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The Australian lungfish is a primitive and endangered representative of the subclass Dipnoi. The distribution of this species is limited to south‐east Queensland, with some populations considered endemic and others possibly descending from translocations in the late nineteenth century shortly after European discovery. Attempts to resolve the historical distribution of this species have met with conflicting results based on descriptive genetic studies. Understanding if all populations are endemic or some are the result of, or influenced by, translocation events, has implications for conservation management. In this work, we analysed the genetic variation at three types of markers (mtDNA genomes, 11 STRs and 5196 nuclear SNPs) using the approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) algorithm to compare several demographic models. We postulated different contributions of Mary River and Burnett River gene pools into the Brisbane River and North Pine River populations, related to documented translocation events. We ran the analysis for each marker type separately, and we also estimated the posterior probabilities of the models combining the markers. Nuclear SNPs have the highest power to correctly identify the true model among the simulated datasets (where the model was known), but different marker types typically provided similar answers. The most supported demographic model able to explain the real dataset implies that an endemic gene pool is still present in the Brisbane and North Pine Rivers and coexists with the gene pools derived from past documented translocation events. These results support the view that ABC modelling can be useful to reconstruct complex historical translocation events with contemporary implications, and will inform ongoing conservation efforts for the endangered and iconic Australian lungfish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An important challenge for conservation science is to detect declines in intraspecific diversity so that management action can be guided towards populations or species at risk. The lifespan of Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri) exceeds 80 years, and human impacts on breeding habitat over the last half century may have impeded recruitment, leaving populations dominated by old postreproductive individuals, potentially resulting in a small and declining breeding population. Here, we conduct a “single‐sample” evaluation of genetic erosion within contemporary populations of the Australian lungfish. Genetic erosion is a temporal decline in intraspecific diversity due to factors such as reduced population size and inbreeding. We examined whether young individuals showed signs of reduced genetic diversity and/or inbreeding using a novel bomb radiocarbon dating method to age lungfish nonlethally, based on 14C ratios of scales. A total of 15,201 single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) loci were genotyped in 92 individuals ranging in age from 2 to 77 years old. Standardized individual heterozygosity and individual inbreeding coefficients varied widely within and between riverine populations, but neither was associated with age, so perceived problems with recruitment have not translated into genetic erosion that could be considered a proximate threat to lungfish populations. Conservation concern has surrounded Australian lungfish for over a century. However, our results suggest that long‐lived threatened species can maintain stable levels of intraspecific variability when sufficient reproductive opportunities exist over the course of a long lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disease due to non-tuberculous mycobacteria ( NTM) is common in fish. Current recommendations focus on outbreak management by depopulating entire fish stocks and disinfecting tanks. Treatment is not advocated. Treatment may be appropriate, however, where individual, valuable fish are concerned. ZSL London Zoo managed an outbreak of mycobacteriosis in a valuable group of imported F1 captive-bred Australian lungfish ( Neoceratodus fosteri) by depopulation, isolation, extensive testing and daily oral antibiotic treatment. Four species of Mycobacterium ( M. marinum, M. fortuitum, M. chelonae and M. peregrinum) were involved in this outbreak, each with unique antibiotic sensitivities. Triple therapy with rifampicin, doxycycline and enrofloxacin for 8 months was the most effective antibiotic combination, resulting in full disease resolution. No side effects were noted and, more than 18 months post-treatment, no recurrence had occurred. This is the first report of mycobacterial disease in lungfish and the first report of a polymycobacterial outbreak in fish involving these four species of Mycobacterium. This report demonstrates the value of extensive isolation and identification. Also, as therapies currently advised in standard texts did not reflect the antibiotic sensitivity of the NTM found in the fish reported here, we recommend that antibiotic treatment should always be based on sensitivity testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri is an endangered native fish species currently protected under federal and international agreements. The impoundment of riverine habitats by water storages has substantially decreased the availability of dense beds of macrophyte (e.g. Vallisneria nana) in shallow water, the preferred spawning habitat of Australian lungfish. Storage management, such as storage drawdown and maintaining storages at specific levels, may impede establishment and development of dense macrophyte beds, although the effects of storage operation on macrophytes are poorly understood. Storage bathymetry and modelled stream data were used to examine the impact of water level changes (frequency and magnitude) on V. nana habitat within storages and associated riverine areas. Three storages located within the natural range of the Australian lungfish in the Burnett River (Ben Anderson Barrage, Ned Churchward Weir and Paradise Dam) were found to provide limited potential for V. nana habitat when at the full supply level. Furthermore, water storages within the distribution of Australian lungfish fluctuate by ±1 m more frequently in comparison to associated riverine environments. These frequent water level fluctuations challenge the establishment of dense macrophyte beds required for lungfish spawning. Since aquatic macrophytes and streamflow play an integral role in lungfish spawning, management of water storages should focus on releases to the downstream reaches. These releases should mimic natural flow and water temperature regimes to allow establishment and growth of V. nana beds in synchrony with the timing of Australian lungfish spawning. Riverine reaches downstream of storages have the greatest potential for restoration of macrophyte beds. © 2014 Queensland Government, Department of Natural Resources and Mines. River Research and Applications © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the spawning activity of the threatened Australian lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri by measuring egg densities within the artificial habitat of a large impoundment (Lake Wivenhoe, Australia). Eggs were sampled (August to November 2009) from multiple locations across the impoundment, but occurred at highest densities in water shallower than 40 cm along shorelines with a dense cover of submerged terrestrial vegetation. The numbers of eggs declined over the study period and all samples were dominated by early developmental stages and high proportions of unviable eggs. The quality of the littoral spawning habitats declined over the study as flooded terrestrial grasses decomposed and filamentous algae coverage increased. Water temperatures at the spawning site exhibited extreme variations, ranging over 20·4° C in water shallower than 5 cm. Dissolved oxygen concentrations regularly declined to <1 mg l−1 at 40 and 80 cm water depth. Spawning habitats utilised by N. forsteri within impoundments expose embryos to increased risk of desiccation or excessive submergence through water-level variations, and extremes in temperature and dissolved oxygen concentration that present numerous challenges for successful spawning and recruitment of N. forsteri in large impoundment environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The Australian lungfish is an endangered native species currently protected under various state, federal and international agreements. Scarce information on their early life history is available due to the absence of juveniles collected in the wild. This has led to concerns about the sustainability of the species and become a driver for the conservation effort for Australian lungfish. This study aimed to consolidate knowledge on the critical hydraulic habitat requirements of this species within a water resource management context. In this study, spawning of Australian lungfish was found to be a seasonal strategy that is highly reliant on a variable low-flow regime within riverine habitat. Suitable conditions for spawning were characterized by small flow events in early-to-mid spring when water temperatures are between 18 and 28 °C, leading to oviposition on short dense macrophytes in shallow water. Importantly, many of the key environmental factors driving the ecological response are manageable through existing water resource infrastructure. Specifically, releases from water storages within the current distribution of Australian lungfish should mimic the natural inflow and temperature regime within the spawning period, and also provide suitable riverine habitat within projected full supply limits. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examined gene expression data for spatio-temporal order of tooth initiation for Scyliorhinus canicula, teleosts in both oral and pharyngeal dentitions and Neoceratodus forsteri. The patterning mechanism observed for the oral and pharyngeal dentition is found to be unique to the vertebrate oro-pharynx and independent of the skin system. It is concluded that co-option of a successful iterative pattern occurred in evolution from mechanism that exists in the oro-pharynx of extinct agnathans.

Werneburg, I. and Sánchez-Villagra, M.R. 2011. The early development of the echidna, Tachyglossus aculeatus (Mammalia: Monotremata), and patterns of mammalian development. - Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) : 75-88. The echidna is one of the last survivors of the most basal clade of living mammals and as such, it is an important species to understand character transformation in the dawn of mammalian evolution. Based on description of several embryological stages and consideration of characters taken from the classical drawings of Richard Semon (1859-1918), we study the early development of this species using the Standard Event System. We describe and analyse developmental timing with a phylogenetic approach (Parsimov). A mosaic of plesiomorphic and derived features - reportedly found in the echidna adult anatomy and genome, when compared to other living mammals - is also found when examining its embryonic development. In contrast to sauropsids, we found mammals to be characterized by late eye and ear development, possibly related to their contrasting early postnatal life history. The differentiation of the jaw bones may be reflected in the developmental timing of the mandibular process among mammals. Whereas in therians the mandibular process shows an accelerated development, in echidna a delayed timing of mandibular process characters is observable. We highlight the limitation of interpreting heterochronic data and expose the plasticity in the timing of developmental characters, examined under alternative phylogenetic frameworks and character definitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The apical ectodermal ridge (AER) in Neoceratodus develops after an initial period of mesenchymal proliferation and outgrowth of the fin bud and persists until chondrogenesis of the stylopod and zeugopod is initiated. At this time, the lateral margins of the AER convert to the fin fold leading to subsequent development of the dermal fin skeleton. Thorogood's (1991 ) fin fold model predicts that the AER should persist longer in Neoceratodus than it does in actinopterygians because of the comparatively extensive endochondral skeleton in lungfish. While the AER does persist into early chondrogenesis and is extended compared to actinopterygians (lost before fin radial chondrogenesis) it does not persist into further stages of chondrogenesis, providing partial support for Thorogood's model. Fgf8 appears in the lungfish fin epithelium during the initial period of fin outgrowth before a physical AER forms, when Fgf8 is restricted to the AER plus the preaxial and postaxial epithelium immediately adjacent to the AER. Fgf8 is no longer detected after the AER is replaced by a fin fold. Neoceratodus appears to provide a halfway point between ray fins and limbs during very early development as Thorogood proposed, but not precisely for the reasons his model suggests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines the prosencephalic neural folds (PNF) which produce neural crest (NC) cells in the Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri. After conducting experimental procedures on lungfish embryos, researchers found that lateral PNF (LPNF) derived neuroepithelium produces the basal layer and contributes to the apical layer of the olfactory placode. They also found that PNF-derived NC cells seem to give rise to menigeal, periocular and frontonasal ectomesenchyme and could infiltrate the olfactory placode as developmental precursors of the terminal nerve.

Experimental evidence that the neural crest participates in tooth development in any osteichthyan fish has so far been lacking. Using vital dye cell-lineage tracking, we demonstrate that trigeminal stream neural crest cells contribute to the dental papilla of developing teeth in the Australian lungfish. Trigeminal neural crest cells labeled before migration have been traced during the earliest stages of tooth development. Neural crest cells from a single midbrain locus were relocated as ectomesenchyme in all developing teeth of the lungfish regardless of their topographical position in the dentition. These cells remain at the dental papilla interface and become cells committed to dentine production. Our findings provide the first cell-lineage evidence that cranial neural crest is fated to ectomesenchyme for tooth development and dentine production in the living sister-group to tetrapods. This shows that cranial neural crest contribution to teeth is conserved from this node on the tetrapod phylogeny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anatomy, histology and ultrastructure of the thymus of a dipnoan, the Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, was studied by light and transmission electron microscopy. The thymic tissue showed clear demarcation into a cortex and medulla with ample vascularization. Large cells including foamy and giant multinucleated cells with periodic acid Schiff/Alcian blue positive staining properties were localized mainly in the medulla. The major cellular components were epithelial cells and lymphoid cells. The epithelial cells were classified by location and ultrastructure into six sub-populations: capsular cells, cortical and medullary reticular cells, perivascular endothelial cells, intermediate cells, nurse-like cells and Hassall-like corpuscles. Myoid cells were found mainly in the cortico-medullary boundary and medulla. Macrophages and secretory-like cells were also present. These findings will provide a base of knowledge about the cellular immune system of lungfish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY A crucial role for the cranial neural crest in head development has been established for both actinopterygian fishes and tetrapods. It has been claimed, however, that the neural crest is unimportant for head development in the Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri ), a member of the group (Dipnoi) which is commonly considered to be the living sister group of the tetrapods. In the present study, we used scanning electron microscopy to study cranial neural crest development in the Australian lungfish. Our results, contrary to those of Kemp, show that cranial neural crest cells do emerge and migrate in the Australian lungfish in the same way as in other vertebrates, forming mandibular, hyoid, and branchial streams. The major difference is in the timing of the onset of cranial neural crest migration. It is delayed in the Australian lungfish in comparison with their living sister group the Lissamphibia. Furthermore, the delay in timing between the emergence of the hyoid and branchial crest streams is very long, indicating a steeper anterior-posterior gradient than in amphibians. We are now extending our work on lungfish head development to include experimental studies (ablation of selected streams of neural crest cells) and fate mapping (using fluoresent tracer dyes such as DiI) to document the normal fate as well as the role in head patterning of the cranial neural crest in the Australian lungfish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improved structural and functional interpretations regarding the dermal skeleton of Paleozoic lungfishes (Dipnoi) can be derived from a direct comparison of Recent and fossil tissues. In particular, skin from the snout of adult Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri) contains horizontal plexuses and vertical capillary loops which resemble in structure, size and density components of the cosmine layer in such Paleozoic lungfishes as Dipterus valenciennesi and Chirodipterus austratis. In addition to these dermal papillae, the skin of the snout also contains ampullary electroreceptors, goblet cells, compound mucus glands, and terminal branches and openings of the mechanoreceptive lateral line system. Pore canal systems of fossil lungfishes previously have been interpreted as housing electroreceptors or other cutaneous sense organs of the lateral line system. In contrast, we regard pore canal systems as evidence of a complex cutaneous vasculature involved in the deposition of mineralized tissues. Prevailing ideas on the structure and biological role of cosmine are reinterpreted, including the theory that electroreceptors played an important part in the origin of the dermal skeleton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four cell types are present in the olfactory epithelium of Neoceratodus forsteri, i.e., olfactory receptor cells, supporting cells, non-sensory ciliated cells, and basal cells. Only microvilli and no cilia were observed on the receptor cells. The neurotubules pass out into these microvilli. Conspicuous arrays of agranular endoplasmic reticulum are present in the nuclear region of the receptor cells. The supporting cells are provided with microvilli. These cells may be secretory. The non-sensory ciliated cells produce secretory granules containing acid mucopolysaccharides. A discontinuous zonula occiudens appears to be present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The student of comparative brain morphology in lower vertebrates has deeply felt the lack of a nearer knowledge of the brain of Ceratodus and other Dipnoi, the existing descriptions being very insufficient for comparative purposes. Especially the information of the fibre anatomy are very scanty and quite unsatisfactory. This work being made at a time when comparative neurology was in statu nascendi, leaves many important points untreated or obscured by incomplete descriptions. Thus it is for instance impossible to get an opinion from this work about such fundamental questions as those about inversion and evagination of the forebrain hemispheres, about the morphological signification of the "lingula interolfactoria," the nature of the septum et cetera, questions necessary for every comparison with other brains.