Pensoft Editorial Team

New study highlights critical communication challenges in European biodiversity research networks

The research uncovered issues that hinder scientific collaboration and data integration across Europe.

A new study published in June reveals that fragmented communication and coordination undermine the effectiveness of Europe’s leading biodiversity research infrastructures (BioRIs). The research led by Allan T. Souza, Tomáš Martinovič, Carrie Andrew, Yi-Ming Gan, and Erik Kusch, examined the communication strategies of four major European BioRIs, uncovering issues that hinder scientific collaboration and data integration across the continent.

BioRIs address the complex challenges in biodiversity research, scientific collaboration across disciplines and national boundaries, and inform the public and policymakers about the status and challenges of the European biodiversity. The new study focusing on the communication and coordination amongst BioRIs revealed issues in communication strategies of the key European BioRIs, including DiSSCo, eLTER, GBIF and LifeWatch ERIC.

A graphic showing logos of biodiversity initiatives: GBIF, eLTER, DiSSCo, and LifeWatch ERIC arranged like puzzle pieces. — Conceptual representation of the Biodiversity Digital Twin (BioDT) with the integration of the four research infrastructures (DiSSCo, eLTER, GBIF and LifeWatch ERIC) involved in the development of the digital twin.

The study revealed uneven geographical representation, inconsistent communication practices, and limited data and service cohesion, ultimately impeding collaboration and efficient resource use. The distribution of BioRIs across Europe is imbalanced, leading to unequal research opportunities and capacities between regions. While communication within individual BioRIs is often strong, collaboration between infrastructures remains limited. The absence of shared tools and standard communication channels severely hampers joint efforts and information flow. The study found no standardised approach to communication methods among BioRIs, creating confusion for stakeholders and reducing transparency and accessibility for scientists, policymakers, and the public. Variations in data standards across infrastructures hinder data integration. While some infrastructures share common standards, others maintain highly specialised protocols, restricting broader collaboration and data use. Although some initiatives show promise for harmonisation, broader systemic challenges persist.

Maps of Europe showcasing various biodiversity projects: BIODT, DISSCO, eLTER RI, GBIF, and LifeWatch ERIC, highlighted in different colors. — Distribution and representation of European Biodiversity Research Infrastructures is fragmented (A), with each individual research infrastructure differing in its geographical coverage (B).

“Our findings highlight a critical need for a unified communication framework to break down barriers between these infrastructures,” said lead author Allan T. Souza. “Without it, we risk missing opportunities for impactful, cross-disciplinary research vital to tackling Europe’s and the world’s biodiversity challenges.” While some initiatives to tackle this issue demonstrate the potential for harmonisation, the broader systemic challenges persist.

Violin plot comparing collaboration intensity in research infrastructures (DiSSCo, eLTER, GBIF, LifeWatch) by network type (Between/Within). — Self-reported collaboration intensity within and between four biodiversity research infrastructures (BioRIs). Upper panel: Collaboration of all BioRIs (DiSSCo, eLTER, GBIF and LifeWatch) are largely siloed, with minimal interaction across BioRIs being reported. Lower panel: Across BioRI, collaboration is uniformly low (left), while within BioRI, collaboration varies, with LifeWatch and eLTER showing the highest intensity (right). These patterns highlight limited cross BioRI integration and variable internal cohesion, highlighting the fragmented scenario in the BioRI landscape.

To overcome these barriers, the study argues for these urgent steps. The first one recommends a standardised communication framework. Creating a shared platform with tools for chat, mailing, discussion boards, calendars, and clear public and internal information separation. Another recommendation is to increase geographical coverage that proposes long-term balancing of BioRI representation across Europe through coordinated funding and capacity sharing. The authors also suggest promoting data interoperability, while harmonising standards and deepening understanding of cross-domain differences to improve integration. And last but not least, it is important to leverage good practice examples.

Addressing fragmentation within European BioRIs requires improving communication, coordination, and interoperability through both technical and institutional measures. Strategic funding, shared platforms, and community engagement will be key to building a more integrated and efficient research network. The study highlights that changes should be gradual, systematic, and informed by proven models of collaboration.

Research article:

Souza A, Martinovič T, Andrew C, Gan Y-M, Kusch E (2025) Fragmented Networks: Challenges in communication and cohesion of European Biodiversity Research Infrastructures. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e148079. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e148079

After 150 years, butterfly collected by Alfred Russel Wallace finds its name

A monograph by a team of international researchers revised the diverse Neotropical butterfly genus Euptychia.

Guest blog post by Shinichi Nakahara

A new Amazonian butterfly

In a drawer of the butterfly collection at the Natural History Museum in London (NHMUK) sit a handful of rather unassuming butterfly specimens from Amazonia. Marked only with a couple of bands and eyespots on the underside of their wings, these specimens were thought to be pitch-brown black-eyed satyrs (Euptychia picea) for over 150 years. Labels attached to some of them suggest that they were collected by 19^th-century naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace during his expedition to the Amazon rainforest along with his good friend, Henry Walter Bates. A recent 300-page monographic study of this group of butterflies has recognised these specimens as a species new to science: Euptychia andrewberryi, or Berry’s black-eyed satyr.

A mounted butterfly with brown and cream patterns, featuring prominent eye spots, displayed alongside various small labels. — *Euptychia andrewberryi*. Photo credit: © Trustees of NHMUK

*Euptychia andrewberryi*. Photo credit: © Trustees of NHMUK

A monograph by a team of international researchers revised the diverse Neotropical butterfly genus Euptychia. The study was led by Shinichi Nakahara, a Lepidoptera subject editor for ZooKeys, Biodiversity Data Journal, and Neotropical Biology and Conservation.

The story behind the eponym

In 1848, Wallace and Bates set sail on an epic voyage for the Amazon to explore and research its neotropical biodiversity. Their trip was funded by Samuel Stevens, a natural history agent in London. In 1852, after four years of collecting, Wallace returned from Brazil with all his specimens loaded on a ship named the Helen. However, on his way back to London, the Helen caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and sank. In the blink of an eye, Wallace lost all of his material. This shipwreck is one of the most disastrous events in the history of science, yet fortunately some of Wallace’s Amazonian material escaped the tragedy and made its way to London.

A black-and-white photo of an old gentleman in formal attire, sitting in an ornate chair at a photo studio. — Alfred Russel Wallace.

Throughout the course of his travels in Amazonia, Wallace occasionally shipped back specimens to Stevens in London. In a letter to Stevens, dated 15 November 1849, Wallace wrote from Santarém (500 miles above Pará), “I spent about three weeks at Montealegre and have now been back here nearly a month, so before I leave for the Rio Negro, I send you a small lot of insects; they consist almost entirely of Lepidoptera…”

The registration records at the NHMUK suggest that the holotype of Euptychia andrewberryi entered the collection in 1850, supporting the notion that it was shipped to London while Wallace was still in Brazil.

A photo of a middle-aged man with short, light gray hair wearing black, seated in a vibrant café setting. — Andrew Berry. Photo by Shori Hijikata

Andrew J. Berry is a historian of science with a long-standing interest in Wallace. A lecturer in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, Andrew teaches evolutionary biology and related subjects. While working on the Euptychia monograph, Andrew’s dry sense of humor and undying zest were critical in the completion of a study of such great magnitude.

Why monographs are important

Taxonomic monographs serve as a foundation for understanding species diversity and phylogenetic relationships within a given group of organisms. They enhance our understanding of the myriad species with which we share our planet. Undertaking work on a monograph typically requires travelling to many museums, incorporating morphological and molecular studies, and conducting field work, as well as reviewing literature to solve taxonomic or nomenclatural conundrums. Despite this tedious process, which requires a great deal of perseverance, monographs underscore the rather underappreciated nature of taxonomy, representing “a small gain for a huge effort.” Unfortunately, most diverse tropical groups of organisms have not yet received a comprehensive taxonomic treatment.　

Euptychia is the largest Neotropical satyrine genus ever to be revised. This monograph increased the known diversity of Euptychia to 50 species, significantly more than hitherto estimated. Although further testing is needed, it is worth emphasising that only 16 described species were recognised in the genus in 2004. It is remarkable to realise that such a profound discrepancy existed between perceived and actual species richness, especially within a well-studied group of invertebrates such as butterflies. This further underscores the importance of revisionary monographic works.

Til moth do us part: new species marks 42 years of marriage

“It is without a doubt the prettiest species I have encountered in my long scientific career,” said Huemer, who named the moth after his wife.

European Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) are generally considered well-known and thoroughly researched. Nevertheless, researchers discover new species every year; most of which are inconspicuous, so-called ‘cryptic’ species, previously overlooked.

Colourful species, on the other hand, have been largely catalogued in Europe as they attract a lot of attention, which made the surprise and delight at the discovery of an extraordinarily striking, and previously unnamed, moth all the greater.

Moth specimen. — Ingrid-Maria’s carcina (*Carcina ingridmariae*). Credit: Peter Huemer/Ferdinandeum.

A newly discovered, pink species has now been named Carcina ingridmariae by Peter Huemer, a scientist at the Tyrolean State Museum Ferdinanduem (Innsbruck, Austria). Huemer published his discovery in the open-access journal Alpine Entomology.

According to current knowledge, the moth is widespread in the eastern Mediterranean region: distributed from Croatia across large parts of Greece and Cyprus to Turkey. However, more detailed studies on its distribution are still pending.

Seemingly unmistakable

Ingrid-Maria’s carcina belongs to a species-poor group of butterflies. In Europe, there is only one other species of the same genus, the oak carcina (Carcina quercana).

Moth on a leaf. — The oak carcina (*Carcina quercana*). Credit: mazzeip via iNaturalist.

This widespread moth was described as early as 1775 by the famous naturalist Johann Christian Fabricius based on specimens from Saxony, and is distributed from North Africa across large parts of Europe to the Balkans.

Due to its unusual colour, the species has always been considered unmistakable. In fact, it is so popular even among amateur researchers that it adorns the cover of an important British identification book.

But, hiding in plain sight, was a second species, mistaken for the oak carcina for more than 100 years.

As a result of its apparent unmistakability, Carcina ingridmariae was always misidentified and was first published – incorrectly – as the oak wood carcina from Crete in 1916.

Mountain landscape. — Habitat of *Carcina* *ingridmariae* in north Cyprus (eastern part of Five Finger Mountains near Kantara). Credit: Peter Huemer/Ferdinandeum.

It was only the introduction of new molecular identification methods that put researchers at the Ferdinandeum on the trail of the nameless moth. DNA barcodes, also known as genetic fingerprints, showed huge differences of more than 6% between the two species.

Subsequent morphological examination of the sexual organs led to the famous “wow” effect. And, upon closer inspection, the two species could not be confused at all, despite the confusingly similar external appearance of the species: namely, a wingspan of about 2 centimeters, a pink base colour with yellow spots, and strikingly long antennae.

A special gift for a 42nd wedding anniversary

Peter Huemer has described more than 200 species from Europe in 35 years, but is particularly enthusiastic about this new species. He said: “It is without doubt the prettiest species I have encountered in my long scientific career, even though it was still unnamed.”

It was therefore obvious to Huemer that he should dedicate the new species to his wife, Ingrid Maria, on their 42nd wedding anniversary. The researcher justifies this choice of name above all with his wife’s decades of support for his work.

Original source

Huemer P (2025) The supposedly unmistakable mistaken: Carcina ingridmariae sp. nov., a surprising example of overlooked diversity from Europe and the Near East (Lepidoptera, Peleopodidae). Alpine Entomology 9: 51-63. https://doi.org/10.3897/alpento.9.158239

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Ensuring drug safety using AI models for adverse drug reaction prediction

An AI model developed to predict adverse drug reactions could potentially support early-stage drug safety assessment before clinical trials.

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a significant cause of hospital admissions and treatment discontinuation worldwide. Conventional approaches often fail to detect rare or delayed effects of medicinal products. In order to improve early detection, a research team from the Medical University of Sofia developed a deep learning model to predict the likelihood of ADRs based solely on a drug’s chemical structure.

The model was built using a neural network trained using reference pharmacovigilance data. Input features were derived from SMILES codes – a standard format representing molecular structure. Predictions were generated for six major ADRs: hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, neurotoxicity, hypertension, and photosensitivity.

A flowchart illustrating chemical transformation, featuring molecular structures, fragment analysis, and decomposition stages. — Visual representation of SMILES and the process of molecular deconstruction. Adapted from Wu JN, Wang T, Chen Y, Tang LJ, Wu HL, Yu RQ. t-SMILES: a fragment-based molecular representation framework for de novo ligand design. Nat Commun. 2024 Jun 11;15(1): 4993. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49388-6.

“We could conclude that it successfully identified many expected reactions while producing relatively few false positives,” the researchers write in their paper published in the journal Pharmacia, concluding it “demonstrates acceptable accuracy in predicting ADRs.”

Infographic detailing an AI model predicting adverse drug reactions for various compounds.

Testing of the model with well-characterized drugs resulted in predictions consistent with known side-effect profiles. For example, it estimated a 94.06% probability of hepatotoxicity for erythromycin, 88.44% for nephrotoxicity and 75.8% for hypertension in cisplatin. Additionally, 22% photosensitivity was predicted for cisplatin, while 64.8% photosensitivity was estimated for the experimental compound ezeprogind. For enadoline, a novel molecule, the model returned low probability scores across all ADRs, suggesting minimal risk.

Notably, these results demonstrate the model’s potential as a decision-support tool in early-phase drug discovery and regulatory safety monitoring. The authors acknowledge that performance of the infrastructure could be further enhanced by incorporating factors such as dose levels and patient-specific parameters.

Research article:

Ruseva V, Dobrev S, Getova-Kolarova V, Peneva A, Getov I, Dimitrova M, Petkova V (2025) In situ development of an artificial intelligence (AI) model for early detection of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to ensure drug safety. Pharmacia 72: 1–8. https://doi.org/10.3897/pharmacia.72.e160997

Mining nature’s knowledge: turning text into data

By using natural language processing, researchers created a reliable system that can automatically read and pull useful data from thousands of articles.

Guest blog post by Joseph Cornelius, Harald Detering, Oscar Lithgow-Serrano, Donat Agosti, Fabio Rinaldi, and Robert M Waterhouse

In a groundbreaking new study, scientists are using powerful computer tools to gather key information about arthropods—creatures like insects, spiders, and crustaceans—from the large and growing collection of scientific papers. The research focuses on finding details in published texts about how these animals live and interact with their environment. By using natural language processing (a type of artificial intelligence that helps computers understand human language), the team created a reliable system that can automatically read and pull useful data from thousands of articles. This innovative method not only helps us learn more about the variety of life on Earth, but also supports efforts to solve environmental challenges by making it easier to access important biological information.

Illustration depicting species literature feeding data on arthropod traits into a database, linking researchers and the community. — Mining the literature to identify species, their traits, and associated values.

The challenge

Scientific literature contains vast amounts of essential data about species—like what arthropods eat, where they live, and how big they are. However, this information is often trapped in hard-to-access files and old publications, making large-scale analysis almost impossible. So how can we convert these pages into usable data?

The goal

The team set out to develop an automatic text‑mining system using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning to scan thousands of biology papers and extract structured information about insects and other arthropods to build a database linking species names with traits like “leg length” or “forest habitat” or “predator”.

How it works in practice

Collect curated vocabularies of terms to be searched for in the texts:

~1 million species names from the Catalogue of Life
390 traits, categorised into feeding ecology, habitat, and morphology

Create “Gold‑standard” data needed to train language models:

Experts manually annotated 25 papers—labelling species, traits, values, and their links—to use as a training benchmark

Train NLP models so they “learn” which are the terms of interest:

Named‑Entity Recognition using BioBERT for identifying species, trait, and value words or phrases in the texts
Relation Extraction using LUKE to link the words/phrases e.g. “this species has this trait” and “this trait has this value”

Automated extraction of words/phrases and their links:

Processed 2,000 open‑access papers from PubMed Central
Identified ~656,000 entities (species, traits, values) and ~339,000 links between them

Publish results in an open searchable online resource:

Developed ArTraDB, an interactive web database where users can search, view, and visualise species‑trait pairs and full species‑trait‑value triples

Text-mining is a conceptually and computationally challenging task.

What is needed for the next steps

Annotation complexity: Even experts struggled to agree on boundaries and precise relationships, underscoring the need for clearer guidelines and more training examples to improve the performance of the models
Gaps in the vocabularies of terms: Many were unrecognised due to missing synonyms, outdated species names, and variations in phrasing. Expanding vocabularies will help improve the ability to find the species, traits, and values
Community curation: Planned features in ArTraDB will allow scientists and citizen curators to improve annotations, helping retrain and refine the models over time

How it impacts science

Speeds up research: Scientists can find species‑trait data quickly and accurately, boosting studies in ecology, evolution, and biodiversity
Scale and scope: This semi‑automated method can eventually be extended well beyond arthropods to other species
Supports global biodiversity efforts: Enables creation of large, quantitative trait datasets essential for monitoring ecosystem changes, climate impact, and conservation strategies

Illustration of a butterfly with icons and arrows outlining key biological data: barcode, genome, distribution, nutrition, habitat, and more. — A long-term vision to connect species with knowledge about their biology.

The outcomes

This innovative work demonstrates how combining text mining, expert curation, and interactive databases can unlock centuries of biological research. It lays a scalable foundation for building robust, open-access trait databases—empowering both scientists and the public to explore the living world in unprecedented ways.

Research article:

Cornelius J, Detering H, Lithgow-Serrano O, Agosti D, Rinaldi F, Waterhouse R (2025) From literature to biodiversity data: mining arthropod organismal traits with machine learning. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e153070. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e153070

New tarantula species so feisty, males evolved the longest genitalia to survive mating

Four new species of tarantulas have been discovered, highly unusual due to their male sexual organs, which are the longest known among all tarantulas.

Four new species of tarantulas have been discovered in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. But these aren’t just any tarantulas.

Satyrex arabicus, male, Saurdi Arabia. Photo by Ibrahim Mohssin Fageeh
Satyrex ferox, male, Oman. Photo by Bobby Bok
Satyrex speciosus, male, Somaliland. Photo by Pavel Just

“Based on both morphological and molecular data, they are so distinct from their closest relatives that we had to establish an entirely new genus to classify them, and we named it Satyrex,” explains Dr. Alireza Zamani of the University of Turku, who led the study that discovered them.

A person holds a large, dark spider in a lab setting, with spider webs and nature-themed artwork in the background. — Satyrex ferox, male.

The genus name is a combination of Satyr, a part-man, part-beast figure from Greek mythology with exceptionally large genitalia, and the Latin word rēx, meaning “king.”

But why “king,” and why a Satyr? “The males of these spiders have the longest palps among all known tarantulas,” Dr. Zamani says. Palps are the specialized appendages used by male spiders to transfer sperm during mating. In Satyrex ferox, the largest species in the genus with a legspan of about 14 cm, the male palp can reach an incredible length of 5 cm, which is almost four times longer than the front part of the body, and almost as long as it longest legs.

The name ferox means “fierce”, and it fits. “This species is highly defensive. At the slightest disturbance, it raises its front legs in a threat posture and produces a loud hissing sound by rubbing specialized hairs on the basal segments of the front legs against each other,” Dr. Zamani explains.

Satyrex ferox. Video by Mark Stockmann

“We have tentatively suggested that the long palps might allow the male to keep a safer distance during mating and help him avoid being attacked and devoured by the highly aggressive female.”

As for the others in the group — the researchers named S. arabicus and S. somalicus after their respective regions of origin, while S. speciosus gets its name from its bright and beautiful coloration. The genus also includes an older species, S. longimanus, originally described from Yemen in 1903 and previously placed in a different genus.

Satyrex speciosus, female, Somaliland. Photo by Přemysl Fabiánek

“Satyrex longimanus, despite also having an elongated palp,was formerly classified in the genus Monocentropus, where the male palp is only about 1.6 times the length of the carapace and well within the typical range of 1.5 to 2 times seen in tarantulas. The much longer palps of S. longimanus and the four newly described species were among the primary characters that led us to establish a new genus for these spiders, rather than place them in Monocentropus. So yes, at least in tarantula taxonomy, it seems that size really does matter,” Dr. Zamani says in conclusion.

All members of this genus are fossorial, meaning they live underground, in burrows at the base of shrubs or between rocks.

The study was published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

Research article:

Zamani A, von Wirth V, Fabiánek P, Höfling J, Just P, Korba J, Petzold A, Stockmann M, Elmi HSA, Vences M, Opatova V (2025) Size matters: a new genus of tarantula with the longest male palps, and an integrative revision of Monocentropus Pocock, 1897 (Araneae, Theraphosidae, Eumenophorinae). ZooKeys 1247: 89-126. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1247.162886

The psychological burden of statistical significance in academic publishing

“The pursuit of significance is no longer just a technical issue, but a psychological burden that shapes behaviour, distorts judgement, and affects mental well-being.”

A new paper published in European Science Editing highlights the growing psychological strain on researchers driven by pressure to obtain statistically significant results in academic publishing.

Drawing on a decade of experience as an editor and statistical reviewer, Michał Ordak, an Assistant Professor at the Medical University of Warsaw, reveals how institutional, supervisory, and editorial expectations contribute to emotional distress, especially among young scholars striving to meet perceived standards of publishability.

“Between 2015 and 2025, concerns about statistical significance became a recurring theme in author responses during peer review and presubmission communication,” said Ordak. “Authors increasingly expressed fear that using appropriate statistical methods would lead to non-significant findings and reduce their chances of publication.”

This anxiety persists despite a general understanding of statistical principles among researchers. Indeed, the pressure is not due to ignorance, but to visible institutional demands and a belief that publication relies on statistically significant results.

“Requests to adjust methods purely to obtain significant outcomes have become more frequent and emotionally charged, even when such changes compromise analytical rigour,” Ordak notes. “The pursuit of significance is no longer just a technical issue, but a psychological burden that shapes behaviour, distorts judgement, and affects mental well-being.”

The pressure is particularly pronounced among PhD students and early-career researchers, who often rely on statistically significant outcomes to secure publications, funding, and careers.

Ordak describes how editorial feedback is sometimes perceived as a threat rather than an opportunity for scientific rigour, leading some researchers to justify flawed analytical choices based solely on whether the results are statistically significant.

Critical reforms are needed to counter the problem, he suggests: “Editorial teams can help mitigate this anxiety by providing guidance on sound statistical reasoning… and by reassuring authors that rigorous methods are valued regardless of outcome.”

He urges widespread adoption of standards such as the SAMPL (Statistical Analyses and Methods in the Published Literature) guidelines, which remain underused in practice.

Original source

Ordak M (2025) The psychological burden of statistical significance: editorial reflections from 2015 to 2025. European Science Editing 51: e164741. https://doi.org/10.3897/ese.2025.e164741

About European Science Editing

European Science Editing is a diamond open-access journal that publishes original contributions related to scientific and scholarly editing and publishing. The official journal of the European Association of Science Editors, it is published on the ARPHA platform.

Hidden in sacred forests: A newly described microendemic gecko from Madagascar

Reserves managed by local communities are essential for the survival of species like P. tsaranoro.

A team of international herpetologists has described a new gecko species that has managed to hide in plain sight among the granite boulders around the western flanks of the Andringitra Massif, in south-eastern Madagascar. “Paragehyra tsaranoro is named after the Tsaranoro valley, where it was first observed,” explains first author Francesco Belluardo from the Department of Bioscience and Territory at the University of Molise (Italy). “It is not only endemic to Madagascar, but also what we describe as a microendemic species—restricted to an extremely small range.”

A close-up photo of a gecko against a blurred natural background.

In this case, P. tsaranoro has only been found in three small forest fragments, all located within approximately 15 kilometers of one another. These patches are remnants of a once-larger and continuous forest that has been destroyed by the widespread deforestation that continues to impact Madagascar’s biodiversity.

A photo of a camouflaged gecko resting on a textured stone surface, surrounded by blurred greenery in the background.

“The findings emphasise the importance of conducting research on small forest fragments, as they are essential for completing the inventory of Malagasy herpetofauna,” the researchers write in their study, which was published in the journal ZooKeys.

Given its very limited range and the ongoing threats to its habitat, the authors recommend listing this new gecko as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Like many endemic species in Madagascar, its existence might be threatened by deforestation, which means destruction and fragmentation of its already limited habitat. The research team, composed also of Angelica Crottini, Javier Lobón-Rovira, Gonçalo M. Rosa, Franco Andreone, Malalatiana Rasoazanany, Costanza Piccoli and Ivo Oliveira Alves call for stronger support for local communities in conserving the species. In fact, most of its known range lies outside Madagascar’s network of protected areas, and the only conservation measures come from reserves managed by local communities—areas created to support sustainable livelihoods and protect local biodiversity.

A photo of a group of people sitting on a rocky ledge, surrounded by vast, dry valleys and dramatic mountains under a cloudy sky.

“Building on previous research in the region, it appears that this landscape is full of hidden biodiversity gems, including other microendemic reptile species found nowhere else in the country. These community-managed reserves act as important refuges for local wildlife,” says Belluardo. “Interestingly, many of these small forest fragments are known locally as ‘Forêts sacrées’, or sacred forests, because they host boulders that serve as ancestral tombs for the local Betsileo people. Protecting this cultural heritage has also helped safeguard local species, suggesting once again that conserving biodiversity often goes hand-in-hand with preserving cultural traditions.”

Photos by Javier Lobón-Rovira.

Research article:

Belluardo F, Piccoli C, Lobón-Rovira J, Oliveira Alves I, Rasoazanany M, Andreone F, Rosa GM, Crottini A (2025) A new microendemic gecko from the small forest fragments of south-eastern Madagascar (Squamata, Gekkonidae, Paragehyra). ZooKeys 1240: 1-38. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1240.151016

Manga mollusc: new deep-sea species named after ONE PIECE character

Found 6 km beneath the Pacific, the limpet’s unusually large size inspired its name.

Whether its naming a spider after Venom (and Tom Hardy), a crab after a League of Legends raccoon-thing, or a giant isopod after Darth Vader, researchers have a long history of honouring their favourite pop-culture characters when naming new species.

Top-lane crab: new species named after League of Legends character

So, when researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) discovered a new limpet species deep below the northwestern Pacific Ocean, it should come as no surprise that they looked to a nautical manga series for inspiration.

Deep-sea photograph showing a limpet on the sea floor. — Photograph of the new species with a clear feeding trail behind. Credit: Chen et al.

Published as a new species in the open-access journal Zoosystematics and Evolution (follow the journal on Bluesky here), the deep-sea limpet was found on hard volcanic rock 500 kilometres southeast of Tokyo at a depth of almost 6 km, the deepest known habitat for any true limpet (subclass Patellogastropoda).

The gastropod measures up to 40.5 mm in shell length, which is a remarkably large size for a true limpet from such depths and another source of inspiration for the species’ name.

So, what is that name?

The research team named the new species Bathylepeta wadatsumi, which is both a reference to Wadatsumi, the god of the sea in Japanese mythology, and the character “Large Monk” Wadatsumi, from the manga series ONE PIECE.

“Large Monk” Wadatsumi, from the manga series ONE PIECE. — “Large Monk” Wadatsumi. Credit: One Piece Wiki.

In ONE PIECE,”Large Monk” Wadatsumi is a giant fish-man and a member of the Sun Pirates. To avoid spoilers, that’s all we will say about the character, but as far as the reference goes: Wadatsumi is big, the limpet is big, and the authors love ONE PIECE.

So much so, that they paid further homage to the world’s most popular manga series in the acknowledgements section of their paper, writing:

“We also take this opportunity to salute Eiichiro Oda for continuing to chart the epic voyage of ONE PIECE (1997–), which reminds us that the greatest voyages are driven by freedom, camaraderie, and an insatiable thirst for discovery.”

Their own discovery was made possible by access to sophisticated submersible technology.

The new species was collected using the crewed submersible DSV Shinkai 6500, making it the first time a member of the genus Bathylepeta has been observed and photographed live on its natural rocky substrate, rather than being dredged using a net. The use of submersibles is instrumental in accessing these habitats, allowing for direct observation and collection of previously overlooked organisms.

Submersible entering the sea. — JAMSTEC’s DSV *Shinkai 6500* submersible.

“Even in an age of sophisticated remotely operated vehicles, there’s often an edge to the human eye on the seafloor. Crewed submersibles like Shinkai 6500 let us explore with intention and nuance—spotting lifeforms like Bathylepeta wadatsumi that might otherwise be missed entirely.”
Dr Chong Chen, lead author.

Beyond its taxonomic significance, the study has broader ecological implications as B. wadatsumi appears to graze on sediment layers over rock, indicating a specialised role in processing organic matter in deep-sea ecosystems.

The findings underscore the need for more comprehensive explorations of rocky abyssal habitats using submersibles to reveal the true diversity and distribution of Bathylepeta and other animals relying on such habitats.

While it remains to be seen whether Luffy and co. will ever find the “One Piece,” we can be sure that their adventures will continue to inspire researchers in their own journies of discovery.

Original source

Chen C, Tsuda M, Ishitani Y (2025) A new large-sized lepetid limpet from the abyssal northwestern Pacific is the deepest known patellogastropod. Zoosystematics and Evolution 101(3): 1249-1058. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.156207

Cover image credit: Limpet photograph: Chen et al.; Illustration: ONE PIECE (TV series) Toei Animation.

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Two new species of wart sea slugs discovered from North Sulawesi, Indonesia

The discovery adds to the rich biodiversity of the Indo-Pacific region.

Five women scientists from Germany, Indonesia, and Wales have discovered two new species of wart sea slugs from North Sulawesi, Indonesia — Phyllidia ovata and Phyllidia fontjei.

Wart sea slugs in the family Phyllidiidae are common inhabitants of the Indo-Pacific Ocean, preying on sponges and stealing toxins from their prey for their own defence. To scientists and nature enthusiasts alike, they are renowned for their warning coloration and their chemical defence mechanisms. Approximately 350 species of sea slugs have been documented in North Sulawesi, and some 100 of these are new to science and still need to be formally identified, but now, two colourful species, much rarer than most of their relatives, have been named and described.

Phyllidia schupporum. Photo by Rafi Amar
Phyllidiopsis sinaiensis. Photo by Nathalie Yonow
Phyllidiopsis cardinalis. Photo by Sven Kahlbrock
Paradoris hypocrita. Photo by Sven Kahlbrock
Phyllidiella zeylanica. Photo by Sven Kahlbrock
Phyllidia varicosa. Photo by Hsini Lin

Phyllidia ovata was named in reference to its unique appearance that resembles an egg, both in its shape and its pattern. It has been photographed several times by enthusiastic underwater photographers in Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Australia during the past 23 years, but was only recognised as a new-to-science species now. This medium-sized, up to 5 cm long, wart sea slug has finally been given a name based on an animal collected by a scuba diver in North Sulawesi.

Phyllidia fontjei was named in honour of the late Dr. Fontje Kaligis, an Indonesian researcher who was instrumental in opening new avenues of international cooperation for the advancement of our knowledge of the — sometimes hidden — biodiversity in North Sulawesi. With a maximum documented size of 16 mm, this small species of wart sea slug is difficult to find. Nevertheless, Phyllidia fontjei has been photographed during the past 15 years – in Indonesia and Malaysia, but is more common in the Andaman Sea in the Indian Ocean. This species has been described based on a single reference animal, which scientists refer to as a holotype. The holotype has been histologically examined, allowing for a very detailed analysis of its anatomy.

*Phyllidia fontjei*. Photo by Heike Wägele

To a large extent, these discoveries were made possible thanks to people who do not have formal scientific education but are passionate about documenting and protecting Earth’s diversity. Photographs and data posted on citizen science platforms like iNaturalist, social media sites like Facebook, and dedicated sea slug communities such as NudiPixel and the now defunct Sea Slug Forum, provided the researchers with vital information for identifying these nudibranchs as new to science and establishing a more realistic geographical distribution when only few specimens are available for study.

“We all use these platforms in many different fields of taxonomy as they provide useful records when the species are distinctive, and have done so for more than two decades,” says Dr Nathalie Yonow of Swansea University, one of the authors of the study.

The discovery has been published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

Research article:

Wägele H, Raubold LM, Papu A, Undap N, Yonow N (2025) On two new Phyllidia species (Gastropoda, Nudibranchia, Doridina) and some histology from the Coral Triangle. ZooKeys 1245: 1-18. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1245.153046