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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

A Review Of The Serica (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) Of Mexico, Canada, And The Western United States, Reese John Worthington Jan 2018

A Review Of The Serica (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae) Of Mexico, Canada, And The Western United States, Reese John Worthington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Twenty-two species and subspecies of Serica occur in Mexico. Serica ensenada Saylor, 1948 is recognized as a junior synonym of Serica pilifera Horn, 1894. Two new species, Serica ascia Lago & Worthington and Serica fenestra Lago & Worthington are described from Mexico. Three genera of Sericini are recorded from Canada, Maladera castanea (Arrow), Nipponoserica peregrina (Chapin), and twelve species of Serica. Seventy-seven species and subspecies of Serica occur in the contiguous United States west of the 100th meridian. Eleven new species, Serica berriani Lago & Worthington, Serica cuneiverpa Lago & Worthington, Serica desolaterra Lago & Worthington, Serica katelinae Lago & …


Helping To Resolve Taxonomic Conflicts Within The Genus Amblyomma (Acari:Ixodidae) From A Molecular Perspective, Paula Lado Jan 2015

Helping To Resolve Taxonomic Conflicts Within The Genus Amblyomma (Acari:Ixodidae) From A Molecular Perspective, Paula Lado

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work sought to reassess the taxonomic status of Amblyomma parvum Aragao, 1908 and of the A. maculatum group of ticks Camicas, 1998. By using different molecular markers, 12SrDNA, 16SrDNA, DL, COI, COII (mitochondrial) and ITS2 (nuclear), I analyzed the systematic relationships between these taxa and their closest relatives. Phylogenetic analyses by maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analysis were performed in order to determine relationships among species and populations, and to determine the evolutionary history of these ixodids. The data obtained supported the hypothesis of cryptic speciation occurring within A. parvum, with the northern populations of Central America being …


Fossil Trachemys (Testudines: Emydidae) From The Late Hemphillian Of Eastern Tennessee And Its Implications For The Evolution Of The Emydidae, Steven E. Jasinski May 2013

Fossil Trachemys (Testudines: Emydidae) From The Late Hemphillian Of Eastern Tennessee And Its Implications For The Evolution Of The Emydidae, Steven E. Jasinski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Trachemys (Testudines: Emydidae) represents one of the most well-known turtles today. The evolution of Trachemys, while being heavily documented with various fossil representatives, is not well understood. Numerous fossils from the Gray Fossil Site in northeastern Tennessee are helping to elucidate the taxon’s evolution. The fossil Trachemys at the Gray Fossil Site represent a new species. A review of previously named Trachemys taxa reveals that a huge majority of them are not valid or have been previously misinterpreted. A phylogenetic analysis preformed on modern emydids and supposed fossil representatives of those genera also shows the evolution of a portion …


Beyond Building A Tree: Phylogeny Of Pitvipers And Exploration Of Evolutionary Patterns, Allyson Fenwick Jan 2012

Beyond Building A Tree: Phylogeny Of Pitvipers And Exploration Of Evolutionary Patterns, Allyson Fenwick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As generic and higher-scale evolutionary relationships are increasingly well understood, systematists move research in two directions: 1) understanding specieslevel relationships with dense taxon sampling, and 2) evaluating evolutionary patterns using phylogeny. In this study I address both foci of systematic research using pitvipers, subfamily Crotalinae. For direction one, I evaluate the relationships of 96% of pitvipers by combining independent sets of molecular and phenotypic data. I find the inclusion of species with low numbers of informative characters (i.e. less than 100) negatively impacts resolution of the phylogeny, and the addition of independent datasets has no effect on or a small …