61
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
2 collections
    0
    shares

      Publish your biodiversity research with us!

      Submit your article here.

      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Next-generation morphological character discovery and evaluation: an X-ray micro-CT enhanced revision of the ant genus Zasphinctus Wheeler (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Dorylinae) in the Afrotropics

      research-article

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Abstract

          New technologies for imaging and analysis of morphological characters offer opportunities to enhance revisionary taxonomy and better integrate it with the rest of biology. In this study, we revise the Afrotropical fauna of the ant genus Zasphinctus Wheeler, and use high-resolution X-ray microtomography (micro-CT) to analyse a number of morphological characters of taxonomic and biological interest. We recognise and describe three new species: Z. obamai sp. n., Z. sarowiwai sp. n., and Z. wilsoni sp. n. The species delimitations are based on the morphological examination of all physical specimens in combination with 3D scans and volume reconstructions. Based on this approach, we present a new taxonomic discrimination system for the regional fauna that consists of a combination of easily observable morphological characters visible at magnifications of around 80–100 ×, less observable characters that require higher magnifications, as well as characters made visible through virtual dissections that would otherwise require destructive treatment. Zasphinctus are rarely collected ants and the material available to us is comparatively scarce. Consequently, we explore the use of micro-CT as a non-invasive tool for the virtual examination, manipulation, and dissection of such rare material. Furthermore, we delineate the treated species by providing a diagnostic character matrix illustrated by numerous images and supplement that with additional evidence in the form of stacked montage images, 3D PDFs and 3D rotation videos of scans of major body parts and full body (in total we provide 16 stacked montage photographs, 116 images of 3D reconstructions, 15 3D rotation videos, and 13 3D PDFs). In addition to the comparative morphology analyses used for species delimitations, we also apply micro-CT data to examine certain traits, such as mouthparts, cuticle thickness, and thoracic and abdominal muscles in order to assess their taxonomic usefulness or gain insights into the natural history of the genus. The complete datasets comprising the raw micro-CT data, 3D PDFs, 3D rotation videos, still images of 3D models, and coloured montage photos have been made available online as cybertypes (Dryad, http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4s3v1).

          Related collections

          Most cited references80

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: not found
          • Book: not found

          The operated Markov´s chains in economy (discrete chains of Markov with the income)

            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Integrative taxonomy: a multisource approach to exploring biodiversity.

            Good alpha taxonomy is central to biology. On the basis of a survey of arthropod studies that used multiple disciplines for species delimitation, we evaluated the performance of single disciplines. All included disciplines had a considerable failure rate. Rigor in species delimitation can thus be increased when several disciplines chosen for complementarity are used. We present a flexible procedure and stopping rule for integrative taxonomy that uses the information from different disciplines separately. Disagreement among disciplines over the number and demarcation of species is resolved by elucidating and invoking evolutionary explanations for disagreement. With the identification of further promising study organisms and of new questions for in-depth analysis, evolutionary biology should profit from integrative taxonomy. An important rationale is clarity in researcher bias in the decision-making process. The success of integrative taxonomy will further increase through methodological progress, taxonomic training of evolutionary biologists, and balanced resource allocation.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: not found
              • Article: not found

              Taxonomy: impediment or expedient?

                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Zookeys
                Zookeys
                ZooKeys
                ZooKeys
                Pensoft Publishers
                1313-2989
                1313-2970
                2017
                23 August 2017
                : 693
                : 33-93
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919–1 Tancha, Onna-son 904–0495, Japan
                Author notes
                Corresponding author: Francisco Hita Garcia ( fhitagarcia@ 123456gmail.com )

                Academic editor: B. Fisher

                Article
                10.3897/zookeys.693.13012
                5777420
                2775a637-db99-4cd3-bc0c-b9ce48c5651d
                Francisco Hita Garcia, Georg Fischer, Cong Liu, Tracy L. Audisio, Evan P. Economo

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                : 3 April 2017
                : 12 July 2017
                Categories
                Research Article

                Animal science & Zoology
                3d model,cuticle,cybertype,micro-ct,morphology,mouthparts,new species,taxonomy,animalia,hymenoptera,formicidae

                Comments

                Comment on this article

                scite_

                Similar content22

                Cited by12

                Most referenced authors389