Parallel decay of vision genes in subterranean water beetles.

In the framework of neutral theory of molecular evolution, genes specific to the development and function of eyes in subterranean animals living in permanent darkness are expected to evolve by relaxed selection, ultimately becoming pseudogenes. However, definitive empirical evidence for the role of neutral processes in the loss of vision over evolutionary time remains controversial. In previous studies, we characterized an assemblage of independently-evolved water beetle (Dytiscidae) species from a subterranean archipelago in Western Australia, where parallel vision and eye loss have occurred. Using a combination of transcriptomics and exon capture, we present evidence of parallel coding sequence decay, resulting from the accumulation of frameshift mutations and premature stop codons, in eight phototransduction genes (arrestins, opsins, ninaC and transient receptor potential channel genes) in 32 subterranean species in contrast to surface species, where these genes have open reading frames. Our results provide strong evidence to support neutral evolutionary processes as a major contributing factor to the loss of phototransduction genes in subterranean animals, with the ultimate fate being the irreversible loss of a light detection system.

Flight metabolic rate of Locusta migratoria in relation to oxygen partial pressure in atmospheres of varying diffusivity and density.

Flying insects have the highest mass-specific metabolic rate of all animals. Oxygen is supplied to the flight muscles by a combination of diffusion and convection along the internal air-filled tubes of the tracheal system. This study measured maximum flight metabolic rate (FMR) during tethered flight in the migratory locust Locusta migratoria under varying oxygen partial pressure (PO2 ) in background gas mixtures of nitrogen (N2), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and helium (He), to vary O2 diffusivity and gas mixture density independently. With N2 as the sole background gas (normodiffusive-normodense), mass-independent FMR averaged 132±19 mW g-0.75 at normoxia (PO2 =21 kPa), and was not limited by tracheal system conductance, because FMR did not increase in hyperoxia. However, FMR declined immediately with hypoxia, oxy-conforming nearly completely. Thus, the locust respiratory system is matched to maximum functional requirements, with little reserve capacity. With SF6 as the sole background gas (hypodiffusive-hyperdense), the shape of the relationship between FMR and PO2  was similar to that in N2, except that FMR was generally lower (e.g. 24% lower at normoxia). This appeared to be due to increased density of the gas mixture rather than decreased O2 diffusivity, because hyperoxia did not reverse it. Normoxic FMR was not significantly different in He-SF6 (hyperdiffusive-normodense) compared with the N2 background gas, and likewise there was no significant difference between FMR in SF6-He (normodiffusive-hyperdense) compared with the SF6 background gas. The results indicate that convection, not diffusion, is the main mechanism of O2 delivery to the flight muscle of the locust when demand is high.

Four new species of parasitoid wasp (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) described through a citizen science partnership with schools in regional South Australia.

Involving the community in taxonomic research has the potential to increase the awareness, appreciation and value of taxonomy in the public sphere. We report here on a trial citizen science project, Insect Investigators, which partners taxonomists with school students to monitor Malaise traps and prioritise the description of new species collected. In this initial trial, four schools in regional South Australia participated in the program and all collected new species of the braconid subfamily Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). These four species are here described as new, with the names being chosen in collaboration with the participating school students: Choeras ramcomarmorata Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov., Glyptapanteles drioplanetus Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov., Dolichogenidea franklinharbourensis Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov. and Miropotes waikerieyeties Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov. All four species are diagnosed against the known members of the genera from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa and Papua New Guinea, and images and COI DNA barcodes are provided of the holotypes. Students had positive feedback about their experiences of the program, and there is significant potential for it to be expanded and used as a means to connect communities with taxonomic science.

New species of Australian microgastrine parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) documented through the 'Bush Blitz' surveys of national reserves.

The braconid subfamily Microgastrinae are ecologically important parasitoids of larval lepidopterans, but are poorly studied in many regions of the world. In this study, we focus on describing new species of microgastrine wasps, in part from specimens collected on six different 'Bush Blitz' surveys of regional reserves in South Australia and Tasmania. Ten species of Microgastrinae are described as new and DNA barcodes of the genes COI and wingless are provided: three species in the genus Choeras Mason: C. bushblitz Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov., C. parvoculus Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov., and C. zygon Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov.; six species in the genus Dolichogenidea Viereck: D. bonbonensis Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov., D. brabyi Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov., D. forrestae Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov., D. garytaylori Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov., D. kelleri Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov., and D. lobesiae Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov.; and one species from the genus Sathon Mason: S. oreo Fagan-Jeffries Austin sp. nov. These new species represent just a small fraction of the potential of 'Bush Blitz' surveys in regional Australia, which provide DNA-quality material allowing an integrative taxonomic approach and offer a window into the biodiversity of some of the least studied areas of the continent.

DNA barcoding of microgastrine parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) using high-throughput methods more than doubles the number of species known for Australia.

The Microgastrinae are a hugely diverse subfamily of endoparasitoid wasps of lepidopteran caterpillars. They are important in agriculture as biological control agents and play a significant ecological role in the regulation of caterpillar populations. Whilst the group has been the focus of intensive rearing and DNA barcoding studies in the Northern Hemisphere, the Australian fauna has received little attention. In total, 99 species have been described from or have been introduced into Australia, but the real species diversity for the region is clearly much larger than this. In this study, museum ethanol samples and recent field collections were mined for hundreds of specimens of microgastrine wasps, which were then barcoded for the COI region, ITS2 ribosomal spacer and the wingless nuclear genes, using a pooled sequencing approach on an Illumina Miseq system. Full COI sequences were obtained for 525 individuals which, when combined with 162 publicly available sequences, represented 417 haplotypes, and a total of 236 species were delimited using a consensus approach. By more than doubling the number of known microgastrine wasp species in Australia, our study highlights the value of DNA barcoding in the context of employing high-throughput sequencing methods of bulk ethanol museum collections for biodiversity assessment.

A new genus and twenty new species of Australian jumping plant-lice (Psylloidea: Triozidae) from Eremophila and Myoporum (Scrophulariaceae: Myoporeae).

The Triozidae is a diverse, cosmopolitan family of jumping plant-lice (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) from an exceptionally diverse range of plant families, but with few described Australian species. As a direct outcome of the Australian Biological Resources Study Bush Blitz species discovery program, many new Psylloidea from novel host plants in remote localities have been revealed. In this study a new genus Myotrioza Taylor gen. nov. and 20 new species are described from southern and central Australia which also establishes the first host plant records from Eremophila and Myoporum (Scrophulariaceae: Myoporeae). New species, delineated using a combination of morphological and mitochondrial COI sequence data, are: Myotrioza clementsiana sp. nov., M. darwinensis sp. nov., M. desertorum sp. nov., M. eremi sp. nov., M. eremophili sp. nov., M. flindersiana sp.nov., M. gawlerensis sp. nov., M. insularis sp. nov., M. interioris sp. nov., M. interstantis sp. nov., M. longifoliae sp. nov., M. markmitchelli sp. nov., M. myopori sp. nov., M. oppositifoliae sp. nov., M. pantonii sp. nov., M. platycarpi sp. nov., M. remota sp. nov., M. scopariae sp. nov., M. serrulatae sp. nov., and M. telowiensis sp. nov. Genetic divergence data, host associations, biogeographic data, diagnoses and a key to species are presented. Myotrioza appears to be particularly diverse in ephemeral southern Australia, especially in inland Western Australia and South Australia, matching regions of high diversity of the host genera; some species are likely to be short range endemics.