We review progress made during the last 25 years in our understanding of the Protopityales, Early Carboniferous plants belonging to the extinct group of the progymnosperms. Recent studies support previous observations that the only genus of this order, Protopitys, included large arborescent plant with trunks up to 1 m in diameter. All branch orders had an oval eustele, secondary xylem with small rays and tracheid pitting ranging from circular bordered to scalariform bordered, and vascular traces to lateral appendages emitted in an alternate to subopposite distichous arrangement. Leaf morphology remains unknown. New material also confirms that fertile organs of Protopitys consist of branching systems bearing elongated sporangia terminally. Spores have a perispore and range in two size groups, which has been interpreted as a primitive stage of heterospory. The dense wood and fertile parts of Protopitys are comparable to those of the aneurophytalean progymnosperms of the Devonian, but Protopitys is distinct by its eustelic primary vascular system, and its affinities are still uncertain. The genus is now documented from at least nine localities in Europe, North America and Australia. Recent discoveries also indicate that it was present through the whole Mississippian, from the middle Tournaisian to the Serpukhovian.
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DNA BARCODING OF FIRE ANTS AND THIEF ANTS (GENUS SOLENOPSIS) OF THE ECUADORIAN ANDES AS A TOOL FOR BIODIVERSITY RESEARCH SONET, G. (1), Nagy, Z. T. (1), Jacquemin, J. (2), Wauters, N. (2), Delsinne, T. (2), Leponce, M. (2) (1) Joint Experimental Molecular Unit, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels & Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium (2) Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences & Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Lightning Talk, Barcoding Insects 2, Napier 208, Friday, 15:00 to 15:07 Poster Location: B25 Members of the genus Solenopsis are among the most abundant ants in tropical rainforests. They are represented by more than 200 described species worldwide and some are dreadful invasive species. The identification to the species level is hampered by a dearth of diagnostic morphological characters and represents a serious limitative step in biodiversity inventories and in the study of invasive species. We set up and validated a DNA barcoding procedure to identify ants of the genus Solenopsis collected in the Podocarpus National Park of the Ecuadorian Andes. Complete specimens were used for DNA extraction and subsequently preserved as vouchers to allow further morphological analysis. More than 14 new molecular operational taxonomic units were identified by the standard DNA barcode fragment. In some cases specimens from a single morpho-species occurring at different altitudes could be distinguished. This study resulted in an appropriate laboratory protocol and a reference library useful to identify ants of the genus Solenopsis in the Ecuadorian Andes.
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