Fungal research is experiencing a new wave of methodological improvements that most probably will boost mycology as profoundly as molecular phylogeny has done during the last 15 years. Especially the next generation sequencing technologies can be expected to have a tremendous effect on fungal biodiversity and ecology research. In order to realise the full potential of these exciting techniques by accelerating biodiversity assessments, identification procedures of fungi need to be adapted to the emerging demands of modern large-scale ecological studies. But how should fungal species be identified in the near future? While the answer might seem trivial to most microbiologists, taxonomists working with fungi may have other views. In the present review, we will analyse the state of the art of the so-called barcoding initiatives in the light of fungi, and we will seek to evaluate emerging trends in the field. We will furthermore demonstrate that the usability of DNA barcoding as a major tool for identification of fungi largely depends on the development of high-quality sequence databases that are thoroughly curated by taxonomists and systematists.

The homologies of mammalian skull elements are now fairly well established, except for the controversial interparietal bone. A previous experimental study reported an intriguing mixed origin of the interparietal: the medial portion being derived from the neural crest cells, whereas the lateral portion from the mesoderm. The evolutionary history of such mixed origin remains unresolved, and contradictory reports on the presence or absence and developmental patterns of the interparietal among mammals have complicated the question of its homology. Here we provide an alternative perspective on the evolutionary identity of the interparietal, based on a comprehensive study across more than 300 extinct and extant taxa, integrating embryological and paleontological data. Although the interparietal has been regarded as being lost in various lineages, our investigation on embryos demonstrates its presence in all extant mammalian "orders." The generally accepted paradigm has regarded the interparietal as consisting of two elements that are homologized to the postparietals of basal amniotes. The tabular bones have been postulated as being lost during the rise of modern mammals. However, our results demonstrate that the interparietal consists not of two but of four elements. We propose that the tabulars of basal amniotes are conserved as the lateral interparietal elements, which quickly fuse to the medial elements at the embryonic stage, and that the postparietals are homologous to the medial elements. Hence, the dual developmental origin of the mammalian interparietal can be explained as the evolutionary consequence of the fusion between the crest-derived "postparietals" and the mesoderm-derived "tabulars." embryology | morphological evolution | synapsids | fossil | occipital

Sequence data from nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA was used to infer phylogenetic relationships of selected genera of the Uredinales. We investigated 52 rust fungi representing nine families and three outgroup species. Neighbor joining analysis and a Bayesian method of phylogenetic inference using Monte Carlo Markov chains confirm the rust fungi as a natural group and indicate that Puccinia, Uromyces, Endophyllum, and Cumminsiella have a common origin. The autoecious Rosaceae-rusts Phragmidium, Kuehneola, Triphragmium, and Trachyspora are a monophyletic group. The gasteroid genus Ochropsora is closely related to Tranzschelia. While the Pucciniastreae sensu Dietel (1938) is recognized as a monophyletic group in neighbor joining analysis, the Pucciniaceae s.l. (Dietel 1928) is supported by Bayesian analysis. The following genera appear to be monophyletic: Chrysomyxa, Coleosporium, Cronartium, Gymnosporangium, Melampsora, Phragmidium, and Tranzschelia, whereas the genera Puccinia, Pucciniastrum, Thekopsora, and Uromyces are not.Key words: molecular phylogeny, systematics, nuclear large subunit rDNA, Basidiomycota, Urediniomycetes, Uredinales.

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Primitive mammals are considered macrosmatic. They have very large and complicated nasal capsules, nasal cavities with extensive olfactory epithelia, and relatively large olfactory bulbs. The complicated structures of the nasal capsule follow a relatively conservative "bauplan," which is normally easy to see in earlier fetal stages; especially in altricial taxa it differentiates well into postnatal life. As anteriormost part of the chondrocranium, the nasal capsule is at first cartilaginous. Most of it ossifies endochondrally, but "appositional bone" ("Zuwachsknochen") is also common. Many fetal structures become resorbed. Together, all surviving bone structures form the ethmoid bone, but cartilages of the external nose and of the vomeronasal complex can persist throughout life. We describe in detail the anatomy of Daubentonia madagascariensis based on a fetal stage (41 mm HL) and an adult skull was analyzed by mCT. We found that the nasal capsule of this species is by far the most complicated one of all extant Primates. We also describe older fetuses of Homo sapiens (35 and 63 mm HL) as representative of a derived primate. The most significant feature of man-and probably of all anthropoids-is the complete loss of the recessus frontoturbinalis and its associated structures. It can be demonstrated that the evolutionary reductions within the primate Abbreviations used: ahy 5 ala hypochiasmatica; ane 5 apertura nasi externa; aor 5 ala orbitalis; at 5 atrioturbinale; az 5 arcus zygomaticus; bol 5 bulbus olfactorius; cat 5 concha atrioturbinalis; cdnp 5 cartilago ductus nasopalatini; cna 5 cupula nasi anterior; cnp 5 cupula nasi posterior; con 5 commissura orbitonasalis; cpa 5 cartilago paraseptalis anterior; cpal 5 cartilago palatina; cse 5 concha septalis; css 5 cartilago supraseptalis; ctu 5 cartilago tubaria; dI 5 deciduous incisor; dni 5 ductus nasi inferior; dnl 5 ductus nasolacrimalis; dnp 5 ductus nasopalatinus (Steno); dvn 5 ductus vomeronasalis; et 5 ethmoturbinale; et a 5 ethmoturbinale lamina anterior; et p 5 ethmoturbinale lamina posterior; fop 5 foramen opticum; fr 5 frontale; ft 5 frontoturbinale; gnl 5 glandula nasi lateralis; hmx 5 hiatus maxillaris; it 5 interturbinale; ju 5 jugale; la 5 lacrimale; lcr 5 lamina cribrosa; lh 5 lamina horizontalis; hsl 5 hiatus semilunaris; lor 5 lamina orbitalis; lsc 5 lamina semicircularis; lta 5 lamina transversalis anterior; lte 5 lamina terminalis; ltp 5 lamina transversalis posterior; ltr 5 lamina trabecularis; mt (mat) 5 marginoturbinale; met 5 mesethmoid; mx 5 maxillare; mxt 5 maxilloturbinale; na 5 nasale; nph 5 ductus nasopharyngeus; nt (nat) 5 nasoturbinale; nop 5 nervus opticus; osp 5 orbitosphenoid; ovn 5 organon vomeronasale (Jacobson); pal 5 palatinum; pao 5 planum antorbitale; pas 5 processus alaris superior; pet 5 processus ethmoidalis orbitosphenoidei; pmp 5 processus maxillaris posterior; pmx 5 praemaxillare; pna 5 paries nasi; ppp 5 processus paraseptalis posterius; ppt 5 processus pterygoideus; prl 5 prominentia lateralis; psp 5 praespheno...