• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.130-134
• /
• 2024

The family Velutinidae is found in various intertidal and subtidal habitats worldwide including Arctic and Antarctic seas. They are characterized by possessing a fragile shell that is partially or entirely covered by the mantle. Eight valid species of the genus Coriocella have been reported mostly in the Indo-West Pacific. Here we report Coriocella jayi Wellens, 1996 from Korean waters for the first time and describe details of their external morphology and radula characteristics using scanning electron microscopy, and provide the mtDNA cox1 sequence as a DNA barcode sequence information. This species is distinguished from other congeneric species by having six cylinder-shaped tubercular lobes of their dorsal part of mantle body and mantle color. Phylogenetic tree using the mtDNA cox1 sequence data shows that two Coriocella species (C. jayi and C. nigra) are grouped as their respective sister among Velutinidae species, and these relationships are strongly supported by 100% bootstrap value. Despite the morphological similarities, further investigation will be needed to confirm whether the African and Korean populations can be justified as the same species with a disconnected distribution range, or represent morphologically similar but two distinct species.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.26 no.10
• /
• pp.1379-1387
• /
• 2013

In a majority of mammals, male infants have heavier body mass and grow faster than female infants. Accordingly, male offspring nursing requires a much greater maternal energy contribution to lactation. It is possible that the maternal-fetal immunoendocrine dialog plays an important role in female preparation for lactation during pregnancy. Immune system genes are an integral part of gene regulatory networks in lactation and tumor necrosis factor alpha ($TNF{\alpha}$) is a proinflammatory cytokine that also plays an important role in normal mammary gland development. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of the sex of calf and/or the -824A/G polymorphism in the promoter region of $TNF{\alpha}$ gene on milk performance traits in Black Pied cattle over the course of lactation. We also studied the allele frequency differences of -824A/G variants across several cattle breeds, which were bred in different climatic conditions. The G allele frequency decreased gradually over the course of lactation events in the Black Pied dairy cattle because of a higher culling rate of cows with the G/G genotype (p<0.001). In contrast to the genotypes A/A and A/G, cows with G/G genotype showed significant variability of milk and milk fat yield subject to sex of delivered calf. Milk yield and milk fat yield were significantly higher in the case of birth of a bull calf than with a heifer calf (p<0.03). The G allele frequency varies from 48% to 58% in Grey Ukrainian and Black Pied cattle to 77% in aboriginal Yakut cattle. Our results suggest that the $TNF{\alpha}$-824A/G gene polymorphism may have an influence on the reproductive efforts of cows over the course of lactation events depending on the sex of progeny. Allocation of resources according to sex of the calf allows optimizing the energy cost of lactation. This may be a probable reason for high G allele frequency in Yakut cattle breeding in extreme environmental conditions. Similarly, the dramatic fall in milk production after birth of a heifer calf increases the probability of culling for the cows with the G/G genotype in animal husbandry.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.151-176
• /
• 1991

The arthropods are the most diverse and successful animal group making up more than three quarters of the total animal species. They also live in a great diversity of habitats on the earth. Because of these unavoidable circumstances, the human life has always been affected by them. Therefore, in many countries from the past, governments have supported the studies of the arthropods on the basis of the national policy. However, the present situation of ours is far behind the other advanced contries, Now we urgently need governmental support fro the development of both the basic and the applied fields of arthropod studies in the well organized manner. Facing with this necessity, the present article reviewed the studies of Korean arthopods based on insect and crustacean representing most of the arthopods. Several subjects were reviewed in the section of the past and present studies on Korean arthropods. These are the studies on Korean arthropods in the past and present, their application to the national strategy, and the present condition of curating specimens, etc. From these reviews, several important points were suggested in the section of future plan. These are such subjects as the establishment of national institution for the curation of specimens , computerizing the data, diversification of research techniques, valid strategy concerning the control of harmful contribution to the nature conversation and environmental management , use as a research animal, the enhancement of public welfare, training of specialists, and policies for the national programs.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.354-362
• /
• 2020

A common snapping turtle Chelydra serpentina inhabiting North America is internationally protected as an endangered species. It is known that the individuals of common snapping turtles were imported to South Korea as pets, and after being abandoned, some inhabit the natural ecosystem of South Korea like wild animals. No genetic survey has yet been performed for the common snapping turtles imported to South Korea. Hereby, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) information, which is 594 bp long, was determined for a total of 16 C. serpentina individuals, of which one was found in nature, twelve legally imported and their descendants, and the other three were provided from the Kansas Herpetological Society, USA. The obtained data were combined with thirteen COI sequences of C. serpentina retrieved from NCBI GenBank for the subsequent population genetic analyses. The results showed that there exist five haplotypes with high sequence similarity (only three parsimoniously informative sites). In the TCS and phylogenetic analyses, all the examined C. serpentina samples coincidently formed a strong monoclade with those collected mostly from Kansas State, USA, indicating that the imported ones to South Korea are from the central North America. In addition, there found the amino acid changes and the high degree of nucleotide sequence differences between C. serpentina and C. rossignoni with some important morphological characters. It is expected that the present results could provide an important framework for systematic management and control of exotic snapping turtles imported and released to nature of South Korea.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.49-57
• /
• 2001

The partial sequences of mtDNA cytochrome b gene in two subspecies of striped field mouse(Apodemus agrarius coreae and A. agrarius manchuricus) from Korea and northeast China were analyzed to determine the degree of genetic diversity in ech subspecies and to confirm their subspecific difference. In 18 specimens of A. agrarius coreae, ten haplotypes were resulted, and in two specimens of A. agrarius manchuricus. one haplotype was revealed. Tamura-Nei nucleotide distance among ten haplotypes in subspecies coreae ranged 0.36 to 1.86%. and nucleotide distance between two subspecies (coreae and manchuricus) was 0.37 to 1.47%: maximum infrasubspecific divergence in coreae was greater than maximum intersubspecific difference between two subspecies. Moreover, no major subgroup was resulted when 11 haplotypes in two subspecies were compared. Our sequence result was not cancordant with the morphological data studied so far, and it is concluded that cytochrome b gene sequence is not a good genetic marker to distinguish two subspecies of A. agrarius. In futurem, mtDNA control region analyses seemded to be necessary to reveal genetic relationship between these two subspecies of A. agrarius.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.133-136
• /
• 2012

The objective of this study was to determine the degree of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) divergence between two subspecies of $Mustela$ $sibirica$ from Korea ($M.$ $s.$ $coreanus$ on the Korean Peninsula and ($M.$ $s.$ $quelpartis$ on Jeju Island) and to examine the taxonomic status of ($M.$ $s.$ $quelpartis$. Thus, we obtained complete sequences of mtDNA cytochrome $b$ gene (1,140 bp) from the two subspecies, and these sequences were compared to a corresponding haplotype of ($M.$ $s.$ $coreanus$, downloaded from GenBank. From this analysis, it was observed that the sequences from monogenic ($M.$ $s.$ $quelpartis$ on Jeju Island were identical to the sequences of four ($M.$ $s.$ $coreanus$from four locations across the Korean Peninsula, and that the two subspecies formed a single clade; the average nucleotide distance between the two subspecies was 0.26% (range, 0.00 to 0.53%). We found that the subspecies $quelpartis$ is not genetically distinct from the subspecies $coreanus$, and that this cytochrome $b$ sequencing result does not support the current classification, distinguishing these two subspecies by pelage color. Further systematic analyses using morphometric characters and other DNA markers are necessary to confirm the taxonomic status of ($M.$ $s.$ $quelpartis$.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.153-164
• /
• 1999

One hundred and eleven samples of six subspecies of striped field mouse, Apodemus agrarius Pallas from Korea, China and Russia, were used for the analysis of mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA) fragment patterns resulted from the digestion with eight restriction enzymes by blot hybridization technique. All 32 fragments, nine mtDNA haplotypes, and four major subgroups with the mean divergence value of 0.896 to 1.150% were revealed. In summary, three forms are recognized: [I, subspecies chejuensis (Chejudo island, Korea)], [II, subspecies pallescens (southwestern Korea), coreae (central Korea), and septentrionalis (Russia)], and [III, subspecies manchuricus (northeastern China) and pallidior (northern China)], although some samples of subspecies coreae are somewhat different from almost all samples of six subspecies, and some samples of subspecies pallidior are similar with all samples of subspecies septentrionalis to form same haplotype. It is confirmed that A. agrarius chejuensis is a distinct subspecies, that subspecies coreae (including pallescens) is also a distinct subspecies, that subspecies manchuricus and pallidior are synonyms of subspecies ningpoensis, and that subspecies septentrionalis is a synonym of subspecies ningpoensis, and that subspecies septentrionalis is a synonym of subspecies agrarius. Moreover, it seems that A. agrarius shows constant karyotype, minimal variation in mtDNA genotype, and considerable divergence in morphometric characters, although further analyses with additional samples of A. agrarius in Eurasia will be necessary to determine the degree of variation of these taxonomic characters and to clarify subspecies classification as well.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.409-416
• /
• 1995

Forty samples of common rats (Rattus norvegicus caraco) from Cheongu, Korea, were used for the analyses of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) fragment patterns resulted from the digestion with eight restriction enzymes. A total of 36 fragments were recognized and six mtDNA clones were revealed . The nucleotide-sequence divergences (p) among six mtDNA clones ranged from 0.35% to 2.73%. moreover, the six clones were grouped into three major subgroups ; the first, second , and third subgroup were composed of 29 samples of three clones, ten samples of two clones, and one sample of one clone, respectively. The second and third subgroups were different in their mtDNa genotype of Pvu II from the first subgroup, and the third subgroup differed in the genotype of Dra I from other two subgroups. Futhermore, the maximum divergence among common rats from Korea in this study is greater than that among common rats from the United States and Japan by Brown and Simpson (1981). Further analyses with additional sample from other localities in Korea appeared to be necessary in order to clarify the taxnomic status of the distinct mtDNA subgroups.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.231-243
• /
• 1994

Samples of Siberian chipmunks (Tamias sibiricus borberi ) from Korea were analyzed by multivariate, air-drying , and blot-hybridization methods in order to determine the degree of variations of morphological characters, chromosomal karyotype, and mtDNA restriction fragment patterns, respectively, Moreover, morphometric characters of samples of Siberian chipmunks from Manchuria(T.sibiricus orientalis) were also analyzed in order to clarify the taxonomic status of the subspecies barberi. Siberian chipmunks from six localities in Korea were in morphometric characters more or less similar with one another and Siberian chipmunks from Manchuria were not so distinct enough to from a subgroup. Siberian chipmunks from Four localities in Korea were identical in their karyotypes (2n=38) : samples from three localities in Korea were nore or less similar in their mtDNA fragment patterns. Siberian chipmunks from Korea appeared to be a omogeneous population and as noted by Corbet (1978) subspecies barberi is the synonym of subspecies orientalis. The scientific name of Siberian chipmunks from Korea and Manchuria is T. sibiricus orientalis, although systematic studies with the samples from North korea, Manchuria and China will be necessary for their taxonomic reconsideration.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.13-21
• /
• 2002

To add genetic information to the conservation efforts on grey coral (Naemorhedus caudatus) in Korea, we investigated the pattern of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequence (606 bp) of six specimens from two localities in Korea. The corresponding sequences of N. caudatus in China obtained from GenBank were also used. The nucleotide Tamura-Nei distances between each of four haplotypes of N. caudatus in Korea and the haplotype of N. caudatus in China varied from 0.0650 to 0.0803: N. caudatus revealed high level of sequence diversity in Bovidae. In N. caudatus in Korea, the distances among three haplotypes at Yanggu were 0.0151 to 0.0185, and it suggests that the genetic diversity of Yanggu population was decreased in low level. Moreover, the distances between each of three haplotypes at Yanggu and one haplotype at Samcheok were 0.0343 to 0.0489. It indicates that habitat isolation caused the continuous increase of genetic distance with geographic distance in N. caudatus, and various conservation plans for mitigating the loss of genetic diversity in Korea have to be in immediate action. To clarify the taxonomic status of N. caudatus, the sequence (276 bp) of N. goral available from GenBank were also utilized, and n goral was not distinct from N. caudatus. It suggests that they may be conspecific, but further analyses with additional specimens of two species are necessary.