The thorax morphology of Epiophlebia (Insecta: Odonata) nymphs – including remarks on ontogenesis and evolution

Büsse, Sebastian; Helmker, Benjamin; Hörnschemeyer, Thomas

doi:10.1038/srep12835

Cited by 19 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…We studied four odonate larvae, Coenagrion puella (Linnaeus, 1758) (Zygoptera), Aeshna cyanea Müller, 1764 (Anisoptera), E. superstes , and E. laidlawi , representing the three major lineages within Odonata. Concerning the inner and outer anatomy, we relied on penultimate instars to avoid describing features characterstic of adult anatomy (Büsse & Hörnschemeyer, ; Büsse et al ., in press). Despite this, character 2 (‘Distance between the eyes’) was coded from the ultimate instar in order to avoid confusion with other character matrices and taxonomic keys.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coding characters from different life stages for phylogenetic reconstruction: a case study on dragonfly adults and larvae, including a description of the larval head anatomy ofEpiophlebia superstes(Odonata: Epiophlebiidae)

2015

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The exclusive use of characters coding for specific life stages may bias tree reconstruction. If characters from several life stages are coded, the type of coding becomes important. Here, we simulate the influence on tree reconstruction of morphological characters of Odonata larvae incorporated into a data matrix based on the adult body under different coding schemes. For testing purposes, our analysis is focused on a well-supported hypothesis: the relationships of the suborders Zygoptera, 'Anisozygoptera', and Anisoptera. We studied the cephalic morphology of Epiophlebia, a key taxon among Odonata, and compared it with representatives of Zygoptera and Anisoptera in order to complement the data matrix. Odonate larvae are characterized by a peculiar morphology, such as the specific head form, mouthpart configuration, ridge configuration, cephalic musculature, and leg and gill morphology. Four coding strategies were used to incorporate the larval data: artificial coding (AC), treating larvae as independent terminal taxa; non-multistate coding (NMC), preferring the adult life stage; multistate coding (MC); and coding larval and adult characters separately (SC) within the same taxon. As expected, larvae are 'monophyletic' in the AC strategy, but with anisopteran and zygopteran larvae as sister groups. Excluding larvae in the NMC approach leads to strong support for both monophyletic Odonata and Epiprocta, whereas MC erodes phylogenetic signal completely. This is an obvious result of the larval morphology leading to many multistate characters. SC results in the strongest support for Odonata, and Epiprocta receives the same support as with NMC. Our results show the deleterious effects of larval morphology on tree reconstruction when multistate coding is applied. Coding larval characters separately is still the best approach in a phylogenetic framework.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coding characters from different life stages for phylogenetic reconstruction: a case study on dragonfly adults and larvae, including a description of the larval head anatomy ofEpiophlebia superstes(Odonata: Epiophlebiidae)

2015

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“…[31] established this technique in insect morphology in 2002. µCT combines user friendliness with powerful computational applications to study small- to medium-sized insects. Meanwhile, there are numerous comprehensive studies investigating each tagma of insects: insect head [32,33], insect thorax [27,34], insect abdomen [35,36] and even smaller body parts [5,37]. The advantages of μCT are that it is non-invasive, comparatively rapid, almost free of artefacts, and allow for a three-dimensional reconstruction at convenient nanotomographical resolutions less than 0.1 µm [21] depending on the set-up used for data acquisition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More detailed information on reconstruction, segmentation and visualization can be found for example in Büsse et al . [27]. …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three-dimensional reconstruction on cell level: case study elucidates the ultrastructure of the spinning apparatus of Embia sp. (Insecta: Embioptera)

2016

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Spinning is a phenomenon not only present in spiders, but also in many other arthropods. The functional morphology and complexity of spinning organs is often poorly understood. Their elements are minute and studying them poses substantial methodological difficulties. This study presents a three-dimensional reconstruction of a silk gland of Embia sp. on cellular level, based on serial sections acquired with serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBFSEM) to showcase the power of this method. Previous studies achieved either high resolution to elucidate the ultrastructure or satisfying three-dimensional representations. The high-resolution achieved by SBFSEM can be easily used to reconstruct the three-dimensional ultrastructural organization of cellular structures. The herein investigated spinning apparatus of Embioptera can be taken as an example demonstrating the potential of this method. It was possible to reconstruct a multinucleated silk gland containing 63 nuclei. We focused on the applicability of this method in the field of morphological research and provide a step-by-step guide to the methodology. This will help in applying the method to other arthropod taxa and will help significantly in adapting the method to other animals, animal parts and tissues.

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“…Please refer to Betz et al [37] for further information on the general setup for SRμCT and to Büsse et al [38] for information on segmentation, labelling and visualization with Amira.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The head morphology of Pyrrhosoma nymphula larvae (Odonata: Zygoptera) focusing on functional aspects of the mouthparts

2017

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BackgroundThe understanding of concerted movements and its underlying biomechanics is often complex and elusive. Functional principles and hypothetical functions of these complex movements can provide a solid basis for biomechanical experiments and modelling. Here a description of the cephalic anatomy of Pyrrhosoma nymphula (Zygoptera, Coenagrionidae) focusing on functional aspects of the mouthparts using micro computed tomography (μCT) is presented.ResultsWe compared six different instars of the damselfly P. nymphula as well as one instar of the dragonfly Aeshna cyanea and Epiophlebia superstes each. In total 42 head muscles were described with only minor differences of the attachment points between the examined species and the absence of antennal muscle M. scapopedicellaris medialis (0an7) in Epiophlebia as a probable apomorphy of this group. Furthermore, the ontogenetic differences between the six larval instars are minor; the only considerable finding is the change of M. submentopraementalis (0la8), which is dichotomous in the early instars (I1,I2 and I3) with a second point of origin at the postero-lateral base of the submentum. This dichotomy is not present in any of the older instars studied (I6, middle-late and pen-ultimate).ConclusionHowever, the main focus of the study herein, is to use these detailed morphological descriptions as basis for hypothetic functional models of the odonatan mouthparts. We present blueprint like description of the mouthparts and their musculature, highlighting the caused direction of motion for every single muscle. This data will help to elucidate the complex concerted movements of the mouthparts and will contribute to the understanding of its biomechanics not in Odonata only.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12983-017-0209-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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The thorax morphology of Epiophlebia (Insecta: Odonata) nymphs – including remarks on ontogenesis and evolution

Cited by 19 publications

References 19 publications

Coding characters from different life stages for phylogenetic reconstruction: a case study on dragonfly adults and larvae, including a description of the larval head anatomy ofEpiophlebia superstes(Odonata: Epiophlebiidae)

Coding characters from different life stages for phylogenetic reconstruction: a case study on dragonfly adults and larvae, including a description of the larval head anatomy ofEpiophlebia superstes(Odonata: Epiophlebiidae)

Three-dimensional reconstruction on cell level: case study elucidates the ultrastructure of the spinning apparatus of Embia sp. (Insecta: Embioptera)

The head morphology of Pyrrhosoma nymphula larvae (Odonata: Zygoptera) focusing on functional aspects of the mouthparts

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