Aim Capuchin monkey species are widely distributed across Central and South America. Morphological studies consistently divide the clade into robust and gracile forms, which show extensive sympatry in the Amazon Basin. We use genetic data to test whether Miocene or Plio-Pleistocene processes may explain capuchin species' present distributions, and consider three possible scenarios to explain widespread sympatry.Location The Neotropics, including the Amazon and Atlantic Coastal Forest.Methods We sequenced the 12S ribosomal RNA and cytochrome b genes from capuchin monkey specimens. The majority were sampled from US museum collections and were wild-caught individuals of known provenance across their distribution. We applied a Bayesian discrete-states diffusion model, which reconstructed the most probable history of invasion across nine subregions. We used comparative methods to test for phylogeographic association and dispersal rate variation.

Dark septate root endophytic fungi from plants growing on either side of an abrupt wetland–upland ecotone included isolates of Phialocephala fortinii Wang & Wilcox, Leptodontidium orchidicola Sigler & Currah, Hetero conium chaetospira (Grove) Ellis, and a hitherto undescribed fungus resembling P. fortinii. Six isolates of this species were recovered and were distinctive in (i) producing an orange–tan diffusible pigment in culture, (ii) causing a yellow colour shift on casamino acids medium containing bromocresol purple, (iii) having the ability to liquefy gelatin, and microscopically, (iv) forming hyaline conidia from phialides arranged in large spherical heads after prolonged incubation at 5 °C. First-formed or primary conidia are bullet shaped, 1–1.5 µm × 2–3 µm; subsequent conidia are spherical and 1–1.5 µm in diameter. Small subunit and internal transcribed spacer region sequence comparisons with P. fortinii and other Phialocephala species supported placing these six unique strains in a new species, Phialocephala sphaeroides B.J. Wilson sp. nov. Phylogenetic analyses also suggest that P. sphaeroides is affiliated with mollisioid taxa in the Dermateaceae. In contrast with P. fortinii, which was isolated on both sides of the ecotone, P. sphaeroides was obtained only from plants in the highly acidic, Sphagnum-dominated wetland habitat and not from the same species in the less acidic, aspen-dominated upland site.Key words: inoperculate discomycetes, phialidic anamorph, Helotiales, root endophytes, Loramycetaceae, Dermateaceae, Mollisia.

Many well-preserved bones of medium-sized goose have been recovered from the Zeto Point archaeological site (ADK-011) on Adak Island in the central Aleutians, Alaska, that date to ca. 170–415 years before present based on conventional radiometric dates of the deposits. This prehistoric sample includes remains of adults and unfledged goslings that defied confident identification based on osteological criteria. While the presence of newborns indicates that Adak was a breeding ground, which species was doing the nesting remained uncertain. Of the five species of medium-sized goose (order Anseriformes, family Anatidae) known or presumed to visit Adak Island, three are rarely sighted. The only common visitor is the Emperor Goose ( Chen canagica (Sevastianov, 1802)). The Aleutian Cackling Goose ( Branta hutchinsii leucopareia (Brandt, 1836)) breeds elsewhere in the Aleutians but does not currently breed on Adak Island and there are no records of it nesting there in the past. Here DNA sequences from portions of the cytochrome b (cytb) gene and the control region (CR) of the mitochondrial genome were recovered from 28 of 29 Adak prehistoric goose remains. All adult specimens identified to species were either C. canagica or B. h. leuopareia, but all specifically identified juvenile specimens were B. h. leuopareia. The results demonstrate that Adak Island was a breeding ground of the Aleutian Cackling Goose prior to European contact.