Publications by authors named "Marla Schwarzfeld"

Arachnid orders, Mesostigmata, Trombidiformes, and Sarcoptiformes, commonly known as 'mites', are abundant in mires, both as adults and as juveniles. However, due to the challenges of identification, the juvenile forms are often excluded from analyses. This is the first study in mires that included all three mite orders identified to the species level, including juvenile instars.

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Summaries of taxonomic knowledge are provided for all acarine groups in Canada, accompanied by references to relevant publications, changes in classification at the family level since 1979, and notes on biology relevant to estimating their diversity. Nearly 3000 described species from 269 families are recorded in the country, representing a 56% increase from the 1917 species reported by Lindquist et al. (1979).

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DNA taxonomy has been proposed as a method to quickly assess diversity and species limits in highly diverse, understudied taxa. Here we use five methods for species delimitation and two genetic markers (COI and ITS2) to assess species diversity within the parasitoid genus, Ophion. We searched for compensatory base changes (CBC's) in ITS2, and determined that they are too rare to be of practical use in delimiting species in this genus.

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The diverse genus Ophion is almost entirely undescribed in the Nearctic region. In this paper we define the Ophionscutellaris species group. This species group is well-supported by analysis of DNA (ITS2, COI, and 28S D2-D3) and morphology.

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