Family Placement Research Articles

Four New Species ofIsidrogalvia(Tofieldiaceae) from the Guayana Highlands

Abstract. Four new species of Isidrogalvia (Tofieldiaceae) from sandstone massifs on the Guiana Shield are described, illustrated, and their morphology compared to other species. Isidrogalvia sipapoensis and I. penduliflora are unusual in the genus in having pendant flowers. Isidrogalvia penduliflora, I. neblinae, and I. paniculata are relatively robust species endemic to Cerro de la Neblina. The last is unique in Tofieldiaceae in having a compound inflorescence. A bilingual key (English-Spanish) to the six species of Isidrogalvia occurring in the Guayana Highlands is provided. The morphology and familial placement of Isidrogalvia are discussed.

Freshwater ascomycetes: Wicklowia aquatica, a new genus and species in the Pleosporales from Florida and Costa Rica

During a latitudinal survey of freshwater ascomycetes, an unidentified fungus with bitunicate asci was found on submerged wood and herbaceous material from Florida and Costa Rica. Based on morphological characteristics and 28S rDNA large subunit (LSU) sequence data, this fungus is described as a new genus and species, Wicklowia aquatica, and placed in the Pleosporales (Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes). Phylogenetic analyses based on LSU sequences did not resolve the familial placement of W. aquatica within the Pleosporales. The characteristic features of W. aquatica are subglobose, dorsiventrally flattened, ostiolate, immersed to erumpent, black ascomata; a peridial wall composed of 4–5 layers of darkened pseudoparenchymatic cells; cellular pseudoparaphyses immersed in a gel matrix; broadly clavate, bitunicate asci; and cylindrical, hyaline, one-septate ascospores with rounded apices and surrounded by a gelatinous sheath that expands in water; ascospore sheath attached at the ascospore base with a gelatinous curtain extending from the base that fragments into basal filamentous appendages which radiate from the base of the ascospore.

Roselliniella revealed as an overlooked genus of Hypocreales, with the description of a second species on parmelioid lichens.

Based on newly obtained 28S rDNA sequences from Roselliniella atlantica and R. euparmeliicola sp. nov., the genus Roselliniella has to be placed in Hypocreales and not in Sordariales; however, the family placement could not be resolved from the sequences obtained. The mature ascospores are single-celled and brown, but young ascospores are hyaline and sometimes have a median septum. The new species occurs on a Parmelia s.str. species in China, and differs in 24 nucleotide substitution positions in the nu-LSU rDNA region and ascospore size from R. atlantica. In this case, small variations in ascospore sizes and shape prove to be phylogenetically and taxonomically informative. The two species occur in the same clade with 95 % jack-knife support. Roselliniella atlantica occurs on Xanthoparmelia and Melanohalea species in Europe, whereas R. euparmeliicola was found on the species of Parmelia s.str. DNA was successfully recovered from a dried specimen of R. atlantica collected in 1992. Two unidentified fungi were also recovered from the Chinese specimen, and these belong to Sordariomycetidae and Dothideomycetes; whether these two are additional fungi living endolichenically in the lichen host, saprobes, or contaminants could not be ascertained.

Freshwater ascomycetes: <i>Wicklowia aquatica</i>, a new genus and species in the Pleosporales from Florida and Costa Rica

During a latitudinal survey of freshwater ascomycetes, an unidentified fungus with bitunicate asci was found on submerged wood and herbaceous material from Florida and Costa Rica. Based on morphological characteristics and 28S rDNA large subunit (LSU) sequence data, this fungus is described as a new genus and species, Wicklowia aquatica, and placed in the Pleosporales (Pleosporomycetidae, Dothideomycetes). Phylogenetic analyses based on LSU sequences did not resolve the familial placement of W. aquatica within the Pleosporales. The characteristic features of W. aquatica are subglobose, dorsiventrally flattened, ostiolate, immersed to erumpent, black ascomata; a peridial wall composed of 4–5 layers of darkened pseudoparenchymatic cells; cellular pseudoparaphyses immersed in a gel matrix; broadly clavate, bitunicate asci; and cylindrical, hyaline, one-septate ascospores with rounded apices and surrounded by a gelatinous sheath that expands in water; ascospore sheath attached at the ascospore base with a gelatinous curtain extending from the base that fragments into basal filamentous appendages which radiate from the base of the ascospore.

Sedecimiella taiwanensis gen. et sp. nov., a marine mangrove fungus in the Hypocreales (Hypocreomycetidae, Ascomycota)

In an ongoing survey of marine mangrove fungi in Taiwan, a fungus with light-coloured ascomata, resembling members of the Hypocreales, was found on twigs of Kandelia obovata. Based on morphological characteristics and partial nuclear small and large subunit ribosomal DNA data, the fungus is described as a new genus and species, Sedecimiella taiwanensis, and placed in the Hypocreales (Hypocreomycetidae, Ascomycota). Phylogenetic analyses based on LSU/SSU sequences did not resolve the familial placement of S. tawianensis within the Hypcreales, but it may be related to the Niessliaceae. The characteristic features of S. tawianensis are orange to dark-brown colour, soft-texture and perithecial ascomata with the inner wall layer of the neck extending into the upper part of the centrum; cylindrical, 16-spored, unitunicate asci without an apical pore; and hyaline, smooth-walled and globose ascospores.

Multigene phylogeny of the Coronophorales: morphology and new species in the order

The phylogenetic relationships within Coronophorales have been debated because of uncertainty over the taxonomic usefulness of characteristics such as quellkörper, number of ascospores per ascus, presence of ascospore appendages, presence of subiculum and ascomatal vestiture. The phylogenetic relationships are examined with DNA sequence data from three nuclear genes targeting 69 taxa and 130 new sequences representing collections from Africa and the Americas. Analyses recovered monophyletic Bertiaceae, Chaetosphaerellaceae and Scortechiniaceae and a paraphyletic Nitschkiaceae. A single collection of Coronophora gregaria is included and Coronophoraceae is accepted. Bertiaceae is expanded to include Gaillardiella, and Thaxteria is synonymized with Bertia with a new combination, B. didyma. Three new species of Bertia are described: B. ngongensis from Kenya, B. orbis from Kenya and Costa Rica and B. triseptata from Ecuador and Puerto Rico. Bertia gigantospora is transferred from Nitschkia. Scortechiniaceae is confirmed for the quellkörper-bearing taxa including monotypic Biciliospora, Coronophorella, Neofracchiaea, Scortechiniella and Scortechiniellopsis. Tympanopsis is reinstated for T. confertula and T. uniseriata, while Scortechinia is more narrowly circumscribed to include S. acanthostroma and the new species, S. diminuspora from Ecuador. Cryptosphaerella is accepted in Scortechiniaceae including six new species from Kenya and Costa Rica, C. celata, C. costaricensis, C. cylindriformis, C. elliptica, C. globosa and C. malindensis. Spinulosphaeria is accepted in Coronophorales with uncertain family placement. The number of ascospores in the ascus is not phylogenetically useful in distinguishing genera within the order. The quellkörper continues to be an important character in defining the Scortechiniaceae, while taxa within the group show a mixture of morphological characteristics of varying phylogenetic importance. The presence of smooth versus spinulose subiculum aids in separating Tympanopsis and Scortechinia, and erumpent ascomata distinguish Cryptosphaerella species. Taxa within the Bertiaceae vary along the lines of robust, tuberculate, collapsing ascomata and large, hyaline to pigmented, septate ascospores.

Dogs, cats, and kin: A molecular species-level phylogeny of Carnivora

Phylogenies underpin comparative biology as high-utility tools to test evolutionary and biogeographic hypotheses, inform on conservation strategies, and reveal the age and evolutionary histories of traits and lineages. As tools, most powerful are those phylogenies that contain all, or nearly all, of the taxa of a given group. Despite their obvious utility, such phylogenies, other than summary 'supertrees', are currently lacking for most mammalian orders, including the order Carnivora. Carnivora consists of about 270 extant species including most of the world's large terrestrial predators (e.g., the big cats, wolves, bears), as well as many of man's favorite wild (panda, cheetah, tiger) and domesticated animals (dog, cat). Distributed globally, carnivores are highly diverse ecologically, having occupied all major habitat types on the planet and being diverse in traits such as sociality, communication, body/brain size, and foraging ecology. Thus, numerous studies continue to address comparative questions within the order, highlighting the need for a detailed species-level phylogeny. Here we present a phylogeny of Carnivora that increases taxon sampling density from 28% in the most detailed primary-data study to date, to 82% containing 243 taxa (222 extant species, 17 subspecies). In addition to extant species, we sampled four extinct species: American cheetah, saber-toothed cat, cave bear and the giant short-faced bear. Bayesian analysis of cytochrome b sequences data-mined from GenBank results in a phylogenetic hypothesis that is largely congruent with prior studies based on fewer taxa but more characters. We find support for the monophyly of Carnivora, its major division into Caniformia and Feliformia, and for all but one family within the order. The only exception is the placement of the kinkajou outside Procyonidae, however, prior studies have already cast doubt on its family placement. In contrast, at the subfamily and genus level, our results indicate numerous problems with current classification. Our results also propose new, controversial hypotheses, such as the possible placement of the red panda (Ailuridae) sister to canids (Canidae). Our results confirm previous findings suggesting that the dog was domesticated from the Eurasian wolf (Canis lupus lupus) and are congruent with the Near East domestication of the cat. In sum, this study presents the most detailed species-level phylogeny of Carnivora to date and a much needed tool for comparative studies of carnivoran species. To demonstrate one such use, we perform a phylogenetic analysis of evolutionary distinctiveness (EDGE), which can be used to help establish conservation priorities. According with those criteria, and under one of the many possible sets of parameters, the highest priority Carnivora species for conservation of evolutionary diversity include: monk seals, giant and red panda, giant otter, otter civet, Owston's palm civet, sea otter, Liberian mongoose, spectacled bear, walrus, binturong, and the fossa.

A typology of kinship foster families: Latent class and exploratory analyses of kinship family structure and household composition

Using a combination of survey and administrative data describing 458 public kinship foster family placements in Illinois, this study uses latent class analysis to develop a typology of kinship foster families based on indicators of family structure and household composition. Kinship family types are then compared on other kinship family characteristics. Results of the latent class analysis suggest that the kinship family population in Illinois consists of at least 4 distinct subpopulations, whose defining attributes include the number and age of co-resident, non-foster children and the way in which kinship parents are related to the foster children in their care. Comparisons of these subpopulations suggest statistically significant differences with respect to several kinship family characteristics, including perceived fostering competence. Implications for kinship family scholarship, policy, and practice are discussed.

What's the Problem with Kinship Care?

This article by Hedi Argent is based on her recent book, Ten Top Tips: Supporting kinship placements (BAAF, 2009). Here she explores the barriers to best practice in family and friends placements. Her experience of working with children and families in both local authorities and voluntary agencies goes back nearly 40 years and follows the journey of kinship care from being an informal private arrangement to becoming the statutorily acknowledged first consideration for all children who need alternative family placements.

Book Review: Kinship Care: Fostering Effective Family and Friends Placements

Book Review: Kinship Care: Fostering Effective Family and Friends Placements

Disability: Still Taboo in Family Placement?

This article is based on the second annual BAAF lecture, delivered by Jennifer Cousins to the organisation's AGM on 18 November 2008. The article explores the place of disabled children in the context of adoption and foster care. The starting point for this exploration is the belief that when professionals talk about children, the picture is one of a generic, not-disabled child; that disabled children have an untouchable status which profoundly affects their life chances; that they are at the margins of our consciousness; and that, in some measure, disability is still taboo in family placement. The influences on these perspectives are discussed, starting with a wide-ranging sweep through different cultures and historical periods before looking at how the continued marginalisation of disabled people is affecting family-finding services for children in the UK. The principal argument is that disabled children are not a separate group, but are the responsibility of everyone engaged in working on behalf of young people. The taboo must be lifted.

When Grandparents Take Custody—Changing Intergenerational Relationships: The New Zealand Experience

The achieving of grandparenthood is usually a cause for celebration. However, for some grandparents, expectations of time-limited caring for the children and sending back to parents to do the “hard work” of raising is not the reality. There is now an increasing international phenomenon of grandparents taking full responsibility for the raising of their grandchildren. The concept of “family continuity” and the sustaining of family links and identity for children unable to live with their biological parents is now internationally seen as good child welfare practice. The New Zealand Children Young Persons and their Families Act (1989) was a leader in international child welfare legislation mandating the seeking of extended family placement for children in need of care and protection. The act, formulated on Maori concepts of family/whanau1 decision making, follows the cultural value held by Maori and Pacific Island cultures that the children are seen as belonging to the wider family/whanau group. It must be questioned, however, whether European extended families are as willing to accept responsibility for kin children. Maori children needing care and protection are now almost twice as likely to be placed with grandparents or other extended family members as European children. In 2005, the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (NZ) Trust completed an in-depth postal survey of a random sample (n = 790) drawn from its 2,800 members. Demographic and experiential data were collected from 323 caregiving families who responded, representing 526 caregivers, 492 children and their biological parents. The sample yielded an underrepresentation of Maori and Pacific Island respondents and therefore cannot be taken as representative of the total New Zealand grandparent carer population. The relational, cultural, legal, and socioeconomic issues that impact on how care is experienced by these caregivers are discussed in order to gain insight on the affect of taking custody on expected stage of life experience and the general well-being of all concerned.

Foster Family Characteristics, Kinship, and Permanence

Using administrative data describing 22,311 foster family placements in Illinois, this study examines the relations between foster family demographic characteristics and children’s permanency outcomes. The extent to which these relations differ for placements with kinship and nonkinship families is also examined. Results suggest that the age and race or ethnicity of foster parents, as well as foster family wage income and fostering history, predict the disposition and timing of children’s exit from care. Results also suggest that the relation between foster family kinship status and permanence is moderated by several foster family characteristics. Moreover, the relations between some of these characteristics and children’s permanency outcomes are found to differ by the type of placement (with kinship or nonkinship families). Finally, results suggest that the relation between child race and adoption is moderated by foster parent race. Implications for child welfare policy and scholarship are discussed.

Historical, Nomenclatural, and Distributional Notes on Two Pacific Coast Kelps: Lessoniopsis littoralis and Pleurophycus gardneri (Phaeophyceae, laminariales, alariaceae)

Abstract The names of two eastern North Pacific kelps (Phaeophyceae, Laminariales, Alariaceae) were inadvertently validated by Josephine Tilden on labels to specimens distributed in the exsiccata “American Algae”. Lectotypes for Lessonia littoralis and Pleurophycus gardneri, which concomitantly are the types of the names of the monospecific genera Lessoniopsis and Pleurophycus, respectively, are herein designated from among specimens housed in the Herbarium of the University of Minnesota, Tilden's home institution. Lessoniopsis ranges from Kodiak Island, Alaska, to the Big Sur coast of Monterey County, California, whereas Pleurophycus ranges from southeastern Alaska to Pt. Piedras Blancas, San Luis Obispo County, California. Molecular data suggest that both Lessoniopsis and Pleurophycus belong to the Alariaceae, a departure from their previous familial placements in the Lessoniaceae and Laminariaceae, respectively.

Student nurses supporting children with learning disabilities: The Family Placement Scheme

Student nurses supporting children with learning disabilities: The Family Placement Scheme

Familial placement and relations of Rehmannia and Triaenophora (Scrophulariaceae s.l.) inferred from five gene regions

Accurate classification systems based on evolution are imperative for biological investigations. The recent explosion of molecular phylogenetics has resulted in a much improved classification of angiosperms. More than five phylogenetic lineages have been recognized from Scrophulariaceae sensu lato since the family was determined to be polyphyletic; however, questions remain about the genera that have not been assigned to one of the segregate families of Scrophulariaceae s.l. Rehmannia Liboschitz and Triaenophora Solereder are such genera with uncertain familial placement. There also is debate whether Triaenophora should be segregated from Rehmannia. To evaluate the phylogenetic relations between Rehmannia and Triaenophora, to find their closest relatives, and to verify their familial placement, we conducted phylogenetic analyses of the sequences of one nuclear DNA (ITS) region and four chloroplast DNA gene regions (trnL-F, rps16, rbcL, and rps2) individually and combined. The analyses showed that Rehmannia and Triaenophora are each strongly supported as monophyletic and together are sister to Orobanchaceae. This relation was corroborated by phytochemical and morphological data. Based on these data, we suggest that Rehmannia and Triaenophora represent the second nonparasitic branch sister to the remainder of Orobanchaceae (including Lindenbergia).

Proposed conservation of the name Penthe Newman, 1838 (Coleoptera: Tetratomidae: Penthinae) threatened by the discovery of an older available name

Penthe Newman, 1838 includes nine species distributed in China, the Himalayas, Japan, the Oriental Region and North America (Nikitsky, 1998; Young & Pollock, 2002) and is the type genus of the tetratomid subfamily Penthinae Lacordaire, 1859. Like many other obscure members of Tenebrionoidea, Penthe has had an unsettled family placement until recently. Most early authors placed the genus in Tenebrionidae (e.g. Newman, 1838; Melsheimer, 1853). Then, there was a period during which it was most often placed in Melandryidae, either in Melandryini (e.g. LeConte & Horn, 1883), Penthini (Woodruff, 1920), or Tetratomini (e.g. Csiki, 1924). Finally, based on both larval and adult characters, Penthe was placed in Tetratomidae (e.g. Crowson, 1955; Lawrence, 1982; Nikitsky, 1998). Adults and larvae feed on various fungi associated with rotting wood, e.g. Polyporus, Piptoporus, and Fomitopsis (Lawrence, 1991). As mentioned below, the name Penthe has been used uniformly in the various catalogues, checklists and treatments of North American Coleoptera since Newman’s original description in 1838.

Identification, Distribution, and Family Placement of the Pleurocarpous Moss Bestia Longipes

Recent field work and examination of specimens at cas, mich, mo, ny, sfsu, ubc and uc lead us to conclude that Bestia longipes, contrary to some earlier literature reports, is endemic to coastal regions of north-central to southern California. Based on analyses of DNA nucleotide sequence data we recognize Bestia in the Lembophyllaceae.

Phylogenetics and temporal diversification of the earliest true flies (Insecta: Diptera) based on multiple nuclear genes

Abstract Relationships among families of the lower Diptera (formerly suborder ‘Nematocera’) have been exceptionally difficult to resolve. Multiple hypotheses based on morphology have been proposed to identify the earliest lineages of flies and place the phylogenetic origin of the higher flies (Brachycera), but convincing support is limited. Here we resolve relationships among the major groups of lower Diptera using sequence data from four nuclear markers, including both ribosomal (28S rDNA) and protein‐coding (CAD, TPI and PGD) genes. Our results support both novel and traditional arrangements. Most unexpectedly, the small, highly‐specialized family Deuterophlebiidae appears to be sister to all remaining Diptera. Other results include the resolution of the traditional infra‐orders Culicomorpha (including a novel superfamily Simulioidea = Thaumaleidae + Simuliidae), Tipulomorpha (Tipulidae sensu lato + Trichoceridae) and Bibionomorpha sensu lato. We find support for a limited Psychodomorpha (Blephariceridae, Tanyderidae and Psychodidae) and Ptychopteromorpha (Ptychopteridae), whereas the placement of several enigmatic families (Nymphomyiidae, Axymyiidae and Perissommatidae) remains ambiguous. According to genetic data, the infra‐order Bibionomorpha is sister to the Brachycera. Much of the phylogenetic signal for major lineages was found in the 28S rDNA gene, whereas protein‐coding genes performed variably at different levels. In addition to elucidating relationships, we also estimate the age of major lower dipteran clades, based on molecular divergence time estimates using relaxed‐clock Bayesian methods and fossil calibration points.

Multi-gene phylogeny and morphotaxonomy of Amniculicola lignicola: a novel freshwater fungus from France and its relationships to the Pleosporales

A collection of submerged wood samples in the Pyrénées, France, led to the discovery of a new freshwater Dothideomycetes genus. Amniculicola lignicola gen sp. nov, is described and illustrated. In addition, rDNA and RPB2 gene sequences are analysed phylogenetically to investigate its ordinal and familial placement. Morphologically, Amniculicola resembles species of Ostropella and Xenolophium in having subglobose ascomata with prominent lips surrounding a slit-like ostiole. However, it is readily distinguished from Ostropella and Xenolophium by ascus shape and in having a short pedicle and thin peridium. Phylogenetic analyses based on 28S rDNA sequences also indicated that A. lignicola and O. albocincta (type species of Ostropella) are phylogenetically distinct. Morphological characters indicate that Amniculicola belongs in the Pleosporales and this is supported by molecular data. Sequences analyses from three loci suggest that it is closely related to anamorphic fungi, such as Anguillospora longissima, Spirosphaera cupreorufescens, and Repetophragma ontariense; however, its affinities with known Dothideomycetes and its familial placement are still unresolved.