A New Dimension in Documenting New Species: High-Detail Imaging for Myriapod Taxonomy and First 3D Cybertype of a New Millipede Species (Diplopoda, Julida, Julidae)

Akkari, Nesrine; Enghoff, Henrik; Metscher, Brian

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0135243

Cited by 72 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…We chose to describe both species integratively (Padial et al 2010), using drawings and scanning-electron microscopy (Oatley et al 1966) combined with genetic barcoding (Hebert et al 2003;Hebert & Gregory 2005). For only the second time in Diplopoda taxonomy (Akkari et al 2015), we also use micro-CT technology (Ritman 2004) to study and visualize internal structures non-invasively. …”

Section: R E S E a R C H A R T I C L Ementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Already Akkari et al (2015) showed the great potential of micro-CT in millipede taxonomy. It can be used to visualize and infer internal morphological characters, which can be exploited not only for the species description itself, but also for subsequent morphological phylogenetic reconstruction as demonstrated by Blanke & Wesener (2014).…”

Section: Micro-ct In Taxonomy and Phylogenymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Integrative description of two new species of Malagasy chirping giant pill-millipedes, genus Sphaeromimus (Diplopoda: Sphaerotheriida: Arthrosphaeridae)

Moritz‍

Wesener‍

2017

EJT

774

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Abstract. The species-rich giant pill-millipedes (Sphaerotheriida) often represent a microendemic component of Madagascar's mega-invertebrate fauna. Of the chirping genus Sphaeromimus de Saussure & Zehntner, 1902, ten species have been described. Here, we describe two new species of Sphaeromimus integratively, combining light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, DNA barcoding and micro-CT technology for the first time in a taxonomic description of a giant pillmillipede. S. kalambatritra sp. nov. and S. midongy sp. nov. are the first giant pill-millipedes collected and described from the mountainous rainforests of Kalambatritra and Midongy. Both species show island gigantism compared to their congeners. Our analysis of the mitochondrial COI gene shows that the two species are related to one another with a moderate genetic distance (9.4%), while they are more closely related to an undetermined specimen from the forest of Vevembe (6.3% and 8.4%). They stand in a basal position with S. ivohibe S. musicus (de Saussure & Zehntner, 1897). The four aforementioned species share a high number of stridulation ribs on the male harp. Our micro-CT analysis provides a look into the head of S. kalambatritra sp. nov. and shows that non-destructive CT methods are a useful tool for studying the inner morphology of giant pill-millipedes.

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Section: R E S E a R C H A R T I C L Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Micro-ct In Taxonomy and Phylogenymentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrative description of two new species of Malagasy chirping giant pill-millipedes, genus Sphaeromimus (Diplopoda: Sphaerotheriida: Arthrosphaeridae)

Moritz‍

Wesener‍

2017

EJT

774

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“…However, long‐lasting online repositories such as Digital Morphology Library (http://www.digimorph.org), Dryad Digital Repository (http://datadryad.org), MorphoBank (https://morphobank.org), MorphoSource (http://morphosource.org), and Science3D (https://www.science3d.org) provide storage facilities to ease the publication of datasets and accessibility to the scanned specimens. Outstanding examples of this possibility are the cybertypes of recently described species (Akkari et al., 2015) and online repositories of fossils (UMORF, https://umorf.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/). …”

Section: Processing Of X‐ray Ct Imagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fields such as taxonomy (Akkari, Enghoff, & Metscher, 2015; Faulwetter, Vasileiadou, Kouratoras, Dailianis, & Arvanitidis, 2013; Fernández, Kvist, Lenihan, Giribet, & Ziegler, 2014) and morphology (Mattei, Riccio, Avila, & Wolfner, 2015; Wipfler et al., 2016) have greatly benefited from μ‐CT technique. However, most studies to date have focused on in‐depth studies of single individuals, and organisms′ responses to environmental drivers were only rarely considered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

X‐ray computed tomography and its potential in ecological research: A review of studies and optimization of specimen preparation

Gutiérrez

Ott

Töpperwien

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Imaging techniques are a cornerstone of contemporary biology. Over the last decades, advances in microscale imaging techniques have allowed fascinating new insights into cell and tissue morphology and internal anatomy of organisms across kingdoms. However, most studies so far provided snapshots of given reference taxa, describing organs and tissues under “idealized” conditions. Surprisingly, there is an almost complete lack of studies investigating how an organism′s internal morphology changes in response to environmental drivers. Consequently, ecology as a scientific discipline has so far almost neglected the possibilities arising from modern microscale imaging techniques. Here, we provide an overview of recent developments of X‐ray computed tomography as an affordable, simple method of high spatial resolution, allowing insights into three‐dimensional anatomy both in vivo and ex vivo. We review ecological studies using this technique to investigate the three‐dimensional internal structure of organisms. In addition, we provide practical comparisons between different preparation techniques for maximum contrast and tissue differentiation. In particular, we consider the novel modality of phase contrast by self‐interference of the X‐ray wave behind an object (i.e., phase contrast by free space propagation). Using the cricket Acheta domesticus (L.) as model organism, we found that the combination of FAE fixative and iodine staining provided the best results across different tissues. The drying technique also affected contrast and prevented artifacts in specific cases. Overall, we found that for the interests of ecological studies, X‐ray computed tomography is useful when the tissue or structure of interest has sufficient contrast that allows for an automatic or semiautomatic segmentation. In particular, we show that reconstruction schemes which exploit phase contrast can yield enhanced image quality. Combined with suitable specimen preparation and automated analysis, X‐ray CT can therefore become a promising quantitative 3D imaging technique to study organisms′ responses to environmental drivers, in both ecology and evolution.

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“…Analyses that use the number of authors per species description as a proxy for effort [19] ignore the global trend for an increasing number of authors per paper [2], and assume that the effort required per species description has remained constant over time. An alternative interpretation is that the quality of taxonomic description is increasing over time [36], reflecting both increased thoroughness and the availability of new technologies [37,5]. Rather than try and estimate an unknown (the number of species remaining to be described), here I focus on the current state of taxonomic knowledge.…”

Section: Taxonomymentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA barcoding and taxonomy: dark taxa and dark texts

Page

2016

Preprint

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Both classical taxonomy and DNA barcoding are engaged in the task of digitising the living world. Much of the taxonomic literature remains undigitised. The rise of open access publishing this century, and the freeing of older literature from the shackles of copyright has greatly increased the online availability of taxonomic descriptions, but much of the literature of the mid-to late twentieth century remains offline ("dark texts"). DNA barcoding is generating a wealth of computable data that in many ways is much easier to work with than classical taxonomic descriptions, but many of the sequences are not identified to species level. These "dark taxa" hamper the classical method of integrating biodiversity data using shared taxonomic names. Voucher specimens are a potential common currency of both the taxonomic literature and sequence databases, and could be used to help link names, literature, and sequences. An obstacle to this approach is the lack of stable, resolvable specimen identifiers. The paper concludes with an appeal for a global "digital dashboard" to assess the extent to which biodiversity data is available online.

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A New Dimension in Documenting New Species: High-Detail Imaging for Myriapod Taxonomy and First 3D Cybertype of a New Millipede Species (Diplopoda, Julida, Julidae)

Cited by 72 publications

References 39 publications

Integrative description of two new species of Malagasy chirping giant pill-millipedes, genus Sphaeromimus (Diplopoda: Sphaerotheriida: Arthrosphaeridae)

Integrative description of two new species of Malagasy chirping giant pill-millipedes, genus Sphaeromimus (Diplopoda: Sphaerotheriida: Arthrosphaeridae)

X‐ray computed tomography and its potential in ecological research: A review of studies and optimization of specimen preparation

DNA barcoding and taxonomy: dark taxa and dark texts

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