Author: Pensoft Editorial Team

A new peer reviewed data paper describes a unique database spanning the full range of indigenous and exotic ants occurring in Belgium. The paper, published in the open access journal Zookeys analyses the history, content and use of the FORMIDABEL database, which includes more than 27,000 records.

The paper uses a new pattern of citing the data resource, aimed at bringing additional credit to the authors and their institutions (see Resource Citation below).

FORMIDABEL is a collaboration between the Flemish ants working group "Polyergus" and the Wallonian ants working group "FourmisWalBru". The original database was created in 2002 in the context of the preliminary red data book of Flemish ants and data from the Southern part of Belgium (Wallonia and Brussels) were added in 2005. In 2012 this dataset was again updated for the creation of the first Belgian Ants Atlas. The main purpose of this atlas was to generate maps for all outdoor-living ant species in Belgium using an overlay of the standard used Belgian ecoregions. By using this overlay for most species a restricted distribution pattern in Belgium can be observed, mainly based on existing vegetation and soil types. The digital version of the Belgian Ant Atlas is published on http://www.formicidae-atlas.be.

The records featured in FORMIDABEL originate from a wide range of sources including collections, field sampling and literature. The oldest occurrences date back as far as May 1866, while the most recent are from August 2012. FORMIDABEL is a work in progress and the database is updated twice a year to provide up to date information on the ant fauna in Belgium.

The latest version of the dataset is publicly and freely accessible through this url: http://ipt.biodiversity.be/resource.do?r=formidabel.

The dataset is also retrievable via the GBIF data portal through this link: http://data.gbif.org/datasets/resource/14697
A dedicated geo-portal, developed by the Belgian Biodiversity Platform is accessible at: http://www.formicidae-atlas.be

Resource citation:

Polyergus Working Group and FourmisWalBru Working Group (2013 -). FORMIDABEL: The Belgian Ants Database, 27264 records. Contributed by Brosens D, Vankerkhoven F, Ignace D, Wegnez P, Noé N, Heughebaert A, Bortels J and W Dekoninck. Online at http://ipt.biodiversity.be/resource.do?r=formidabel and, http://www.formicidae-atlas.be, Version 1.0 (last updated on 2013-04-19), GBIF key: http://gbrds.gbif.org/browse/agent?uuid=b528799a-2d52-4023-aa02-9ce081e3ca5f. Data Paper ID: doi: 10.3897/zookeys.306.4898

Original Source:

Brosens D, Vankerkhoven F, Ignace D, Wegnez P, Noй N, Heughebaert A, Bortels J, Dekoninck W (2013) FORMIDABEL; The Belgian Ants Database. ZooKeys 306: 59, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.306.4898

Additional Information:

What is a Data Paper?

A Data Paper is a scholarly journal publication whose primary purpose is to describe a dataset or a group of datasets, rather than to report a research investigation. As such, it contains facts about data, not hypotheses and arguments in support of those hypotheses based upon data, as found in a conventional research article. Its purposes are three-fold:

• to provide a citable journal publication that brings scholarly credit to data publishers;
   
• to describe the data in a structured human-readable form;
   
• to bring the existence of the data to the attention of the scholarly community.

A new species of tiny blenniiform fish has been discovered in the biodiversity rich waters of the southern Caribbean. Haptoclinus dropi is only around 2cm in length with a beautiful color pattern that includes iridescence on the fins. The proposed common name of the species is four-fin blenny, due to the division of the dorsal fin into four sections, which is a distinguishing feature of the genus and unique among blenniiform fishes. The study was published in the open access journalZookeys.

This beautiful new species was discovered as a lucky bycatch during targeted specimen catching at 157-167 m depth off Curaçao as a part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP). The new species, Haptoclinus dropi, gets its name from the project’s abbreviation and is one of numerous new ray-finned fish species emerging from this project.

For DROP expeditions the Substation Curaçao‘s manned submersible Curasub was used to catch specimens. While generally used as tourist attraction because it travels at much greater depths than divers can reach, the Curasub is also used for scientific marine research. Targeted fish specimens are collected with the sub’s two flexible, hydraulic arms, but very often small non-targeted fish are also caught in the process.

"Below the depths accessible using scuba gear and above the depths typically targeted by deep-diving submersibles, tropical deep reefs are productive ocean ecosystems that science has largely missed. They are home to diverse assemblages of new and rare species that we are only just beginning to understand," explains the lead author of the study Dr Carole Baldwin, Smithsonian Institution.

 

 

Original Source:

Baldwin CC, Robertson RD (2013) A new Haptoclinus blenny (Teleostei, Labrisomidae) from deep reefs off Curaзao, southern Caribbean, with comments on relationships of the genus.ZooKeys 306: 71–81, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.306.5198

 

A new species of scorpion Tityus (Atreus) crassicauda has been discovered from the extraordinarily biodiversity rich region of the Ecuadorian Andes. The intriguing new species is classed as medium sized, but still around the Impressive 5 cm in length. It is distinguished by reddish brown overall coloration, broken by peculiar decoration of 3 longitudinal brown stripes , separated by yellow zones. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.

The new species belongs to the genus Tityus, which is part of the scorpion family Buthidae. This genus, with more than 200 known species, is the most speciose one among all the buthid genera. The animals of this group can range from very small (smaller than 3 cm) to very large species of up to 12 cm in length. All scorpions possess venom glands and several representatives of this family, including also species of the genus Tityus are also known to produce powerful venom that can be deadly to humans.

"Although scorpions can be considered as fascinating animals, the interest shown by people in general is only connected with their negative reputation as a ‘killer of man’. Nonetheless, only a limited number of species probably are actually responsible of serious or lethal incidents. Initially, research on scorpions focused primarily on descriptive taxonomy and general anatomy, followed by some medical research on venom biochemistry. More recently, however, research on scorpions expanded greatly to encompass many aspects of evolutionary biology of these fascinating species.", comments the lead author of the study, Dr. Wilson R. Lourenço, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris.

Many authors working on the floras and faunas of the Neotropical region seem to agree that the possible ‘epicentre’ of global diversity occurs namely in the tropical and subtropical Andean region (the upper Amazon, North of Peru, and most of Ecuador and Southern Colombia). Ecuadorian scorpion fauna remains one of the less well studied among those of South America. The Ecuadorian Andes may in fact have many surprises stored for future studies of the scorpion fauna there.

 

 

Original Source:

Lourenço WR, Ythier E (2013) The remarkable scorpion diversity in the Ecuadorian Andes and description of a new species of Tityus C. L. Koch, 1836 (Scorpiones, Buthidae). ZooKeys307: 1–13, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.307.5334

The moth genus Monema is represented by medium-sized yellowish species. The genus belongs to the Limacodidae family also known as the slug moths due to the distinct resemblance of their caterpillars to some slug species. Some people know this family as the cup moths, the name derived from the peculiar looking, hard shell cocoon they form.

A recent study of the representatives of the Monema genus in China records 4 species and a subspecies present in the country, one of which is newly described to science. The new species has the characteristic yellow coloration for the genus, with a face blending from yellow to pale red. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.

The larvae of the genus like most larvae in the family bear close resemblance to slugs. They are typically very flattened, and instead of legs they have suckers which help them move by rolling waves rather than walking with individual legs. Another similar to slugs characteristic is the fact they use a lubricant to help their movement, which is a kind of liquified silk.

M. flavescens is an important pest of many trees in China. Prior to the present study the new species and M. meyi have been mistaken for the M. flavescens and therefore the works on their biology need to be revised. The morphology of larvae, host plants and bionomics of these 3 closely related species will be studied in the future.

 

 

Original Source:

Pan Z, Zhu C, Wu C (2013) A review of the genus Monema Walker in China (Lepidoptera, Limacodidae).ZooKeys 306: 23–36, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.306.5216

Improving data quality in large online data access facilities depends on a combination of automated checks and capturing expert knowledge, according to a paper published in the open-access journal Zookeys. The authors, from the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) welcome a recent paper by Mesibov (2013) highlighting errors in millipede data, but argue that addressing such issues requires the joint efforts of ‘aggregators’ and the wider expert community.

The paper notes that aggregations of data openly exposed in facilities such as the ALA and GBIF will contain errors, and both organisations are fully committed to improving the quality of these data. Errors will arise in a multitude of ways. For example, an observation of a species may be misnamed, the name could have changed or the pre-GPS location could be in error. The card entry of this observation could then have been incorrectly transcribed into a digital record by a museum or herbarium. When the record was translated into a standard form for communication with the ALA or GBIF, other errors could have been introduced. At each step of the process, errors can be detected, introduced or corrected.

The authors argue that one of the most powerful outcomes of publishing digital data is that such problems are revealed, providing an opportunity for the whole community to detect and correct them. The paper points out that Mesibov’s detection of data issues was only possible with convenient public exposure of a large volume of biological data through the ALA and GBIF.

The ALA and GBIF also run a comprehensive range of automated data checks, for example flagging records whose coordinates lie outside the stated country of the observation or specimen. Such automatic checks will not detect all errors. Specialist expertise therefore remains necessary to detect and correct a wide range of data issues.

Agencies such as the GBIF and the ALA have infrastructure that simplifies error detection and correction. Aggregating many records of a species improves the chances of errors being detected. For example, one observation may be geographically isolated from other records. In the ALA, anyone can annotate an issue exposed in a record. Such annotations are sent to the data provider for evaluation and correction. It then depends on the resources of the provider to ensure that record is updated.

The ability to identify and correct data issues is the responsibility of the whole community and not any one agent such as the ALA. There is the need to seamlessly and effectively integrate expert knowledge and automated processes, so all amendments form part of a persistent digital knowledge base about species. Talented and committed individuals can make enormous progress in error detection and correction (as seen in Mesibov’s paper) but how do we ensure that when an individual project like that on millipedes ceases, the data and all associated work are not lost? This implies standards in capturing and linking this information and maintaining the data with all amendments uniquely documented. To achieve this, the biodiversity research community needs to be motivated and empowered to work in a collaborative fashion.

Data should be published in secure locations where they can be preserved and improved in perpetuity. The ALA and GBIF are moving beyond storage of data by individuals or institutions using stand-alone computers that do not have a strategy for enduring digital data integration, storage and access.

The ALA is funded by the Australian Government to discover and aggregate on one web site, the wealth of Australia’s biological observation and specimen data. GBIF is funded by national governments and operates through a system of national nodes, including the ALA, currently bringing together 400 million biodiversity records from more than 10,000 datasets freely shared by 486 institutions worldwide.

Original Source:

Belbin L, Daly J, Hirsch T, Hobern D, Salle JL (2013) A specialist’s audit of aggregated occurrence records: An ‘aggregator’s’ perspective. Title. ZooKeys 305: 67–76, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.305.5438

The flora and fauna of the American west coast is generally believed to be well explored and studied. However, a new study and a taxonomic assessment of the octocorals from the north eastern Pacific Ocean proves such assumptions wrong, with two new beautiful and colourful species of soft corals alongside a new genus. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.

"It is remarkable that in a region previously thought to be as familiar and well known as the west coast of North America – with its numerous large urban centers and major marine laboratories – revisionary systematics are not only still possible, but essential for our understanding of global biodiversity," comments the author of the study Dr Williams, California Academy of Sciences.

The paper describes four aspects of the North American west coast fauna, such as a new species of pale orange stoloniferous soft coral from San Diego, California. Also included is a revisionary assessment of a well-known soft coral previously misidentified as Gersemia rubiformis from the Pacific Northwest. Another new species of the soft coral Gersemia from the coast of British Columbia, Canada has been also described. This new species is found in colonies with beautiful pink to reddish coloration in life.

The study also defines a new genus named for a species previously placed in a tropical Indo-Pacific genus for the past century. The species for which the genus was erected inhabits the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary near San Francisco, California, as well as several other localities on the Pacific Coast. The remarkable diversity of octocorals accounts for around 3400 species described worldwide. Although the majority of octocoral taxa was described in the 19th and early 20th centuries, much of this colourful marine fauna is in fact only minimally studied and continues to surprise with new discoveries nowadays.

 

 

Original Source:

Williams GC (2013) New taxa and revisionary systematics of alcyonacean octocorals from the Pacific coast of North America (Cnidaria, Anthozoa). ZooKeys 283: 15. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.283.4803

With the era of butterfly discovery coming to an end this new species comes as a pleasant surprise for science

A new butterfly species from Texas, given the common name Vicroy’s Ministreak, was discovered because of its striking olive green eye color, and was given a formal scientific name (Ministrymon janevicroy). This beautiful new butterfly may be the last truly distinctive butterfly species to be discovered in the United States.

Although individuals of Vicroy’s Ministreak were deposited in the Smithsonian entomology collections a century ago, this species was unrecognized because it was confused with the common, similar-looking Gray Ministreak. Interestingly what distinguishes the two species is the distinctive olive-green eyes of the new species in contrast to the dark brown/black eyes of the Gray Ministreak.

As their common names suggest both species are diminutive, about the size of a thumbnail, and may occur at the same time and place. Besides eye color, each has different wing patterns and different internal structures. They have different, but overlapping, geographic distributions and habitat requirements.

Jeffrey Glassberg, President of the North American Butterfly Association, discovered Vicroy’s Ministreak, and he named the species after his wife (Jane Vicroy Scott). Bob Robbins, the butterfly curator at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, together with Glassberg, are the authors of the paper officially describing Vicroy’s Ministreak, published in the open access scientific journal ZooKeys.

Regardless of whether Vicroy’s Ministreak turns out to be the last truly distinctive butterfly to be discovered in the United States, the era of new butterfly species, which began with Linnaeus more than 250 years ago, is ending in the United States. In tropical America, however, there are still hundreds upon hundreds of butterfly species awaiting discovery.

 

Original Source:

Robbins RK, Glassberg J (2013) A butterfly with olive green eyes discovered in the United States and the Neotropics (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Eumaeini). ZooKeys 305: 1, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.305.5081
 

Since year 2000 the May 22nd has been proclaimed by the United Nations as the International Day for Biological Diversity. Although the initiative aims at raising awareness on biodiversity issues in general, every year there is a different theme focusing on a separate aspect. This year the theme is Water and Biodiversity, chosen to coincide with the United Nations designation of 2013 as the International Year of Water Cooperation.

Water is essential for life. No living being on planet Earth can survive without it. It is a prerequisite for human health and well-being as well as for the preservation of the environment. Designation of IDB 2013 on the theme of water provides Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the public at large the opportunity to raise awareness about this vital issue, and to increase positive action.

Coincidently, the period 2005-2015 is the International Decade for Action ‘WATER FOR LIFE’.

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

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.

 

 

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