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James M. Carpenter - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Phylogeny of the Dictyoptera
Systematic Entomology, 1992Co-Authors: Barbara L Thorne, James M. CarpenterAbstract:Relationships among six key Dictyopteran taxa (Mantodea; Blat- todea (excluding Cryptocercidae); Cryptocercidae; Mastotermes darwiniensis, Termopsidae and Kalotermitidae (Isoptera)) are analysed based on seventy morphological, developmental and behavioural characters. The fossil record and the 'living fossil' genera Cryptocercus, Mastotermes and Archotermopsisare discussed in detail. Exact analysis of the character state matrix by implicit enu- meration (Hennig86) resulted in one cladogram, strongly supporting Blattodea + Cryptocercidae as a sister group to Mantodea, with the Isoptera as a sister group to that complex. Arrangements within the termites are equivocal, with Termopsidae and Mastotermes darwiniensis possible as the relatively most pri- mitive element of Isoptera.
Michael S. Engel - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A unique box in 28S rRNA is shared by the enigmatic insect order Zoraptera and Dictyoptera
2016Co-Authors: Yanhui Wang, Kai Dang, José Albertino Rafael, Michael S. Engel, Ying Wang, Qiang Xie* WenjunAbstract:The position of the Zoraptera remains one of the most challenging and uncertain concerns in ordinal-level phylogenies of the insects. Zoraptera have been viewed as having a close relationship with five different groups of Polyneoptera, or as being allied to the Paraneoptera or even Holometabola. Although rDNAs have been widely used in phylogenetic studies of insects, the application of the complete 28S rDNA are still scattered in only a few orders. In this study, a secondary structure model of the complete 28S rRNAs of insects was reconstructed based on all orders of Insecta. It was found that one length-variable region, D3-4, is particularly distinctive. The length and/or sequence of D3-4 is conservative within each order of Polyneoptera, but it can be divided into two types between the different orders of the supercohort, of which the enigmatic order Zoraptera and Dictyoptera share one type, while the remaining orders of Polyneoptera share the other. Additionally, independent evidence from phylogenetic results support the clade (Zoraptera+Dictyoptera) as well. Thus, the similarity of D3-4 between Zoraptera and Dictyoptera can serve as potentially valuable autapomorphy or synapomorphy in phylogeny reconstruction. The clades of (Plecoptera+Dermaptera) and ((Grylloblattodea+Mantophasmatodea)+(Embiodea+Phasmato-dea)) were also recovered in the phylogenetic study. In addition, considering the other studies based on rDNAs, this study reached the highest congruence with previous phylogenetic studies of Holometabola based on nuclear protein coding genes or morphology characters. Future comparative studies of secondary structures across deep divergences an
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a unique box in 28s rrna is shared by the enigmatic insect order zoraptera and Dictyoptera
PLOS ONE, 2013Co-Authors: Yanhui Wang, Kai Dang, José Albertino Rafael, Michael S. Engel, Haoyang Wu, Ying Wang, Wenjun BuAbstract:The position of the Zoraptera remains one of the most challenging and uncertain concerns in ordinal-level phylogenies of the insects. Zoraptera have been viewed as having a close relationship with five different groups of Polyneoptera, or as being allied to the Paraneoptera or even Holometabola. Although rDNAs have been widely used in phylogenetic studies of insects, the application of the complete 28S rDNA are still scattered in only a few orders. In this study, a secondary structure model of the complete 28S rRNAs of insects was reconstructed based on all orders of Insecta. It was found that one length-variable region, D3-4, is particularly distinctive. The length and/or sequence of D3-4 is conservative within each order of Polyneoptera, but it can be divided into two types between the different orders of the supercohort, of which the enigmatic order Zoraptera and Dictyoptera share one type, while the remaining orders of Polyneoptera share the other. Additionally, independent evidence from phylogenetic results support the clade (Zoraptera+Dictyoptera) as well. Thus, the similarity of D3-4 between Zoraptera and Dictyoptera can serve as potentially valuable autapomorphy or synapomorphy in phylogeny reconstruction. The clades of (Plecoptera+Dermaptera) and ((Grylloblattodea+Mantophasmatodea)+(Embiodea+Phasmatodea)) were also recovered in the phylogenetic study. In addition, considering the other studies based on rDNAs, this study reached the highest congruence with previous phylogenetic studies of Holometabola based on nuclear protein coding genes or morphology characters. Future comparative studies of secondary structures across deep divergences and additional taxa are likely to reveal conserved patterns, structures and motifs that can provide support for major phylogenetic lineages.
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A PRIMITIVE EARWIG IN CRETACEOUS AMBER FROM MYANMAR (DERMAPTERA: PYGIDICRANIDAE)
Journal of Paleontology, 2004Co-Authors: Michael S. Engel, David A. GrimaldiAbstract:The earwigs comprise an order (Dermaptera) of polyneopterous insects allied to the Dictyoptera and Grylloblattodea (Giles, 1963; Hennig, 1969; Boudreaux, 1979). Dermaptera have at times in the past been allied with the Phasmida, Embiodea, and Plecoptera (e.g., Blacklith and Blacklith, 1968; Jamieson, 1987) but these relationships do not seem to be congruent with the overall body of data for Polyneoptera phylogeny and the monophyly of a Grylloblattodea + Dermaptera + Dictyoptera clade currently has perhaps more evidence than competing hypotheses (e.g., Carpenter and Wheeler, 1999; Wheeler et al., 2001). However, revised morphological and paleontological evidence may suggest that Dermaptera are basal within Anartioptera—a clade consisting of Plecopterida, Orthopterida, Grylloblattodea, and Mantophasmatodea, as well as the earwigs (e.g., Engel and Grimaldi, 2004). The earwigs are certainly autapomorphic, like many polyneopterous insects, and their definitive placement remains elusive. The order comprises approximately 1,900 species of distinctive insects with relatively flattened bodies, tegminous forewings without venation, an enlarged subgenital plate (sternum 7) in females, trimerous tarsi, and elongate forcipate cerci. Species are fairly mobile and generally prefer damp, concealed habitats such as under bark or stones. The order has a cosmopolitan distribution but is principally found in tropical or warm temperate regions. Two unusual groups, the traditional suborders “Arixeniina” and “Hemimerina,” are apomorphic lineages that are highly specialized for their epizoic lifestyles and at least the latter group has at times been excluded from the order (e.g., Popham, 1973) owing to its peculiar, paedomorphic differences from other earwigs. The five species of arixeniids live in the roosts of molossid bats on Southeast Asia islands (Nakata and Maa, 1974), while the 10 species of hemimerids live under the fur of rodents in Africa (Rehn and Rehn, 1935). The arixeniids have been demonstrated to be derived from the forficuloids, perhaps even …
Klaus-dieter Klass - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A comparative study of the hypopharynx in Dictyoptera (Insecta)
Zoologischer Anzeiger – A Journal of Comparative Zoology, 2013Co-Authors: Gerda Buder, Klaus-dieter KlassAbstract:Abstract The exoskeletal morphology of the hypopharynx is documented for and compared between nine species of Dictyoptera that represent most of its principal lineages (seven cockroaches, one mantodean, and the ‘basal’ termite Mastotermes darwiniensis ). In addition, hypopharyngeal morphology in Dictyoptera is compared with that in the zygentoman Thermobia domestica and to the extent possible with that in the embiopteran Embia ramburi (based on data from the literature). This comparison also considers the musculature (using data from the literature) and aims at identifying corresponding parts between Dictyoptera and the two other taxa (especially Thermobia ). 19 hypopharyngeal characters are defined that are potentially informative on phylogenetic relationships in Dictyoptera, and their preliminary phylogenetic implications are discussed. However, there is little congruence among the characters from the hypopharynx, and groupings supported by the various characters are mostly in conflict with previous studies on Dictyopteran phylogeny. Yet, the presence of a small lateral apodeme may support the widely accepted monophyly of Blattodea (including termites).
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65 (1) 73–100 © Museum für Tierkunde Dresden, eISSN 1864-8312 The Potential Value of the Mid-Abdominal Musculature and Nervous System in the Reconstruction of Interordinal Relationships
2012Co-Authors: Arthropod Systematics, Rebecca Klug, In Lower Neoptera, Klaus-dieter KlassAbstract:The mid-abdominal musculature and its innervation are compared for several lower neopteran “orders”; data on Embioptera and Mantophasmatodea are presented for the first time. For the sclerotisations, the musculature, and the nervous system of the mid-abdomen general descriptions are given, and general aspects of homologisation in these elements are explained; for the lateral muscles the distinction of three groups innervated by the T-, B-, or C-nerves is confirmed. Differences in the musculature and nervous system of the lower neopteran lineages are discussed and evaluated with regard to their phylogenetic implications. Conditions in Ephemeroptera, Megaloptera, and Zygentoma are partly included in the discussion. Several characters were found to be informative on interordinal relationships. Plecoptera have features probably plesiomorphic at the neopteran level: the origin of nerve A in front of the ganglion and the innervation of intrasegmental lateral muscles by nerve A; this may support the monophyly of a taxon comprising all other Neoptera. The hyperneural muscle found in many Dictyoptera also appears as a uniquely plesiomorphic structure (at the pterygotan level). The co-occurrence of two specific lateral muscles supplied by nerve B as well as certain subdivisions in the lateral muscles may support a clade Phasmatodea + Embioptera. We also point to character systems that appear informative on the internal phylogeny of order-level taxa, such as the relationships between nerves T and M in Plecoptera, the ventral musculature in Ensifera, the dorsal musculature in Dermaptera, and details of the hyperneural muscle in Dictyoptera. Besides the very low number of taxa studied so far, majo
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Tackling the "Protoblattoidea problem": Revision of Protoblattinopsis stubblefieldi (Dictyoptera; Late Carboniferous)
European Journal of Entomology, 2009Co-Authors: Olivier Béthoux, Klaus-dieter Klass, Jörg W. SchneiderAbstract:The forewing morphology of the fossil species †Protoblattinopsis stubblefieldi Laurentiaux, 1953 (Dictyoptera; Late Carboniferous) is re-investigated. Unlike previously stated, in this species, the stems of R and M are distinct and CuA has branches. The occurrence of the putative plesiomorphies "long ScP" and "differentiated R sectors" (i.e., RA and RP) in †P. stubblefieldi indicates a position basal to all extant Dictyoptera and many members of its paraphyletic stem. Unlike representatives of the families †Archimylacridae and †Blattinopsidae, but similar to Blattodea s. str., †P. stubblefieldi lacks a M-CuA arculus. The comparison of the branching pattern of the median system in †P. stubblefieldi and †Archimylacridae suggests that the arculus of the latter is composed of posterior branches of M. It is noted that the distal location of the point of origin of CuA and CuP, the sigmoid course of the anterior stem of CuA, the strong curvature of CuP, and the occurrence of a short fusion between R/RP and the anterior branch of M are similarities with the representatives of the genus Polyphaga Brulle, 1835, belonging to Dictyoptera s. str. However, these similar character states are unlikely to be homologous in these taxa, mainly because the hypothesis that Polyphaga is the sister group of the remaining Dictyoptera s. str. (or even Blattodea s. str.) is not strongly supported. Owing to its character state combination, the species †P. stubblefieldi is unique within the "Protoblattoidea waste-basket". Comprehensive studies of wing morphology in stem-Dictyoptera are needed to clarify whether it might be closely related to the lineage from which Dictyoptera s. str. evolved.
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The Tibiotarsal Articulation and Intertibiotarsal Leg Sclerite in Dictyoptera (Insecta)
Insect Systematics & Evolution, 2009Co-Authors: Klaus-dieter Klass, Ute Eulitz, Christian Schmidt, Ariane BartonAbstract:The skeletal morphology of the transition area between the tibia and the tarsus is described for Dictyoptera, with a focus on Blaberus craniifer (Blattodea) and Sphodromantis viridis (Mantodea), but with 8 mantodean and 39 blattodean species (including 3 termite species) examined altogether. We emphasise the occurrence in most Dictyopterans of a small sclerite located on the anteroventral side of the leg, between the margins of the tibia and the tarsus facing each other, the intertibiotarsal sclerite (abbreviated as itts: tibio-tarsal band/ligament sensu D. Neff and co-workers). The itts region is shown on SEM micrographs for a representative subset of our taxon sample. Comparison with selected outgroup species and data from the literature indicates that sclerite itts is autapomorphic for Dictyoptera and further confirms the monophyly of the group. Details of sclerite itts yield characters for phylogenetic work in Dictyoptera, such as a dorsal extension of the sclerite limited to a subset of our mantodean sample. In Cryptocercidae cockroaches and in termites sclerite itts is vestigial or absent, respectively. This could be interpreted as supporting termites to be the sister group of all remaining Dictyoptera, followed by Cryptocercidae. In the light of recent phylogenetic work, however, this rather appears to be a reductive apomorphy, which then further supports Cryptocercidae to be the sister group of termites. Functional aspects of the tibiotarsal articulation in Dictyoptera are also addressed, with a focus on the roles of and interdependence among the dorsal tibiotarsal articulation, the itts sclerite, and the tendons originating from the proximal rim of the tarsus (bearing the tarsal muscles); on this issue a functional model is presented. Most importantly, the effects of the tarsal muscles are being modulated with the status of itts (expanded or bent underneath).
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Relationships among the major lineages of Dictyoptera: the effect of outgroup selection on Dictyopteran tree topology
Systematic Entomology, 2008Co-Authors: Jessica L Ware, Jesse Litman, Klaus-dieter Klass, Lauren A. SpearmanAbstract:Abstract Dictyoptera, comprising Blattaria, Isoptera, and Mantodea, are diverse in appearance and life history, and are strongly supported as monophyletic. We downloaded COII, 16S, 18S, and 28S sequences of 39 Dictyopteran species from GenBank. Ribosomal RNA sequences were aligned manually with reference to secondary structure. We included morphological data (maximum of 175 characters) for 12 of these taxa and for an additional 15 Dictyopteran taxa (for which we had only morphological data). We had two datasets, a 59-taxon dataset with five outgroup taxa, from Phasmatodea (2 taxa), Mantophasmatodea (1 taxon), Embioptera (1 taxon), and Grylloblattodea (1 taxon), and a 62-taxon dataset with three additional outgroup taxa from Plecoptera (1 taxon), Dermaptera (1 taxon) and Orthoptera (1 taxon). We analysed the combined molecular−morphological dataset using the doublet and MK models in MrBayes, and using a parsimony heuristic search in paup. Within the monophyletic Mantodea, Mantoida is recovered as sister to the rest of Mantodea, followed by Chaeteessa; the monophyly of most of the more derived families as defined currently is not supported. We recovered novel phylogenetic hypotheses about the taxa within Blattodea (following Hennig, containing Isoptera). Unique to our study, one Bayesian analysis places Polyphagoidea as sister to all other Dictyoptera; other analyses and/or the addition of certain orthopteran sequences, however, place Polyphagoidea more deeply within Dictyoptera. Isoptera falls within the cockroaches, sister to the genus Cryptocercus. Separate parsimony analyses of independent gene fragments suggest that gene selection is an important factor in tree reconstruction. When we varied the ingroup taxa and/or outgroup taxa, the internal Dictyopteran relationships differed in the position of several taxa of interest, including Cryptocercus, Polyphaga, Periplaneta and Supella. This provides further evidence that the choice of both outgroup and ingroup taxa greatly affects tree topology.
Wenjun Bu - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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a unique box in 28s rrna is shared by the enigmatic insect order zoraptera and Dictyoptera
PLOS ONE, 2013Co-Authors: Yanhui Wang, Kai Dang, José Albertino Rafael, Michael S. Engel, Haoyang Wu, Ying Wang, Wenjun BuAbstract:The position of the Zoraptera remains one of the most challenging and uncertain concerns in ordinal-level phylogenies of the insects. Zoraptera have been viewed as having a close relationship with five different groups of Polyneoptera, or as being allied to the Paraneoptera or even Holometabola. Although rDNAs have been widely used in phylogenetic studies of insects, the application of the complete 28S rDNA are still scattered in only a few orders. In this study, a secondary structure model of the complete 28S rRNAs of insects was reconstructed based on all orders of Insecta. It was found that one length-variable region, D3-4, is particularly distinctive. The length and/or sequence of D3-4 is conservative within each order of Polyneoptera, but it can be divided into two types between the different orders of the supercohort, of which the enigmatic order Zoraptera and Dictyoptera share one type, while the remaining orders of Polyneoptera share the other. Additionally, independent evidence from phylogenetic results support the clade (Zoraptera+Dictyoptera) as well. Thus, the similarity of D3-4 between Zoraptera and Dictyoptera can serve as potentially valuable autapomorphy or synapomorphy in phylogeny reconstruction. The clades of (Plecoptera+Dermaptera) and ((Grylloblattodea+Mantophasmatodea)+(Embiodea+Phasmatodea)) were also recovered in the phylogenetic study. In addition, considering the other studies based on rDNAs, this study reached the highest congruence with previous phylogenetic studies of Holometabola based on nuclear protein coding genes or morphology characters. Future comparative studies of secondary structures across deep divergences and additional taxa are likely to reveal conserved patterns, structures and motifs that can provide support for major phylogenetic lineages.
Barbara L Thorne - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The male postabdomen of Stolotermes inopinus: a termite with unusually well-developed external genitalia (Dictyoptera: Isoptera: Stolotermitinae)
Acta Zoologica, 2000Co-Authors: Klaus-dieter Klass, Barbara L Thorne, Michael LenzAbstract:Klass, K.-D., Thorne, B. L. and Lenz, M. 2000. The male postabdomen of Stolotermes inopinus: a termite with unusually well-developed external genitalia (Dictyoptera: Isoptera: Stolotermitinae). —Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 81: 121–130 Stolotermes inopinus has large external male genitalia (phallic lobe), which contrast with the small genital papillae or lack of external genitalia of other Isoptera. As in the genital papilla of Mastotermesdarwiniensis, a ventral sclerite pair is present, the gonopore is located ventroterminally on the phallic lobe, and the genital area is entirely symmetrical – suggesting that this may be the groundplan condition of Isoptera. The relations of the phallic lobe to surrounding components like the subgenital plate, paraprocts, and certain muscles and nerves indicate that the lobe of S. inopinus is homologous with the phallomeres of other Dictyoptera. The bilateral symmetry and simple structure, however, are in strong contrast to the asymmetry and high complexity found in male genitalia of Blattaria and Mantodea. The postabdominal nervous system of S. inopinus resembles that of the cockroach Periplaneta americana. Indications are given that the Stolotermitinae are related to the Kalotermitidae, Rhinotermitidae, and Termitidae rather than to the Termopsinae.
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Phylogeny of the Dictyoptera
Systematic Entomology, 1992Co-Authors: Barbara L Thorne, James M. CarpenterAbstract:Relationships among six key Dictyopteran taxa (Mantodea; Blat- todea (excluding Cryptocercidae); Cryptocercidae; Mastotermes darwiniensis, Termopsidae and Kalotermitidae (Isoptera)) are analysed based on seventy morphological, developmental and behavioural characters. The fossil record and the 'living fossil' genera Cryptocercus, Mastotermes and Archotermopsisare discussed in detail. Exact analysis of the character state matrix by implicit enu- meration (Hennig86) resulted in one cladogram, strongly supporting Blattodea + Cryptocercidae as a sister group to Mantodea, with the Isoptera as a sister group to that complex. Arrangements within the termites are equivocal, with Termopsidae and Mastotermes darwiniensis possible as the relatively most pri- mitive element of Isoptera.