Pensoft Editorial Team

Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria signs with Pensoft and moves to ARPHA

The scholarly publisher and technology provider Pensoft welcomes the latest addition to its diverse portfolio of scholarly outlets – the open-access, peer-reviewed journal Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria (AIeP), which publishes research in the fields of ichthyology and fisheries.

AIeP is an international scientific journal publishing articles in any aspect of ichthyology and fisheries concerning true fishes (fin-fishes), including taxonomy, biology, morphology, anatomy, physiology, pathology, parasitology, reproduction and zoogeography. The academic outlet, which was launched in 1970, favours research based on original experimental data or experimental methods, or new analyses of already existing data. AIeP is indexed by all major indexers, including Web of Science and Scopus. The journal’s first Impact Factor was released in 2010, and currently stands at 0.629 (2019).

In joining the Pensoft portfolio, AIeP gets a brand-new user-friendly website with improved design and access to Pensoft’s self-developed full-featured platform ARPHA, which offers an end-to-end publishing solution from submission to publication, distribution and archiving. With features, such as papers available in semantically enhanced HTML and machine-readable XML formats, automated data export to aggregators, and web-service integrations with major global indexing databases, the easy-to-use, open-access platform ensures that published research is easy to discover, access, cite and reuse by both humans and machines all over the world.

AIeP’s first issue published with Pensoft features 14 scientifically diverse open-access articles on ichthyology and fisheries covering a wide geographic scope. Some of the issue’s most interesting reads explore the eating habits of the spotted rose snapper in the Gulf of California, offer the first underwater photograph of a rare scorpionfish in Japan, and record the first ever occurrence of the pharaoh cardinal fish in Libyan waters, in what constitutes the westernmost Mediterranean area of colonization of this non-indigenous species.

🥳Our first issue as part of the @Pensoft & @ARPHAPlatform family now online! Follow #AIeP51 to learn more! 😉 #ichthyology #OA #openaccess

🔗 https://t.co/wSTDZNEvq7
— ActaIchtyologica (@Acta_Ichthyol) April 6, 2021

Amongst the published papers there are also practical suggestions for species conservation and sustainable fisheries management – for example, an evaluation of the size of freshwater fish in Bangladeshi wetlands recommends only harvesting fishes with a total length of over 8.80 cm.

Follow Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria on Facebook and Twitter.

Additional information

About ARPHA:

ARPHA is the first end-to-end, narrative- and data-integrated publishing solution that supports the full life cycle of a manuscript, from authoring to reviewing, publishing and dissemination. ARPHA provides accomplished and streamlined production workflows that can be customized according to the journal’s needs. The platform enables a variety of publishing models through a number of options for branding, production and revenue models to choose from.

About Pensoft:

Pensoft is an independent academic publishing company, well-known worldwide for its innovations in the field of semantic publishing, as well as for its cutting-edge publishing tools and workflows. In 2013, Pensoft launched the first ever end to end XML-based authoring, reviewing and publishing workflow, as demonstrated by the Pensoft Writing Tool (PWT) and the Biodiversity Data Journal (BDJ), now upgraded to the ARPHA Publishing Platform. Flagship titles include: Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO), One Ecosystem, ZooKeys, Biodiversity Data Journal, PhytoKeys, MycoKeys and many more.

Contacts:

Wojciech Piasecki, Editor-in-Chief at AIeP

editor@aiep.pl

Lyubomir Penev, founder and CEO at Pensoft and ARPHA

l.penev@pensoft.net

Novak Djokovic now has a tiny new snail species named after him

Do freshwater snails make good tennis players? One of them certainly has the name for it.

Enter Travunijana djokovici, a new species of aquatic snail named after famous Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic.

Photo of Tavunijana djokovici, a new snail species from Montenegro named after Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic. Photo by J. Grego

Slovak biospeleologist Jozef Grego and Montenegrin zoologist Vladimir Pešić of the University of Montenegro discovered the new snail in a karstic spring near Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, during a field trip in April 2019. Their scientific article, published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal Subterranean Biology, says they named it after Djokovic “to acknowledge his inspiring enthusiasm and energy.”

“To discover some of the world’s rarest animals that inhabit the unique underground habitats of the Dinaric karst, to reach inaccessible cave and spring habitats and for the restless work during processing of the collected material, you need Novak’s energy and enthusiasm,” the researchers explain.

T. djokovici has a milky-white shell in the shape of an elongated cone and is adapted to live in the underground habitats of the Dinaric karst. It is part of Hydrobiidae, a very diverse family of small to tiny snails – also known as mud snails – inhabiting fresh or brackish water, including caves and subterranean habitats.

The type locality where Tavunijana djokovici was found.

This is the first member of the genus Travunijana so far to be discovered in the Skadar Lake basin, and the only one found outside of the Trebišnjica river basin in Herzegovina, which points to the enigmatic distributional range of these snails across the Dinaric underground habitats. Where they came from, and how, remains a mystery.

Because of its small area of occupancy, T. djokovici is assessed as Vulnerable, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Subterranean ecosystems, the authors of the new species emphasise, are extremely vulnerable to human-driven environmental changes, and, being obscure, they’re often overlooked during conservation efforts.

Original source:

Grego J, Pešić V (2021) First record of stygobiotic gastropod genus Travunijana Grego & Glöer, 2019 (Mollusca, Hydrobiidae) from Montenegro. Subterranean Biology 38: 65–76. https://doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.38.64762

Roadside invader: the higher the traffic, the easier the invasive common ragweed disperses

Common ragweed is an annual plant native to parts of the United States and southern Canada. It’s an invasive species that has spread to Europe. An important agricultural weed, this plant is particularly well-adapted to living at roadsides, and there are several theories why.

Its rapid expansion in Europe can’t be explained by its natural dispersal rate, which is limited to distances of around 1 meter. Rather, there are other factors in play, human-mediated, that support its invasion success – along roads, for example, it spreads mainly thanks to agricultural machineries, soil movements, roadside maintenance and road traffic.

Studying common ragweed’s distribution patterns is important, because its allergenic pollen affects human health, mainly in southeast Central Europe, Italy and France. Finding out where it thrives, and why, can help with the management and control of its populations.

This is why scientists Andreas Lemke, Sascha Buchholz, Ingo Kowarik and Moritz von der Lippe of the Technical University of Berlin and Uwe Starfinger of the Julius Kühn Institute set out to explore the drivers of roadside invasions by common ragweed. Mapping 300 km of roadsides in a known ragweed hotspot in Germany’s state of Brandenburg, they recorded plant densities at roadsides along different types of road corridors and subject to different intensities of traffic over a period of five years. They then explored the effect of traffic density and habitat type, and their interactions, on the dynamics of these populations. Their research is published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal NeoBiota.

New study finds high traffic facilitates ragweed invasion along roads, likely due to continued seed dispersal, and can compensate partly for less suitable habitat features#invasivespecies #roadecology @sa_buchholz @TUBerlin @JKI_Bund
🔓Study: https://t.co/xrT27ul1gv
— NeoBiota (@NeobiotaJournal) March 29, 2021

Surprisingly, high-traffic road cells displayed a consistently high population growth rate even in shaded and less disturbed road sections – meaning that shading alone would not be enough to control ragweed invasions in these sections. Population growth proceeded even on roadsides with less suitable habitat conditions – but only along high-traffic roads, and declined with reduced traffic intensity. This indicates that seed dispersal by vehicles and by road maintenance can compensate, at least partly, for less favorable habitat conditions. Disturbed low-traffic road cells showed constantly high population growth, highlighting the importance of disturbance events in road corridors as a driver for common ragweed invasions.

These findings have practical implications for habitat and population management of ragweed invasions along road networks. Reducing the established roadside populations and their seed bank in critical parts of the road network, introducing an adjusted mowing regime and establishing a dense vegetation layer can locally weaken, suppress or eradicate roadside ragweed populations.

Original source:Lemke A, Buchholz S, Kowarik I, Starfinger U, von der Lippe M (2021) Interaction of traffic intensity and habitat features shape invasion dynamics of an invasive alien species (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) in a regional road network. NeoBiota 64: 55-175. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.64.58775

Pandemic-inspired discoveries: New insect species from Kosovo named after the Coronavirus

While the new Coronavirus will, hopefully, be effectively controlled sooner rather than later, its latest namesake is here to stay – a small caddisfly endemic to a national park in Kosovo that is new to science.

The new species *Potamophylax coronavirus*

Potamophylax coronavirus was collected near a stream in the Bjeshkët e Nemuna National Park in Kosovo by a team of scientists, led by Professor Halil Ibrahimi of the University of Prishtina. After molecular and morphological analyses, it was described as a caddisfly species, new to science in the open-access, peer-reviewed Biodiversity Data Journal.

Male and female of the new species *Potamophylax coronavirus,* in copulation. Photo by Halil Ibrahimi

Ironically, the study of this new insect was impacted by the same pandemic that inspired its scientific name. Although it was collected a few years ago, the new species was only described during the global pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2. Its name, P. coronavirus, will be an eternal memory of this difficult period.

The locality where P. coronavirus was discovered. Photo by Halil Ibrahimi and Astrit Bilalli

In a broader sense, the authors also wish to bring attention to “another silent pandemic occurring on freshwater organisms in Kosovo’s rivers,” caused by the pollution and degradation of freshwater habitats, as well as the activity increasing in recent years of mismanaged hydropower plants. Particularly, the river basin of the Lumbardhi i Deçanit River, where the new species was discovered, has turned into a ‘battlefield’ for scientists and civil society on one side and the management of the hydropower plant operating on this river on the other.

The small insect order of Trichoptera, where P. coronavirus belongs, is very sensitive to water pollution and habitat deterioration. The authors of the new species argue that it is a small-scale endemic taxon, very sensitive to the ongoing activities in Lumbardhi i Deçanit river. Failure to understand this may drive this and many other species towards extinction.

Interestingly, in the same paper, the authors also identified a few other new species from isolated habitats in the Balkan Peninsula, which are awaiting description upon collection of further specimens. The Western Balkans and especially Kosovo, have proved to be an important hotspot of freshwater biodiversity. Several new insect species have been discovered there in the past few years, most of them being described by Professor Halil Ibrahimi and his team.

Where Siberian orchids thrive: new hotspot of orchids discovered near Novosibirsk

Orchids of the Boreal zone are rare species. Most of the 28,000 species of the Orchid family actually live in the tropics. In the Boreal zone, ground orchids can hardly tolerate competition from other plants — mainly forbs or grasses. So they are often pushed into ecotones — border areas between meadows and forests, or between forests and swamps.

*The variety of bloated lady’s-slipper (Cypripedium x ventricosum) within the boundaries of the Important Plant Area ‘Orchid Zapovednik’. Photo: Alexander Dubynin*

Furthermore, there has been a decline in wild orchids all over North America and Eurasia, caused in part by human-induced destruction of their habitats, the transformation of ecosystems, and the harvesting of flowers from the wild.

In the Novosibirsk region, 30 orchid species have been found, and about 40 in the entire Siberia.

*Lesser yellow lady’s-slipper (Cypripedium calceolus) grows next to large-flowered lady’s-slipper and steadily forms a hybrid — bloated lady’s-slipper. Photo: Alexander Dubynin*

It is no coincidence that many orchids are included in regional and national Red Book lists, with dedicated protected areas created to preserve them. When specialists find high concentrations of orchid species in a small area, it is always a significant discovery, in terms of both science and ecology. A recent publication in the open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal Acta Biologica Sibirica describes one such area.

About 15 years ago, local biology teacher Yuri Panov found a place with mass growth of 13 orchid species in the Novosibirsk region. Together with his students, he studied the territory and took care of it, hanging birdhouses. The place was informally called School Orchid Zapovednik.

*For the first time, this unique territory was discovered by a local biology teacher Yuri Panov, the head of the school environmental museum. Photo: Alexander Dubynin*

In 2014, a wildfire from nearby farm fields broke out in the area. Fortunately, the orchid populations did not suffer much – in fact, this disturbance partially contributed to their growth in some areas, reducing competition from grasses and shrubs. However, the danger of frequent fires prompted Panov to invite specialists for a thorough botanical survey of the territory.

Researchers Alexander Dubynin, Inessa Selyutina and Alexandra Egorova of the Central Siberian Botanical Garden in Novosibirsk, and Mikhail Blinnikov of Kazan Federal University have been working in the area since 2017, registering the occurrences of orchids and photographing plants for the iNaturalist platform. There and in adjacent territories, they discovered a total of 14 orchid species, some of which were new to this territory and had never been registered before.

Variety of bloated lady’s-slipper (Cypripedium x ventricosum)

The area in Novosibirsk region is truly unique. Here, researchers found one of the largest populations of large-flowered lady’s-slipper (Cypripedium macranthos) in Northern Eurasia, with up to 5,000 individual plants. The Cypripedium calceolus Lady’s-slipper orchid and the rare and beautiful bloated lady’s slipper (Cypripedium ventricosum) were also plentiful. Some of the discovered orchids require further study, such as the hybrids between Dactylorhiza and Gymnadenia and some unusual forms of Platanthera.

The researched area contained a wide variety of orchids. Video by Artem Shershnev

After an expert description of the territory, a new Important Plant Area was nominated for South Siberia. “Based on the analysis of plant species composition of protected areas in Novosibirsk Region,” Alexander Dubynin resumes, “we conclude that in situ preservation of orchids in the region is overall insufficient. It is therefore necessary to organize a new protected area ‘Orchid Zapovednik’ in the category of ‘botanical Zakaznik’ on 335 hectares with an explicit floral diversity conservation mandate and long-term orchid population monitoring.”

Over the past three years, the territory has increasingly attracted the attention of researchers and educators, becoming a kind of a ‘field laboratory’ for the study of orchid communities in South Siberia.

Original source:

Dubynin A, Selyutina I, Egorova A, Blinnikov M (2021) An orchid (Orchidaceae)-rich area recommended for preservation in Novosibirsk Region, Russia. Acta Biologica Sibirica 7: 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3897/abs.7.e63131

Senckenberg Nature Research Society transfers three journals to ARPHA Platform

Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny, Vertebrate Zoology and Geologica Saxonica are the latest historic titles to select the various services and advanced technology provided by the OA-born scholarly publishing platform

One of the largest natural research associations in Germany, the Senckenberg Nature Research Society moved three of its international, open-access scholarly journals to the publishing platform ARPHA, following a recent contract with the scientific publisher and technology provider Pensoft.

Having opted for the white-label publishing solution, the journals remain under the brand of the Society and the Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden, one of the oldest natural-science museums in the world. Despite transitioning to a new platform, the past volumes of the journals remain accessible from a link on their website homepages.

Following their recent move to the Pensoft-developed publishing platform, Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny, Vertebrate Zoology and Geologica Saxonica have not only acquired their own glossy and user-friendly websites, but have also taken advantage from ARPHA’s signature fast-track, end-to-end publishing system, which is to benefit all journal users: authors, reviewers and editors alike. In addition, the journals are already using many of the unique services offered by ARPHA, including publication in PDF, semantically enhanced HTML and machine-readable XML formats; advanced data publishing; sub-article-level usage metrics; automated export of sub-article elements and data to key aggregators; web-service integrations with major indexing and archiving databases; and others.

In particular, to the appeal of the authors, editors and reviewers, the ARPHA’s collaboration-centred online environment takes care after each submitted manuscript during the review, editing, publication, dissemination and archiving stages, so that no one needs to deal with locally stored files and their transfer by email or third-party cloud storages. Additionally, the platform is designed to regularly notify the users about any required action, thus sparing the burden of unnecessary communication and ensuring the speedy processing of manuscripts.

All three journals operate a Diamond Open Access policy, thanks to the support of the Senckenberg Nature Research Society, making the journals free to publish for all authors.

Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny

Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny is the successor of the historical Entomologische Abhandlungen, formerly published by the Museum of Zoology at Dresden.

Its scope covers the taxonomy, morphology, anatomy, phylogeny, historical biogeography and palaeontology of arthropod taxa, but excludes faunistics and research with a strong regional focus. Descriptions of new taxa are only welcome when embedded in a wider context, for example, a phylogenetic, evolutionary, or biogeographical framework.

Currently, the journal enjoys an Impact Factor of 1.51 and a continuously increasing Scopus CiteScore.

Vertebrate Zoology

Similarly, Vertebrate Zoology was preceded by Zoologische Abhandlungen, also formerly published by the Museum of Zoology at Dresden. Its first publications since the move to ARPHA Platform and part of the first journal volume for 2021 are already a fact.

The journal deals with research on taxonomy, morphology, anatomy, phylogeny, historical biogeography and palaeontology of vertebrates. Again, descriptions of new taxa should be integrated into a proper context, for example, a complete revision of a taxon. To support accountability and reproducibility in science and academia, the journal requires that studied specimens have to be deposited in a public scientific collection.

Vertebrate Zoology’s Impact Factor is currently standing at 1.167, while its last Scopus CiteScore reached 2.1 (2019).

Geologica Saxonica

Geologica Saxonica – Journal of Central European Geology, began its life in distant 1876, when it was founded under the name Mitteilungen aus dem Königlichen Mineralogisch-Geologischen und Prähistorischen Museum by German geologist Hanns Bruno Geinitz, renowned for his work on the Carboniferous and Cretaceous rocks and fossils of Saxony.

The journal’s scope ecompasses geology, paleontology, stratigraphy, petrography, mineralogy and geoscience history with focus on Central Europe.

“At Pensoft, we are delighted to support a world-renowned natural history association like Senckenberg in carrying its legacy and treasure of knowledge into our days and well beyond. Now, with ARPHA’s white-label solution, we’re certain that the journals will simultaneously preserve their identity and enjoy all perks of modern and technologically advanced publishing,”
comments Pensoft and ARPHA’s founder and CEO Prof. Lyubomir Penev.

“We are very pleased to have found reliable partners in Pensoft and the ARPHA platform for our three publications to further increase their visibility. Senckenberg’s scientific publications have a long – almost 200-year tradition – and are now shown in a new and innovative design with unprecedented information retrieval options!”
says Prof. Dr. Uwe Fritz, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Vertebrate Zoology and head of the Department of Zoology at Senckenberg Natural History Collections in Dresden.

###

Senckenberg is not the first prestigious German research institution to sign an agreement with Pensoft and ARPHA Platform. Since 2014, the Natural History Museum Berlin has trusted the publisher with its own historical titles in the Biology domain: Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift and Zoosystematics and Evolution. In 2017, Evolutionary Systematics by the University of Hamburg, another prominent journal with a legacy in the field of Zoology, followed suit. Last year, Zitteliana, a historical scholarly journal covering all fields of paleontology and geobiology by the State Natural History Collection of Bavaria (SNSB) also announced its joining the journal portfolio of Pensoft and ARPHA Platform.

###

Follow ARPHA Platform on Twitter and LinkedIn.

What can we learn from vanishing wildlife species: the case of the Pyrenean Ibex

The sad history of the Pyrenean Ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) is a powerful example of species loss due to causes related to human activity. DNA analyses of Pyrenean Ibex found evidence that, after a demographic expansion about 20,000 years ago, its population went through a bottleneck caused by hunting, inbreeding and other factors, which ultimately caused its extinction. Their research is published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal Zoosystematics and Evolution.

*Only the French mountaineer and photographer Bernhard Clos managed to take a series of good photos of the Bucardo, as the Pyrenean Ibex is called on the Spanish side. Photo: Bernhard Clos*

Likely the first extinction event of the 2000s in Europe, the sad history of the Pyrenean Ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) is a powerful example of the ever-increasing species loss worldwide due to causes related to human activity. It can, however, give us valuable information on what should be done (or avoided) to halt this extinction vortex.

The distribution of this subspecies of Iberian Ibex was limited to the French and Spanish Pyrenees. Its first mention in an official written document, dating back to 1767, already refers to it as extremely rare. Like many other mountain goats, it was almost hunted to extinction before its killing became prohibited in 1913. Neither the institution of a national park (Ordesa & Monte Perdido), nor a conservation project with European LIFE program funding could stop the extinction of the Pyrenean Ibex eventually officialised on January 6, 2000. But the story of this charismatic animal did not end there – a controversial cloning program was started instantly with no scientific agreement, nor support from regional environmental NGOs, claiming that de-extinction was possible even in the absence of further DNA studies.

Laña, the last surviving Pyrenean Ibex, returned as a mounted animal to Torla-Ordesa on the 6th November 2012 after its controversial cloning attempt. Her skin is now exhibited in the visitors centre of Ordesa & Monte Perdido National Park. Photo: Manolo Grasa

To find out more about the drivers of its extinction, an international team composed of 7 nationalities built a database of all known museum specimens and reconstructed the demographic history of the Pyrenean Ibex based on DNA evidence. Their research is published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal Zoosystematics and Evolution.

The research found that after a population expansion between 14,000 and 29,000 years ago (which is quite recent from a genetic point of view), a significant loss of genetic diversity followed between approximately 15,000 and 7,500 years BP, and continued until present. By that time, the Pyrenean Ibex also lived outside the Pyrenean mountain chain, but, gradually, its distribution was reduced to only one valley in the Ordesa National Park in the Spanish Pyrenees.

*The adventures of the British hunter E.N. Buxton were published in 1893. This engraving represents a hunting party in the Ordesa Valley (Spanish Pyrenees).*

Written sources confirm hunting of the Pyrenean Ibex from as early as the 14th century, and during the 19th and 20th century it became a common target for trophy hunters. Undoubtedly, hunting played an important role in reducing its population numbers and distribution area, but it is not possible – with the information currently available – to pinpoint it as the straw that broke the camel’s back. Infectious diseases that originate from livestock (for instance, those caused by the bluetongue virus, BTV, and sarcopses) are capable of decimating other subspecies of Iberian Ibex in extremely short periods of time.

While the relative contribution of various factors remains largely unknown, it seems that hunting and diseases transmitted from other animals have been effective in drastically reducing the number of Pyrenean ibexes over the last two centuries, because they were acting on an already genetically weakened population. This low genetic diversity, combined with inbreeding depression and reduced fertility, brought the population beyond the minimum viable size – from that point onwards, extinction was inevitable.

This case study shows the importance of historical biological collections for genetic analyses of extinct species. A privately owned 140-year-old trophy preserved in Pau, France, was genotyped as part of this research, showing that private individuals may possess material of high value. As there is little knowledge of such resources, the authors call for the creation of an online public database of private collections hosting biological material for the benefit of biodiversity studies.

***

Original source:
Forcina G, Woutersen K, Sánchez-Ramírez S, Angelone S, Crampe JP, Pérez JM, Fandos P, Granados JE, Jowers MJ (2021) Demography reveals populational expansion of a recently extinct Iberian ungulate. Zoosystematics and Evolution 97(1): 211-221. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.97.61854

New deadly snake from Asia named after character from Chinese myth ‘Legend of White Snake’

In 2001, the famous herpetologist Joseph B. Slowinski died from snakebite by an immature black-and-white banded krait, while leading an expedition team in northern Myanmar. The very krait that caused his death is now confirmed to belong to the same species identified as a new to science venomous snake, following an examination of samples collected between 2016 and 2019 from Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province, China.

The new krait species, found in Southwestern China and Northern Myanmar, is described by Dr Zening Chen of Guangxi Normal University, PhD candidate Shengchao Shi, Dr Li Ding from the Chengdu Institute of Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr Gernot Vogel of the Society for Southeast Asian Herpetology in Germany and Dr Jingsong Shi of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at Chinese Academy of Sciences. Their study is published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.

The new krait species *Bungarus suzhenae*. Photo by Dr Li Ding

The researchers decided to name the new species Bungarus suzhenae – Suzhen’s krait, after the mythical figure of Bai Su Zhen (白素贞) – a powerful snake goddess from the traditional Chinese myth ‘Legend of White Snake (白蛇传)’.

The legend says that, after thousands of years of practicing magic power, the white snake Bai Su Zhen transformed herself into a young woman and fell in love with the human man Xu Xian. Together, they ran a hospital, saving lots of human lives with medicine and magic. However, this love between goddess and human was forbidden by the world of the gods and, eventually, Bai Su Zhen was imprisoned in a tower for eternity. Since then, the Chinese regard her as a symbol of true love and good-heartedness.

Illustration of the *Legend of the White Snake*, by Xin Wang, Chongqing museum of natural history

“The black-and-white banded krait is one of the snakes most similar to the white snake in nature, so we decided to name it after Bai Su Zhen,” say the authors.

In fact, the discovery of Suzhen’s krait was inspired by another accident from 2015, when the Chinese herpetologist Mian Hou was bitten by a black-and-white banded krait in Yingjiang. “It hurt around the wound, and the skin around it turned dark,” said the unfortunate man, who luckily survived.

The skull of Bungarus suzhenae (3d-reconstructed model, by Jingsong Shi)

The authors of the present study realized that the bite was different from those of the many-banded krait B. multicinctus, which go without clear symptoms or pain around the wound. This clue eventually led to the discovery of Suzhen’s krait.

Because kraits are highly lethal, understanding their species diversity and geographic distribution is vital for saving human lives. Thanks to adequate description and classification of deadly snakes, research on venom, antivenom development and proper snakebite treatment can advance more rapidly.

Suzhen’s krait Bungarus suzhenae preying on Yunnan Caecilian Ichthyophis bannanicus. Credit: GTO

The new study makes it easier to distinguish between krait species from China and adjacent southeastern Asia. “Three species of the black-and-white banded kraits from China were previously put under the same name – many-banded krait, which would hinder appropriate medical treatment,” the authors point out. Additionally, they suggest that antivenom for the many-banded krait be reevaluated accordingly.

Carried with the wind: mass migration of Larch Budmoth to the Russian High Arctic

*Live Larch Budmoth walking on tundra, Vize Island, air temperature +3C, 30.07.2020. Photo by Dr Maria Gavrilo*

Arctic habitats have fascinated biologists for centuries. Their species-poor insect faunas, however, provide little reward for entomologists – scientists who study insects – to justify spending several weeks or even months in the hostile environments of tundra or polar deserts. As a result, data on insects from the High Arctic islands are often based on occasional collecting and remain scarce.

*Vize Island has uniform flatland landscape with lichen-moss vegetation typicalfor High-Arctic islands. Photo by Dr Maria Gavrilo*

Vize Island, located in the northern part of the Kara Sea, is one of the least studied islands of the Russian High Arctic in terms of its biota. Scientists Dr Maria V. Gavrilo of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in Russia and Dr Igor I. Chupin of the Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals in Russia visited this ice-free lowland island in the summer of 2020.

“Our expedition studied the ecology of Ivory Gull”, Maria Gavrilo says, “but we also looked for other wildlife.” Because of the lack of data, scientists appreciate any observation on insects they can get from the High Arctic.

On the island, the team found hundreds of small moths. They were identified by Dr Mikhail V. Kozlov of the University of Turku, Finland, as Larch Budmoths – the first and only terrestrial invertebrate to ever be observed and collected on Vize Island. Their observations are published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal Nota Lepidopterologica.

Live Larch Budmoth walking on tundra, Vize Island, air temperature +3C, 30.07.2020. The scientists believe that this moth arrived on the island two weeks earlier after travelling with the winds some 1200 km across the Arctic ocean. Photo by Dr Maria Gavrilo

The scientists first observed live and freshly dead moths on the sandy banks of a pond near the meteorological station. Then, they saw hundreds of them at the sandy bottom of a river valley with shallow streams. Moths, single or in groups, were mostly found at the water’s edge, along with some fine floating debris. Despite extremely low daily temperatures (+2-5°C), flying moths were also spotted on several occasions.

*On average, four dead moths per 10 square meters were counted along the sandy river bed during a survey on 19.07.2020. Photo by Dr Maria Gavrilo*

The larvae of Larch Budmoth feed on the needles of different coniferous trees. Because Vize Island is located 1000 km north of the tree limit, the scientists can be sure about the migratory origin of the moths observed on Vize Island. They were likely transported there on 12–14 July 2020 by strong winds coming from the continent. The nearest potential source population of Larch Budmoth is located in the northern part of the Krasnoyarsk Region, which means they travelled at least 1200 km.

“The Arctic islands will be colonised by forest insects as soon as changing environmental conditions allow the establishment of local populations.”
Dr Mikhail V. Kozlov, University of Turku

Importantly, some moths remained alive and active for at least 20 days after their arrival, which means that long-distance travel did not critically deplete resources stored in their bodies. The current changes in climate are making it easier for more southerly insects to invade species-poor areas in the High Arctic islands – provided they can reach them and survive there.

“The successful arrival of a large number of live moths from continental Siberian forests to Vize Island has once more demonstrated the absence of insurmountable barriers to initial colonisation of High Arctic islands by forest insects”, concludes Mikhail Kozlov, who has studied Arctic insects for decades. “The Arctic islands will be colonised by forest insects as soon as changing environmental conditions allow the establishment of local populations.”

***

Original source:

Gavrilo MV, Chupin II, Kozlov MV (2021) Carried with the wind: mass occurrence of Zeiraphera griseana (Hübner, 1799) (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) on Vize Island (Russian High Arctic). Nota Lepidopterologica 44: 91–97. https://doi.org/10.3897/nl.44.63662

Why we shouldn’t blame women for gender disparity in science: Perspectives of women in zoology

A Brazilian network of female zoologists aims to oppose gender disparity in science

Guest blog post by Veronica Slobodian

Scientists are part of a rather sexist society and, therefore, ruled by a rather sexist social conduct. Nevertheless, women scientists attempt to thrive despite all setbacks provided by structural sexism (both explicit and implicit).

Sadly, female scientists are more likely to suffer from harassment, be deprived from recognition for their work, and be more overburdened with household chores compared to their male counterparts. All these situations are being reinforced by social gender stereotypes.

As a result, many women leave academia because of these hindrances and prejudice in a phenomenon known as “leaking pipeline”. To properly address those setbacks, we must first recognize the structural inequalities in academia, and then provide strategies to recruit, retain and promote students and faculty from underrepresented groups.

In a rebuttal to an article published in Nature Communications (AlShebli et al. 2020, now retracted), which suggested that female protégés reap more benefits when mentored by men and, therefore, policies to promote female mentors need to be revisited, our group of female zoologists wrote the opinion paper “Why we shouldn’t blame women for gender disparity in academia: Perspectives of Women in Zoology“, now published in the open-access scientific journal Zoologia. Quickly supported by over 500 signatories from all around the world, the piece soon grew into the Women in Zoology network, which brings together zoologists from underrepresented people in the scientific field groups, especially women.

In this reply, we pointed to the methodological flaws and addressed the inherently problematic conclusions of AlShebli et al. (2020). We also demonstrated the gendered academic settings that systematically prejudices women and presented how some of the current diversity policies are positively changing the zoological field in Brazil. While writing our response, we realized these challenges and aches were in fact much more common in the field, so we decided to broaden the network to encompass all female zoologists who want a more fair and diverse Zoology. So, with the “Women in Zoology” network, our aim is to promote female zoologists, investigate their underrepresentation in Brazilian zoology, and propose policies to balance the situation.

***

Original article:

Slobodian V, Soares KDA, Falaschi RL, Prado LR, Camelier P, Guedes TB, Leal LC, Hsiou AS, Del-Rio G, Costa ER, Pereira KRC, D’Angiolella AB, de A Sousa S, Diele-Viegas LM (2021) Why we shouldn’t blame women for gender disparity in academia: perspectives of women in zoology. Zoologia 38: 1-9. https://doi.org/10.3897/zoologia.38.e61968

***

Find more information about the “Women in Zoology” network on Instagram: @mulheresnazoologia.