Li Comb Research Articles

Primotrapa gen. nov., an extinct transitional genus bridging the evolutionary gap between Lythraceae and Trapoideae, from the early Miocene of North China

BackgroundAlthough Trapa is a well-defined genus of distinctive freshwater plants with accumulations of extensive morphological and embryological autapomorphies, its phylogenetic relationships have long been unclear. Formerly placed in the monotypic family Trapaceae, Trapa is now recognized as sister to Sonneratia within Lythraceae s.l., although both genera lack morphological synapomorphies. Thus, a split between the two taxa must have occurred in deep evolutionary time, which raises the possibility of finding transitional forms in the fossil record.ResultsHere we describe a new genus and species, Primotrapa weichangensis Y. Li et C.-S. Li (Lythraceae s.l.: Trapoideae), based on three-dimensionally preserved floral cups, fruits, and seeds from the early Miocene of Weichang County, Hebei Province, China. Primotrapa is characterized by a shallow, saucer-shaped floral cup, four distally barbellate sepals, four intersepal appendages alternating with the sepals at the rim of cup, a superior to basally inferior ovary, a fusiform or ovoid, one-seeded fruit with a ribbed surface, and a long persistent peduncle. Two fossil species of Hemitrapa are proposed as new combinations of Primotrapa, namely P. alpina (T. Su et Z.-K. Zhou) Y. Li et C.-S. Li comb. nov. and P. pomelii (Boulay) Y. Li et C.-S. Li comb. nov. Our phylogenetic analysis based on fifteen flower and fruit characters supports the placement of Primotrapa, Hemitrapa and Trapa in a monophyletic clade, which comprise subfamily Trapoideae. The phylogenetic analysis places Primotrapa at the base of Trapoideae.ConclusionsIn view of its superior ovary, which is a plesiomorphic character of Lythraceae s.l., the newly recognized genus Primotrapa and its three species likely represent transitional forms that bridge the evolutionary gap between the basal taxa of Lythraceae s.l., i.e. Lythrum, and the highly derived taxon Trapa.

Phenotypic and genotypic validation of the rare species Sphaerospermopsis eucompacta comb. nov. (Nostocales, Cyanobacteria) isolated from China

:The heterocystous cyanobacterium Anabaena eucompacta R. Li & M. Watanabe was found in China, and two unialgal strains were isolated. The species was characterized by its twisted and tight spirals and the relative position of spherical akinetes to heterocysts (adjacent to one or both sides of heterocysts). However, the taxonomic and phylogenetic position of the species remained to be characterized because of the lack of molecular data. In this study, we used a polyphasic approach, based on both morphological and molecular characters (sequences of 16S rRNA and 16S-23S rRNA), to evaluate its taxonomic position. Our results showed that A. eucompacta was a distinct species and that it should be transferred to the recently established genus Sphaerospermopsis as S. eucompacta (R. Li & M. Watanabe) X. Li & R. Li comb. nov.

<p><strong>New taxa of Meconematini (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Meconematinae) </strong><strong>from Guangxi, China</strong></p>

The following new taxa of Meconematini from Guangxi province were described: Sinothaumaspis damingshanicus Wang, Liu, Li gen. & sp. nov., Aphlugiolopsis punctipennis Wang, Liu, Li gen. & sp. nov., Eoxizicus (Eoxizicus) curvicercus Wang, Liu, Li sp. nov., Meconemopsis paraquadrinotata Wang, Liu, Li sp. nov., Neocrytopsis? unicolor Wang, Liu, Li sp. nov., Xiphidiopsis (Dinoxiphidiopsis) expressa Wang, Liu, Li sp. nov. Xiphidiopsis (Xiphidiopsis) fischerwaldheimi Gorochov, 1993, a synonym of Xiphidiopsis (Xiphidiopsis) jinxiuensis Xia & Liu, 1990 was described. The opposite gender of Sinocyrtaspis truncate Liu, 2000 and Abaxinicephora excellens Gorochov & Kang, 2005 were firstly described. Xiphidiopsis (Dinoxiphidiopsis) jacobsoni Gorochov, 1993 was also firstly recorded from China. Two new combinations, Meconemopsis quadrinotata (Bey-Bienko, 1971) Wang, Liu, Li comb. nov. and Xiphidiopsis (Dinoxiphidiopsis) fanjingshanensis (Shi & Du, 2006) Wang, Liu, Li comb. nov., as well as a synonym of the former Xizicus (Axizicus)xizangensis Jiao & Shi 2013 syn. nov. which respectively relate to M. paraquadrinotata sp. nov. and X. (D.) expressa sp. nov., were also noted.