The Neotropical pitviper genus Bothrops comprises about 40 species, which occur in all main ecosystems of cis-Andean South America. We explored the relationships of body size and form (tail length and stoutness) with macrohabitat use in 20 forms of Bothrops. Semi-arboreal habits appeared only in forest forms. Semiarboreals are signi®cantly more slender and have longer tails than terrestrials; body size is not signi®cantly different between terrestrials and semi-arboreals. Within Bothrops, independent contrasts for macrohabitat use were signi®cantly correlated with contrasts of tail size (positively) and stoutness (negatively); thus, the more arboreal the species, the longer its tail and the more slender its body. Contrasts of adult body size seems to remain constant over the lower range of macrohabitat use, but to decrease in species of Bothrops which are more arboreal. Reconstructions of character states indicate that: (1) the ancestor of Bothrops was a small, stout, terrestrial species; (2) semi-arboreal habits appeared one to three times in the genus; (3) a decrease in stoutness and an increase in tail length occurred along with an increase in arboreality in some clades. Although macrohabitat use seems to be important in determining body form in Bothrops, our results also indicate that tail size, stoutness and body size may also be affected by selective agents other than macrohabitat use. The selective agents responsible for the shifts in macrohabitat use in Bothrops are still uncertain, although they may have included prey availability and/or predation pressure. The plasticity of macrohabitat use, morphology and body size described in this study may have been key features that facilitated the highly successful ecological diversi®cation of Bothrops in South America.

BackgroundCoalescent methods that use multi-locus sequence data are powerful tools for identifying putatively reproductively isolated lineages, though this approach has rarely been used for the study of microbial groups that are likely to harbor many unrecognized species. Among microbial symbionts, integrating genetic species delimitation methods with trait data that could indicate reproductive isolation, such as host specificity data, has rarely been used despite its potential to inform species limits. Here we test the ability of an integrative approach combining genetic and host specificity data to delimit species within the avian malaria parasite genus Leucocytozoon in central Alaska.ResultsWe sequenced seven nuclear loci for 69 Leucocytozoon samples and used multiple species delimitation methods (GMYC and BPP models), tested for differences in host infection patterns among putative species based on 406 individual infections, and characterized parasite morphology. We found that cryptic morphology has masked a highly diverse Leucocytozoon assemblage, with most species delimitation methods recovering support for at least 21 separate species that occur sympatrically and have divergent host infection patterns. Reproductive isolation among putative species appears to have evolved despite low mtDNA divergence, and in one instance two Leucocytozoon cytb haplotypes that differed by a single base pair (~ 0.2% divergence) were supported as separate species. However, there was no consistent association between mtDNA divergence and species limits. Among cytb haplotypes that differed by one to three base pairs we observed idiosyncratic patterns of nuclear and ecological divergence, with cytb haplotype pairs found to be either conspecific, reproductively isolated with no divergence in host specificity, or reproductively isolated with divergent patterns of host specialization.ConclusionIntegrating multi-locus genetic species delimitation methods and non-traditional ecological data types such as host specificity provide a novel view of the diversity of avian malaria parasites that has been missed previously using morphology and mtDNA barcodes. Species delimitation methods show that Leucocytozoon is highly species-rich in Alaska, and the genus is likely to harbor extraordinary species-level diversity worldwide. Integrating genetic and ecological data will be an important approach for understanding the diversity and evolutionary history of microbial symbionts moving forward.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12862-018-1242-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

ABSTRACT. It was sampled the litter frogs at altitudinal sites of a semideciduous mesophytic forest located at SeITa do Japi (Jundiaí, São Paulo, 23°I7'S, 47°00'W, 800-1300m altitude, 1500mm rain/year). Forty two plots of 8x8m were sampled in the dly/cold season of 1995: 21 at a Higher Site (HS) (lOOOm) and 21 at a Lower Site (LS) (850m). The plots were evenly located near, mid-distance, and far from lhe stream-bed. lt was found a total of tive species, three aI each sile. Eleulherodaclylus guenlheri comprised 83% of lhe individuaIs aI HS and E. juipoca 67% aI LS. The density of individuaIs was higher aI HS and near lhe slream. The grealer density aI HS may be due to grealer humidity there, provided by mist. The frogs may aggregate in wetter places (stream edges) in lhe dry/cold season. The studied sites represent harsh and early successional environments and bolh these factors may be acting together to produce the low observed diversity. KEY WORDS. Brachycephalus, Eleutherodactylus, Hyla, litter frogs, diversity, Southeastern Brazil Species composition and abundance of litter frogs are influenced by local environmental conditions such litter depth and humidity (SCOTT 1976; TOFT 1980) in addition to historical factors such as human disturbance (LIEBERMAN 1986; HErNEN 1992). The Serra do Japi is a group of low mountains in the Mantiqueira range in Southeastern Brazil mostly covered by a seasonally dry semideciduous mesophytic forest (LEITÃO-FILHO & MORELLATO 1997). On its west face, in a 300m altitudinal range (850-1 170m), different vegetational types are found (RODRIGUES & SHEPHERD 1992). lt was sampled the litter frogs at two altitudinal sites on this west face, in the altitudinal extremes where an accessible forest stream is found. Specifically it was asked: I) Do lhe litter frog diversity and abundance differ between the sites?; and 2) Do the abundance vary with distance from the stream? Revta bras. Zool. 14 (2): 341 -346 ,1 997

The Neotropics are a hotspot of global diversity for many groups of organisms, including the dragonflies and damselflies (Insecta: Odonata). While the number of biodiversity surveys and new species descriptions for Neotropical odonates is increasing, diversity in this region is still under-explored, and very few studies have looked at the genetic and morphological diversity among (and within) species. Here, we present an overview of the evolutionary history of the Neotropical damselfly family Polythoridae. The family comprises 57 species across seven genera: Chalcopteryx Selys, Chalcothore De Marmels, Cora Selys, Euthore Selys, Miocora Calvert, Polythore Calvert and Stenocora Kennedy. Using a multi-locus approach, mitochondrial (COI, ND1, 16S) and nuclear (18S, 28S, EF1-alpha) genes were concatenated to estimate phylogenetic relationships. Our results support five monophyletic clades, which were not always congruent with the genera previously considered to be monophyletic. Only Polythore was recovered as monophyletic, and within it there was geographical structure. We propose the following new genus-level classification: Chalcothore, Chalcopteryx, Cora s.s., Cora s.l., Miocora, Euthore s.l and Polythore. In addition, we proposed the following new combinations: Miocora aurea comb.n., Miocora chirripa comb.n., Euthore confusa comb.n., Euthore klenei comb.n., and Euthore terminalis comb.n., based on our phylogenetic analyses, our evaluation of morphological characters and their geographical distribution: these data each support the monophyletic entities we recover here. This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid: zoobank.org:pub:E9E10CD8-6A04-4F2E-A632-1B998BAFB193.

Background: The New World Tropics has experienced a dynamic landscape across evolutionary history and harbors a high diversity of flora and fauna. While there are some studies addressing diversification in Neotropical vertebrates and plants, there is still a lack of knowledge in arthropods. Here we examine temporal and spatial diversification patterns in the damselfly family Polythoridae, which comprises seven genera with a total of 58 species distributed across much of Central and South America. Results: Our time-calibrated phylogeny for 48 species suggests that this family radiated during the late Eocene (3 3 Ma), diversifying during the Miocene. As with other neotropical groups, the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) of most of the Polythoridae genera has a primary origin in the Northern Andes though the MRCA of at least one genus may have appeared in the Amazon Basin. Our molecular clock suggests correlations with some major geographical events, and our biogeographical modeling (with BioGeoBEARS and RASP) found a significant influence of the formation of the Pebas and Acre systems on the early diversification of these damselflies, though evidence for the influence of the rise of the different Andean ranges was mixed. Diversification rates have been uniform in all genera except one-Polythore-where a significant increase in the late Pliocene (~3 mya) may have been influenced by recent Andean uplift. Conclusion: The biogeographical models implemented here suggest that the Pebas and Acre Systems were significant geological events associated with the diversification of this damselfly family; while diversification in the tree shows some correlation with mountain building events, it is possible that other abiotic and biotic changes during our study period have influenced diversification as well. The high diversification rate observed in Polythore could be explained by the late uplift of the Northern Andes. However, it is possible that other intrinsic factors like sexual and natural selection acting on color patterns could be involved in the diversification of this genus.