West Atlantic Research Articles

Spectral Properties of Marennine-like Pigments Reveal Minor Differences Between Blue Haslea Species and Strains

Marennine is the specific bluish pigment produced by the marine diatom Haslea ostrearia Gaillon (Simonsen), responsible for the greening of oysters in France’s Atlantic coast. For decades, H. ostrearia was considered the only blue diatom and described as such. However, new blue Haslea species have been described recently, among which Haslea karadagensis Davidovich, Gastineau, and Mouget (Black Sea, Crimea, Ukraine); Haslea provincialis Gastineau, Hansen, and Mouget (Mediterranean Sea, southern France); Haslea silbo Gastineau, Hansen, and Mouget (West Atlantic Ocean, USA); and one not characterized yet, Haslea sp. nov., isolated in Tenerife (Spain). These species produce marennine-like pigments, for which little information is available yet. The present work aims at studying spectral characteristics of these pigments by UV–visible spectrometry, Raman spectrometry, infrared spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry, and comparing them to those of marennine produced by H. ostrearia strains originating from the north Atlantic Ocean (western France and Macaronesia), and north Pacific Ocean (southwestern USA). Results show that marennine produced by H. ostrearia strains and marennine-like pigments produced by H. provincialis, H. silbo, and Haslea sp. nov. are quite similar regarding their polysaccharide skeleton, and absorption in the UV–visible, infrared, and Raman regions. The most different marennine-like pigment is produced by H. karadagensis, but all Haslea blue pigments studied so far belong to the same family of organic molecules.

Relationships Between the Wintertime Atmospheric Blocking and Cold Surges Over Eurasia Revealed by Clustering

AbstractA unified clustering framework based on pattern correlation is used to identify eight blocking regimes over Eurasia and surrounding oceans during the winter months (December–March) of 1948–2021. The regimes are labeled based on their centers of action, which are located over the West Atlantic, Greenland, the East Atlantic, Scandinavia, the Ural Mountains and Siberia, the Okhotsk Sea, the Bering Strait, and the North Pacific. It should be noted that the classification is almost insensitive to the time period but mainly depends on the percentage of different blocking events. The spatial distributions of cold surges differ substantially among these eight regimes. Due mainly to the cold advection downstream of the centers of blocking activities, cold surges can be observed over parts of the Eurasian continent. Possible relationships between the eight blocking regimes and large‐scale modes of climate variability, including the Arctic Oscillation, the North Atlantic Oscillation, and the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation, are explored. Not only contemporary connections but also the predictive value of large‐scale modes is discussed.

Observed Global Mean State Changes Modulating the Collective Influence of the Tropical Atlantic and Indian Oceans on ENSO

Abstract In the last decades, many efforts have been made to understand how different tropical oceanic basins are able to impact El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). However, the collective connectivity among the tropical oceans and their associated influence on ENSO are less understood. Using a complex network methodology, the degree of collective connectivity among the tropical oceans is analyzed focusing on the detection of periods when the tropical basins collectively interact and the Atlantic and Indian basins influence the equatorial Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs). The background state for the periods of strong collective connectivity is also investigated. Our results show a marked multidecadal variability in the tropical interbasin connection, with periods of stronger and weaker collective connectivity. These changes seem to be modulated by changes in the North Atlantic Ocean mean state a decade in advance. In particular, strong connectivity occurs in periods with colder than average tropical North Atlantic surface ocean. Associated with this cooling, an anomalous convergence of the vertical integral of total energy flux (VIEF) takes place over the tropical north–west Atlantic, associated with anomalous divergence of VIEF over the equatorial eastern Pacific. In turn, an anomalous zonal surface pressure gradient over the tropical Pacific weakens the trades over the western equatorial Pacific. Consequently, a shallower thermocline emerges over the western equatorial Pacific, which can enhance thermocline feedbacks, the triggering of ENSO events, and therefore, ENSO variability. By construction, our results put forward opposite conditions for periods of weak tropical basin connectivity. These results have important implications for seasonal to decadal predictions.

Climatic niche evolution and speciation modes in the transisthmian Alpheus shrimps (Caridea: Alpheidae)

AbstractAimWe studied the niche evolution and diversification modes in transisthmian Alpheus shrimps by examining the interplay between environmental niche divergence and conservatism in allopatric sister species. In a broader perspective, the current study analysed the evolution of climatic niche and the role of the environment in species diversification of Alpheus transisthmian shrimp.LocationAtlantic and Eastern‐Pacific oceans.Taxon Alpheus shrimps (Caridea: Alpheidae).MethodsWe assembled georeferenced occurrences for 33 species of Alpheus (with 24 sister species) from a time‐calibrated molecular phylogeny. We modelled their ecological niches and assessed niche overlap through pairwise comparisons. Additionally, we performed phylogenetic reconstructions of the ancestral environmental niche, for each niche axis.ResultsOur results demonstrate that thermal tolerances, food availability and hydrodynamic forces were relevant environmental axes in evolutionary processes in transisthmian species of Alpheus. Among the 528 paired comparisons, we found that most niches were divergent, including in 12 clades formed by pairs of sister species (in only two of these clades were the niches fully equivalent). Phylogenetic reconstructions of ancestral niches showed an initial niche conservatism in all axes, with divergences intensifying in the last 12 million years.Main ConclusionsWe found evidence that confirms the relevance of the environmental changes that occurred in the West Atlantic and East Pacific for niche evolution in transisthmian Alpheus species, as well as for the emergence of some lineages. Our findings provide evidence for different modes of Alpheus species speciation in a period consistent with the closure of the Isthmus of Panama.

Otoliths of the Gobiidae from the Neogene of tropical America

Otoliths are common and diverse in the Neogene of tropical America. Following previous studies of Neogene tropical American otoliths of the lanternfishes (Myctophidae), marine catfishes (Ariidae), croakers (Sciaenidae), and cusk-eels (Ophidiiformes), we describe here the otoliths of the gobies (Gobiidae). The Gobiidae represent the richest marine fish family, with more than 2000 species worldwide and about 250 in America. In the fossil record too they are the species richest family in the Neogene of tropical America. We have investigated otoliths sampled from Ecuador, Pacific and Atlantic Panama, Atlantic Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Trinidad, ranging in age from late Early Miocene (late Burdigalian) to late Early Pleistocene (Calabrian). Most of the studied material originates from the collection expeditions of the Panama Paleontology Project (PPP). Our study represents the first comprehensive record of fossil gobies from America, and we recognize 107 species, of which 51 are new to science, 35 are in open nomenclature, and 19 represent species that also live in the region today. Previously, only two fossil otolith-based goby species have been described from the Neogene of tropical America. The dominant gobies in the fossil record of the region are from the Gobiosomatini, particularly of genera living over soft bottoms or in deeper water such as Bollmannia, Microgobius, Antilligobius, and Palatogobius. Another purpose of our study is to provide a first comprehensive account of otoliths of the extant Gobiidae of America, which we consider necessary for an adequate identification and interpretation of the Neogene otoliths. We studied otoliths of 130 extant American gobiid species and figured 106 of them for comparison. We also present a morphological analysis and characterization of the extant otoliths as a basis for the identification of fossil otoliths. Problems that commonly arise with the identification of fossil otoliths and specifically of fossil goby otoliths are addressed and discussed. A comparison of the history of the Gobiidae in tropical America reveals a high percentage of shared species between the Pacific and the Atlantic basins during the Late Miocene (Tortonian and Messinian) from at least 11 to 6 Ma. A recording gap on the Pacific side across the Pliocene allows a comparison again only in the late Early Pleistocene (Calabrian, 1.8 to 0.78 Ma), which shows a complete lack of shared species. These observations support the effective closure of the former Central American Seaway and emersion of the Isthmus of Panama in the intervening time. Groups that today only exist in the East Pacific were also identified in the Miocene and Pliocene of the West Atlantic, and there is also at least one instance of a genus now restricted to the West Atlantic having occurred in the East Pacific as late as the Pleistocene. The evolution of gobies in tropical America and the implications thereof are extensively discussed. Furthermore, observations of fossil gobies in the region are discussed in respect to paleoenvironmental indications and paleobiogeographic aspects.

Description of a new species of the Petrolisthesgalathinus complex from the Caribbean Sea, and resurrection of Petrolisthesoccidentalis from the East Pacific (Crustacea, Anomura, Porcellanidae).

The Petrolisthesgalathinus complex currently consists of six American species distributed in the West Atlantic, including the amphi-American P.galathinus. All species in the complex are similar in their adult morphology but differ in colour, size, larval morphology, and shape of the adult sternal plate. The West Atlantic species have different geographic ranges, which overlap in the southern Caribbean. Previously published molecular data support the monophyly of the complex, and the reciprocal monophyly of each described species and further clades corresponding to different colour morphs. Here, the morph P.caribensis "Blue" is described as Petrolisthescoeruleussp. nov., and Petrolisthesoccidentalis is formally resurrected for the Pacific individuals of P.galathinus. By adding these two species to the P.galathinus complex, this now consists of eight species. Colour illustrations of all species and colour morphs are provided and their geographic distributions and ecological ranges are discussed and updated.

Eusociality unveiled: discovery and documentation of two new eusocial shrimp species (Caridea: Alpheidae) from the Western Indian Ocean

Abstract The alpheid snapping shrimp genus Synalpheus Spence Bate, 1888, is a prominent component of arthropod diversity found in coral reefs. Notably, Synalpheus is the only genus of marine organisms known to exhibit eusocial behavior. Although eusociality has evolved at least four times independently in Synalpheus, all described eusocial species are from the West Atlantic, with only a single study documenting possibly eusocial species from Indonesia. In 2008, during an expedition to Madagascar organized by the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH), a diverse array of sponge-dwelling species was collected, including two species of Synalpheus exhibiting colonial behavior. Through detailed examination of these specimens, we have confirmed that these two species are eusocial and represent new eusocial species of Synalpheus outside of the West Atlantic. Consequently, we provide the first official documentation of eusocial species from the Western Indian Ocean and present their taxonomic descriptions and their phylogenetic relationships with other species of the genus in this study.

A Comparison of Gravimetric, Isostatic, and Spectral Decomposition Methods for a Possible Enhancement of the Mantle Signature in the Long-Wavelength Geoidal Geometry

A long-wavelength geoidal geometry characterizes the most pronounced features of the Indian Ocean geoid low and the West Pacific and North Atlantic geoid highs. These large geoid undulations (globally roughly within ±100 m) are mainly attributed to a deep mantle structure and large lithospheric density and geometry variations (such as the African superswell), while maximum geoid modifications by a topographic relief of Himalaya and Tibet are up to ~30 m. To enhance the mantle signature in a long-wavelength geoidal geometry, gravimetric, isostatic, and spectral decomposition methods can be applied. In this study, we demonstrate that isostatic schemes yield isostatic geoid models that closely resemble a long-wavelength geoidal geometry. The gravimetric method, on the other hand, modifies the mantle geoid significantly. Further modifications of the mantle geoid by removing gravitational contributions of lithospheric mantle density and lithospheric thickness variations should (optimally) enhance the signature of the deep mantle in the sub-lithospheric mantle geoid. Our results confirm this assumption by revealing (large-scale) positive anomalies in the Central Pacific and along the Atlantic Ocean that are coupled by two negative anomalies in the East Pacific and South Eurasia. A gravimetric method thus better enhances the mantle signature in the geoidal geometry than isostatic and spatial decomposition methods. Nonetheless, our results also indicate the presence of possibly large errors in geoid modelling results that limit their full implementation in gravimetric studies of the Earth’s mantle density structure without using tomographic images of the mantle and additional geophysical, geothermal, and geochemical constraints.

Phenolic chemistry of the seagrass Zostera marina Linnaeus: First assessment of geographic variability among populations on a broad spatial scale

The variability of the phenolic content of thirteen populations of Zostera marina L. (six narrow-leaved and seven wide-leaved ecotypes) from different geographical zones, i.e., Baltic Sea, Mediterranean, East and West Atlantic, and East Pacific coasts was evaluated. Depending on the location, three to five phenolic acids and nine to fourteen flavonoids were identified of which an undescribed flavonoid sulfate. The phenolic concentrations of the thirteen populations differ among countries and among sites within countries. However, the same individuals were found almost everywhere. Substantial phenolic concentrations were found at all study sites with the exception of Puck Bay (Baltic Sea). Some geographical differences in the flavonoid content were observed. The highest phenolic diversity was found with specimens from the French Atlantic coast and the lowest with the Northeastern American sample (Cape Cod, MA). Regardless of their leaf width, the content of phenolic compounds was found to be similar and mainly characterized by rosmarinic acid and luteolin 7,3′-disulfate. The results demonstrate that geographic origin influences the phenolic composition of Z. marina primarily in terms of concentration, but not in terms of individual compound identity, despite the large geographic scale and the contrasting climatic and environmental conditions associated with it. This work is the first study to consider the spatial variability of phenolic compounds for a seagrass species on a spatial scale covering four bioregions. This is also the first to compare the phenolic chemistry of the two ecotypes of Z. marina.

Catholicism in the Changing Religious Field of Latin America: A Mapping

This article presents a mapping of the changing religious landscape of Latin America, specifically focusing on the place of Catholicism therein. It explores how the varying forms of Catholicism in Latin America reflect a reality of mixed modernities, described as “tiempos mixtos” (Waldo Ansaldi), where elements of pre-modern, modern, and late modern worldviews and values are intertwined in ways very different from those of the North Atlantic West. By applying the modernization and secularization theories of David Martin and Charles Taylor and the sociology of religion of Pierre Bourdieu to the Latin American context, this article takes the first step to developing an explicatory map that can help us better understand changes within the religious field in Latin America today and the role of both popular and institutional Catholicism therein.

Molecular data, ecological niche, and dispersal models reveal a trans-Atlantic shallow-water octopus species

The tropical Octopus insularis is a shallow-water species widely distributed in the western Atlantic. Recent studies of niche models have identified suitable habitats for its settlement also on the east coast of the Atlantic. Considering the pelagic larval period and the high tolerance of this species to environmental variations, this study aimed to analyze the possibility of O. insularis occurrence in the West Atlantic (São Tomé Island) through molecular analyses, dispersion, and niche models. The molecular analyses were performed using fragments of 481 bp of the mitochondrial gene (cox1) from three muscle samples collected in São Tomé Island. The O. insularis long-range connectivity between South America and Western Africa was analyzed using a Lagrangian particle tracking model. Additionally, O. insularis records across its entire known distribution were applied to run the ecological niche model (ENM) using the Maxent algorithm. The Bayesian phylogenetic reconstruction showed that two of the three octopus sequences from São Tomé island (Central-Western Africa) belong to a monophyletic and well-supported O. insularis clade. The third octopus sample revealed a new species related to the clade with the Octopus vulgaris species complex. The dispersal models pointed out that passive particles could potentially reach the seamounts region at Africa coast via oceanic currents (mainly the North Equatorial Countercurrent) from São Pedro and São Paulo archipelago (Central-Western Region of the Atlantic) in a period of ∼30–60 days. This suggests that São Pedro and São Paulo archipelago could act as a potential source of paralarvae to Western Africa, although we hypothesize that this connection was more common during the Pleistocene, when sea level was around 120 m lower. In addition to the already known areas of O. insularis occurrence, the ENM pointed suitable habitats to the octopus settlement from Guinea-Bissau down to Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, and African Islands, such as São Tomé and Príncipe. The new record of O. insularis in Africa raises important questions regarding regional fisheries management. Considering that O. insularis is highly tolerant to environmental variations and very adapted to warm shallow waters, there is a possibility that octopus fisheries stocks on the African coast have a mixed composition (O. vulgaris, O. insularis, and Octopus sp.) and therefore the fisheries must follow management measures suitable for each species. In addition, further studies should be carried out in order to characterize and describe the potential new octopus species found only in São Tomé Island according to our genetic survey.

Global, regional, and cryptic population structure in a high gene-flow transatlantic fish.

Lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) is a transatlantic marine fish displaying large population sizes and a high potential for dispersal and gene-flow. These features are expected to result in weak population structure. Here, we investigated population genetic structure of lumpfish throughout its natural distribution in the North Atlantic using two approaches: I) 4,393 genome wide SNPs and 95 individuals from 10 locations, and II) 139 discriminatory SNPs and 1,669 individuals from 40 locations. Both approaches identified extensive population genetic structuring with a major split between the East and West Atlantic and a distinct Baltic Sea population, as well as further differentiation of lumpfish from the English Channel, Iceland, and Greenland. The discriminatory loci displayed ~2-5 times higher divergence than the genome wide approach, revealing further evidence of local population substructures. Lumpfish from Isfjorden in Svalbard were highly distinct but resembled most fish from Greenland. The Kattegat area in the Baltic transition zone, formed a previously undescribed distinct genetic group. Also, further subdivision was detected within North America, Iceland, West Greenland, Barents Sea, and Norway. Although lumpfish have considerable potential for dispersal and gene-flow, the observed high levels of population structuring throughout the Atlantic suggests that this species may have a natal homing behavior and local populations with adaptive differences. This fine-scale population structure calls for consideration when defining management units for exploitation of lumpfish stocks and in decisions related to sourcing and moving lumpfish for cleaner fish use in salmonid aquaculture.

The genealogy of integrationism: Ideational foundations of the politics of immigrant integration

This article traces the idea of (“immigrant”) “integration” from its roots in classical political philosophy and the birth of the modern nation-state, to its current relevance in the European political agenda and, relatedly, its centrality in the newly consolidated field of Migration Studies. I examine the ontological (i.e., philosophical and sociological) and political rationales behind the idea that migrants need to “integrate into society”, and the different varieties of political solutions that are offered in this sense. The paper asks: How did the migrant come at the center of the idea of an integrated society? And how did integrationism become consolidated as the hegemonic idea of governing diverse societies in post-migration contexts in Europe? Employing an extensive list of secondary literature, documentary data, policy analysis of the EU-level Framework on migrant integration, and discourse analysis of integration-related research publications, I attempt a genealogy of the idea of “integration” as it traveled across the North Atlantic West and between academia and government. The paper shows how the production of the subject of integration—the misfit “immigrant” figure—is historically marked by a consensus across the learned and the governing elites that identifies the preservation of a homogenous national social order as a societal goal. I argue that the scientification of integration governance via the “evidence-based policy” paradigm (most notably promoted by EU institutions) normalizes, naturalizes and aims to depoliticize the otherwise highly normative and contested question of migrant integration.

Distribution and Long-Term Trends of Tropospheric Ozone Concentrations in Ireland

Tropospheric ozone (O3) is highly variable over space and time reflecting local production and destruction as well as addition and loss through regional and long-range transport. In this study, O3 concentrations at 11 stations in Ireland and their long-term trends (7–9 sites) were evaluated; O3 concentrations (2015–2019) varied spatially, with the highest annual mean concentrations along the Atlantic west coast (69–75 µg/m3), and the lowest in urban centres (39–43 µg/m3). Ozone followed a seasonal pattern of spring and winter maximum and summer–autumn minimum. Significant long-term (2005–2019) increases were observed in annual O3 concentration at two rural stations, while increases were larger and more frequent during winter with increases at four out of seven stations. During the decade 2010–2019, significant annual increases were observed at four out of nine stations. Observed site- and season-specific increasing trends in O3 concentrations likely reflected changes in regional precursor gas emissions sources. Despite reported decreases in background concentrations in the marine boundary layer in northern mid-latitudes in recent decades, O3 concentrations at some sites in Ireland have increased significantly primarily driven by changes in winter concentrations. There were no significant decreasing trends at any site or in any season.

Annually Resolved Propagation of CFCs and SF6 in the Global Ocean Over Eight Decades

AbstractOceanic transient tracers, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and sulfur‐hexafluoride (SF6), trace the propagation of intermediate‐to‐abyssal water masses in the ocean interior. Their temporal and spatial sparsity, however, has limited their utility in quantifying the global ocean circulation and its decadal variability. The Time‐Correction Method (TCM) presented here is a new approach to leverage the available CFCs and SF6 observations to solve for the Green's functions (GFs) describing the steady‐state transport from the surface to the ocean interior. From the GFs, we reconstruct global tracer concentrations (and associated uncertainties) in the ocean interior at annual resolution (1940–2021). The spatial resolution includes 50 neutral density levels that span the water column along World Ocean Circulation Experiment/Global Ocean Ship‐Based Hydrographic Investigations Program lines. The reconstructed tracer concentrations return a global view of CFCs and SF6 spreading into new regions of the interior ocean, such as the deep north‐western Pacific. For example, they capture the southward spreading and equatorial recirculation of distinct North Atlantic Deep Water components, and the spreading of CFC‐rich Antarctic Bottom Water out of the Southern Ocean and into the North Pacific, East Indian, and West Atlantic. The reconstructed tracer concentrations fit the data in most locations (∼75%), indicating that a steady‐state circulation holds for the most part. Discrepancies between the reconstructed and observed concentrations offer insight into ventilation rate changes on decadal timescales. As an example, we infer decadal changes in Subantartic Mode Water (SAMW) and find an increase in SAMW ventilation from 1992 to 2014, highlighting the skill of the TCM in leveraging the sparse tracer observations.

Inferred Impacts of Extreme Environments on Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) Body Size and Reproductive Output

This study presents the first published data on the morphometrics of nesting hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) and their eggs and counts of yolked and yolkless eggs per clutch from Iranian Islands in the northern Persian Gulf. We found significant variation in some variables among 4 main nesting islands (e.g., weight of yolked eggs, p = 0.000; number of yolkless eggs per clutch, p = 0.017), but effect size was moderate or less (r < 0.5 or d < 0.8). The diameter (p = 0.039), weight (p = 0.028), and number of yolked eggs (p = 0.000) per clutch increased significantly with curved carapace length (CCL), but the effect size was only large for the number of yolked eggs (f2 = 0.152). The number of yolkless eggs did not vary with CCL (p = 0.453) or with the number of yolked eggs (p = 0.523). A meta-analysis of global hawksbill turtle morphometrics and reproductive output revealed significant variation in CCL (p = 0.000) and number of yolked eggs (p < 0.001), with nesting region having a very large effect size on both variables (g2 = 0.880 and 0.616, respectively). Hawksbill turtles from the Gulf were smaller than populations from the Gulf of Oman (p < 0.001), Arabian Sea (p = 0.000), Caribbean (p = 0.000), West Atlantic (p = 0.000), and Southwest Pacific (p = 0.000) but not the Red Sea (p = 0.104), and laid fewer yolked eggs than populations in the Caribbean (p < 0.001) and West Atlantic (p = 0.001) but not the Red Sea (p = 0.636). This may be due to hawksbill turtles nesting in the Gulf remaining within its waters postnesting so adult body size is restricted by the relatively poor foraging habitat and/or success and/or the extreme environments, subsequently limiting clutch size. More information on home range and foraging habitat is required to draw similar conclusions about hawksbill turtles nesting in the Red Sea. Hawksbill turtles nesting in the Gulf, Red Sea, and Arabian Sea also appear to lay larger number of yolkless eggs per clutch than other populations worldwide (mean = 17.6 ± 10.8 SD [range = 0–59]). The functional role of yolkless eggs, potentially in the maintenance of thermal and hydric conditions within tolerable conditions in shallow nests laid in extreme environments, requires further investigation. Similarly, the potential for yolkless eggs to be an adaptation to extreme nest environments in other sea turtle species also nesting in the northern Indian Ocean also warrants examination.

SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND CULTURE

SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND CULTURE

Sympatry of genetically distinct Atlantic Puffins (Fratercula arctica) in the High Arctic

Across its range, the Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica is divided into four separate genetic clusters that correspond with geography and/or size differences. However, in the Western Atlantic High Arctic, there is a Puffin colony (Thule) that comprises two discrete size phenotypes. Using whole genome sequencing data of six Thule individuals from these two phenotypes, we found that Thule consists of three distinct genetic clusters, with no signs of recent interbreeding. Our results suggest the beginnings of a potential northward shift of boreal Atlantic Puffins in the West Atlantic, consistent with responses to a warming High Arctic climate.

Total evidence time-scaled phylogenetic and biogeographic models for the evolution of sea cows (Sirenia, Afrotheria).

Molecular phylogenetic studies that have included sirenians from the genera Trichechus, Dugong, and Hydrodamalis have resolved their interrelationships but have yielded divergence age estimates that are problematically discordant. The ages of these lineage splits have profound implications for how to interpret the sirenian fossil record—including clade membership, biogeographic patterns, and correlations with Earth history events. In an effort to address these issues, here we present a total evidence phylogenetic analysis of Sirenia that includes living and fossil species and applies Bayesian tip-dating methods to estimate their interrelationships and divergence times. In addition to extant sirenians, our dataset includes 56 fossil species from 106 dated localities and numerous afrotherian outgroup taxa. Genetic, morphological, temporal, and biogeographic data are assessed simultaneously to bring all available evidence to bear on sirenian phylogeny. The resulting time-tree is then used for Bayesian geocoordinates reconstruction analysis, which models ancestral geographic areas at splits throughout the phylogeny, thereby allowing us to infer the direction and timing of dispersals. Our results suggest that Pan-Sirenia arose in North Africa during the latest Paleocene and that the Eocene evolution of stem sirenians was primarily situated in the Tethyan realm. In the late Eocene, some lineages moved into more northern European latitudes, an area that became the source region for a key trans-Atlantic dispersal towards the Caribbean and northern-adjacent west Atlantic. This event led to the phylogenetic and biogeographic founding of crown Sirenia with the Dugongidae-Trichechidae split occurring at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary (~33.9 Ma), temporally coincident with the onset of dropping global sea levels and temperatures. This region became the nexus of sirenian diversification and supported taxonomically-rich dugongid communities until the earliest Pliocene. The Dugonginae-Hydrodamalinae split occurred near Florida during the early Miocene (~21.2 Ma) and was followed by a west-bound dispersal that gave rise to the Pacific hydrodamalines. The late middle Miocene (~12.2 Ma) split of Dugong from all other dugongines also occurred near Florida and our analyses suggest that the Indo-Pacific distribution of modern dugongs is the result of a trans-Pacific dispersal. From at least the early Miocene, trichechid evolution was based entirely in South America, presumably within the Pebas Wetlands System. We infer that the eventual establishment of Amazon drainage into the South Atlantic allowed the dispersal of Trichechus out of South America no earlier than the mid-Pliocene. Our analyses provide a new temporal and biogeographic framework for understanding major events in sirenian evolution and their possible relationships to oceanographic and climatic changes. These hypotheses can be further tested with the recovery and integration of new fossil evidence.

Genetic evidence for cryptic species in the vulnerable spiny butterfly ray Gymnura altavela (Rajiformes: Gymnuridae)

AbstractThe spiny butterfly ray Gymnura altavela (Linnaeus 1758) is classified as Endangered by the International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN) and considered Critically Endangered in the Mediterranean Sea and South-west Atlantic. Despite its status, few studies on the population biology and genetics for the species are available, undermining conservation efforts. In the present study, we evaluated the taxonomic status of Gymnura altavela along both sides of the Atlantic using COI sequences. Our genetic data support the existence of two genetically differentiated G. altavela lineages (West and East Atlantic) and further studies are required to evaluate the hypothesis that these lineages could, in fact, be cryptic species within this endangered batoid's genus.