2 miniature spider species discovered in Giant Panda Sanctuaries of China

Two new minute spider species have been discovered from the Sichuan and Chongqing, China. The tiny new spiders are both less than 2 mm in length, with Trogloneta yuensis being as little as 1.01 mm and Mysmena wawuensis measured to be the even tinier 0.75 mm, which classes it among the smallest spiders known. The two species described in the open access journal Zookeys both have a bizarre body shape with disproportionately big spherical posterior body.

The family Mysmenidae to which the new species belong is composed of minute eight-eyed spiders. There are a relatively small number of these spiders recognized worldwide despite scientists expect that many new species are still awaiting discovery. Mysmenidae are one of the least studied groups among orb-weaving spiders which is believed to be due to their small size.

Being extremely minute, up to 2 mm in total and having cryptic lifestyle these creatures become rather hard to find. The spiders live in moist leaf litter, and their obscure places such as moss and even caves and they prefer very humid habitats. Spiders from this family are believed to widely throughout the tropical and subtropical regions.

The two new species found in China are considered endemic to their type localities in the Sichuan and Chongqing. The region of Wawu Mt. National Forest Park, where Mysmena wawuensis was discovered is also remarkable for holding a small population of wild giant panda of about 10 individuals. A recent survey shows that 1206 individuals of giant panda are currently living in Sichuan, which makes the region remarkable with about 76% of the whole wild panda population in China being concentrated there attesting for the great biodiversity of the province.

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Original Source:

Lin Y, Li S (2013) Two new species of the genera Mysmena and Trogloneta (Mysmenidae, Araneae) from Southwestern China. ZooKeys 303: 33–51. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.303.4808

The pirate ant: A new species from the Philippines with a bizarre pigmentation pattern

Scientists discovered a new enigmatic species of ant coming from the Philippines. Cardiocondyla pirata or the pirate ant engages the imagination with a bizarre pigmentation pattern that has no equivalent worldwide. The female castes in the colonies of these species can be recognized by a distinctive dark stripe across the eyes that resembles a pirate eye patch, which inspired the authors to choose the name of the species. The study was published in the open access journalZookeys.

"On a collection trip to the Philippines we looked for different species of the genus Cardiocondyla that is known for its astonishing morphological and behavioral diversity of male ants. Beside already know species we also detected a until then undiscovered species in the cleavage of big stones in a shady streambed. Due to the darkness of the rainforest and the translucent body parts of the tiny ants they were nearly invisible. Under bright light and a magnifier we detected the nice stripe across the eyes and therefore always referred to these species as "the pirates.", comments Sabine Frohschammer, PhD student Universität Regensburg.

What remains a mystery for scientists is the adaptive significance of the extraordinary pigmentation pattern. The poor vision and the fact that these ants mate in the dark exclude one of the most obvious hypotheses that the dark patch serve as a sign for sexual differentiation and thus a cue for recognition during mating.

A possible guess about the function of this bizarre pirate-like coloration pattern is that it serves as a tool to distract and confuse the enemy. The combination of the dark stripes together with a rather translucent body when living could leave the impression in predators that the anterior and posterior body parts are in fact two separate objects.

However even if this hypothesis is true the enigmatic pigmentation pattern of Cardiocondyla pirata will continue to engage the minds of scientists. "Remains the question: Which predator with a high-performance visual system could consume these tiny ants?",comment the authors of the study.

 

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Original Source:

Seifert B, Frohschammer S (2013) Cardiocondyla pirata sp. n. – a new Philippine ant with enigmatic pigmentation pattern (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys 301: 13–24. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.301.4913

Rapid growth for Zookeys in less than a year: the 300th jubilee issue is now a fact

On 15th of May 2013, Zookeys published its 300th jubilee issue. The journal had its last jubilee less than a year ago, on 5th of June 2012, thus marking a remarkable volume of 100 issues in the last 11 months.

Since the start of 2013 ZooKeys marks more than 60 % growth in the first quarter of 2013. For this period, the total number of published pages almost doubled to the impressive 5,060 in 2013, in comparison with 3,266 in 2012. The number of published issues also significantly increased from 27 to 41 for the same time frame.

The 300th jubilee issue is an extensive study of the parasitoid wasp genus Macroteleia in China. This genus is part of the Scelioninae subfamily, and comprises of 131 described species worldwide. Wasps from the Macroteleia genus are believed to be parasitoids of eggs of longhorned grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae). The new study reports 17 species recognized for China, of which 7 are newly discovered and described.

Chen H-y, Johnson NF, Masner L, Xu Z-f (2013) The genus Macroteleia Westwood (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae s. l., Scelioninae) from China. ZooKeys 300: 1–98. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.300.4934

Tiny water creepy crawlies from South Korea and the Russian Far East

Water mites of the family Torrenticolidae are tiny, heavily sclerotized and crawling water creatures presently known from all continents except Antarctica. More than 400 species are described so far but this is expected to be only a minor pars of their diversity, especially in the tropical areas where the family is most species abundant. Until recently only one species was known from South Korea, and five from the Russian Far East. A recent study, published in the open access journal Zookeys, adds up to the diversity in this regions with 2 new to science species and 5 described from South Korea for the first time.

The two new species Torrenticola kimichungi and Monatractides abei, have been described from South Korea and the Russian Far East as a part of the project aimed at uncovering Korean invertebrate diversity, and led by the National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR). The species have been named to commemorate the contributions of two scientist Drs Il-Hoi Kim and Kyung-Sook Chung and Dr Hiroshi Abe for their extensive studies in the area of water mites.

“Water mites are a diverse and widespread but still neglected group of freshwater fauna. In natural streams, species diversity of water mites is generally rather high and may reach, or occasionally even exceed, 50 species at single collecting site, often most of these are torrenticolid mites. Torrenticolid mites avoid habitats with silty substrata and intermittent flow, and their study can give valuable information on the ecological characteristics of the areas with an unstable surface water regime”, says the lead author Vladimir Pešić, Department of Biology, University of Montenegro.

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Original Source:

Pešić V, Semenchenko KA, Lee W (2013) Torrenticolid water mites from Korea and the Russian Far East. ZooKeys 299: 21, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.299.5272

Do potatoes grow on vines? A review of the wild relatives of some favorite food plants

A new extensive study offers a complete revision and a new species from the vining Solanum species (the Dulcamaroid clade)

The Solanaceae, also called the potato or nightshade family, includes a wide range of flowering plants, some of which are important agricultural crops. Tomatoes, potatoes, aubergines, peppers and wolfberries are all representatives of the family present on many tables across the world. Solanum is the largest genus of the family, and with 1500 species, is one of the largest genera of flowering plants. Solanum has 13 major evolutionary groups,or clades. This new study published in the open access journal Phytokeys offers a complete revision of all of the species of the Dulcamaroid clade, including the description of a new species endemic to the forests of Ecuador.

The species-rich genus Solanum has remained remarkably underexplored until relatively recently, despite the economic importance of some of its members such as potato (Solanum tuberosum) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) . A project funded by the United States National Science Foundation’s Planetary Biodiversity Inventory program begun in 2004 sought to redress this situation by attempting to accelerate species-level taxonomy and at the same time prove a robust genetic background to the research. This research is a part of this effort, providing a revision of all the species of an entire clade of Solanum. Extensive and detailed, this study follows historical and taxonomic changes within the Dulcamaroid clade to provide detailed and very importantly community shared summary. Publication in PhytoKeys means the data from the in-depth taxonomic work will be shared with a wide audience who can re-use the data for further work with these plants.

“Work by participants of the ‘PBI Solanum’ project will result in a modern monographic treatment of the entire genus available on-line. This treatment is part of this collaborative effort.”explains Dr. Sandra Knapp, the author of this extensive contribution.

Members of the Dulcamaroid clade are all woody plants and vary in appearance from shrubs to vines. Some are large canopy lianas, while other vining species are woody only at the base. All representatives have beautiful clusters of flowers varying in color from deep purple, through fuchsia and pale pink, to pure white. Species in the group are native to both the New and Old Worlds – with the highest species diversity in Argentina and Peru. Among the species included in this revision is the common European woody nightshade, Solanum dulcamara, distributed all over the northern hemisphere and having a long history of medicinal use.

The new species described in this revision, Solanum agnoston, discovered by Dr. Sandra Knapp, Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, UK, comes from the inter Andean valleys of Southern Ecuador and is only known from two collections. Many of the other species of the group are similarly rare – of the 45 species 14 are threatened or endangered. Two of the most well-known decorative representatives of the group featured in the study are S. crispum, also known as Chilean potato vine or Chilean nightshade, and S. laxum, commonly called potato climber or jasmine nightshade. Both of these species are native to South America – S. crispum from Chile and S. laxum from southern Brazil and Argentina – but are today cultivated all over the world.

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Original Source:

Knapp S (2013) A revision of the Dulcamaroid Clade of Solanum L. (Solanaceae). PhytoKeys 22: 1, doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.22.4041

When green means danger: A stunning new species of palm-pitviper from Honduras

The gorgeous new species Bothriechis guifarroi is named to honor the grassroots conservationist Mario Guifarro

A new species of green palm-pitviper of the genus Bothriechis is described from a seriously threatened cloud forest reserve in northern Honduras. Because of similarity in color pattern and scalation, the new species (Bothriechis guifarroi) was previously confused with other Honduran palm pitvipers. Genetic analysis revealed that the closest relatives of the new species are actually found over 600 km to the south, in the mountains of Costa Rica. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.

The gorgeous new species was discovered by scientists during two expeditions in 2010 aimed at studying the fauna of Texiguat Wildlife Refuge, one of the most endemism-rich and diverse highland forests in Mesoamerica. This beautiful, but highly toxic, snake represents the 15th endemic species occurring in the region. Texiguat Wildlife Refuge was created in 1987 to protect populations of wildlife such as the famous but elusive jaguar and Central America tapir, as well as howler and white-faced monkeys, sloths, and a variety of endemic amphibians, reptiles, and plants.

To draw attention to the dedication and sacrifice of many grassroots conservationists in Honduras and Central America, the new species was named in honor of Mario Guifarro of Olancho. Guifarro was a former hunter and gold miner who became an outspoken conservationist when he saw the vast rainforests of eastern Honduras being destroyed and converted to cattle ranches. After years of threats and multiple attempts on his life, Guifarro was ambushed and murdered on 15 September 2007 while on a mission to delimit a biosphere reserve for the indigenous Tawahka.

The lead author of the study Dr Josiah Townsend, Department of Biology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, comments on the importance of the discovery and conservation status of the new species: “The description of Bothriechis guifarroi has important implications for Central American biogeography as well as conservation. We recommend that B. guifarroi be immediately classified as Critically Endangered due to its limited known area of occurrence and the potential for anthropogenic damage to its habitat. We also consider that this species warrants immediate consideration for protection under CITES, given its striking appearance and high potential for exploitation in the pet trade.”

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Original Source:

Townsend JH, Medina-Flores M, Wilson LD, Jadin RC, Austin JD (2013) A relict lineage and new species of green palm-pitviper (Squamata, Viperidae, Bothriechis) from the Chortís Highlands of Mesoamerica. ZooKeys 298: 77, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.298.4834

Revealing hidden fungal species using DNA: The importance of recognizing cryptic diversity

Our ability to assess biological diversity, ecosystem health, ecological interactions, and a wide range of other important processes is largely dependent on accurately recognizing species. However, identifying and describing species is not always a straightforward task. In some cases, a single species may show a high level of morphological variation, while in other cases, multiple morphologically similar species may be hidden under a single species name. Cryptic species, two or more distinct species that are erroneously classified under a single species name, are found in all major groups of living things.

As an alternative to traditional morphology-based species delimitation, an international research group, including scientists from Germany, Iran, Spain, and the USA, describe five new species of lichen-forming fungi from what was traditionally considered a single species using differences in DNA sequence data. The authors state that “the effective use of genetic data appears to be essential to appropriately and practically identify natural groups in some phenotypically cryptic lichen-forming fungal lineages”. The study was published in the open access journal Mycokeys.

They also provide a reference DNA sequence database for specimen identification using DNA barcoding, making specimen identification more accessible and more reliable at the same time. The application of DNA-based identification can potentially be used as a way for both specialists and nonspecialists alike to recognize species that are otherwise difficult to identify.

Lichens are commonly used to monitor ecosystem health and the impact of atmospheric pollution. In addition, some lichens are potentially valuable sources of pharmaceutical products, including antibiotics, antioxidants, etc. In spite of their occurrence in all terrestrial ecosystems and overall ecological importance, lichens are commonly overlooked. DNA barcode identification can be performed in a variety of ecological, pharmaceutical, and biomonitoring studies in order to quickly sort specimens into the correct species.

The authors argue that the use of molecular sequence data in identifying species will likely become increasingly important and routinely applied. Other disciplines such as ecology, conservation, and physiology will benefit from a more objectively based species circumscription, enabling us to interpret distribution and ecological patterns more precisely, while more accurately monitoring environmental disturbance and climate change. The authors predict that this approach will prove to be an important tool in making critical conservation-related decisions.

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Additional Information

This study was supported by funds from Brigham Young University graduate mentoring and graduate research fellowship awards, the USDA National Forest Service, the Negaunee Foundation, the National Science Foundation (DEB-0949147), the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain (CGL2010-21646/BOS, RYC02007-01576), and the JAE-Doc program (Departamento de Biología Ambiental, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales) for financial support.

Original source

Leavitt SD, FernaÅLndez-Mendoza F, PeÅLrez-Ortega S, Sohrabi M, Divakar PK, Lumbsch TH, St. Clair LLS (2013) DNA barcode identification of lichen-forming fungal species in the Rhizoplaca melanophthalma species-complex (Lecanorales, Lecanoraceae), including five new species. MycoKeys 7: 1, doi: 10.3897/mycokeys.7.4508

DRYAD announces nonprofit sustainability plans

The data repository invites community input on the future of data archiving at upcoming membership meeting

Dryad, a repository for data underlying the international scientific and medical literature, works with a variety of journals, societies and publishers to archive research data at the time of publication. The project began in 2009 and has published more than 3,000 data packages. In 2012, Dryad incorporated as a nonprofit organization with the mission to make scientific and medical research data permanently available to all researchers and educators free-of-charge without barriers to reuse.

For the past four years, Dryad has worked with its stakeholders to develop a sustainability plan to realize this vision. Central to the sustainability plan is a one-time submission fee that will offset the actual costs of preserving data indefinitely. A variety of pricing plans are available for journals and other organizations such societies, funders and libraries to purchase discounted submission fees on behalf of their researchers. For data not covered by a pricing plan, the researcher will be asked to pay upon submission, with waivers provided to researchers from World Bank low and lower-middle income economies. Submission fees will apply to all new submissions starting September 2013. Dryad will also be supported in part by its membership, by grants for research and innovation, and by donors. Membership in Dryad is open to any organization that supports research and education. Dryad is pleased to include Pensoft Publishers among its Charter Members.

The Dryad Membership meeting, to be held in Oxford, UK on Friday, May 24 is open to members, prospective members, researchers and other interested parties. Attendees will hear about recent and upcoming developments in the repository and the nonprofit organization. In addition, there will be an Emerging Issues Forum with presentations from the community about future directions for Dryad, its members, and partner journals, including models for the technical and peer review of data, ideas for promoting the adoption of data citations, measuring data reuse, funder perspectives on the use of research grants for data management costs and the relevance of larger data networks.

Dryad’s Membership Meeting is part of a series of free public events in Oxford spotlighting trends in scholarly communication with an emphasis on research data, including a Symposium on the Now and Future of Data Publication on Wednesday, May 22nd and an ORCID Outreach Meeting with a special joint Dryad-ORCID Symposium on Research Attribution on Thursday, May 23rd. Registration for these events closes on May 13th. Remote attendance will be available for those unable to attend in person.

For more information about submitting data, becoming a member or the sustainability plan, please visit http://datadryad.org. The website also offers an Ideas Forum where people can make their voice heard by suggesting and voting for new features and offering comments.

CONTACT:

Laura Wendell, Executive Director

Email: lwendell@datadrayd.org

Tel: +1-919-668-4005 or +1-919-423-3889

A big step forward: Subterranean Biology journal moves to advanced open access publishing

Subterranean Biology now fully joins the peer reviewed open access family of journals published by Pensoft Publishers, who also publish ZooKeys, PhytoKeys and others.

"The outputs of the former editors-in-chief and the former editorial boards were without compromises on quality," comments the new editor-in-chief, Dr Oana Moldovan. "We certainly want to ensure continuity in this regard, but high-quality content is best appreciated if it is processed, published, presented and preserved in a way that leverages the potential of electronic publication to the fullest extent possible with current technology."

At Pensoft, fully electronic and largely automated workflows are the norm. Content is published simultaneously in several formats (PDF, HTML and XML) that are complemented by options for print on demand of reprints or whole issues. From now on, the content in the journal will be fully linked and exported to taxonomic databases such as the Encyclopedia of Life, Species-ID and PubMed Central. The articles will also benefit from professional archiving in the world’s leading scholarly archives.

The online publication allows an increase of the number of articles, whose revision is speeded up through the Pensoft Journals System, PJS. Faster online publication of the individual articles is also ensured, each article will be published when ready, and issues will be completed upon publishing of the last article. The new journal format is also beneficial to the content that can now include colour figures and multimedia free of charge. Lastly, Subterranean Biology will step into the future with Pensoft’s efforts towards active and professional promotion and PR, with the widest possible dissemination of the published content.

The journal Subterranean Biology is calling on society members and the wider community to make active use of its modernized publication workflows by submitting their best works to it. All types of contributions are welcome, including from both young and established scientists, who are encouraged to submit their works in the journal. Established researchers are invited to submit reviews and ideas for future research. "We expect that, at least, once every year, each member of the Society will provide a good contribution to the journal. We are also inviting all the people that work in subterranean biology or related fields to contribute to the Society journal and hopefully become new members", Moldovan adds.

The new Subterranean Biology is committed to making the world of subterranean creatures more attractive and accessible to the large public. "Subterranean biology is not only about those creepy creatures that live underground, the underground world is deeply connected with the surface, and the outside green turns into downwards black only in our eyes but not for a number of other living beings", the editor-in-chief explains.

 

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Original Source:

Moldovan OT (2013) One step forward for subterranean biology. Subterranean Biology 11: 1-2. doi: 10.3897/subtbiol.11.5280

ZooKeys continues to grow

Pensoft Publishers’ flagship taxonomic open access journal ZooKeys marks more than 60 % growth in the first quarter of 2013. For this period, the total number of published pages almost doubled to the impressive 5,060 in 2013, in comparison with 3,266 in 2012. The number of published issues also significantly increased  from 27 to 41 for the same time frame.

The journal authors also benefited from intensified PR services committed to providing a wider outreach for quality research. Almost every article published in Zookeys gets a social network posting in our growing communities on Facebook, Twitter and Google +. On the average, one research paper per issue benefits from a professionally written press release disseminated to world’s leading science news distributors and mass media, including outlets like BBC, the Daily Mail, Scientific American, New York Times and others.

Another zoological open access journal published by Pensoft, the Journal of Hymenoptera Research also reported 60 % growth, with 398 published pages in 3 issues in the first quarter of 2013 in comparison with 242 pages in 2 issues in 2012.