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opennotspecifiedMay 2020View details →

FIGURE 3 in Description of two new species of Dysidea (Porifera, Demospongiae, Dictyoceratida Dysideidae) from Tauranga Harbour, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

FIGURE 3. Dysidea tuapokere sp. nov., holotype NIWA 92974: A. Histological section showing a heavily cored primary fibre extending beneath a surface conule, and eurypylous choanocyte chambers in the surrounding mesohyl which is relatively clear of detritus, and unarmoured surface; B. Macerated, heavily cored, highly irregular, divaricating primary fibre, connected by slender, cored secondary fibres with fine auxiliary struts attaching the secondary fibre to the primary fibre.

FIGURE 21 in Notogaster, a new genus of Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from New Zealand

FIGURE 21. Notogaster wornerae sp. nov., holotype, female: A—habitus, lateral; B—head, frontal; C—fore wing; D—head, dorsal; E—propodeum and metasoma, dorsal; F—mesoscutum, dorsal; G—metasoma and ovipositor, lateral; H—head, lateral.

FIGURE 12 in Notogaster, a new genus of Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from New Zealand

FIGURE 12. Notogaster charlesi sp. nov., holotype, female: A—habitus, lateral; B—head, frontal; C—fore wing; D—head and mesosoma, lateral; E—metasoma, dorsal; F— propodeum and T1, dorsal; G—metasoma and ovipositor, lateral; H—mesosoma, propodeum and T1, dorsal.

FIGURE 16 in Notogaster, a new genus of Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from New Zealand

FIGURE 16. Notogaster poultonae sp. nov., paratype, female: A—habitus and wings, dorsal; B—head and mesosoma, dorsal; C—habitus, lateral; D—mesosoma, posterior; E—metasoma and ovipositor, lateral; F—head and mesosoma, lateral; G—ovipositor, dorsal.

FIGURE 11 in Notogaster, a new genus of Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from New Zealand

FIGURE 11. Notogaster avilai sp. nov., holotype, female: A—habitus, lateral; B—head, frontal; C—fore wing; D—head and mesosoma, lateral; E—mesosoma, dorsal; F—metasoma and ovipositor, lateral; G—antennae, mesosoma and metasoma, dorsal.

FIGURE 15 in Notogaster, a new genus of Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) from New Zealand

FIGURE 15. Notogaster martini sp. nov., holotype, female: A—habitus, lateral; B—head, frontal; C—fore wing; D—head and mesosoma, lateral; E—metasoma and ovipositor, lateral; F—mesosoma and metasoma, dorsal; G—head and mesosoma, dorsal.

opennotspecifiedJul 2020View details →

FIGURES 1–3 in Three new species of Pseudoceraphron from Japan and New Zealand (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae)

FIGURES 1–3. Pseudoceraphron belissimus sp. n., holotype female. Habitus photographed in ethanol in lateral (1), ventral (2) and dorsal (3) views.

opencc-zeroJun 2020View details →

Data from: Phenotypic, ecological and genomic variation in common bully (Gobiomorphus cotidianus) populations along depth gradients in New Zealand's Southern Great Lakes

Depth gradients in lakes are often key drivers of population divergence and speciation in fishes. New Zealand has many deep lakes but no known profundal specialist fishes or cases of intralacustrine speciation. We sampled a native benthic fish, the common bully, from 5–90 m depth in four South Island lakes, to test for morphological, ecological, or genetic differentiation associated with depth. Deeper fish consistently had narrower bodies, while other morphological traits showed variable relationships with depth. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values of fish increased with depth, largely tracking isotopic trends with depth of benthic invertebrate prey. Genotyping-by-sequencing showed some genome-wide differentiation between two of the lakes, but no evidence for within-lake genetic structuring along depth gradients. These results indicate that individual bullies associate with shallower or deeper habitats within their lifetimes, but we found no evidence of progress toward genetic divergence within lakes. The apparent lack of intralacustrine genetic divergence in New Zealand's fishes may be explained by a combination of environmental factors and constraints intrinsic to its marine-derived freshwater fish fauna.

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →

Achieving Bio-Protection in New Zealand Ecosystems mesocosm data

We established 160 experimental ecosystems (mesocosms), manipulated interactions between plants, soil biota and invertebrate herbivores in a fully factorial design. Each mesocosm was grown in a 125 L pot (575 mm diameter, Fig. 1B), and comprised one of 20 unique, eight-species plant communities varying orthogonally in the proportion of exotic and woody shrub/tree species (0-100% and 0-63%, respectively). These plants were taken from a pool of 20 exotic and 19 native/endemic New Zealand plant species. Soil biota were manipulated using a modified plant-soil feedback approach, where each plant species was grown in monoculture in 10 L pots containing field-collected soil for 9-10 months, allowing the conditioning of typical associated soil biota for each of the plant species. We created 'home' soils by taking the conditioned soil from each of the eight representative species in a mesocosm and mixing it together to create a single inoculum. Each 'home' soil mixture was also used as an 'away soil' in a different mesocosm that did not contain any of the representative plants in that inoculum. These soils were intended to increase the relative biomass in inocula of specialized and preferred interaction partners of the resident (or non-resident) plant species. Invertebrate insect herbivore populations were added into half of the mesocosms with home soils and half with away soils. Thirteen invertebrate herbivore species introduced into the mesocosms successfully established, along with seven self-colonizing species, totaling 20 species in all. All mesocosms were sealed with mesh cages (15% shade factor) designed to retain added herbivores and exclude others from entering. In each mesocosm, we measured distinct ecosystem properties and processes that are relevant to carbon cycling dynamics: above and belowground biomass; total in situ soil respiration; basal respiration; microbial biomass (measured as substrate-induced respiration); decomposition (rate of standardized substrate mass loss); soil organic matter; nitrogen availability; herbivore biomass; arbuscular mycorrhizal and other fungal biomass (using neutral- and phospho-lipid fatty acid [NLFA and PLFA] biomarkers, respectively); and bacterial biomass (PLFA).

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →

Polygenic basis for adaptive morphological variation in a threatened Aotearoa | New Zealand bird, the hihi (Notiomystis cincta)

To predict if a threatened species can adapt to changing selective pressures, it is crucial to understand the genetic basis of adaptive traits, especially in species historically affected by severe bottlenecks. We estimated the heritability of three hihi (Notiomystis cincta) morphological traits known to be under selection: nestling tarsus length, body mass and head-bill length, using 523 individuals and 39,699 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from a 50K Affymetrix SNP chip. We then examined the genetic architecture of the traits via chromosome partitioning analyses and genome-wide association scans (GWAS). Heritabilities estimated using pedigree relatedness or genomic relatedness were low. For tarsus length, the proportion of genetic variance explained by each chromosome was positively correlated with its size, and more than one chromosome explained significant variation for body mass and head-bill length. Finally, GWAS analyses suggested many loci of small effect contributing to trait variation for all three traits, although one locus (a SNP within an intron of the transcription factor HEY2) was tentatively associated with tarsus length. Our findings suggest a polygenic nature for the morphological traits, with many small effect size loci contributing to the majority of the variation, similar to results from many other wild populations. However, the small effective population size, polygenic architecture and already low heritabilities suggest that both the total response and rate of response to selection are likely to be limited in hihi.

opencc-zeroNov 2020View details →

Persisting in a glaciated landscape: Pleistocene microrefugia evidenced by the tree wētā Hemideina maori in central South Island, New Zealand

Aim: Repeated cycles of Pleistocene glaciation have influenced phylogeographic structure of taxa on New Zealand's South Island. Many taxa became restricted to refugia at either end of the island during glaciation, resulting in an area of low endemicity in central South Island. This area of low endemism is typified by the so-called beech (or biotic) gap, where the absence of Nothofagus forest (and many other plant and invertebrate taxa) has been attributed to repeated glaciation. Some taxa, however, appear to have persisted in situ in localized refugia within the biotic gap. We test these alternative hypotheses in a large flightless alpine wētā (grasshopper). Location: Southern Alps, South Island, New Zealand Taxon: Hemideina maori Pictet & Saussure, 1891 (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae) Methods: We used phylogeographic analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (cox1) and twenty-five nuclear DNA (nuDNA) markers to test for Pleistocene glacial microrefugia within the current montane South Island range of Hemideina maori. Results: We identified eight deeply differentiated mtDNA lineages with limited sharing of haplotypes among populations. Genetic differentiation assessed using nuDNA revealed a similar pattern, with three groups broadly corresponding to the deepest mtDNA splits. The central South Island region exhibits substantial endemic mtDNA diversity and a distinctive nuclear lineage. Main conclusions: These results indicate that H. maori likely persisted in microrefugia within the biotic gap during glaciation. These deep lineages are estimated to have started diverging prior to the initiation of glaciation, up to 3 Ma. These results add to a growing number of Southern Hemisphere examples of deep phyleogeographic differentiation in glaciated regions compared to Europe and North America, probably reflecting less intense glaciation. We suggest that other Southern Alps species showing northern and southern clades alone, are more montane than alpine, and were reliant on warmer habitat to the north and south during glacial eras. Thus, there are species-specific responses to climatic processes, influenced by distinctive habitat requirements and physiological traits.

opencc-zeroNov 2020View details →

Multiple lineages of hyper-diverse Zopheridae beetles survived the New Zealand Oligocene Drowning

Aim: During the late Oligocene (23 mya) the New Zealand landmass was reduced to approximately 18% of its current area. It has been hypothesized that this event, known as the Oligocene Drowning, caused population bottlenecking and mass extinction. Using phylogenetic methods, we examine the effect of this and other environmental events on the hyper-diverse Zopheridae beetles (162 morpho-species), which largely inhabit leaf litter and dead wood. Location: New Zealand Taxon: Zopheridae, Coleoptera Methods: Here we use a fossil-calibrated phylogenetic tree estimated from mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 and nuclear large subunit rRNA genes to identify monophyletic New Zealand zopherid lineages and date the age of these lineages. We used Bayesian diversification models (compound Poisson process on mass-extinction times) to test the hypothesis that the New Zealand zopherids underwent a mass extinction in the late Oligocene followed by an increase in speciation rate in the Miocene. We also used these data to estimate the age of these lineages in New Zealand. Results: We demonstrate that 15 to 20 zopherid lineages survived the Oligocene Drowning depending on the calibration scheme. Of these lineages from three to 11 have posterior intervals that encompass the rifting of New Zealand from Gondwana in the late Cretaceous, again depending on the calibration scheme. The diversification model shows no evidence of an increase in extinction rate during the Oligocene Drowning or during any other period since the Cretaceous. Furthermore, rather than recovering an increase in speciation rate during the Miocene and Pliocene, due to environmental changes, we instead recovered a large drop in the speciation rate during this time. Main conclusion: The New Zealand zopherid fauna is a combination of lineages, some of which may have existed on New Zealand since the rifting from Gondwana and other more recent arrivals. The late-Oligocene reduction in land area was insufficient to cause a mass extinction in the Zopheridae. This suggests the amount of emergent land was great enough to support a diverse invertebrate fauna. Our study demonstrates the different biogeographic patterns evident in cryptic, hyperdiverse, and poorly dispersing invertebrate species relative to more mobile plants and animals.

FIGURES 26A–D in Sexual Dimorphism of New Zealand Puppet Beetles (Aderidae, Coleoptera, Tenebrionoidea): Systematic Revision, Description of Three New Genera, and Phylogeny for Zenascus, gen. n.

FIGURES 26A–D. Distribution maps. (A) Scraptogetus anthracinus, (B) Scraptogetus arboreus, (C) Transrenus thulater, sp. n. and Pseudozena denticulata, sp. n., and (D) Zenascus antennalis.

FIGURES 22A–E in Sexual Dimorphism of New Zealand Puppet Beetles (Aderidae, Coleoptera, Tenebrionoidea): Systematic Revision, Description of Three New Genera, and Phylogeny for Zenascus, gen. n.

FIGURES 22A–E. Abdominal ventrite illustrations for Zenascus species showing generalized punctation pattern. (A) Z. antennalis, male; (B) Z. xenarthrus, male; (C) Z. roberti, sp. n., male; (D) Z. luniger, male; (E) Z. incensum, sp. n., male.

FIGURES 21A–E in Sexual Dimorphism of New Zealand Puppet Beetles (Aderidae, Coleoptera, Tenebrionoidea): Systematic Revision, Description of Three New Genera, and Phylogeny for Zenascus, gen. n.

FIGURES 21A–E. Abdominal ventrite illustrations for Zenascus species showing generalized punctation pattern. (A) Z. coloratus (Broun), male; (B) Z. obscurus (Broun), male; (C) Z. aurum, sp. n., male; (D) Z. nitidus (Broun), male; (E) Z. elenae, sp. n., male.

FIGURES 17A–D in Sexual Dimorphism of New Zealand Puppet Beetles (Aderidae, Coleoptera, Tenebrionoidea): Systematic Revision, Description of Three New Genera, and Phylogeny for Zenascus, gen. n.

FIGURES 17A–D. Scanning electron microscope images, Zenascus species, metatibia (A) Z. nitidus, male; (B) Z. nitidus, female; (C) Z. elenae, sp. n., male; (D) Z. elenae, sp. n., female. Scale bars = 30μm.

FIGURES 13A–H in Sexual Dimorphism of New Zealand Puppet Beetles (Aderidae, Coleoptera, Tenebrionoidea): Systematic Revision, Description of Three New Genera, and Phylogeny for Zenascus, gen. n.

FIGURES 13A–H. Zenascus obscurus, scanning electron micrographs. (A) head, frontal view; (B) antenna; (C) pronotum (D) proleg; (E) metatibia; (F) metaventrite; (G) abdomen; (H) tergite VII.

FIGURES 10A–C in Sexual Dimorphism of New Zealand Puppet Beetles (Aderidae, Coleoptera, Tenebrionoidea): Systematic Revision, Description of Three New Genera, and Phylogeny for Zenascus, gen. n.

FIGURES 10A–C. Male genitalia illustrations. (A) Scraptogetus anthracinus; (B) Transrenus thulater, sp. n.; and (C) Pseudozena denticulata, sp. n.

FIGURES 20A–J in Sexual Dimorphism of New Zealand Puppet Beetles (Aderidae, Coleoptera, Tenebrionoidea): Systematic Revision, Description of Three New Genera, and Phylogeny for Zenascus, gen. n.

FIGURES 20A–J. Scanning electron microscope images, ventral view of metafemora for Zenascus species. (A) Z. coloratus, male; (B) Z. obscurus, male; (C) Z. aurum, sp. n., male; (D) Z. nitidus, female; (E) Z. elenae, sp. n., male; (F) Z. antennalis, female; (G) Z. xenarthrus, male; (H) Z. roberti, sp. n., male; (I) Z. luniger, male; (J) Z. incensum, sp. n., male. Scale bars = 60μm.

FIGURE 25 in Sexual Dimorphism of New Zealand Puppet Beetles (Aderidae, Coleoptera, Tenebrionoidea): Systematic Revision, Description of Three New Genera, and Phylogeny for Zenascus, gen. n.

FIGURE 25. One of two most parsimonious trees recovered from Maximum Parsimony (MP) phylogenetic analysis based on 19 morphological characters for the New Zealand species of Zenascus. (L = 39; CI = 0.61; RI = 0.72). Numbers above branches indicate Bremer (Decay index) support values.