The phylum Acanthocephala is a ubiquitous group of zooparasites, with major socio‐economic importance. The true diversity of the Acanthocephala is obscured by the phenomena of cryptic speciation and a large degree of intraspecific variation. In this study we describe an example of extreme phenotypic variation in neck morphology. The pomphorhynchid acanthocephalans, Longicollum pagrosomi and Pomphorhynchus zhoushanensis were or...

Geological events can have a major effect on the genetic structure and differentiation of fish populations. The relative importance of key geological events on the distribution and genetic structure of endemic fish of the genus Discogobio in the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau has not yet been evaluated. Studies of the phylogeography of Discogobio fishes could provide insights into spatial and temporal changes in their population size,...

The Asian pitviper genus Ovophis is a group of venomous snakes widely distributed in mid to high elevation mountains in Asia, and presently five species are recognised. However, its systematics, species diversity and species distribution boundaries remain poorly understood. We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships and explored species diversity of Chinese Ovophis based on two mitochondrial fragments (Cyt b and ND4) and...

Species delimitation is critical to our understanding of evolution, biodiversity, and conservation. However, delimiting species boundaries can be challenging, especially when intraspecific divergence is high (and interspecific divergence is low), and gene flow and incomplete lineage sorting are present. Mygalomorph spiders have become models for examining a variety of evolutionary and biogeographical questions. However, their...

Veneridae is one of the most diverse families of bivalve molluscs. However, their phylogenetic relationships among subfamilies have been debated for years. To explore phylogenetic relationships of Veneridae, we sequenced 13 complete mitochondrial genome sequences from eight subfamilies and compared with available complete mitochondrial genome of other Veneridae taxa (18 previously reported sequences). Phylogenetic analyses usi...

Increased mitochondrial (mt) genomes can provide more sets of genome‐level characteristics for resolving deeper phylogeny. Limited information with respect to the Trochoidea mitochondrial genome organization is available; besides, monophyly and internal relationships of the superfamily still remain a matter of discussion. To resolve the monophyly and internal phylogenetic controversies of Trochoidea and expand our understandin...

The Naticidae is a species‐rich family of predatory marine gastropods with substantial interspecific morphological diversity. The classification of the Naticidae has been traditionally based on morphology data, but the phylogenetic relationships within the family are debated due to conflicting molecular results, especially regarding the monophyly of subfamilies Polinicinae and Naticinae. To further resolve the phylogenetic con...

The Asian flea beetles Altica cirsicola , Altica fragariae and Altica viridicyanea are broadly sympatric and morphologically highly similar but feed on distantly related host plants. They have been suggested as a model for ecological speciation studies. However, their phylogeny and species limits remain uncertain. In this study, we added mitochondrial genomes from multiple individuals of each species to the growing database. P...

Nassariids (Family Nassariidae) are a group of marine snails that are distributed worldwide, with their maximum species diversity in tropical regions, particularly the Indo‐Pacific. However, the traditional taxonomy of Nassariidae defined by shell or radula characters is usually inconsistent with little phylogenetic signal. In the present study, the complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes of nine Nassarius species were sequenced a...

The white‐bellied rat, Niviventer , is a genus endemic to Southeast Asia and China. However, the interspecific phylogenetic relationships and species diversity of this genus remain poorly understood. In the present study, single and multi‐locus analyses were performed. Phylogenetic reconstruction on Cytochrome b (512 individuals, including data from Genbank) revealed five major clades with approximately 35 operational taxonomi...

Although tropical and subtropical Asia harbour a high level of species diversity, their species richness can be underestimated because species which are in fact distinct have not been separately identified. In this study, we delimit B ambusicola thoracica into two full species, the Chinese bamboo partridge ( B. thoracica ) in continental Asia and the Taiwanese bamboo partridge ( B . sonorivox ) on the island of Taiwan, using c...

Li, J.T., Li, Y., Murphy, R.W., Rao, D.‐Q. & Zhang, Y.‐P. (2012). Phylogenetic resolution and systematics of the Asian tree frogs, Rhacophorus (Rhacophoridae, Amphibia). — Zoologica Scripta , 41 , 557–570. The treefrog genus Rhacophorus , a large genus with 80 species, has a wide range, occurring eastward from India to China, Japan, South‐east Asia, the Greater Sunda Islands and the Philippines. The phylogenetic relationships...

Wu, H.‐C., Lin, R.‐C., Hung, H.‐Y., Yeh, C.‐F., Chu, J.‐H., Yang, X.‐J., Yao, C.‐J., Zou, F.‐S., Yao, C.‐T., Li, S.‐H. & Lei, F.‐M. (2011). Molecular and morphological evidences reveal a cryptic species in the Vinaceous Rosefinch Carpodacus vinaceus (Fringillidae; Aves). — Zoologica Scripta, 40 , 468–478. The Vinaceous Rosefinch ( Carpodacus vinaceus ) is endemic in East Asia with two recognized subspecies – C. v. vinaceus , d...

Analyses of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (1140 bp) showed that Dremomys lokriah , D. pernyi , D. pyrrhomerus , D. rufigenis and D. gularis all are separate species. Dremomys pyrrhomerus showed 8.5% sequence variation from D. rufigenis, and the level of estimated sequence divergence observed among D. gularis , D. lokriah and D. pernyi was > 11%. With Tamiops and Callosciurus as the outgroup taxa, in both maximum likeliho...