Early post-conception maternal cortisol, children's HPAA activity and DNA methylation profiles.

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA) plays a critical role in the functioning of all other biological systems. Thus, studying how the environment may influence its ontogeny is paramount to understanding developmental origins of health and disease. The early post-conceptional (EPC) period could be particularly important for the HPAA as the effects of exposures on organisms' first cells can be transmitted through all cell lineages. We evaluate putative relationships between EPC maternal cortisol levels, a marker of physiologic stress, and their children's pre-pubertal HPAA activity (n=22 dyads). Maternal first-morning urinary (FMU) cortisol, collected every-other-day during the first 8 weeks post-conception, was associated with children's FMU cortisol collected daily around the start of the school year, a non-experimental challenge, as well as salivary cortisol responses to an experimental challenge (all Ps5% change in children's buccal epithelial cells' DNA methylation for 867 sites, while children's HPAA activity was associated with five CpG sites. Yet, no CpG sites were related to both, EPC cortisol and children's HPAA activity. Thus, these epigenetic modifications did not statistically mediate the observed physiological links. Larger, prospective peri-conceptional cohort studies including frequent bio-specimen collection from mothers and children will be required to replicate our analyses and, if our results are confirmed, identify biological mechanisms mediating the statistical links observed between maternal EPC cortisol and children's HPAA activity.

Revision of the genus Aspicera Dahlbom, 1842 (Hym.: Figitidae: Aspicerinae).

The genus Aspicera Dahlbom (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea: Figitidae: Aspicerinae) is revised herein. Aspicera has a Holarctic distribution, being here cited for the first time from the following countries: Canada, Cyprus, Greece, India (northeastern corner, which is part of the Himalayan southeastern range and is considered as belonging to the Palaearctic), Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Montenegro, and Turkey. Morphological characters necessary to differentiate the species of Aspicera are described. The 27 previously described species of Aspicera were revised, always studying the type material when available (21 species); the type material of A. aegyptica Hedicke, 1928, A. chlapowskii Kieffer, 1901, A. coriacea Kieffer, 1901, A. lobata Hedicke, 1928, A. sibirica Kieffer, 1901, A. spinosa (Boyer de Fonscolombe, 1832) are lost or destroyed, these species were studied with the original descriptions. Of the 27 known species, 16 are considered as valid and are redescribed; A. effincta Belizin, 1952 is syn. nov. of A. suecica Dalla Torre & Kieffer, 1910, and A. brevispina Kieffer, 1901 and A. coriacia Kieffer, 1901 are syn. nov. of A. hartigi Dalla Torre, 1889. Aspicera nigra Ionescu, 1969, A. nigricornis Kirby, 1889 and A. rugosa (Hartig, 1843) do not belong to the Aspicerinae, but respectively to the genera Xyalophora and Neralsia (Figitinae), and Xyalaspis (Anacharitinae): Xyalophora nigra (Ionescu) n. comb., Neralsia nigricornis (Kirby) n. comb. and Xyalaspis rugosa Hartig status restored. Aspicera lobata Hedicke, 1928 is considered as 'incertae sedis'. The examination of additional specimens suggests that there is a general lack of knowledge of the species diversity of this genus. Thirty two new species are described: A. adelae Ros-Farré n. sp., A. annae Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. belizini Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. blancae Ros-Farré n. sp., A. buffingtoni Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. caminali Ros-Farré n. sp., A. carinata Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. dianae Ros-Farré n. sp., A. kovalevi Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. elisendae Ros-Farré n. sp., A. forshzarai Pujade-Villar & Ros-Farré n. sp., A. gemmae Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. jantonii Ros-Farré n. sp., A. julii Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. kiefferi Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. magdae Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. marginata Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. martae Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. danielssoni Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. carlestolrai Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. mireiae Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. porif Ros-Farré n. sp., A. marginata Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. punctifrons Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. readae Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. robusta Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. santamariai Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. sergioi Ros-Farré n. sp., A. singularica Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp., A. teresae Ros-Farré n. sp., A. tomasi Ros-Farré n. sp., A. zuparcoi Ros-Farré & Pujade-Villar n. sp. A key to all 48 valid species of Aspicera is given. All species are illustrated.

Revision of the South American species of Neralsia (Hymenoptera: Figitidae) with the description of eight new species

Neralsia is a genus of Figitid hymenopterans present in both the Neartic and the Neotropical regions. In this work, material from several museums (including all types of the South American species of Neralsia) was analyzed with light and electron microscopy. The South American species are studied as a whole, reviewing 26 previously cited species and describing eight new species. A key for their identification is included and the characters to differentiate species here considered are illustrated. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56 (2): 795-828. Epub 2008 June 30.

Neralsia es un género de himenópteros de distribución americana, presente tanto en la región Neártica como en la Neotropical. En este trabajo se estudian, usando microscopia de luz y electrónica, las especies sudamericanas en su conjunto, 26 anteriormente citadas y ocho especies nuevas, que se describen aquí formalmente. Se presenta, además, una clave para su identificación; y se ilustran los caracteres que permiten definir las especies consideradas en este estudio.

Revision of the South American species of Neralsia (Hymenoptera: Figitidae) with the description of eight new species.

Neralsia is a genus of Figitid hymenopterans present in both the Neartic and the Neotropical regions. In this work, material from several museums (including all types of the South American species of Neralsia) was analyzed with light and electron microscopy. The South American species are studied as a whole, reviewing 26 previously cited species and describing eight new species. A key for their identification is included and the characters to differentiate species here considered are illustrated.

Phylogeny of the Eucoilinae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea: Figitidae).

The Eucoilinae are a diverse and important group of parasitoids of Diptera, particularly in the tropics, but they are poorly known systematically and their generic classification is partly chaotic. Here, we present the first comprehensive cladistic analysis of higher eucoiline relationships. The analysis is based on 148 skeletal characters of adults documented in more than 1100 digital images available in an Internet-accessible database. The characters were coded for 45 taxa representing 35 eucoiline genera, spanning the entire diversity of the group, and 7 outgroup genera. Relationships were partly difficult to resolve and parsimony analysis under implied weights performed considerably better than analysis under uniform weights. The results support the monophyly of the Eucoilinae and show that eucoilines are most closely related to the figitid subfamilies Emargininae and Pycnostigminae, but are ambiguous concerning the exact relationships among these three lineages. Of the 6 eucoiline genus groups recognized by Nordlander in 1982 (Entomol. Scand. 13, 269-292), only 2 are supported as monophyletic: the Trybliographa and Kleidotoma groups. The Gronotoma group is a paraphyletic assemblage of two different basal clades of eucoilines. The Rhoptromeris group is unnatural and only the 2 core genera, Rhoptromeris and Trichoplasta, form a monophyletic lineage. The data are ambiguous concerning the Ganaspis group, which appears to be paraphyletic, and the Chrestosema group, which may be a good clade. Based on the results we propose a modified system of informal genus groups in the Eucoilinae and discuss putative synapomorphies supporting each genus group. The proposed relationships imply that the first eucoilines were parasitoids of leaf-mining agromyzids. The earliest split in the group was apparently between an Afrotropical and a Neotropical lineage, and much of the early radiation of the group occurred in these regions, particularly in the Neotropics.