Fossil insect-feeding traces indicate unrecognized evolutionary history and biodiversity on Australia's iconic Eucalyptus.

Fossilized plant-insect herbivore associations provide fundamental information about the assembly of terrestrial communities through geologic time. However, fossil evidence of associations originating in deep time and persisting to the modern day is scarce. We studied the insect herbivore damage found on 284 Eucalyptus frenguelliana leaves from the early Eocene Laguna del Hunco rainforest locality in Argentinean Patagonia and compared damage patterns with those observed on extant, rainforest-associated Eucalyptus species from Australasia (> 10 000 herbarium sheets reviewed).

Secondary contact erodes Pleistocene diversification in a wide-ranging freshwater mussel (Quadrula).

The isolated river drainages of eastern North America serve as a natural laboratory to investigate the roles of allopatry and secondary contact in the evolutionary trajectories of recently diverged lineages. Drainage divides facilitate allopatric speciation, but due to their sensitivity to climatic and geomorphological changes, neighboring rivers frequently coalesce, creating recurrent opportunities of isolation and contact throughout the history of aquatic lineages. The freshwater mussel Quadrula quadrula is widely distributed across isolated rivers of eastern North America and possesses high phenotypic and molecular variation across its range.

The Complete Genome Sequences of 23 Finch Species (Fringillidae, Passeriformes).

We present complete genome sequences of 23 species of finches from 6 genera.

Beyond nutmeg, mace, and cloves: Checklist of the liverworts and hornworts of Maluku Islands (Moluccas), Indonesia.

The first ever liverwort and hornwort checklist is provided for the Maluku Islands (Moluccas/Spice Islands) of Indonesia. We report 355 accepted and 16 doubtful species and reject 22 species previously reported for Maluku Islands. The list is based on the specimens housed in the Herbarium Bogoriense (BO) and reports from over 500 literature references, including monographs, regional studies, and molecular investigations.

Riverine flow rate drives widespread convergence in the shell morphology of imperiled freshwater mussels.

Frequent and strong morphological convergence suggests that determinism tends to supersede historical contingencies in evolutionary radiations. For many lineages living within the water column of rivers and streams, hydrodynamic forces drive widespread morphological convergence. Living below the sediment-water interface may release organisms from these hydrodynamic pressures, permitting a broad array of morphologies, and thus less convergence.

Comprehensive phylogenomic time tree of bryophytes reveals deep relationships and uncovers gene incongruences in the last 500 million years of diversification.

Premise: Bryophytes form a major component of terrestrial plant biomass, structuring ecological communities in all biomes. Our understanding of the evolutionary history of hornworts, liverworts, and mosses has been significantly reshaped by inferences from molecular data, which have highlighted extensive homoplasy in various traits and repeated bursts of diversification. However, the timing of key events in the phylogeny, patterns, and processes of diversification across bryophytes remain unclear.

Library preparation method and DNA source influence endogenous DNA recovery from 100-year-old avian museum specimens.

Museum specimens collected prior to cryogenic tissue storage are increasingly being used as genetic resources, and though high-throughput sequencing is becoming more cost-efficient, whole genome sequencing (WGS) of historical DNA (hDNA) remains inefficient and costly due to its short fragment sizes and high loads of exogenous DNA, among other factors. It is also unclear how sequencing efficiency is influenced by DNA sources. We aimed to identify the most efficient method and DNA source for collecting WGS data from avian museum specimens.

Insect herbivore and fungal communities on (Araucariaceae) from the latest Cretaceous to Recent.

(Araucariaceae) is a genus of broadleaved conifers that today inhabits lowland to upper montane rainforests of Australasia and Southeast Asia. A previous report showed that the earliest known fossils of the genus, from the early Paleogene and possibly latest Cretaceous of Patagonian Argentina, host diverse assemblages of insect and fungal associations, including distinctive leaf mines. Here, we provide complete documentation of the fossilized herbivore communities from Cretaceous to Recent, describing and comparing insect and fungal damage on across four latest Cretaceous to early Paleogene time slices in Patagonia with that on 15 extant species.

Citizen science needs a name change.

Amidst attention towards improving equality, inclusivity, and diversity, citizen science is woefully anachronistic in its name. There is a critical need for this field to distance itself from the exclusionary nature of the term 'citizen'. We provide reasoning for abandoning this term and an outline for adopting a new name.

Climatic refugia and reduced extinction correlate with underdispersion in mammals and birds in Africa.

Macroevolutionary patterns, often inferred from metrics of community relatedness, are often used to ascertain major evolutionary processes shaping communities. These patterns have been shown to be informative of biogeographic barriers, of habitat suitability and invasibility (especially with regard to environmental filtering), and of regions that function as evolutionary cradles (i.e.

The evolution and biogeographic history of epiphytic thalloid liverworts.

Among liverworts, the epiphytic lifestyle is not only present in leafy forms but also in thalloid liverworts, which so far has received little attention in evolutionary and biogeographical studies. Metzgeria, with about 107 species worldwide, is the only genus of thalloid liverworts that comprises true epiphytes. In the present study, we provide the first comprehensive molecular phylogeny, including estimated divergence times and ancestral ranges of this genus.

Drivers of fatal bird collisions in an urban center.

Millions of nocturnally migrating birds die each year from collisions with built structures, especially brightly illuminated buildings and communication towers. Reducing this source of mortality requires knowledge of important behavioral, meteorological, and anthropogenic factors, yet we lack an understanding of the interacting roles of migration, artificial lighting, and weather conditions in causing fatal bird collisions. Using two decades of collision surveys and concurrent weather and migration measures, we model numbers of collisions occurring at a large urban building in Chicago.

Preserve a Voucher Specimen! The Critical Need for Integrating Natural History Collections in Infectious Disease Studies.

Despite being nearly 10 months into the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, the definitive animal host for SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), the causal agent of COVID-19, remains unknown. Unfortunately, similar problems exist for other betacoronaviruses, and no vouchered specimens exist to corroborate host species identification for most of these pathogens. This most basic information is critical to the full understanding and mitigation of emerging zoonotic diseases.

American mastodon mitochondrial genomes suggest multiple dispersal events in response to Pleistocene climate oscillations.

Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles are correlated with dramatic temperature oscillations. Examining how species responded to these natural fluctuations can provide valuable insights into the impacts of present-day anthropogenic climate change. Here we present a phylogeographic study of the extinct American mastodon (Mammut americanum), based on 35 complete mitochondrial genomes.

Suppression of root-endogenous fungi in persistently inundated roots.

Wetland soils are defined by anoxic and reducing conditions that impose biogeochemically hostile conditions on plant roots and their endogenous fungal communities. The cosmopolitan wetland plant L. mitigates root-zone anoxia efficiently, such that roots of these plants may constitute fungal habitats similar to roots in subaerially exposed soils.

Nocturnal flight-calling behaviour predicts vulnerability to artificial light in migratory birds.

Understanding interactions between biota and the built environment is increasingly important as human modification of the landscape expands in extent and intensity. For migratory birds, collisions with lighted structures are a major cause of mortality, but the mechanisms behind these collisions are poorly understood. Using 40 years of collision records of passerine birds, we investigated the importance of species' behavioural ecologies in predicting rates of building collisions during nocturnal migration through Chicago, IL and Cleveland, OH, USA.

Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections (WeDigBio): The Biocollections Community's Citizen-Science Space on the Calendar.

The digitization of biocollections is a critical task with direct implications for the global community who use the data for research and education. Recent innovations to involve citizen scientists in digitization increase awareness of the value of biodiversity specimens; advance science, technology, engineering, and math literacy; and build sustainability for digitization. In support of these activities, we launched the first global citizen-science event focused on the digitization of biodiversity specimens: Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections (WeDigBio).

Phylogenetic analysis of the Lancinae (Gastropoda, Lymnaeidae) with a description of the U.S. federally endangered Banbury Springs lanx.

We examined the patelliform snails of the subfamily Lancinae, endemic to northwestern North America, to test whether morphological variation correlated with genetic and anatomical differences. Molecular analyses using , 16S, calmodulin intron, and 28S rDNA partial sequences and anatomical data supported recognition of four species in three genera. The relationships of lancines within Lymnaeidae are not yet well-resolved.

Phanoceroides Hinton, 1939: description of new species, morphology of larvae, and revised taxonomic position of the genus (Coleoptera: Elmidae) based on molecular evidence.

The monotypic genus Phanoceroides was initially classified within the subfamily Elminae, based solely on the distribution and type of pubescence on the body surface. Although a close relationship with Larainae was suggested (Hinton 1939, Maier 2013), its taxonomic position and phylogeny remained unresolved. Based on newly collected material, we describe here P.

Cantharellus chicagoensis sp. nov. is supported by molecular and morphological analysis as a new yellow chanterelle in midwestern United States.

Recent molecular systematic studies of Cantharellus cibarius sensu lato have revealed previously unknown species in different regions of North America. This study investigates yellow chanterelles in the Midwest using phylogenetic analysis of three DNA regions: nuc rDNA internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) and 28S sequences and translation elongation factor 1α gene (EF1α). This analysis reveals a locally common taxon Cantharellus chicagoensis sp.

From GenBank to GBIF: Phylogeny-Based Predictive Niche Modeling Tests Accuracy of Taxonomic Identifications in Large Occurrence Data Repositories.

Accuracy of taxonomic identifications is crucial to data quality in online repositories of species occurrence data, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), which have accumulated several hundred million records over the past 15 years. These data serve as basis for large scale analyses of macroecological and biogeographic patterns and to document environmental changes over time. However, taxonomic identifications are often unreliable, especially for non-vascular plants and fungi including lichens, which may lack critical revisions of voucher specimens.

Isolation and development of microsatellite loci in an African Woodpecker (Campethera nivosa) using polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing.

Background: The Buff-spotted Woodpecker (Campethera nivosa) is a resident bird species that is distributed in lowland rainforest habitats from western to eastern Africa. We developed species-specific microsatellite markers to examine the population genetics of this species.

Findings: Twenty-one microsatellite loci were isolated from C.