Author: Pensoft Editorial Team

Mymaridae, commonly known as fairyflies, are one of about 18 families of chalcid wasps. They include the world’s smallest known winged insect – Kikiki huna, the body length of which is only 155 μm, and the smallest known adult insect – the wingless male of Dicopomorpha echmepterygis which is only 130 μm.. Although fairyflies are among the most common chalcid wasps, they are seldomly noticed by humans because of their minute size. Their apparent invisibility, gracile bodies and delicate wings with long fringes resembling the mythical fairies have earned them their common name.

All but two known fairyfly species are parasitoids of eggs of other insects. These eggs are commonly laid in concealed locations, such as in plant tissues or in leaf litter or soil and are difficult to find, so for the most part the host insects of fairyflies are unknown. Specimens of the new species Tinkerbella nana were collected at the La Selva Biological Station, a lowland rainforest research and education facility owned and managed by the Organization for Tropical Studies, located in the province of Heredia, Costa Rica. They were collected by sweeping in fairly young (no more than 20 years old) secondary forest mixed with a primary forest.  All the specimens collected were below 250 μm in length. The reduced wing surface and relatively long setae of fairyflies and many other minute flying insects likely have an aerodynamic function, perhaps to reduce turbulence and hence drag on a wing flapping at several hundred beats per second. The study of the new species was published in the open access journal Journal of Hymenoptera Research.

Almost 2000 years ago, Pliny the Elder (ca. 23 A.D.) stated "Rerum natura nusquam magis quam in minimis tota est" loosely translated as "Nature is nowhere as great as in its smallest." Lacking any means of magnification, he could not possibly have seen the intricate structure and beauty of fairyflies or other minute organisms. But his statement certainly holds true.

"If something is physically possible in living things, some individuals of at least one species, extinct or extant, will likely have achieved it. So the lower size limit, by whatever measure of size is chosen, was almost certainly already evolved—somewhere, sometime. If we have not already found them, we must surely be close to discovering the smallest insects and other arthropods", says the lead author, John Huber from Natural Resources Canada.

 

Original Source

Huber JH, Noyes JS (2013) A new genus and species of fairyfly, Tinkerbella nana (Hymenoptera, Mymaridae), with comments on its sister genus Kikiki, and discussion on small size limits in arthropods. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 32: 17. doi: 10.3897/JHR.32.4663

A new study greatly expands knowledge of the wasp genus Oxyscelio. A total of 90 species are recognized from the Indo-Malayan and Palearctic realms of Asia, 71 of which are described here as new species. A total of 438 photographs are included to aid in specimen identification, all exported to and available for the public from EOL. Newly discovered species are described from a range of countries including Brunei, China, Christmas Island, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, The Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, while previous knowledge of the genus was confined only to The Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Australia. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.

Oxyscelio was first recognized as a distinct taxon in 1907, from a specimen collected in Java, Indonesia. The genus belongs to a wasp family that is represented mainly by parasitoid species. These are organisms that exhibit in essence parasitic behaviour, but unlike normal parasites they go further in sterilizing or killing the host, and sometimes even consuming it. The wasps from the Oxyscelio group presumably parasitise on the eggs of another insect. Previous researchers Jean Jacqués Kieffer and Alan P. Dodd continued to describe new species until 1931. Oxyscelio received almost no attention from that time until 1976, when Lubomír Masner, one of the authors of this study, published revisionary notes for genera of the then-recognized family Scelionidae. This resulted in a total of 19 species known from Asia.

Extensive specimen collecting in the following decades revealed that the actual number of species of Oxyscelio was much greater than previously recognized. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) initiated Planetary Biodiversity Inventories (PBIs) to facilitate description of species that were known to a handful of scientific specialists but not yet officially published. Part of that initiative enabled the current study, which resulted from examination of thousands of preserved Oxyscelio specimens that had been housed in natural history collections around the world. This resulted in a more than fourfold increase in the number of species of Oxyscelio that are officially described from Asia.

Previously described species were examined to ensure that newly described species were distinct from them. This required the rediscovery of several species that had not been seen in a century or more, including the first described species of Oxyscelio, which had not been seen since its discovery in 1907. New technology enabled better examination of the morphology of these species, which had not even been photographed until the publication of this study.

 

Original source:

Systematics of the parasitic wasp genus Oxyscelio Kieffer (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae s.l.), Part I: Indo-Malayan and Palearctic fauna. ZooKeys 292: 1-263. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.292.3867

Tree iguanas (Liolaemus) are one of the most diverse genus of lizards in the world with 230 described species. Within these, Liolaemus nigromaculatus – the second described species of the genus Liolaemus – is usually mentioned in field guides, project baselines, scientific articles, reviews and even is the nominal species of the lizard group nigromaculatus… but always the same question is repeated: Which is this species and which is its type locality?

After a long and comprehensive investigation, two Chilean biologists, Jaime Troncoso-Palacios, Universidad de Chile and Carlos F. Garin, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, clear the mysteries around the species, demonstrating that the tree iguana L. nigromaculatus was in fact described with a juvenile male of the species, currently known as L. bisignatus. This specimen was collected in Chile by the doctor and naturalist Franz Julius Ferdinand Meyen on his journey around the world during 1830-1832. Although he describes in detail his journey in one of his books, peculiarly this information was never used in an attempt to clarify the provenance of the species. In fact, there is currently broad consensus that the type locality is Huasco (northern Chile), a locality never visited by Meyen!

"For first time, we have been able to identify the area in which Meyen collected L. nigromaculatus. We have established through Meyen’s own writings and the study of the species of Liolaemus that inhabit in the localities that he visited that the tree iguana L. nigromaculatus was collected in the transect or surroundings between Puerto Viejo and Copiapó, in Atacama (Chile)", explains Jaime Troncoso-Palacios.

For the characterization of the holotype of L. nigromaculatus, the authors used high resolution digital photographs provided by Mr. Frank Tillack (Museum für Naturkunde). Use of digital pictures of type specimens has proved to be a powerful and useful tool for clarifying confusing taxonomic issues. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

 

Original source

Troncoso-Palacios J, Garin CF (2013) On the identity of Liolaemus nigromaculatus. Wiegmann, 1834 (Iguania, Liolaemidae) and correction of its type locality. ZooKeys 294: 37, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.294.4399

Lichens are symbiotic organisms consisting of a fungal partner and one or several algal partners. The association is so close that scientists until 1867 were not aware that lichens actually consist of two different partners. After the Swiss botanist Simon Schwendener discovered the dual nature of lichens, lichenologists were focusing on the fungal partner when studying lichens, since it was often believed that only few algae are involved in the symbiosis.

Molecular studies have shown that it was a mistake to neglect the algal partner for a long time. The diversity of algal partners have been shown to be much higher than expected. In addition the study by Dr. Christian Printzen, Senckenberg Research Institute (Frankfurt), and his colleagues in Frankfurt and Madrid has shown that, by choosing different algal partners, lichen fungi are able to colonize different ecosystems.

The study focuses on the Spiny Heath Lichen (Cetraria aculeata), which has a peculiar distribution range. It belongs to the so-called bipolar species that occur in polar and alpine regions of the northern and southern Hemisphere. However, this species also occurs in the climatically different Mediterranean region with dry steppe-like vegetation. Dr. Printzen’s studies now show that this distribution can be explained by the presence of different algal species in the polar vs. Mediterranean populations.

The paper, published in the open access journal Mycokeys, discusses the genetic differences of these algae and their evolutionary and ecological implications. "It is an example how molecular techniques in tandem with ecophysiological studies can enhance our knowledge of the biology of this fascinating type of symbiosis.", comments Dr. Christian Printzen the lead author of the study.

 

Original source

Printzen C, Domaschke S, Fernández-Mendoza F, Pérez-Ortega S (2012) Biogeography and ecology of Cetraria aculeata, a widely distributed lichen with a bipolar distribution. In: Kansri Boonpragob, Peter Crittenden, H.Thorsten Lumbsch (Eds) Lichens: from genome to ecosystems in a changing world.MycoKeys 6: 33, doi: 10.3897/mycokeys.6.3185

An audit of more than 9000 species occurrence records in two online databases has uncovered a large number of errors. The study also highlighted the fact that online database publishers currently take no responsibility for the content of their databases, and do not collaborate with their data providers in checking and correcting the online data. The audit results and the associated data files have been published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

The records checked were for native Australian millipede species and were published online by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, GBIF and the Atlas of Living Australia, ALA. GBIF and ALA obtain most of their records from cooperating museums, but disclaim any responsibility for errors in museum databases, instead warning users that the data may not be accurate or fit for purpose.

The auditing was done voluntarily by Dr Bob Mesibov, who is a millipede specialist and a research associate at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania.

The audit found duplicated records and other bookkeeping problems, as well as errors in scientific nomenclature and in locations and dates for specimen collections. Location errors were particularly common, with 15% of a ‘best data’ subset of the records at least 5 km from the correct locality.

"The data quality problem is not trivial," said Dr Mesibov. "On the one hand, the data aggregators like GBIF and ALA are telling the world that they offer one-stop shops for data that can, for example, greatly assist decision-making in conservation and land management. On the other hand, the aggregators are not working to ensure that the data they publish are correct. And bad data aren’t very useful."

Dr Mesibov contacted museums directly to alert them to errors he found and to query inconsistencies in the occurrence records. The museums concerned have edited their records and will pass corrections on to GBIF and ALA when updating their contributions to the online databases. Error-correcting at the level of GBIF and ALA is slow and piecemeal, says Dr Mesibov, and should not have to rely on interested outsiders like himself.

"Data cleaning isn’t rocket science," said Dr. Mesibov. "The aggregators could do much more checking and could collaborate with their providers in sorting out inconsistencies and fixing at least some of the errors. At the moment, that doesn’t seem to be happening, so GBIF and ALA users need to take the aggregators’ warnings about data quality very seriously."

 

Original Source:

Mesibov R (2013) A specialist’s audit of aggregated occurrence records. ZooKeys 293: 1, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.293.5111

The world’s biodiversity is currently in rapid decline, with human-mediated global change being a principal cause. Europe is no exception, and the Natura 2000 network provides an important conservation tool for biodiversity on a European level. It forms a network of natural and semi-natural sites within the region with high heritage values due to the exceptional flora and fauna they contain. The goal of the Natura 2000 network is to maintain the biological diversity of environments, while taking into account economic, social, cultural and regional logic of sustainable development. A new study published in the open access journal Nature Conservation provides an evaluation of the effectiveness of Natura 2000 and sets objectives and recommendations for the future.

The analysis in the paper is based on a coverage ratio between the Natura 2000 sites and distribution maps of 300 threatened IUCN red listed European species. The study shows that the distributions of a large proportion of threatened species of mammals, birds and reptiles are highly covered (above 90%), demonstrating the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network. However, results also confirm that a large proportion of threatened species, especially fishes, are currently still poorly covered. Of the 124 fish species considered, 22 species had a range coverage of less than 10 %. The coverage of species also seems to be highly related to national demographic factors, as the proportion of the national urban population. Further analysis suggests that the designation of sites depends too strongly on governmental politics, economic and cultural criteria, and interactions between society and the environment.

In order to improve the management of sites, a common and standardized management of the Natura 2000 sites with a uniform framework among member states needs to be established. The study suggests that sites should be under continuous observation and evaluation, to determine their importance for the conservation of biodiversity in a biogeographical region. Such an approach would improve efficiency and determine high priority Natura 2000 sites, as well as provide a basis on which to determine appropriate resource allocation. These approaches will help with the selection process, and may decrease the impact of the political agenda, as current observed.

"Our results recommend increasing the number of Natura 2000 sites, in order to overlay a large proportion of the distribution map of considered species. We further recommend developing public awareness and participation to increase the ecological conscience. The involvement of local people in conservation strategies has been shown to be highly efficient.", comment the authors of the study Dr Trochet, Station d’Ecologie Expérimentale du CNRS а Moulis and Dr Schmeller, UFZ – Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research. "Our recommendations should increase the efficiency of Natura 2000 network by avoiding the establishment of ineffective sites (with a low number of protected species), as observed in several member states with a high Natura 2000 surface coverage but with a low number of protected species."

 

Original Source:

Trochet A, Schmeller DS (2013) Effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network to cover threatened species. Nature Conservation 4: 35. doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.4.3626

A new species of leaf miner from the important family Gracillariidae has been recently discovered in the depths of the Brazilian jungle and described in the open access journal Zookeys. The Gracillariidae family is an ancient one with fossils dating back its origins to around 97 million years. Among the leaf miners of this family there are some species with significance as economic factors as well as agricultural pests. The new species, Spinivalva gaucha, is associated with representatives of the Passiflora plant genus among which is the economically important and favorite to many passion fruit, also native to Brazil.

The name of the new species is derived from the Portuguese term "Gaúcho" used in Brazil to describe the native inhabitants of the fertile southernmost Brazilian lowlands, the pampas. What makes this species especially interesting are the fascinating stages of its early developments. Unlike most Brazilian gracillariids which are known only for their mature stages, the description of S. gaucha offers an insight in the complete life cycle of this intriguing leaf miner.

After the egg is laid on the surface of the leaf hatching occurs and the life history of the leaf miner begins. The new larva heads under the leaf surface to form a narrow serpentine shaped mine, which then expands with time and through the development stages to a blotch-like formation. Just before pupation the larva leaves the mine through a slit in the blotch to form a transparent cocoon on the leaf surface. Silk fragments are lined into a compact pattern to form a wall protecting the pupa. Another interesting phenomenon is observed during this stage of development, where the pupa discharges bizarre light yellow bubbles which are scattered along the periphery of the cocoon through a slit which closes soon after. When mature the new adult leaf miner emerges into the outside world head-first through the cocoon.

"Contrary to all known leaf-miner gracillarids whose larvae initially have modified mouthparts and feed on sap, this new species does not have a sap-feeding instar, the larvae presenting mandible of chewing type in all instars, and thus feeding on the upper leaf tissue since hatching" explain the authors of the study. "This discovery in particular will have important implications for future studies concerning the evolution of the wide diversity in feeding habits known to exist within this important family."

 

Original Source:

Brito R, Gonçalves GL, Vargas HA, Moreira GRP (2013) A new Brazilian Passiflora leafminer: Spinivalva gaucha, gen. n., sp. n. (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae, Gracillariinae), the first gracillariid without a sap feeding instar. ZooKeys 291: 1, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.291.4910

Ypsolophid moths are a peculiar group of Lepidoptera that attracts attention with their strange preference for a pose of rest. To take a break adult Ypsolophids like to go bottom up with antennae stretched forward. The larvae of these quirky species live and feed in webs they form on the leaves, buds and twigs of plants. When they are ready to pupate they produce a cocoon like cradle attached to the host plant.

This bizarre group of moths is also particularly hard to catch. The standard methods for collecting adults, usually comprising of breeding them from larvae or attracting the adults by light, both work rarely in the case of Ypsolophids. The larvae of most species usually live solitary on host plant and are hard to find in nature and unlike most flying insects, adults of many species fly on light infrequently. Thus the collecting of specimens from this group is big event for entomologists, especially if the species caught turns out to be unknown for science. Russian scientists have had the rare luck to catch and describe two new species of ypsolophid moths from the south regions of the Russian Far East. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Being thermophilic, Ypsolophid moths represent a group that has a propensity for relatively higher temperature of the southern regions of the Russian Far East. During last decade the number of known species from Russian Far East has been more than twice increased. Including the species described in this paper, they reached the number of 30 species, which makes for a fourth of all known Ypsolophids worldwide.

"Faunistic studies are not only a whim! Exploring species diversity is a task with ecological repercussions on a local, and global scales", explains Dr. Ponomarenko, Institute of Biology and Soil Science, Far Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Science. "Studying the species diversity in East Asia as a whole and in the Far East of Russia in particular is an important endeavour. Faunistic investigations are only the first step in a long row of scientific tasks towards forming a primary database for further theoretical reconstructions and conclusions for the benefit of biodiversity conservation and species preservation."

 

Original source

Ponomarenko MG and Zinchenko YuN (2013) New taxonomic data on the genus Ypsolopha Latreille (Lepidoptera, Ypsolophidae) with descriptions of two new species from the Russian Far East. Zookeys 289: 25, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.289.3905

Researchers from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok and the Natural History Museum, London (Thanit Siriboon, Chirasak Sutcharit, Fred Naggs and Somsak Panha) discovered many new taxa of the brightly coloured carnivorous terrestrial snails family Streptaxidae. Terrestrial snails are primarily herbivores and only a rare few groups like this one are carnivorous. The animals come from several limestone areas across the world, including some threatened by human exploitation, especially by quarrying.

Three new species from the genus Perrottetia were described from north and northeastern Thailand. The species show extraordinary endemism, with each of these colourful snails occurring as "One Hill One Species". This is a very peculiar phenomenon where each one of these highly endemic snails is specific and the only one inhabiting a certain mountain range. They live in rock crevices, feeding on tinier snails, insect larvae and some earthworms species. These beautiful animals are now at risk from extinction with the destruction of limestone ecosystems. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Limestone ecosystems in the world are now being destroyed at an alarming rate. This means we are losing biodiversity resources, a tendency especially threatening for the hot spot areas like Thailand. The new research findings show that key terrestrial invertebrates, such as several new bright carnivorous land snails are still persisting in such areas and are being described even from the highly endangered quarried sites. This demonstrates that there are still remnants of some fundamental ecosystem, which lives and is struggling for survival, a great experience for mankind to learn.

"The three new Perrottetia species exhibit distinct morphological characteristics, which make for a great example for evolutionary studies in unstable environments," comments one of the authors, Dr Somsak Panha. "More than 50% of limestone ecosystems in this region have been or still are being destroyed. This astonishing case of biodiversity persistence gives a valuable reason to put effort in the conservation of this important world ecosystem. "

 

 

Original source: Siriboon T, Sutcharit C, Naggs F, Panha S (2013) Three new species of the carnivorous snail genus Perrottetia Kobelt, 1905 from Thailand (Pulmonata, Streptaxidae). ZooKeys 287: 41-57. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.287.4572

The rare specimen was discovered by researchers from Bucknell University and Fauna & Flora International while conducting field research with wildlife authorities in South Sudan

LEWISBURG, Pa. — Researchers have identified a new genus of bat after discovering a rare specimen in South Sudan. With wildlife personnel under the South Sudanese Ministry of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism, Bucknell Associate Professor of Biology DeeAnn Reeder and Fauna & Flora International (FFI) Programme Officer Adrian Garside were leading a team conducting field research and pursuing conservation efforts when Reeder spotted the animal in Bangangai Game Reserve.

"My attention was immediately drawn to the bat’s strikingly beautiful and distinct pattern of spots and stripes. It was clearly a very extraordinary animal, one that I had never seen before," recalled Reeder. "I knew the second I saw it that it was the find of a lifetime."

After returning to the United States, Reeder determined the bat was the same as one originally captured in nearby Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1939 and named Glauconycteris superba, but she and colleagues did not believe that it fit with other bats in the genus Glauconycteris.

"After careful analysis, it is clear that it doesn’t belong in the genus that it’s in right now," Reeder said. "Its cranial characters, its wing characters, its size, the ears — literally everything you look at doesn’t fit. It’s so unique that we need to create a new genus."

In the paper, "A new genus for a rare African vespertilionid bat: insights from South Sudan" just published by the journal ZooKeys, Reeder, along with co-authors from the Smithsonian Institution and the Islamic University in Uganda, placed this bat into a new genus – Niumbaha. The word means "rare" or "unusual" in Zande, the language of the Azande people in Western Equatoria State, where the bat was captured. The bat is just the fifth specimen of its kind ever collected, and the first in South Sudan, which gained its independence in 2011.

"To me, this discovery is significant because it highlights the biological importance of South Sudan and hints that this new nation has many natural wonders yet to be discovered. South Sudan is a country with much to offer and much to protect," said Matt Rice, FFI’s South Sudan country director. FFI is using its extensive experience of working in conflict and post-conflict countries to assist the South Sudanese government as it re-establishes the country’s wildlife conservation sector and is also helping to rehabilitate selected protected areas through training and development of park staff and wildlife service personnel, road and infrastructure development, equipment provision, and supporting research work. || Read more about FFI’s conservation efforts in South Sudan here.

The team’s research in South Sudan was made possible by a $100,000 grant that Reeder received from the Woodtiger Fund. The private research foundation recently awarded Reeder another $100,000 dollar grant to continue her research this May and to support FFI’s conservation programs.

"Our discovery of this new genus of bat is an indicator of how diverse the area is and how much work remains," Reeder added. "Understanding and conserving biodiversity is critical in many ways. Knowing what species are present in an area allows for better management. When species are lost, ecosystem-level changes ensue. I’m convinced this area is one in which we need to continue to work."

 

To download hi-resolution photos of DeeAnn Reeder, Adrian Garside and Niumbaha superba in South Sudan, visit: http://www.bucknell.edu/X81336.xml

Original Source:

Reeder DM, Helgen KM, Vodzak ME, Lunde DP, Ejotre I (2013) A new genus for a rare African vespertilionid bat: insights from South Sudan. ZooKeys 285: 89. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.285.4892