Morphological and molecular characterization of Neogastrostyla aqua nov. gen., nov. spec. (Ciliophora, Hypotrichia) from River Yamuna, Delhi; comparison with Gastrostyla-like genera.

A novel hypotrichous ciliate, Neogastrostyla aqua nov. gen., nov. spec. isolated from River Yamuna, Delhi, India, is described using morphological, morphometric and morphogenetic characters from live and stained cells supplemented with derivation of phylogenetic relationships using SSU rRNA gene. Neogastrostyla aqua nov. gen., nov. spec., is characterized by light yellow cortical granules present singly or in clusters of two to five, distributed randomly; parental adoral zone of membranelles retained unchanged for proter; Oxytricha-pattern of paroral and endoral; 25-27 frontal-ventral-transverse cirri including a distinct bipartite frontoventral row of composite origin; three dorsal kineties with no fragmentation of the third kinety, two dorsomarginal kineties, three caudal cirri, two macronuclear nodules and two or three micronuclei. Though Neogastrostyla aqua nov. gen., nov. spec. has a frontoventral row like Gastrostyla species, it differs distinctly in the combination of characters from Gastrostyla and other genera with Gastrostyla-like ventral ciliature (Protogastrostyla, Hemigastrostyla, Apogastrostyla and Pseudogastrostyla) particularly in the colour and distribution of cortical granules as well as arrangement and formation of ciliature. According to the phylogenetic analyses, Neogastrostyla aqua nov. gen., nov. spec. clustered consistently with Gastrostyla sp. Y2 (no description available), Oxytricha granulifera and Architricha indica as close neighbours.

Phylogeography of freshwater fish Puntius sophore in India.

Phylogeography and evolutionary history of the freshwater species are poorly known. We document the phylogeography of widely distributed Puntius sophore using cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of 650 bp. In the present study, we used 61 individual sequences from known geographic locations across India whereas data are lacking from other parts of its distribution range. Total 20 haplotypes with the intra-species sequence divergence ranging from 0.004 to 0.025 were observed and they were split into two major clades (North and Northeastern to Central India). Two distant geographic (North and Northeastern to Central India) regions shared haplotype suggesting ancient river connectivity or introduction of species from Northeast and Central India. Overall nucleotide and haplotype diversities were 0.00971 and 0.915. The Tajima's D and Fu's Fs values were found negative but non-significant thus rejecting the population expansion model followed by the multimodal mode of mismatch distribution. Bayesian skyline plots from both the clade showed steady population history over time; and start of decline in recent years in the clade B (∼1000-1500 years). The present finding is in support to the 'Satpura hypothesis' proposed to explain species movement patterns from Southeast Asian countries to Indian subcontinent, seconded by P. sophore showing high genetic diversity within Northern India clade (high genetic splits) because of presence of high river network in comparison to other parts of the country.

Seasonal variation of benthic macro invertebrates from Tons River of Garhwal Himalaya Uttarakhand.

Present investigation was carried out to assess the seasonal variation of benthic macro-invertebrates from the Tons river, a tributary of Yamuna River in Garhwal Himalaya, Uttrakhand during December, 2007 to November, 2009. The seasonal benthic diversity was correlated with various physic-chemical parameters which documented that the macrobenthic diversity is mostly regulated by the dissolved oxygen in the water while temperature and free CO2 were found to be inversely correlated with the benthic fauna. Maximum diversity of benthos was reported at the upstream site ('H' 0.204) during the winter season while it was recorded minimum during the rainy season at all the sites. Maximum diversity is reported during the winter season at all the sites. The benthic fauna is represented by three phylum, 4 classes and 10 orders with Insecta emerging as the most dominant class. Maximum genera were reported from midstream site as it acts as ecotone between upstream and downstream.