Biodiversity loss is a major global challenge and minimizing extinction rates is the goal of several multilateral environmental agreements. Policy decisions require comprehensive, spatially explicit information on species' distributions and threats. We present an analysis of the conservation status of 14,669 European terrestrial, freshwater and marine species (ca.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDNA barcoding is a method promising fast and accurate identification of animal species based on the sequencing of the mitochondrial c oxidase subunit (COI) gene. In this study, we explore the prospects for DNA barcoding in one particular fish group, the billfishes (suborder Xiphioidei--swordfish, marlins, spearfishes, and sailfish). We sequenced the mitochondrial COI gene from 296 individuals from the 10 currently recognized species of billfishes, and combined these data with a further 57 sequences from previously published projects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUsing data for 25,780 species categorized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, we present an assessment of the status of the world's vertebrates. One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing: On average, 52 species of mammals, birds, and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth again as much in the absence of these.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe have previously documented multiple, independent origins of placentas in the fish family Poeciliidae. Here we summarize similar analyses of fishes in the family Zenarchopteridae. This family includes three live-bearing genera.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo investigate jaw evolution in beloniform fishes, we reconstructed the phylogeny of 54 species using fragments of two nuclear (RAG2 and Tmo-4C4) and two mitochondrial (cytochrome b and 16S rRNA) genes. Our total molecular evidence topology refutes the monophyly of needlefishes (Belonidae) and halfbeaks (Hemiramphidae), but supports the monophyly of flyingfishes (Exocoetidae) and sauries (Scomberesocidae). Flyingfishes are nested within halfbeaks, and sauries are nested within needlefishes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAbstract- A cladistic analysis of the eighteen species of Spanish mackerels (Scomberomorus) was conducted using the double-lined mackerel (Grammatorcynus) as the outgroup. Based on fifty-eight osteological and morphological characters, six species groups are recognized. Comparisons of the cladogram for the regalis species group were made with a cladogram of the nine species of parasitic copepods that infest the six members of the regalis group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF