Zoological Research

261-262

Authors: Shan YU

New challenge for bionics—brain-inspired computing

270-274

Authors: Xue-Hong ZHOU, Xiao-Tong WAN, Yu-Hui JIN, Wei ZHANG

In recent years, wildlife conservation has attracted great public attention. However, substantial distinctions can be found in the prevailing concepts of wildlife conservation, particularly with the recent notion that emphasizes animal rights. Wildlife welfare and wildlife rights are not synonymous, with welfare more compatible with the reasonable and legal utilization of wildlife. The key to scientific wildlife conservation is the appropriate awareness and appreciation of the relationship between wildlife conservation and utilization and the theoretical basis of holism. Nevertheless, rational biases regarding the public's understanding of wildlife conservation and the spread of information via social media still exist. As such, expansion of the concept of scientific wildlife conservation requires the application of several measures. Wildlife conservation researchers should be regarded as the most important disseminators of scientifically-based information, with education in schools and universities of growing importance. Furthermore, the media should shoulder the social responsibility for the accurate dissemination of conservation information.

281-289

Authors: Qiong-Ying TANG, Li-Xia SHI, Fei LIU, Dan YU, Huan-Zhang LIU

Fish of the superfamily Cobitoidea sensu stricto (namely loaches) exhibit extremely high diversity of color patterns, but so far little is known about their evolutionary mechanism. Melanocortin 1 receptor gene (MC1R) plays an important role during the synthesis of melanin and formation of animal body color patterns. In this study, we amplified and sequenced the partial MC1R gene for 44 loach individuals representing 31 species of four families. Phylogenetic analyses yielded a topology congruent with previous studies using multiple nuclear loci, showing that each of the four families was monophyletic with sister relationships of Botiidae+ (Cobitidae+(Balitoridae+Nemacheilidae)). Gene evolutionary analyses indicated that MC1R in loaches was under purifying selection pressure, with various sites having different d_N/d_S values. Both Botiidae and Cobitidae had lower d_N/d_S values than those of background lineages, suggesting their evolution might be strongly affected by purifying selection pressure. For Balitoridae and Nemacheilidae, both had larger d_N/d_S values than those of background lineages, suggesting they had a faster evolutionary rate under more relaxed selection pressure. Consequently, we inferred that the relatively stable color patterns in Botiidae and Cobitidae might result from the strong purifying selection pressure on the MC1R gene, whereas the complicated and diverse color patterns in Balitoridae and Nemacheilidae might be associated with the relaxed selection pressure. Given the easy experimental procedure for the partial MC1R gene and its excellent performance in reconstructing phylogeny, we suggest this gene could be used as a good molecular marker for the phylogenetic study of fish species.

297-300

Authors: Hong-Fu YANG, Wei-Xian LI, Zi-Ming CHEN

In September and October 2015, a new species of the family Nemacheilidae, Triplophysa tianxingensis sp. nov., was discovered from underground water in Qiubei County, Yunnan Province, China. It can be distinguished from all other troglobiotic Triplophysa species occurring in Yunnan by the following combination of characters: eyes small, a little degenerated; barbels longer; ventral profiles greatly convex; pectoral fin short, attaining a third of the distance from the pectoral-fin base to pelvic fin base; body with many brown blotches; caudal peduncle with fin fold; caudal fin shallowly forked, and free posterior chamber of swim bladder cylindrical.

307-312

Authors: Xiu-Feng LI, Chong HAN, Cai-Rong ZHONG, Jun-Qiu XU, Jian-Rong HUANG

Sphaeroma terebrans, a wood-boring isopoda, is distributed worldwide in tropical and subtropical mangroves. The taxonomy of S. terebrans is usually based on morphological characteristics, with its molecular identification still poorly understood. The number of teeth on the uropodal exopod and the length of the propodus of the seventh pereopod are considered as the major morphological characteristics in S. terebrans, which can cause difficulty in regards to accurate identification. In this study, we identified S. terebrans via molecular and morphological data. Furthermore, the validity of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene as a DNA barcode for the identification of genus Sphaeroma, including species S. terebrans, S. retrolaeve, and S. serratum, was examined. The mitochondrial COI gene sequences of all specimens were sequenced and analysed. The interspecific Kimura 2-parameter distances were higher than intraspecific distances and no intraspecific-interspecific distance overlaps were observed. In addition, genetic distance and nucleotide diversity (π) exhibited no differences within S. terebrans. Our results revealed that the mitochondrial COI gene can serve as a valid DNA barcode for the identification of S. terebrans. Furthermore, the number of teeth on the uropodal exopod and the length of the propodus of the seventh pereopod were found to be unreliable taxonomic characteristics for S. terebrans.