English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Mackenziella   psocoides    Hammer, 1953 (  Collembola  :   Mackenziellidae  ) is a widespread but uncommon springtail. Its unusual body shape (ovoid, with partial coalescence of abdominal segments) has puzzled the specialists for a long time, until the discovery of males allowed to relate the species to a family of globular springtails, the   Sminthurididae  . Yet, the precise phylogenetic position of    M.   psocoides   , and hence of the   Mackenziellidae  , remained ambiguous. In this work, we report a new locality for    M.   psocoides    in Germany. We provide the first DNA sequences (nuclear ribosomal DNA operon) for the species, as well as the first images using scanning electron microscopy. We investigate its phylogenetic position based on the molecular data and specify details on its morphology. Our results show that    M.   psocoides    is nested inside of   Sminthurididae  , as the sister group of    Sphaeridia    Linnaniemi, 1912. Consequently,   Mackenziellidae   syn. nov.  is here synonymized with   Sminthurididae  . We include    Mackenziella    and    Sphaeridia    in the   Sphaeridiainae   subfam. nov. , a replacement name for   Sphaeridiinae   Richard, 1968 that is a junior homonym of   Sphaeridiinae   Latreille, 1802 (  Coleoptera  :   Hydrophilidae  ). Corresponding to its phylogenetic position within   Sminthurididae  , the evolutionary origin of    M.   psocoides    is younger than previously thought (79 mya +/- 35 my). The lineage accumulated an unusual amount of body modifications involving, among others, the loss of the globular body shape. This rapid rate of evolution is, to our knowledge, unique in springtails. It shows that globular body shape is not an evolutionary dead-end, and the secondary acquisition of a linear body shape and recovery of longitudinal flexibility is still possible.

Breakaway from a globular body shape: molecular phylogeny reveals the evolutionary history of the enigmatic springtail Mackenziella psocoides