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The growth and development of wings during ontogeny with emphasis on Palaeodictyoptera
Rosová, Kateřina ; Prokop, Jakub (advisor) ; Sroka, Pavel (referee)
The series of two fossil species belonging to the order Palaeodictyoptera from the Late Carboniferous of Kuznetsk Basin in Russia were re-examined. The two species as Tchirkovaea guttata and Paimbia fenestrata were investigated with emphasis on the wing growth and development in comparison with the structure of developing wings in recent mayflies. This fossil material of T. guttata and P. fenestrata was long considered by previous authors as undisputed evidence for a unique type of wing development in the Palaeozoic insects. The idea was that the larvae of these insects possessed the wings, which became articulated and fully movable already earlier during the postembryonic development and that these gradually growing wings changed their position from longitudinal to perpendicular to the body axis. Moreover, the development was supposed to include two or more subimaginal instars, implying that the fully winged instars moulted several times during postembryonic development. After detailed study of the available fossils and subsequent comparison of the fossil evidence with the development of wings in the recent mayfly Cloeon dipterum it was discovered, that the alleged series of immature, subimaginal and imaginal wings of T. guttata and P. fenestrata do not provide clear evidence that would support...
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Review of present knowledge of the external male and female genitalia in Pyrrhocoroidea (Heteroptera)
Mazáčková, Nikola ; Kment, Petr (advisor) ; Baňař, Petr (referee)
Superfamily Pyrrhocoroidea with its about 670 species in 71 genera is one of the smaller groups within the true bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomomorpha). The common characteristics for these bugs are aposematic coloration and absence of ocelli. Most of the species are phytophagous and some are of economic importance as cotton stainers. The superfamily is further subdivided into two families, Pyrrhocoridae and Largidae, whose phylogenetic relatioships have been a subject of only few studies so far. To help resolve this problem, both molecular and morphological phylogenetic studies are needed. Among the morphological characters of importance are external genitalia of both sexes. This thesis gives a short overview of the current phylogeny of Pyrrhocoroidea. Its main focus is on the morphology of external male and female genitalia, which is summarized and characterized for each genus, and points out some essential differences between the taxa. A table uniting terms used for the particular structures of genitalia by different authors is included.
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Design and functional morphology of insect wings
Jechová, Kateřina ; Prokop, Jakub (advisor) ; Janšta, Petr (referee)
Animal fly ability is undoubtedly one of the biggest innovation in evolution that allow animals to settle down another space on the Earth - the air. However, there are significant impacts on the other organisms during the evolution, too. The insect is single group of invertebrates with abilities to fly and because of that it became the most diversified group of organisms. There are a couple of theories about origin of the insect wings. Two major hypotheses considering the recent insects with their fossil record are widely known. Nevertheless, there is no direct clue to the first Pterygota due to the discontinuity of fossil record in the initial phase of their evolution The wing is very complex and unique structure throughout organisms. Insects became very good fliers during the evolution and wings are also used to protect of the body, carrying sensory organs, etc. Nevertheless, only very few insect species are well explored in term of flight and, an open theme for future studies. Aim of the present work is to describe the significance of the wing and to briefly review its morphological and design properties. Key words: Insecta, Pterygota, wing, venation, morphology, flight, evolution.
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Quaternary insects and their significance for zoogeography, paleoclimatology and paleoecology
Moudrý, Jakub ; Prokop, Jakub (advisor) ; Říhová, Dagmar (referee)
The present thesis is a review of available published data on Quaternary insects. Research focused on Quaternary insects has been so far overlooked by the Czech scientists, even though there is potential to provide additional data for complex reconstruction of Quaternary deposits. Insect faunas allow to trace the dynamic development of areas across continents and serve for example as proof of migration routes. It is especially true for the Pleistocene, well known for prominent climatic oscillations. Thus, the insect species served as climatic indicators allowing estimations of average temperatures by application of the MCR method. Finally, these faunal changes reflect dynamic development of palaeoenvironments. The fact that the subfossil taxa correspond to the recent species allows broader reconstruction of the Quaternary deposits.
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Variation in dragonfly wing venation with application of geometric morphometrics (Insecta: Odonata)
Přibylová, Petra ; Prokop, Jakub (advisor) ; Růžička, Jan (referee)
The pattern of wing venation in dragonflies (Odonata) bears a set of characters commonly used in systematics. The aim of this thesis is to identify the wing venation variability of dragonflies by various methods of geometric morphometric. The wing venation variability was examined on the level of suborder, family, species and also in respect to dimorphism through the principal component analysis (PCA), redundancy analysis (RDA) and centroid size. Data set consisting of images of 46 dragonfly species, belonging to 43 genera and 24 families was obtained from institutional entomological collections. The research carried out that Zygoptera have a large variety of wing contours. The wing venation variability of Epiprocta is shown primarily in the costa and node area. Between sexes there is no noticeable difference in shape or structure of the wing. The ratio between wing length and width and the pterostigma shape is dependent on dragonfly body size. Key words: Odonatoptera, Odonata, Epiprocta, Zygoptera, wing venation, variability, geometric morphometrics
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Megasecoptera: morphology and taxonomy of newly discovered specimens from Upper Carboniferous of northern China (Insecta: Palaeodictyopteroida)
Pecharová, Martina ; Prokop, Jakub (advisor) ; Godunko, Roman (referee)
The extinct insect group of Palaeodictyopteroida (Insecta: Palaeoptera) comprised mainly phytophagous species and occurred from Upper Carboniferous to Upper Permian. Megasecoptera is one of several orders of belonging to this group. Although, the order Megasecoptera comprised over 20 described families, morphology of some body structures are insufficiently studied. The present thesis deals with evaluation of new material comprising the extensive set of 76 fossil insect specimens from the Upper Carboniferous (Bashkirian) of northern China. The fossils having excellent state of preservation of the wings and other body structures provide new insights concerning the external morphology of Megasecoptera. All studied specimens were attributed based on wing venation pattern into two known megasecopteran genera within families Brodiopteridae and Sphecopteridae. The aim of the present thesis is examine the morphology and variability of wing venation of two newly proposed species Brodioptera sp. n. and Cyclocelis sp. n. from site in northern China. In addition the following methods of geometric morphometrics based on landmarks were used for comparison of venational characters: a comparison of centroid size, procrustes analysis, principal component analysis and thin plate spline. Variability of wing venation...
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Gigantism of Paleozoic insects and other arthropods
Pecharová, Martina ; Prokop, Jakub (advisor) ; Knor, Stanislav (referee)
Gigantism of insects and other arthropods was rather common in Late Paleozoic. Hypothesis of the oxygen limitation is one the probable explanations caused the phenomenon. Carboniferous insect gigantism was probably directly caused by the higher level of atmospheric oxygen due to direct effectiveness on the tracheal system. Therefore the possibility to grow to large sizes is clearly dependent on the amount of available oxygen. Another fact supporting the hypothesis is the extinction or the change of the giant insect forms at the end of the Permian, when the level of atmospheric oxygen suddenly decreased. This thesis also describes the ecological relationships of the Late Paleozoic arthropods, which is clearly connected to the evolution of giant forms. Gigantism during this period was thus developed by the interplay of several factors related to the global elements cycles. Another part covers major groups and representatives of Palaeozoic gigantic insects and other arthropods. The final part is devoted to describing the physiological experiments related to this topic.
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Palaeodictyoptera: morphology of immature wings from the Upper Carboniferous of Poland
Tippeltová, Zuzana
Insect wings are very specific and unique structures in animal kingdom. Wing morphology is a result of long-standing complicated evolutionary process and until recently the way how the wings have evolved is not completely clarified. The flight ability is one of the most important event in insect history because it allows them to exploit new habitats, escape from predators or find the sexual partner. Here we present the newly discovered material consisting of Palaeodictyoptera immature wings from the Upper Carboniferous (Westphalian A) of Poland. This order became extinct in the end of Permian, however during the Late Paleozoic was remarkably diversified. Until recently, number of adult palaeodictyopterans have been described, however the immature stages are relatively unknown due to lack of suitable fossils. Immature wings present in this thesis have undoubtedly palaeodictyopterous affinities with atribution within superfamilies Breyeroidea and Homoiopteroidea. However, their familial assignment into Breyeriidae (morphotype A) and Homiopteridae (morphotype B) based on fore wing venation characters is not definite because of wing venation limits in early ontogenetic stages. The aim of the present work is a complex description of 14 new palaeodictyopteriids immature wings, and to point out certain...
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Genome Assembly and Annotation of Biparental Bee Ceratina nigrolabiata
Fraňková, Tereza ; Straka, Jakub (advisor) ; Kolísko, Martin (referee)
Biparental care in Hymenoptera is a little studied behaviour. This kind of parental care was discovered and the ethological aspect described in the bee Ceratina nigrolabiata from the Czech Republic and is well understood on the ethological level. However, biparental care is not a common behaviour and the lack of genomic studies of this behaviour complicates the understanding of the origin of the biparental care and its underlying pathways on the genomic and physiological level. This master's thesis presents the genome analyses of a biparental bee Ceratina nigrolabiata. It consists of a brief summary of the known parental behaviour across insects, characteristics of the genus Ceratina, summary of the used genomic methods and presents a candidate genes for the transcriptomic study of the biparental behaviour of Ceratina nigrolabiata. Key words: biparental care, genomics, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Ceratina, small carpenter bees
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The growth and development of wings during ontogeny with emphasis on Palaeodictyoptera
Rosová, Kateřina ; Prokop, Jakub (advisor) ; Sroka, Pavel (referee)
The series of two fossil species belonging to the order Palaeodictyoptera from the Late Carboniferous of Kuznetsk Basin in Russia were re-examined. The two species as Tchirkovaea guttata and Paimbia fenestrata were investigated with emphasis on the wing growth and development in comparison with the structure of developing wings in recent mayflies. This fossil material of T. guttata and P. fenestrata was long considered by previous authors as undisputed evidence for a unique type of wing development in the Palaeozoic insects. The idea was that the larvae of these insects possessed the wings, which became articulated and fully movable already earlier during the postembryonic development and that these gradually growing wings changed their position from longitudinal to perpendicular to the body axis. Moreover, the development was supposed to include two or more subimaginal instars, implying that the fully winged instars moulted several times during postembryonic development. After detailed study of the available fossils and subsequent comparison of the fossil evidence with the development of wings in the recent mayfly Cloeon dipterum it was discovered, that the alleged series of immature, subimaginal and imaginal wings of T. guttata and P. fenestrata do not provide clear evidence that would support...
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