of the genera lack any information on caterpillars and pupae. It is important to increase the knowledge on the immature stages of Incurvariidae. Subclemensia Kozlov, 1987 is one of the monotypic genera in Incurvariidae. In this study, the caterpillar and pupa of the type species of Subclemensia are reported for the first time. The leaf mine, host plant and its biological characteristics are also provided. DNA barcodes were generated to help with the species delimitation. The adult male and female genitalia are re-illustrated by color photography to supplement the original line drawings.The immature stages of primitive Lepidoptera can provide quite different but often useful morphological evidence and synapomorphies from those of adults. Incurvariidae is one of the most primitive lineages of extant Lepidoptera, which is species-poor but highly diverse, but half of the genera lack any information on immature stages. New knowledge on the immature stages of the family is expected to provide useful morphological evidence and synapomorphies to stabilize the generic nomenclature. Subclemensia Kozlov, 1987 is one of the monotypic genera in Incurvariidae. In this study, the immature stages of the type species of Subclemensia are reported for the first time. The leaf mine, host plant and its biological characteristics are also provided. DNA barcodes were generated to aid the species delimitation. The adult male and female genitalia are re-illustrated by color photography to supplement the original line drawings. The generic concepts of Subclemensia and other related genera are discussed based on immature characters.

The immatures of Peridroma saucia (Hübner, [1808]) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) revisited: redescription of external morphology of Neotropical populations

ABSTRACT Peridroma saucia (Hübner, [1808]) or ‘variegated cutworm’ is a cosmopolitan owlet moth pest resilient and abundant in agroecosystems. However, the morphology of their immatures is only briefly described, and information from distinct life stages is fragmentary. This study describes in detail all immature stages of the species based on a Neotropical population and compares it with populations from other continents and with other cutworm pests found in the Neotropical region. The eggs present useful characters to distinguish P. saucia from other noctuinae pests, such as the number of micropylar openings, and the number and location of aeropyles. The larvae also have unique characters, concentrated on the head capsule (mainly mandibles and spinneret), general color pattern and several aspects on the chaetotaxy. On the other hand, the pupae are remarkably similar to those of cutworms species, although the number of spines on cremaster is potentially a diagnosable character. In general, immature characters can therefore be useful to identify P. saucia regardless of the life stage. These results confirm the relevance of detailed morphological studies on immature of pest species that may be useful to identify and distinguish these individuals without the need of obtaining adults.

The jumping plant-lice of the Neotropical genus Tainarys (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) associated with Anacardiaceae.

The Neotropical psyllid genus Tainarys Brèthes, 1920 is revised to include 14 extant and one fossil species from Dominican amber. Eight species are described as new, viz. Tainarys aroeira sp. nov., T. atra sp. nov., T. hapla sp. nov., T. myracrodrui sp. nov., T. nigricornis sp. nov., T. didyma sp. nov. and T. orientalis sp. nov. from Brazil, the last two also from Uruguay, as well as T. lozadai sp. nov. from Peru. The fifth instar immatures are described for nine species. †Vicinilura Klimaszewski, 1996, erected for the fossil †V. reposta Klimaszewski, 1996 and previously synonymised with Leurolophus Tuthill, 1942, is synonymised here (syn. nov.) with Tainarys and †V. reposta is transferred to become †Tainarys reposta (Klimaszewski), comb. nov. The descriptions are supplemented by illustrations and keys for the identification of adults and immatures. Phylogenetic relationships between species are investigated with a cladistic analysis using 22 adult and six immature morphological characters. The analysis resulted in a single most parsimonious, fully resolved tree. The fossil species is nested within the genus rather than being the sister taxon of the remainder of species. The extant species are restricted to the subtropical and temperate parts of South America. Three pairs of sister clades display an east‒west South American and one a midwest‒southern Brazilian geographical vicariance. Host plants are confirmed for nine and likely for another four species. They are Astronium, Haplorhus, Myracrodruon, Schinopsis and Schinus (Anacardiaceae). All Tainarys species appear to be oligophagous inducing irregular leaf curls on their hosts.

Get Even by Gretchen McNeil (review)

Reviewed by: Get Even by Gretchen McNeil Karen Coats McNeil, Gretchen Get Even. Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, 2014 389p Paper ed. ISBN 978-0-06-226085-7 $9.99 R Gr. 7–10 An unlikely assemblage of girls discovers they are all sick and tired of the bullies in their private Catholic school humiliating their vulnerable classmates. They form a secret society they call DGM, short for “don’t get mad—get even,” which targets and embarrasses the bullies. When one of DGM’s targets turns up dead, however, the girls start to panic; they don’t really know one another that well, after all, so could one of them be the killer? As their solidarity and trust are strained, their individual histories surface, revealing their own implication in past bullying. This relational web allows the deepening of each girl, exploring her emotional growth and development of empathy while maintaining a firm distinction between immature characters who make mistakes and truly bad actors. Forgiveness and self-sacrifice also become key parts of their character arcs, enabling them to come together and earn the reader’s empathy as well. As is typical of ensemble casts, each girl has a particular, exaggerated skill set, a difficult home life, and a romance in some stage of development; McNeil manages the texture of character development skillfully enough so that the tensions between the girls are logically credible even if some of the other elements are far-fetched in the way of the whodunit-at-school genre. Unfortunately, their prime suspect ends up dead and the murderer remains at large, turning this page-turning mystery into a victim of the publishing rage for sequels; the ending isn’t breathless, but it’s engaging enough for readers to want to know the outcome. [End Page 269] Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Description of immature stages of Basiprionota angusta (Spaeth, 1914) (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae) with some biological and taxonomical remarks

The larvae of all instars and pupa of Basiprionota angusta (Spaeth, 1914), a member of the tribe Basiprionotini Hincks, 1952, are described in detail for the first time. Immatures are figured and described using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Chaetotaxy of all larval instars is presented and discussed. Comparative diagnoses are given of first and last instar larvae of both Basiprionota angusta and Craspedonta leayana (Latreille, 1807). Immatures of Basiprionora angusta are compared with all known immatures of Basiprionota species. Phylogenetic relationships based on immature characters within the tribe Basiprionotini are discussed and additional biological information is presented. (© 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Sevim Ak: Turkey ★ Author

Sevim AkTurkey ★ Author Samantha Christensen “I become the mother of the characters I create.” Sevim Ak Sevim Ak was born on the Black Sea Coast in Samsun, Turkey in 1954. She spent much of her childhood observing the intricate details of everyday events in her Samsun neighborhood, which is one of the most prolific sources of inspiration for her writing. After becoming top student in her high school, Ak’s parents and teachers encouraged her to pursue a career in the sciences, where she thrived. Although she followed her father’s advice and became a chemical engineer, she continued to write as a personal creative outlet. Her first book to be published was a collection of her short stories entitled My Kite is a Cloud Now, which was accepted by Redhouse Publishing House in 1987. Sevim Ak’s talent was evident from the beginning, and this first collection won the Akademi Bookstore’s Children’s Literature Story Prize. Ak’s talents also extend beyond short stories to writing novels, journals, and plays. It is important for Ak to maintain the child’s point-of-view throughout her writing. She is able to view the world from a child’s perspective, and therefore creates vivid emotions and stories with which all children can easily empathize. Rather than creating immature characters who merely entertain her young readers, her characters are fully developed, realistic and human. Ak has a deep respect for her own inner-child, and therefore acknowledges realistic experiences to which the average child can relate. She believes that children are able to possess a mature understanding of the world as long as adults take them seriously, and this belief is constantly reiterated in her down-to-earth characters. Sevim Ak has participated in many programs that increase children’s literacy by encouraging them to read and write. To this end, she has worked with such organizations as The Association in Support of Contemporary Life (ÇGYD), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and GAP. One of the most notable acts of civil service to come from Ak’s work was the use of thirteen of her short stories in a psychosocial rehabilitation project undertaken by the Tel-Aviv Municipality Psychological Health Center to help young survivors of the Marmara earthquake in 1999 grieve and deal with their traumatic experiences. Selected Publications Puf, Pufpuf, Cuf, Cufcuf and Cinco [Puf, Pufpuf, Cuf, Cufcuf and Cinco]. Illus. Behiç Ak. Istanbul: Can Çocuk, 2002. Print. Google Scholar Lodos Yolculari [Southwind Travelers]. Illus. Behiç Ak. Istanbul: Can Çocuk, 2003. Print. Google Scholar Az Buçuk Teo [A Little Bit of Ted]. Illus. Behiç Ak. Istanbul: Can Çocuk, 2005. Print. Google Scholar Şarkını [Sing Your Song to the Sea]. Cover illus. Mustafa Delioğlu. Istanbul: Can Çocuk, 2006. Print. Google Scholar Domates Saçli Kiz [The Girl with Tomato-Coloured Hair]. Illus. Behiç Ak. Istanbul: Can Çocuk, 2008. Print. [End Page 56] Google Scholar Copyright © 2012 Bookbird, Inc

Successful Breeding of a Ten-Year-Old Hybrid Spotted EagleAquila clanga×A. pomarinaRetaining Immature Plumage Characters

Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga and Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina are hybridising Eurasian raptors, but our knowledge of hybrid fertility is poor. Here, I present a case of interbreeding between a F1 hybrid spotted eagle male and a Lesser Spotted Eagle female in Estonia. The hybrid was first studied and ringed as a nestling in 1999, showing characters of both species. In 2009, the same bird was caught and, surprisingly, this ten-year-old individual had retained several immature characters. Again, characters of both species were recorded in the hybrid, as well as in his backcross-offspring. At the nest site level, the habitat of the hybrid's hatching site was intermediate but its nesting site was typical of A. pomarina. At the landscape level hatching and breeding sites resembled habitat typical of A. clanga in Estonia.

Conflict, Convergent Evolution, and the Relative Importance of Immature and Adult Characters in Endopterygote Phylogenetics

We use two episodes from systematic history to illustrate how conflict between immature and adult data was important for the development of phylogenetic systematics. A reference search in Zoological Record reveals that most phylogenetic analyses of endopterygote insects continue to utilize morphological rather than DNA sequence data. However, the use of immature and adult data is established for only a few taxa. An assessment of the phylogenetic utility of 73 matrices with immature and adult data reveals that the immature partitions have fewer characters and that immature characters provide lower node support through homoplasy levels in immatures, and adult partitions are comparable. Despite much conflict, analyses based on all available evidence yield better tree resolution and higher support. We argue that DNA sequence-based matching of immature and adult stages will greatly help with the study of endopterygote immatures and facilitate the assembly of combined character matrices with data from all life-history stages.

Conditional loss of PTEN leads to testicular teratoma and enhances embryonic germ cell production.

The tumor suppressor gene PTEN, which is frequently mutated in human cancers, encodes a lipid phosphatase for phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-triphosphate [PtdIns(3,4,5)P3] and antagonizes phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase. Primordial germ cells (PGCs), which are the embryonic precursors of gametes, are the source of testicular teratoma. To elucidate the intracellular signaling mechanisms that underlie germ cell differentiation and proliferation, we have generated mice with a PGC-specific deletion of the Pten gene. Male mice that lacked PTEN exhibited bilateral testicular teratoma, which resulted from impaired mitotic arrest and outgrowth of cells with immature characters. Experiments with PTEN-null PGCs in culture revealed that these cells had greater proliferative capacity and enhanced pluripotent embryonic germ (EG) cell colony formation. PTEN appears to be essential for germ cell differentiation and an important factor in testicular germ cell tumor formation.

Craniofacial ontogeny in Tyrannosauridae (Dinosauria, Coelurosauria)

ABSTRACT A study of ontogenetic variation is used to clarify aspects of tyrannosaurid taxonomy and investigate the supposed phenomenon of dwarfism in the clade. A hypothetical ontogenetic trajectory is described for the relatively well-represented taxon Albertosaurus libratus. The type specimen of the purported “pygmy” tyrannosaurid Nanotyrannus lancensis was compared with specimens of A. libratus and found to share many morphological characters that exemplify immature specimens of the latter taxon. Most of the cortical surface of the Cleveland skull of N. lancensis has immature bone grain. Also, the skull shares unique derived characters with mature specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex, suggesting that the specimen is a young T. rex and not a dwarf tyrannosaurid. An increase in tooth width, accompanied by loss of tooth positions, and a global shift from an immature gracile to a mature robust morphotype in the craniofacial skeleton typifies the ontogenetic changes in T. rex. Similarly, on the basis of immature characters, Maleevosaurus novojilovi is considered to be an immature Tarbosaurus bataar.

Higher Level Phylogeny of Curculionidae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) based mainly on Larval Characters, with Special Reference to Broad-Nosed Weevils

A cladistic analysis of Curculionidae was performed using 49 characters (41 from larvae, three from pupae, and five from adults). Illustrations of characters of immatures are provided. The analysis involved 19 terminal units and a hypothetical ancestor determined by the outgroup comparison method used to root the tree. One most parsimonious cladogram was obtained based on the complete data set and the following phylogenetic hypothesis is proposed: Ithycerinae, Microcerinae, and Brachycrinae sensu strictoare broad-nosed weevils placed sequentially at the base of the cladogram. The remaining weevil subfamilies form two major natural groups: one constituted by the sister taxa Rhynchophorinae—Platypodinae; the other with Erirhininae at the base, as sister taxon of the “Curculionidae sensu stricto” which show an unresolved trichotomy involving Curculioninae, Cossoninae—Scolytinae, and the clade including the Entiminae and allied subfamilies. This latter clade of broad-nosed weevils has Thecesterninae at the base; the next branch is Amycterinae, the sister taxon of the clade comprising two groups: one constituted by Aterpinae, Rhytirrhininae, and Gonipterinae; the other is Entiminae whose units form two main clades: one constituted by the sister tribes Pachyrhynchini—Ectemnorhinini, and the other by Alophini, Sitonini, and Entimini. When the analysis was done using only immature characters, results congruent with those based on the complete data set were obtained, except for the placement of Erirhininae. According to the results the hypothesis of monophyly of broad-nosed weevils is not accepted; the Entiminae are justified as monophyletic and their natural classification into tribes is proposed and the phylogenetic position and relationships of higher taxa of Curculionidae are discussed. This paper shows the importance of immature characters in recognition of natural groups and relationships in Curculionidae.

Higher Level Phylogeny of Curculionidae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) based mainly on Larval Characters, with Special Reference to Broad‐Nosed Weevils

A cladistic analysis of Curculionidae was performed using 49 characters (41 from larvae, three from pupae, and five from adults). Illustrations of characters of immatures are provided. The analysis involved 19 terminal units and a hypothetical ancestor determined by the outgroup comparison method used to root the tree. One most parsimonious cladogram was obtained based on the complete data set and the following phylogenetic hypothesis is proposed: Ithycerinae, Microcerinae, and Brachycrinae sensu stricto are broad‐nosed weevils placed sequentially at the base of the cladogram. The remaining weevil subfamilies form two major natural groups: one constituted by the sister taxa Rhynchophorinae—Platypodinae; the other with Erirhininae at the base, as sister taxon of the “Curculionidae sensu stricto” which show an unresolved trichotomy involving Curculioninae, Cossoninae—Scolytinae, and the clade including the Entiminae and allied subfamilies. This latter clade of broad‐nosed weevils has Thecesterninae at the base; the next branch is Amycterinae, the sister taxon of the clade comprising two groups: one constituted by Aterpinae, Rhytirrhininae, and Gonipterinae; the other is Entiminae whose units form two main clades: one constituted by the sister tribes Pachyrhynchini—Ectemnorhinini, and the other by Alophini, Sitonini, and Entimini. When the analysis was done using only immature characters, results congruent with those based on the complete data set were obtained, except for the placement of Erirhininae. According to the results the hypothesis of monophyly of broad‐nosed weevils is not accepted; the Entiminae are justified as monophyletic and their natural classification into tribes is proposed and the phylogenetic position and relationships of higher taxa of Curculionidae are discussed. This paper shows the importance of immature characters in recognition of natural groups and relationships in Curculionidae.

Homichloda barkeri (Jacoby) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Alticinae), a candidate agent for the biocontrol of prickly acacia, Acacia nilotica (Mimosaceae) in Australia

The status of Homichloda barkeri (Jacoby) n. comb. is discussed. A key is presented to four Afrotropical Homichloda species, including fulva n. sp. The eggs, larvae and pupae of H. barkeri are described for the first time. Unusual adult and immature stage characters are discussed in relation to the placement of Homichloda in the Alticinae.

A phylogenetic reappraisal of the birdwing genusOrnithoptera(Lepidoptera: Papilionidae: Troidini) and a new theory of its evolution in relation to Gondwanan vicariance biogeography

The troidine papilionid genus Ornithoptera is shown to be distinct from Troides In order to reappraise the interrelationships of the member species of Ornithoptera, and to test the resultant theory of their evolution against biogeographical data, the genus is revised using Hennigian cladistic methodology through computer analysis. The input data for this was drawn equally from immature stages and adult characters. A single cladogram hypothesising the likely phylogeny of the Ornithoptera species was generated. With minor weighting of a single important adult character, a further two cladograms were generated, one of which is similar to hypotheses proposed by previous workers. Based on these findings, and on ecological data, notably larval foodplant relations with Aristolochiaceae, as well as present-day biogeographical data, a new theory of the origin and evolution of Ornithoptera is presented which fits well Gondwanan vicariance events ascertained by geological studies: essentially that Ornithoptera evolv...

Lymphoid crisis with T‐cell phenotypes in a patient with Philadelphia chromosome negative chronic myeloid leukaemia

A case of Philadelphia (Ph1) chromosome negative chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) developed lymphoid crisis. Immunological marker studies disclosed that the lymphoid cells were sheep erythrocyte-rosetting-, Leu-1+, Leu-5+, OKT-4+, OKT-8+, common ALL antigen-, HLA-DR-, cytoplasmic and surface immunoglobulin-, MAS 036C(antithymocyte)+ (after in vitro culture) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-, indicating T-cell phenotypes, probably of common thymocytes. Cytochemical staining also demonstrated immature T-cell characters: dot-positivity for acid phosphatase and beta-glucuronidase, and negative for acid alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase. All bone marrow metaphases exhibited normal karyotypes. Our observation suggests that the neoplastic features of a common stem cell for myeloid and lymphoid cell lines are very similar in Ph1 positive and negative CMLs, and that the stem cell can differentiate towards T-lineage.