New torrent frog species named after Alexandra Elbakyan, creator of Sci-Hub

A team of researchers has announced the discovery of three new species of torrent frogs belonging to the genus Hyloscirtus.

A team of researchers from the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of London, has announced the discovery of three new species of torrent frogs belonging to the genus Hyloscirtus. The study, recently published in the journal ZooKeys, combines genetic, genomic, morphological, and bioacoustic analyses, revealing hidden diversity in one of the planet’s richest ecosystems.

A phylogenetic tree illustrating the relationships among Hyloxtricits species, with images of various frog species on the right side.
Maximum likelihood phylogram of Hyloscirtus for DNA sequences of mitochondrial (12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, ND1 and adjacent tRNAs) and nuclear genes (RAG1 and c-myc). Bayesian posterior probabilities (pp × 100) are shown above branches and bootstrap values below. Asterisks represent values of 100%. Missing values indicate posterior probabilities and bootstrap < 50. Amazonian species of the H. bogotensis group are shown with colored boxes. Outgroup species are not shown and include two species of Boana and two of Dendropsophus. Voucher museum numbers are shown before the species name. For Ecuadorian populations, the province is provided after the species name. Abbreviations for other countries at the end of terminals: BOL (Bolivia), COL (Colombia), PAN (Panamá), PER (Perú), and VEN (Venezuela). UCS: unconfirmed candidate species.

Frogs in the mist

The research focuses on frog populations inhabiting the Amazonian cloud forests, a region known for its high biodiversity and conservation challenges. By combining DNA sequencing (both genomic and mitochondrial), detailed morphological studies, and the analysis of mating calls, the authors have identified three new species:

  • Hyloscirtus maycu
  • Hyloscirtus elbakyanae
  • Hyloscirtus dispersus
  • Close-up photo of a green frog perched on a leaf against a dark background, featuring distinctive patterned eyes.
    Hyloscirtus dispersus
  • Hyloscirtus elbakyanae
  • A close-up photo of a frog with distinctive yellow feet and large, textured eyes, displayed against a white background.
    Hyloscirtus elbakyanae
  • A close-up photo of a green frog with large eyes and textured skin, against a white background.
    Hyloscirtus dispersus
  • Hyloscirtus maycu
  • A close-up photo of a green frog, featuring large eyes and textured skin, against a white background.
    Hyloscirtus maycu
  • A close-up photo of a green frog with large eyes and vibrant feet, sitting against a white background.

A tribute to open knowledge

As a recognition of the value of free access to scientific information, one of the newly described species has been named after Alexandra Elbakyan, programmer and creator of Sci-Hub. This website provides free access to scientific articles, allowing researchers worldwide to consult studies that would otherwise be locked behind expensive subscriptions—especially in low- and middle-income countries. Sci-Hub has been instrumental in democratizing scientific knowledge on a global scale.

A collage of various frogs of the species Hyloscirtus elbakyanae displaying different colors, postures, and body types against a white background.
Variation in life of Hyloscirtus elbakyanae.

Importance of the study

“This discovery not only expands our understanding of cloud forest biodiversity but also highlights the urgent need to conserve these ecosystems in the face of growing environmental threats,” said Andrea Varela, lead researcher of the study.

Geographic distribution of Amazonian species of the Hyloscirtus bogotensis group. Stars represent the type locality of H. albopunctulatus, H. phyllognathus and H. torrenticola.

The paper also examines the impact of the Andes on the diversification of this group. Colonization events across the Andes have been very rare; in the studied group, only two such events were recorded, over 14 million years ago, both from the Amazon towards the Pacific basin. These findings underscore the crucial role of the Andean barrier in the evolution and distribution of these species, offering a unique perspective on the complex biogeographic history of the Andes—one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth.

Research article:

Varela-Jaramillo A, Streicher JW, Venegas PJ, Ron SR (2025) Three new species of torrent treefrogs (Anura, Hylidae) of the Hyloscirtus bogotensis group from the eastern Andean slopes and the biogeographic history of the genus. ZooKeys 1231: 233-292. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1231.124926

Plants of the Carribbean: Pensoft at the XIII Latin American Congress of Botany in Havana

Researchers gathered in Cuba to share the latest advancements in plant science.

From the 10th to 14th March, 2025, Havana, Cuba, hosted the XIII Latin American Congress of Botany, a fantastic event that brought together botanists and mycologists from far and wide to share knowledge and celebrate the rich botanical heritage of Latin America. 

Organised by the Latin American Botanical Association and Planta! – Plantlife Conservation Society, the event welcomed around 300 attendees and provided fertile ground for experts to engage in meaningful discussions and forge new partnerships. 

Pensoft's stand at the XIII Latin American Congress of Botany in Havana, with many visitors.
Pensoft’s stand welcomed hundreds of visitors.

Pensoft was proud to participate in the congress, showcasing its commitment to advancing plant research and establishing relationships with the global academic community. As always, the Pensoft team was thrilled to meet up with familiar authors, editors, and reviewers, as well as hundreds of new faces.

  • Eldis R. Bécquer
  • Alicia Rodriguez and Denitsa Peneva
  • Carolina Garrizo Garcia and Boriana Ovcharova
  • Rafael Silva and Boriana Ovcharova
  • Event organisers Alejandro Palmarola and Ramona Oviedo with Lyubomir Penev
  • Alejandra Jamarillo
  • Lyubomir Penev and John Clark

Pensoft’s stand was hub of activity, featuring information on its numerous journals in botany and mycology. These included PhytoKeys, MycoKeys, IMA Fungus, Plant Ecology and Evolution, Italian Botanist, Biodiversity Data Journal, Neotropical Biology and Conservation, and Check List. At the stand, attendees were welcomed to explore the journals, discuss publishing opportunities, learn about Pensoft’s cutting-edge publishing and technology solutions, take some stickers, and even enter a raffle!

The stand was adorned with many promotional materials featuring artwork by Denitsa Peneva, which proved to be a major draw for the attendees. 

Promotional material at Pensoft’s stand.

On Friday, March 14, 2025, Pensoft’s CEO and Founder, Prof Dr Lyubomir Penev, delivered a compelling talk titled “Advancing Plant Taxonomy and Conservation through Scholarly Communication.” This presentation delved into the workflows and tools designed to streamline data publishing and enhance scholarly communication throughout the academic portfolio of the open-access publisher. Key aspects covered included semantic enrichment, data publishing, automated data import/export and science communication, all of which are crucial for advancing biodiversity research and conservation efforts.

The event marked another milestone in Pensoft’s ongoing efforts to bridge the gap between research and publication, ensuring that botanical knowledge reaches a wider audience and contributes to the conservation of plant diversity worldwide. As the botanical community looks forward to future gatherings, Pensoft remains ready to support and enhance the dissemination of botanical science globally.

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Moth collected by Alfred Russel Wallace is key to describing 11 new species

“We have not only revived Francis Walker’s species Topiris candidella, from 1863, but also expanded our understanding of an entire group of small white moths.”

  • A moth neglected by experts for a century is found to have been collected by Alfred Russel Wallace 169 years ago
  • Cutting-edge techniques allowed scientists to show the moth as belonging to a genus comprising 14 species, 11 of which are new to science
  • One of the new species has been named after Greta Thunberg
A black-and-white studio photograph of a man with a long beard sitting in a chair, dressed in formal attire, against a simple backdrop.
Alfred Russel Wallace

Scientists at the Natural History Museum (NHM), London, have discovered that a long-overlooked moth specimen in the Museum’s collection was in fact collected by explorer and naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, in 1855. This was at the same time as he was formulating his own revolutionary ideas on the origins of species which he would go on to share with Charles Darwin.

The small white moth, Topiris candidella, was described in 1863 by Francis Walker but was dismissed in 1927 by leading entomologist Edward Meyrick as “better neglected” having suffered substantial damage due to historic storing practices. The moth has remained overlooked for nearly a century, until now.

A photograph of a white moth displayed on a pin against a light background.
Topiris candidella, the modern specimen used for the reference. Photo credit: © Mark Sterling/Trustees of NHMUK

Using a cutting-edge DNA sequencing method, NHM scientists extracted genetic material from a single fragment of one of the specimen’s remaining legs and connected it to a group of moths found throughout South East Asia.

The scientists were able to prove that rather than being a single neglected species, Topiris is in fact a genus of 14 species, including 11 species which are new to science and described today in the paper published in ZooKeys.

One of these species is named Topiris thunbergella, in honour of Greta Thunberg and her work in raising awareness of the environmental pressures on the native forests of South East Asia.

Dr David Lees, Senior Curator for Microlepidoptera at the Natural History Museum, adds, “This discovery highlights the incredible potential of modern DNA analysis to reveal the evolutionary history of species, even from fragmented and long-forgotten specimens.

“By applying this innovative sequencing technique, we have not only revived Francis Walker’s species Topiris candidella, from 1863, but also expanded our understanding of an entire group of small white moths.”

During their research, David and fellow moth expert, Mark Sterling, found that a hidden label under the pin of the broken moth bore the handwritten letters “SAR”, a clue that this moth had been collected by Alfred Russel Wallace as part of over a thousand moths he collected at Rajah Brooke’s Forest retreat.

  • Close-up photo of a white moth displaying detailed wing textures and prominent antennae against a gray background.
    Topiris albidella
  • A photograph of a moth with textured wings and light brown speckles, displayed against a gray background.
    Paralecta rosiflora
  • Close-up photo of a pale yellow moth with fringed wings, displayed against a gray background, perched on a white support.
    Topiris thunbergella
  • Close-up photo of a pale, fluffy moth with wide wings and slender antennae, displayed upright against a gray background.
    Topiris salva

This was in December 1855, just months before he published his ‘Sarawak Law’ paper, which eventually led to a joint reading (at Darwin’s request) of their theories of evolution through natural selection.

Beyond the scientific breakthrough, the study has wider conservation implications. Of the 24 species reviewed in their paper, only three have been recorded since 2000, highlighting the urgent need for biodiversity monitoring in this region.

Mark Sterling added, “The 80 million specimens currently held in the Natural History Museum’s collections continue to be a critical resource for understanding biodiversity and assessing the effects of environmental change.”

Research article:

Sterling MJ, Price BW, Lees DC (2025) A revision of the hitherto neglected genus Topiris Walker, 1863 (Lepidoptera, Xyloryctidae) with taxonomic notes on the genus Athrypsiastis Meyrick, 1910. ZooKeys 1229: 297-368. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1229.119155

This press release was originally published by the National History Museum, London. It is republished here with permission.

Tussling tapirs: unexpected aggression in a shy species

Rafael Reyna-Hurtado describes his latest research capturing extreme fighting and vocalisation in tapirs (Tapirus bairdii) in Mexico.

Guest blog post by Rafael Reyna-Hurtado.

In a recent issue of Neotropical Biology and Conservation we published an article titled “Extreme fighting and vocalisation in Tapirus bairdii, observations from aguadas of Calakmul, social arenas for the species.” 

In our paper, we describe how a species known to be gentle and shy can initiate serious fights with conspecifics and how agile and aggressive these gentle giants of the Neotropical forests are capable of being.

Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii) adults fighting in an aguada of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Southern Mexico.

We conducted our research in the amazing site of Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, a protected area in Campeche State in Southern Mexico in the heart of the Maya Forest, a forest shared by Mexico, Guatemala and Belize.

In this forest, jaguars, tapirs and herds of white-lipped peccaries roam the forest floor while spider and howler monkeys make their way across the forest canopy, all surrounded by Mayan temples hidden in the trees.

Man holding aloft an antenna on a mountain beside a large forest.
Rafael Reyna-Hurtado.

My research over the last 20 years has been based in ungulates (mammals with hooves).  I became passionate about tapirs after I met them for the first time in the tropical forest of Campeche. As a kid who grew up in central Mexico, I never imagined that a creature of that size and weight was still alive and moving silently in the tropical forest of my country.

The gentle and shy behaviour of tapirs has been confirmed by my main research technique: camera traps. For 10 years we have recorded many tapirs visiting ponds at night, walking and sniffing in silence, at a slow pace, and usually in the late hours of the night (before midnight), or the early hours of the day (after 4:00 am). 

Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii) female whistling under searching behaviour in an aguada of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Southern Mexico.

Our camera traps always showed tapirs walking silently, slowly and stopping many times to listen and smell for danger. So imagine my surprise when, in the dry season of 2024, one camera showed us 97 videos of tapirs involved in serious fighting, running, chasing, biting each other and whistling for almost two weeks. It changed our perception of tapirs’ behaviour. Yes, they can be gentle, shy animals, but when challenged they can transform into extreme fighters!

Our research also shows that some specific places, like the water ponds of Calakmul, locally named “aguadas”, are not only sources of water for wildlife during the dry season, but also serve as so-called “social arenas”, sites where animals socialise with conspecifics and acquire information on predators. The role of “aguadas” as social arenas for tapirs make these sites a priority for conservation. 

Two tapirs captured by a camera trap.
Camera trap image of two Baird’s tapirs (Tapirus bairdii).

Knowing the secret behaviour of a shy, rare and endangered animal is a privilege that amazes me anytime I am in the forest, or when I check our camera traps. It is a feeling of being witness to behaviours and ecological relationships that have not changed for thousands of years. 

The information is also very valuable for conservation purposes. Places like Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, where animal and plant communities are still in their original composition, are very rare. We must preserve such places as they show us the interesting relationships between animals and plants that have existed for thousands of years and that are key to the survival of these species. We must learn and work together to keep these sites untouched and allow tapirs to be shy and calm, or, from time to time, become serious extreme fighters!

Original source

Reyna-Hurtado R, Huerta-Rodríguez JO, Rojas-Flores E (2025) Extreme fighting and vocalisations in Tapirus bairdii: observations from aguadas of Calakmul, social arenas for the species. Neotropical Biology and Conservation 20(1): 67-78. https://doi.org/10.3897/neotropical.20.e143760

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A new name for one of the world’s rarest rhinoceroses

Recognizing the Sundaic rhinoceros as a separate genus not only improves scientific understanding but also has important implications for conservation efforts.

A new study revealed significant differences in the appearance and behaviour of the two one-horned Asiatic rhinoceros species, challenging long-standing classifications and supporting a re-evaluation of their status.

A photo of a one-horned rhinoceros standing amidst lush green foliage.
Sundaic rhinoceros (Eurhinoceros sondaicus). Photo by Toby Nowlan

The study, led by zoologist Francesco Nardelli and paleontologist Kurt Heißig, highlights how millions of years of evolutionary pressures have shaped the distinct adaptations of the Indian (Rhinoceros unicornis) and Sundaic (Rhinoceros sondaicus)rhinoceroses. The critically endangered Sundaic rhinoceros has a slender skull, a broader and lower back of the head, and a shorter nose and teeth suited for browsing leaves. In contrast, the Indian rhinoceros has a more robust skull and taller teeth adapted for grazing on grasses.

“Adaptations of large terrestrial mammals to various environments are linked to the diversity of food items they can consume, which is reflected in the variation of their dental and cranial morphologies,” the researchers write in their paper, published in the journal ZooKeys. “In rhinoceroses, these adaptations are identified in their teeth structure and head posture.”

The Sundaic rhinoceros, now confined to Java’s Ujung Kulon peninsula, is a browsing species with uniquely polygonal-patterned skin and, unlike any other living rhinoceros, hornless females. In contrast, the Indian rhinoceros is a grazer of riverine grasslands in northern India and Nepal. With deep skin folds and a heavier build, the Indian rhinoceros is considerably larger than its Sundaic relative. It is superseded in size only by the elephant and the white rhinoceros, with males weighing more than 2,000 kg and females reaching 1,600 kg.

Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis). Photo by Olivier Bacquet

Fossil evidence confirms that these differences evolved independently over a long period of time. The authors maintain that they represent fundamental anatomical and ecological distinctions and reflect deep evolutionary adaptations.

The behaviour of the two species also differs significantly, with the Sundaic rhinoceros being solitary wanderers and Indian rhinoceros forming temporary crashes.

“Both species possess unique adaptations for survival, emphasising the importance of understanding their systematics for effective conservation,” the researchers write in their paper.

Based on these findings, the scientists propose a more precise scientific name for the Sundaic rhino: Eurhinoceros sondaicus. “Recognizing Eurhinoceros sondaicus as a distinct genus provides a more accurate reflection of its evolutionary history and ecological specialization,” they assert. “This refined classification not only enhances our understanding of rhinoceros evolution but also provides a clearer framework for conservation planning, helping to tailor strategies for the protection of these critically endangered animals.”

Original Source:

Nardelli F, Heißig K (2025) A taxonomic review of the genus Rhinoceros with emphasis on the distinction of Eurhinoceros (Perissodactyla, Rhinocerotidae). ZooKeys 1230: 303-333. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1230.127858

Rare frog rediscovered after 130 years

First described in 1902, Alsodes vittatus had evaded detection since then, despite multiple search efforts.

The frog Alsodes vittatus is an elusive creature – described in 1902, it managed to go undetected for more than a century. Now, after a decade of investigation, a research team has rediscovered it, in its first sighting after 130 years.

A female individual of Alsodes vittatus.

Researchers from the Laboratory of Systematics and Conservation of Herpetozoa (SyCoH) of the University of Concepción, Chile – Dr. Claudio Correa, engineer in renewable natural resources Edvin Riveros Riffo, and biologist Juan Pablo Donoso, have published their extraordinary discovery in the journal ZooKeys.

Alsodes vittatus was scientifically described in 1902 by Rodulfo Amando Philippi, a German naturalist living in Chile. French entomologist Philibert Germain had discovered the species in 1893 at the former Hacienda San Ignacio de Pemehue in La Araucanía Region, Chile, and brought three specimens to Philippi for description. Since then, no one has seen the species again, despite multiple search efforts.

A male individual of Alsodes vittatus.

Between 1995 and 2002, several researchers unsuccessfully tried to find it in the Pemehue area, at the northwestern end of the former estate. In 2015 and 2016, new expeditions led by Claudio Correa and Juan Pablo Donoso managed to locate two populations of Alsodes in the same area, but the individuals they saw lacked A. vittatus’ distinctive white or yellow stripe on the back, suggesting they likely belonged to a different species.

A male individual of Alsodes vittatus.

“The main challenge in locating it was the lack of precision in the description of its type locality,” say the researchers. “In Germain’s time, the Hacienda San Ignacio de Pemehue was an estate of enormous size, and the naturalist did not specify the exact place where he collected the specimens.”

To locate the species, Correa and his team had to reconstruct the route that Germain could have followed within the estate by studying his publications and other historical documents. In 2023 and 2024, Claudio Correa and Edvin Riveros followed the reconstructed route, entering the former estate from the southeastern end. There, they found two populations of A. vittatus in the Lolco and Portales river basins in La Araucanía region, confirming the existence of this enigmatic species after more than a century without records.

The habitat of Alsodes vittatus.

This is an important milestone for South American herpetology and the conservation of biodiversity in the southern cone. Most of the other species in the genus Alsodes are either threatened with extinction or we don’t know enough about them to assess their status, and shedding light on where and how they live is the first step in protecting them.

“The rediscovery of A. vittatus allowed us to obtain, more than a century after its description, the first biological and ecological data on the species. Field observations also indicate that this amphibian faces several significant threats and that it could be considered endangered,” the researchers warn. “In a broader context, this rediscovery demonstrates the limited biological, evolutionary and biogeographic knowledge of the amphibians that inhabit the southern cone of South America, emphasizing the urgency of their study and conservation.”

Research article:

Correa C, Riveros-Riffo E, Donoso JP (2025) Lost for more than a century: the rediscovery of Alsodes vittatus (Philippi, 1902) (Anura, Alsodidae), one of the rarest and most elusive amphibians from Chile. ZooKeys 1230: 195-212. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1230.135523

Photos by Edvin Riveros

The Biodiversity Data Journal launches its own data portal on GBIF

With this simple website designed to lower technical demands, data managers and other stakeholders can easily focus on data exploration and reuse.

The Biodiversity Data Journal (BDJ) became the second open-access peer-reviewed scholarly title to make use of the hosted portals service provided by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF): an international network and data infrastructure aimed at providing anyone, anywhere, open access to data about all types of life on Earth. 

The Biodiversity Data Journal portal, hosted on the GBIF platform, is to support biodiversity data use and engagement at national, institutional, regional and thematic scales by facilitating access and reuse of data by users with various expertise in data use and management. 

Having piloted the GBIF hosted portal solution with arguably the most revolutionary biodiversity journal in its exclusively open-access scholarly portfolio, Pensoft is to soon replicate the effort with at least 35 other journals in the field. This would mean that the publisher will more than double the number of the currently existing GBIF-hosted portals.

As of the time of writing, the BDJ portal provides seamless access and exploration for nearly 300,000 occurrences of biological organisms from all over the world that have been extracted from the journal’s all-time publications. In addition, the portal provides direct access to more than 800 datasets published alongside papers in BDJ, as well as over 1,000 citations of the journal articles associated with those publications.  

The release of the BDJ portal should inspire other publishers to follow suit in advancing a more interconnected, open and accessible ecosystem for biodiversity research

Vince Smith

Using the search categories featured in the portal, users can narrow their query by geography, location, taxon, IUCN Global Red List Category, geological context and many others. The dashboard also lets users access multiple statistics about the data, and even explore potentially related records with the help of the clustering feature (e.g. a specimen sequenced by another institution or type material deposited at different institutions). Additionally, the BDJ portal provides basic information about the journal itself and links to the news section from its website. 

A video displaying an interactive map with occurrence data on the BDJ portal.

Launched in 2013 with the aim to bring together openly available data and narrative into a peer-reviewed scholarly paper, the Biodiversity Data Journal has remained at the forefront of scholarly publishing in the field of biodiversity research. Over the years, it has been amongst the first to adopt many novelties developed by Pensoft, including the entirely XML-based ARPHA Writing Tool (AWT) that has underpinned the journal’s submission and review process for several years now. Besides the convenience of an entirely online authoring environment, AWT provides multiple integrations with key databases, such as GBIF and BOLD, to allow direct export and import at the authoring stage, thereby further facilitating the publication and dissemination of biodiversity data. More recently, BDJ also piloted the “Nanopublications for Biodiversity” workflow and format as a novel solution to future-proof biodiversity knowledge by sharing “pixels” of machine-actionable scientific statements.   

“I am thrilled to see the Biodiversity Data Journal’s (BDJ) hosted portal active, ten years since it became the first journal to submit taxon treatments and Darwin Core occurrence records automatically to GBIF! Since its launch in 2013, BDJ has been unrivalled amongst taxonomy and biodiversity journals in its unique workflows that provide authors with import and export functions for structured biodiversity data to/from GBIF, BOLD, iDigBio and more. I am also glad to announce that more than 30 Pensoft biodiversity journals will soon be present as separate hosted portals on GBIF thanks to our long-time collaboration with Plazi, ensuring proper publication, dissemination and re-use of FAIR biodiversity data,” said Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev, founder and CEO of Pensoft, and founding editor of BDJ.

“The release of the BDJ portal and subsequent ones planned for other Pensoft journals should inspire other publishers to follow suit in advancing a more interconnected, open and accessible ecosystem for biodiversity research,” said Vince Smith, editor-in-chief of BDJ and head of digital, data and informatics at the Natural History Museum, London.

In pursuit of a poison frog — and a culturally appropriate name

Researchers tracked down a new species along Colombia’s Pacific coast, naming it in honor of an Afro-Colombian music style.

When Rebecca Tarvin was a graduate student studying toxins in the skins of poisonous frogs, she and her colleague Mileidy Betancourth-Cundar collected a frog in Colombia that they suspected was a new species. It differed in coloration from a similar Colombian frog in the genus Epipedobates and had a different mating call.

A photo of two women exploring a lush forest floor, one holding a stick and the other holding a plastic bottle with a cut-out bottom, as they are surrounded by green leaves and fallen brown foliage.
Rebecca Tarvin and Mileidy Betancourth-Cundar attempt to catch a frog. Photo credit: Juan Camilo Ríos Orjuela

In 2022, eight years later and a newly appointed assistant professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, Tarvin met up with Colombian biologists to collect more of these frogs and confirm a new species. Such “holotype specimens” are necessary to document a new species for posterity. Collecting specimens and identifying new species also helps scientists track the impact of environmental changes and understand the evolutionary origin of traits such as skin toxins, which may one day have medical uses.

A photo of tagged frog specimens lined up on a flat surface.
Some of the specimens including the holotype (bottom left) prepared for the Museo de Historia Natural C. J. Marinkelle at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, and UC Berkeley’s Museum of Verterbrate Zoology. Photo credit: Rebecca D. Tarvin, UC Berkeley

Collecting the frogs was easy; they seem to thrive along roadsides and in semiurban areas. But what to name the species? A Colombian colleague played for the team a tape of local marimba-based music called bambuco, and one style, called bambuco viejo, or currulao, stood out. The name Epipedobates currulao seemed appropriate, and with this month’s publication of a paper describing the new species in the journal ZooKeys, it’s now official.

A photo of a small brown frog with a yellow stripe on its side sittings on a brown leaf.
Epipedobates currulao. Photo credit: Juan Camilo Ríos Orjuela

“We ended up going with currulao because we liked how it brought in the human perspective,” Tarvin said. “The frog is part of the sound landscape; when they call, it’s part of the background noise in the region. Similarly, currulao is more than just a genre of music. It’s also the cultural practices around the music, the gathering, dancing and the relationship-forming aspects of the experience.”

A performance by Cantadoras del Pacifico at the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Currulao, which combines marimbas and drums, is popular in black communities along Colombia’s Pacific coast.

Tarvin is still investigating the toxins produced by frogs in the genus Epipedobates, which is small, containing about eight species, but is the most recently evolved group of poisonous frogs in South America. By comparing the genetics of these frogs with other poison frog groups, she hopes to understand how their chemical defense technique evolved. Most poisonous animals are brightly colored to advertise their unpalatability, such as the Monarch butterfly’s bright orange color and the gaudy orange, black and blue of poison dart frogs. But Epipedobates frogs are more subtly colored, if not downright drab. Perhaps, she said, bright coloration evolves after the frogs develop their toxic defenses.

A small frog with a yellow stripe on its side sits among leaves and twigs on the forest floor.
An adult individual of Epipedobates currulao in Vadrilleros, Valle de Cauca, Colombia. Photo credit: Mileidy Betancourth-Cundar

Epipedobates acquired its chemical defenses more recently than any other group in the poison frog family and shows the largest range in color and defense, Tavin said, but they’re also interesting because of how they acquire their toxicity.

“What’s unique about poison frogs, specifically, is that they sequester toxins from their food, so it’s an entirely different kind of defense that requires an entirely different physiology, compared to venom-producing animals, like snakes and bees,” she said. “Poison frogs eat arthropods that have small amounts of chemicals that can be either toxic or distasteful. And then they accumulate those to levels that become relevant for their own predators.”

Tarvin offers one piece of advice: Because they’re covered in poisons, don’t lick your fingers after picking one up.

Research article:

Betancourth-Cundar M, Ríos-Orjuela JC, Crawford AJ, Cannatella DC, Tarvin RD (2025) Honoring the Afro-Colombian musical culture with the naming of Epipedobates currulao sp. nov. (Anura, Dendrobatidae), a frog from the Pacific rainforests. ZooKeys 1226: 139-170. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1226.123803

This story was originally published by UC Berkeley. It is republished here with permission.

Fungal Fairy Rings: the science behind the magic

Researchers explore the history, ecology, and impacts of these intriguing fungal formations.

A new review article published in the OA journal IMA Fungus sheds light on the phenomenon of fungal fairy rings, mysterious circular patterns of altered vegetation found in grasslands and forests. 

In the review, researchers Maurizio Zotti, Giuliano Bonanomi, and Stefano Mazzoleni from the University of Naples Federico II explore the history, ecology, and impacts of these intriguing fungal formations.

Fungal fairy rings (FFRs), they explain, occur when certain fungi grow radially outward through the soil from a central point, breaking down organic matter and affecting plant growth in distinctive circular patterns. While folklore once attributed these rings to magic, scientists now understand them as a natural process driven by underground fungal activity.

Cross-section of a fungal fairy ring (FFR) transect providing a visual representation of the mycelial mat distribution in the soil, with arrows representing growth direction.

In their paper, the researchers synthesise centuries of research on FFRs, from early observations in the 1800s to modern studies using cutting-edge genomic techniques. “The study of FFRs provides a valuable opportunity to delve deeper into the complex field of soil and fungal ecology, bridging multiple scientific disciplines such as mycology, microbiology, chemistry and botany,” they write.

Describing how different types of FFRs form and expand over time, the authors note that some persist for hundreds of years, reaching massive sizes: “In French grasslands, large FFRs of I. geotropa, with a diameter of 800 m, were estimated to be around 700 years old.”

Fungal fairy rings on grasslands.
FFRs of Agaricus crocodilinus in Monte Pratello subalpine grassland, Rivisondoli, Abruzzo, Italian Apennines. (Photo by Franco Carnevale).

The effects of FFRs vary substantially. Indeed, the study explores the various ways FFRs impact soil properties and plant communities as they spread. In some cases, the fungal activity leads to lush green rings of stimulated plant growth. In others, it causes bands of dead or stunted vegetation. 

FFRs don’t just affect plants; they also influence soil microbes. The review describes how “the development of FFR mycelial mats is associated with a general simplification of the bacterial community” in some cases, while other studies have found increased microbial diversity within fairy rings.

Fungal fairy ring examples.
FFR examples (left) and a comparison of soil densely occupied by mycelial mat vs. unaffected soil (right).

The researcher team emphasises that there is still much to learn about the ecological roles and formation mechanisms of FFRs. Several promising areas should be explored in future research, including investigating the volatile compounds produced by fairy ring fungi and using advanced sequencing methods to unravel how FFRs regulate species coexistence in soil and plant communities.

Concluding the study the authors assert that, while improved knowledge of FFRs may have removed some of their mystical aura, “such removal of thin magic halo has certainly not reduced the wonder for the beauty of nature in its ever surprisingly dynamic pattern and intertwined complex systems.”

Read the full research paper here.  

Original source

Zotti M, Bonanomi G, Mazzoleni S (2025) Fungal fairy rings: history, ecology, dynamics and engineering functions. IMA Fungus 16: e138320. https://doi.org/10.3897/imafungus.16.138320

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Australian winged wētā population in Auckland increasing, posing a threat to native invertebrates

In a peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Orthoptera Research, the insect has been traced back to its origin in Queensland.

A fearsome-looking insect commonly referred to as “winged wētā” may look like a flying wētā, but it is not a wētā at all. It belongs to the family of the raspy crickets, which is not native to New Zealand. Like all of its family members, it has the ability to secrete silk from its mouth parts, which it uses to build shelters in foliage.

A close-up photo of a brown cricket resting on a green fern leaf.
Adult male winged wētā (Pterapotrechus salomonoides) in its natural habitat. Photo by Danilo Hegg

The “winged wētā” was first detected in Auckland in 1990. Within thirty years, it had expanded its range north to Cable Bay, Northland; east to Coromandel Peninsula, and south to Raglan, Waikato. While sightings in New Zealand became more and more numerous, the insect remained unidentified. New Zealand entomologist Danilo Hegg recently travelled to Queensland, Australia, to trace the “winged wētā” back to its population of origin and put a name to the species. In a peer-reviewed study now published in the Journal of Orthoptera Research, Hegg showed that the insect originates from the montane rainforests south of Brisbane, at the border of Queensland and New South Wales.

A map of Australia and New Zealand highlighting specific locations in Queensland and New South Wales, including Brisbane, Tamborine Mountain, and Auckland.
Collection localities in New Zealand and Australia.

“The insect is heavily built, has relatively short wings, and is a poor flyer,” says Hegg. “While Australian butterflies do occasionally reach our shores carried by westerly winds, the 2,300km journey across the Tasman Sea is almost certainly too much for the winged wētā. It is highly unlikely that it would have reached New Zealand by natural means”. Australian insects carried by the wind may land anywhere between Cape Reinga and Rakiura / Stewart Island. The fact that the “winged wētā” was first detected in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest import hub, only adds weight to the hypothesis of an accidental introduction by anthropogenic means.

Not only has the “winged wētā” been expanding its range in New Zealand; it has also been building up numbers. Its population density has at least quintupled in Auckland during the past twelve years. And like many other invasive species, it appears to be found in higher numbers in its new territory than in its country of origin. “In Queensland, I could spend a night out and find one or two individuals at most. In Auckland, I was able to capture seven specimens in a two-hour walk” says Hegg.

A photo of two crickets nestled together inside curled green leaves.
Nymphs of winged wētā (Pterapotrechus salomonoides) in rolled leaves held together by silk strands

The “winged wētā” is an omnivore and an agile hunter. Strictly nocturnal, it prowls in the foliage in trees and pounces on any invertebrate that is small enough for it to tackle. Observations conducted in captivity and in the wild have shown that the “winged wētā” preys on just about anything that moves at night. Including juvenile Auckland tree wētā, one of New Zealand’s largest insects.

A close-up photo of a brown cricket resting on a green leaf and holding insect wings in its mandibles.
A winged wētā (Pterapotrechus salomonoides) Nymph with winged termite (Schedorhinotermes sp.) prey.

Given its high population density and its predatory habits, there are concerns the invasive insect could have an impact on New Zealand’s native invertebrate wildlife. “There is still a lot we don’t know” says Hegg “we need to study its diet in the wild, and we need to understand whether the winged wētā is also taking hold in intact native forest habitats, or only in urbanised areas, where the majority of the sightings are. But it poses a threat that needs to be taken seriously”.

New Zealand’s invertebrates are already being decimanted by introduced rodents, mustelids, hedgehogs, cats and wasps. The Australian winged wētā is only going to add to their woes.

Research article:

 Hegg D (2025) An Australian raspy cricket established in New Zealand, Pterapotrechus salomonoides (Orthoptera, Gryllacrididae), with notes on ecology and first description of the male. Journal of Orthoptera Research 34(1): 77-94. https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.34.134391