Endangered and exceptional: Discovery of new insect species highlights Kosovo biodiversity hotspot

A remarkable discovery from Kosovo’s Bjeshkët e Nemuna National Park underscores the region’s high biodiversity and urgent need for conservation.

A new species of caddisfly, Tinodes lumbardhi, was found in a sidestream of the Lumbardhi i Deçanit River in Kosovo’s Bjeshkët e Nemuna National Park. The discovery, made by Professor Halil Ibrahimi of the University of Prishtina and his research team, underscores the region’s high biodiversity and urgent need for conservation.

Tinodes lumbardhi, the new species from Lumbardhi i Deçanit River in Kosovo

The aquatic insect is small, with its wings less than 5 mm long. Its name, “lumbardhi,” honors the local Albanian name for the river, meaning “the white river.”

“The discovery of Tinodes lumbardhi is both a celebration of Kosovo’s unique natural heritage and a wake-up call for conservation,” said Professor Halil Ibrahimi. “The survival of these species depends on our ability to protect their fragile habitats.”

The type locality of Tinodes lumbardhi, a shelter for several other rare species of caddisflies.

Hosting several rare and endemic species, Bjeshkët e Nemuna, a mountainous region in western Kosovo, is a hotspot for caddisfly diversity. Despite this richness, however, Kosovo’s freshwater ecosystems face escalating threats from human activities. Hydropower development, pollution, and water extraction have severely degraded habitats like the Lumbardhi i Deçanit River, leading in some areas to impoverished insect communities and an alarming absence of fish. Sidestreams like the one where T. lumbardhi was found serve as critical refuges for rare species but remain vulnerable to environmental pressures.

Caddisflies, known for their sensitivity to environmental changes, are key bioindicators of freshwater ecosystem health. These small insects are not only vital for biodiversity but also for maintaining ecological stability in the face of threats such as climate change and habitat destruction.

Heavy environmental pressures endanger the aquatic fauna of Lumbardhi i Deçanit River in Kosovo.

Kosovo’s caddisfly fauna has seen significant advancements in recent years, with contributions from Ibrahimi and his team shedding light on the region’s ecological treasures. Their work has revealed species such as Potamophylax kosovaensis and Potamophylax coronavirus, emphasizing the importance of ongoing research and conservation efforts.

The discovery of Tinodes lumbardhi adds to the growing recognition of Bjeshkët e Nemuna as a biodiversity hotspot of international significance. In their research paper, published in Biodiversity Data Journal, the researchers call for urgent targeted conservation measures to mitigate the impacts of hydropower development and other anthropogenic threats in the region. “Protecting these rare species and their habitats is not only a moral imperative but also a crucial step toward sustaining the ecological integrity of Kosovo’s freshwater systems,” says Halil Ibrahimi in conclusion.

Original source:

Ibrahimi H, Bilalli A, Musliu M, Geci D, Grapci Kotori L (2025) Tinodes lumbardhi sp. nov. (Trichoptera, Psychomyiidae), a new species from the Lumbardhi i Deçanit River in Kosovo. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e143104. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e143104

Photos by Halil Ibrahimi

Top 10 new species of 2024

A countdown of our top 10 favourite species described as new to science in our journals this year.

2024 is almost over—can you believe it?

If you follow any of Pensoft’s social media accounts, you will know that we have been counting down our top 10 favourite species described as new-to-science in our journals this year.

The list is—of course—entirely arbitrary, but it is also a fun way to look back on a year in which several weird and wonderful animals, plants and fungi were discovered.

In this blog post, we will tell you more about each species, share some honourable mentions, and reveal our number 1 spot!

Honourable mentions

The league of legends crab

When it was time to name a tiny, ‘furry’ new species of gorilla crab from China, researchers drew unlikely inspiration from the video game League of Legends.

Gothus teemo was named after the character Teemo thanks to its distinctive appearance and has drawn a lot of attention from fans of the franchise.

Published in Zoosystematics and Evolution.

the ancient shark

The new species is thought to have resembled a modern sandtiger shark (pictured).

Calling anything on this list a ‘new species’ is not accurate—rather, they are just new to published science. Nothing exemplifies this more than Palaeohypotodus bizzocoi, a long-extinct shark species that lived 65 million years ago, shortly after the fall of the dinosaurs.

What makes this discovery remarkable is that it was partially accidental. Find out how a 100-year-old box of teeth in Alabama led to the discovery of this ancient shark below.

Published in Fossil Record.

the drone-discovered plant

Sometimes, it is the way in which a new species is discovered that makes it so special.

Such is the case for Schiedea waiahuluensis, a carnation species from Hawaii that is likely the first plant to be identified and collected using drone technology. Learn all about it below!

Published in PhytoKeys.

Top 10 new species of 2024

10: the crocodile newt

Tylototriton gaowangjienensis.

With its all-black colouration, Tylototriton gaowangjienensis, a crocodile newt from China, has drawn comparisons to Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.

However, this alluring amphibian hides flashes of orange beneath its tail and toes! Find more pictures and information below.

Published in Herpetozoa.

9: the border-hopping bee

New bee species.
Male Hoplitis onosmaevae with unfolded proboscis.

Besides its adorable appearance, Hoplitis onosmaevae is remarkable due to its distribution. It is currently only known from a small region of the French Alps, and areas >2,000 km away in the mountains of Turkey and Iraq.

Another interesting aspect of Hoplitis onosmaevae is its specialised ecological niche: it is thought to only collect pollen from Onosma species. This narrow ecological niche makes it vulnerable to factors like climate change and changes in agricultural practices.

Published in Alpine Entomology.

8: the dung fungus

Metacampanella coprophila

Metacampanella coprophila is one of two new species described in a recent MycoKeys paper! Known from Mongolia, it grows in sheep dung in the summer.

Metacampanella is an important, recently defined genus in the Marasmiaceae family, expected to expand with future studies.

Published in MycoKeys.

7: the miracle plant

John L. Clark with Amalophyllon miraculum. Credit @phinaea on Instagram.

The discovery of Amalophyllon miraculum—in an area assumed to be a barren agricultural landscape of plant extinctions—represents an inspiration for biodiversity conservation. This “miracle” plant, as its name suggests, was found surviving in one of the small, isolated forest fragments that remain in the Centinela region of western Ecuador.

Published in PhytoKeys.

6: the spiky frog

Pristimantis normaewingae.

This spiky amphibian was discovered on Cerro Candelaria, a mountain in the Tungurahua province. The discovery of this new species in the upper Rio Pastaza watershed suggests this area might be a centre of rapid evolution for these fascinating frogs.

Published in Evolutionary Systematics.

5: the giant tiny beetle

Clavicornaltica mataikanensis.

Entomologists and citizen scientists teamed up to discover this new species of flea beetle in the lush rainforests of Borneo. The discovery was made during a Taxon Expeditions trip, where non-scientist people got the chance to work alongside scientists to identify and describe new species.

What makes this discovery particularly exciting is the beetle’s size—it’s actually one of the largest among its relatives! Flea beetles that live in the leaf litter of tropical forests are typically much smaller, and as a result, we know very little about their ecology and diversity.

Published in Biodiversity Data Journal.

4: the grumpy dwarf goby

A photograph of a red grumpy-looking fish on a black background.
The grumpy dwarf goby, Sueviota aethon.

Discovered in the Red Sea, the ‘grumpy dwarf goby’ (Sueviota aethon) was published as a new species in ZooKeys. You can probably guess how it earned its name! This tiny fish, measuring less than 2 centimetres long, sports a permanent frown thanks to its large canines and fierce expression. Despite its small size, the grumpy dwarfgoby is thought to be a fearsome predator in its coral reef habitat.

Published in ZooKeys.

3: the sun-shunning plant

Thismia malayana.

Thismia malayana is a mycoheterotrophic plant, meaning it doesn’t photosynthesise. Instead, it acts as a parasite, stealing carbon resources from the fungi on its roots!

By stealing nutrients from fungi, it can thrive in the low-light conditions of dense forest understories where its highly specialised flowers are pollinated by fungus gnats and other small insects.

Published in PhytoKeys.

2: the ‘cute but deadly’ velvet worm

While the Tiputini velvet worm—Oroperipatus tiputini—may look friendly, it is an accomplished hunter that shoots a sticky substance from a pair of glands to trap its prey. This “living fossil” is a rare and unique invertebrate that evolved over 500 million years ago. The new species was discovered in the Ecuadorian Amazon at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, which is part of the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve.

Published in Zoosystematics and Evolution.

1: the starry night gecko

Here it is, our number 1 spot!

They say that life imitates art, and this new gecko species proves that to be true! Researchers in India have discovered a gecko with such a unique and beautiful colouration that they named it after painter Vincent van Gogh. The “Starry Night” gecko, or Cnemaspis vangoghi, was discovered in the Southern Western Ghats and stands out due to the male’s yellow head and forebody with light blue spots on the back, a striking combination reminiscent of the famous painting.

Published in ZooKeys.

Here’s to a year of growing and succeeding together!

Within and beyond our Pensoft team, we celebrate a year of well-nourished partnerships and excitement for the future

Yet another hectic year has passed for our team at Pensoft, so it feels right to look back at the highlights from the last 12 months, as we buckle up for the leaps and strides in 2025.

In the past, we have used the occasion to take you back to the best moments of our most popular journals (see this list of 2023 highlights from ZooKeys, MycoKeys, PhytoKeys and more!); share milestones related to our ARPHA publishing platform (see the new journals, integrations and features from 2023); or let you reminisce about the coolest research published across our journals during the year (check out our Top 10 new species from 2021).

In 2022, when we celebrated our 30th anniversary on the academic scene, we extended our festive spirit throughout the year as we dived deep into those fantastic three decades. We put up Pensoft’s timeline and finished the year with a New Species Showdown tournament, where our followers on (what was back then) Twitter voted twice a week for their favourite species EVER described on the pages of our taxonomic journals.

Spoiler alert: we will be releasing our 2024 Top 10 New Species on Monday, 23 December, so you’d better go to the right of this screen and subscribe to our blog!

As we realised we might’ve been a bit biased towards our publishing activities over the years, this time, hereby, we chose to present you a retrospection that captures our best 2024 moments from across the departments, and shed light on how the publishing, technology and project communication endeavours fit together to make Pensoft what it is.

In truth, we take pride in being an exponentially growing family of multiple departments that currently comprises over 60 full-time employees and about a dozen freelancers working from all corners of the world, including Australia, Canada, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Together, we are all determined to make sure we continuously improve our service to all who have trusted us: authors, reviewers, editors, client journals, learned societies, research institutions, project consortia and other external collaborators.


After all, great deeds are only possible when you team up with great like-minded people!

Pensoft as an open-access academic publisher 

Pensoft’s stand at the 2024 TDWG-SPNHC joint conference (September, Japan).

In 2024, at Pensoft, we were hugely pleased to see a significant growth in the published output at almost all our journals, including record-breaking numbers in both submissions and publications at flagship titles of ours, including the Biodiversity Data Journal, PhytoKeys and MycoKeys

Other fantastic news came in June from our Indexing team, who confirmed that One Ecosystem: a quite unique and novel academic outlet we launched in collaboration with the Ecosystem Services Partnership in 2016 – received its first Impact Factor

Later in 2024, our colleagues, who work together with our clients to ensure their journals comply with the requirements of the top scholarly databases before they apply for indexation, informed us that another two journals in our portfolio have had their applications to Clarivate’s Web of Science successfully accepted. These are the newest journal of the International Association of Vegetation Science: Vegetation and Classification, and Metabarcoding and Metagenomics: a journal we launched in 2017 in collaboration with a team of brilliant scientists working together at the time within the DNAquaNet COST Action.

In 2024, we also joined the celebrations of our long-time partners at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, whose three journals: Zoosystematics and Evolution, Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift and Fossil Record are all part of our journal portfolio. This year marked the 10th Open Access anniversary of the three journals.

In the meantime, we also registered a record in new titles either joining the Pensoft portfolio or opting for ARPHA Platform’s white-label publishing solution, where journal owners retain exclusivity for the publication of their titles, yet use ARPHA’s end-to-end technology and as many human-provided services as necessary.

Pensoft’s CEO and founder Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev with Prof. Dr. Marc Stadler, Editor-in-Chief of IMA Fungus and President of the International Mycological Association at the Pensoft booth at the 12th International Mycological Congress (August, the Netherlands). 

Amongst our new partners are the International Mycological Association who moved their official journal IMA Fungus to ARPHA Platform. As part of Pensoft’s scholarly portfolio, the renowned journal joins another well-known academic title in the field of mycology: MycoKeys, which was launched by Pensoft in 2011. The big announcement was aptly made public at this year’s 12th International Mycological Congress where visitors of the Pensoft stand could often spot newly elected IMA President and IMA Fungus Chief editor: Marc Stadler chatting with our founder and CEO Lyubomir Penev by the Pensoft/MycoKeys booth.

Other partners who chose the services of ARPHA Platform for their journals in 2024 include the International Biogeography Society, United Arab Emirates University and Medical University Pleven.

On our end, we did not stop supporting enthusiastic and proactive scientists in their attempt to bridge gaps in scientific knowledge. In January, we launched the Estuarine Management and Technologies journal together with Dr. Soufiane Haddout of the Ibn Tofail University, Morocco. 

Later on, Dr. Franco Andreone (Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali, Italy) sought us with the idea to launch a journal addressing the role of natural history museums and herbaria collections in scientific progress. This collaboration resulted in the Natural History Collections and Museomics journal, officially announced at the joint TDWG-SPNHC conference in Okinawa, Japan in August.

Around this time, we finalised our similarly exciting journal project in partnership with Prof. Dr. Volker Grimm (UFZ, Germany), Prof. Dr. Karin Frank (UFZ, Germany), Prof. Dr. Mark E. Hauber (City University of New York) and Prof. Dr. Florian Jeltsch (University of Potsdam, Germany). The outcome of this collaboration is called Individual-based Ecology: a journal that aims to promote an individual-based perspective in ecology, as it closes the knowledge gap between individual-level responses and broader ecological patterns.

The three newly-launched journals are all published under the Diamond Open Access model, where neither access, nor publication is subject to charges.

As you can see, we have a lot to be proud of in terms of our journals. This is also why in 2024 our team took a record number of trips to attend major scientific events, where we got the chance to meet face-to-face with long-time editors, authors, reviewers and readers of our journals. Even more exciting was meeting the new faces of scientific research and learning about their own take on scholarship and academic journals.

Pensoft’s CEO and founder Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev welcomed editors at PhytoKeys to the Pensoft-PhytoKeys-branded booth at the XX International Botanical Congress in July 2024 (Spain).

In 2024, we presented our journals and publishing opportunities at about 20 scientific forums, including the XX International Botanical Congress (July, Spain), the 12th International Mycological Congress (August, the Netherlands), the 10th World Congress of Herpetology (August, Malaysia) and the XXVII International Congress of Entomology (August, Japan).

Pensoft as a scientific technology provider

We cannot possibly comment on Pensoft’s tech progress in 2024 without mentioning the EU-funded project BiCIKL (acronym for Biodiversity Community Integrated Knowledge Library) that we coordinated for three years ending up last April. 

This 36-month endeavour saw 14 member institutions and 15 research infrastructures representing diverse actors from the biodiversity data realm come together to improve bi-directional links between different platforms, standards, formats and scientific fields. 

Following these three years of collaborative work, we reported a great many notable research outputs from our consortium (find about them in the open-science project collection in the Research Ideas and Outcomes journal, titled “Towards interlinked FAIR biodiversity knowledge: The BiCIKL perspective) that culminated in the Biodiversity Knowledge Hub: a one-stop portal that allows users to access FAIR and interlinked biodiversity data and services in a few clicks; and also a set of policy recommendations addressing key policy makers, research institutions and funders who deal with various types of data about the world’s biodiversity, and are thereby responsible to ensuring there findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability (FAIR-ness).

The Biodiversity Knowledge Hub
Visit the Biodiversity Knowledge Hub: the main product of the BiCIKL consortium at: https://biodiversityknowledgehub.eu/.

Apart from coordinating BiCIKL, we also worked side-by-side with our partners to develop, refine and test each other’s tools and services, in order to make sure that they communicate efficiently with each other, thereby aligning with the principles of FAIR data and the needs of the scientific community in the long run.

During those three years we made a lot of refinements to our OpenBiodiv: a biodiversity database containing knowledge extracted from scientific literature, built as an Open Biodiversity Knowledge Management System, and our ARPHA Writing Tool. The latter is an XML-based online authoring environment using a large set of pre-formatted templates, where manuscripts are collaboratively written, edited and submitted to participating journals published on ARPHA Platform. What makes the tool particularly special is its multiple features that streamline and FAIRify data publishing as part of a scientific publication, especially in the field of biodiversity knowledge. In fact, we made enough improvements to the ARPHA Writing Tool that we will be soon officially releasing its 2.0 version!

OpenBiodiv – The Open Biodiversity Knowledge Management System
ARPHA Writing Tool 2.0

Amongst our collaborative projects are the Nanopublications for Biodiversity workflow that we co-developed with KnowledgePixels to allow researchers to ‘fragment’ their most important scientific findings into machine-actionable and machine-interpretable statements. Being the smallest units of publishable information, these ‘pixels of knowledge’ present an assertion about anything that can be uniquely identified and attributed to its author and serve to communicate a single statement, its original source (provenance) and citation record (publication info).

Nanopublications for Biodiversity

In partnership with the Swiss-based Text Mining group of Patrick Ruch at SIB and the text- and data-mining association Plazi, we brought the SIB Literature Services (SIBiLS) database one step closer to solidifying its “Biodiversity PMC” portal and working title.

Understandably, we spent a lot of effort, time and enthusiasm in raising awareness about our most recent innovations, in addition to our long-standing workflows, formats and tools developed with the aim to facilitate open and efficient access to scientific data; and their integration into published scholarly work, as well as receiving well-deserved recognition for their collection.

We just can’t stress it enough how important and beneficial it is for everyone to have high-quality FAIR data, ideally made available within a formal scientific publication!    

Pensoft’s CTO Teodor Georgiev talks about innovative methods and good practices in the publication of biodiversity data in scholarly papers at the First national meeting of the Bulgarian Barcode of Life (BgBOL) consortium (December, Bulgaria).
Pensoft’s CEO and founder Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev presenting his “Data papers on biodiversity” talk at the “Biodiversity data in montane and arid Eurasia” symposium jointly organized by GBIF and by the Institute of Zoology of Republic of Kazakhstan (November, Kazakhstan).

.

Pensoft’s CTO Teodor Georgiev presents new features and workflows currently in testing at the ARPHA Writing Tool 2.0 at the EASE Autumn Symposium 2024 (online event).

Pensoft’s Head of Journal development, Marketing and PR Iva Boyadzhieva talks about Pensoft’s data publishing approach and innovations at the German Ecological Society 53rd Annual Conference (September, Germany).

Pensoft as a science communicator

At our Project team, which is undoubtedly the fastest developing department at Pensoft, science communicators are working closely with technology and publishing teams to help consortia bring their scientific results closer to policy actors, decision-makers and the society at large.

Ultimately, bridging the notorious chasm between researchers and global politics boils down to mutual understanding and dialogue. 

Pensoft’s communication team attended COP16 (November 2024, Colombia) along with partners at the consortia of CO-OP4CBD, BioAgora and RESPIN: three Horizon Europe projects, whose communication and dissemination is led by Pensoft.

Throughout 2024, the team, comprising 20 science communicators and project managers, has been working as part of 27 EU-funded project consortia, including nine that have only started this year (check out all partnering projects on the Pensoft website, ordered from most recently started to oldest). Apart from communicating key outcomes and activities during the duration of the projects, at many of the projects, our team has also been actively involved in their grant proposal drafting, coordination, administration, platform development, graphic and web design and others (see all project services offered by Pensoft to consortia).

Naturally, we had a seat on the front row during many milestones achieved by our partners at all those 27 ongoing projects, and communicated to the public by our communicators. 

Amongst those are the release of the InsectsCount web application developed within the Horizon 2020 project SHOWCASE. Through innovative gamification elements, the app encourages users to share valuable data about flower-visiting insects, which in turn help researchers gain new knowledge about the relationship between observed species and the region’s land use and management practices (learn more about InsectsCount on the SHOWCASE prroject website). 

Another fantastic project output was the long-awaited dataset of maps of annual forest disturbances across 38 European countries derived from the Landsat satellite data archive published by the Horizon Europe project ForestPaths in April (find more about the European Forest Disturbance Atlas on the ForestPaths project website).

In a major company highlight, last month, our project team participated in COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan with a side event dedicated to the role of open science and science communication in climate- and biodiversity-friendly policy.

Pensoft’s participation at COP29 – as well as our perspective on FAIR data and open science – were recently covered in an interview by Exposed by CMD (a US-based news media accredited to cover the event) with our science communicator Alexandra Korcheva and project manager Boris Barov. 

You see, A LOT of great things worth celebrating happened during the year for us at Pensoft: all thanks to ceaselessly flourishing collaboration based on transparency, trust and integrity. Huge ‘THANK YOU!’ goes to everyone who has joined us in our endeavours!

Here’s to many more shared achievements coming up in 2025!

***

Now, to keep up with our next steps in real time, we invite you to follow Pensoft on social media on BlueSky, X, Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin

Don’t forget to also enter your email to the right to sign up for new content from this blog!

First Bulgarian DNA barcoding symposium brought over 120 researchers

The symposium took place on 5 December 2025 at the Headquarters of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, organised by the Bulgarian Barcode of Life.

The first national symposium on DNA barcoding took place on 5 December 2025 at the Headquarters of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, where it was attended by renowned Bulgarian scientists in the field, in addition to early-career researchers and PhD students representing different institutions.

The event was organised by the Bulgarian Barcode of Life (BgBOL): a national node, part of the International Barcode of Life, which was established in October 2023 by  the Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics (BAS), Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, National Museum of Natural History (BAS), Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, AgroBioInstitute (Agricultural Academy), University of Forestry, and Pensoft in its role of a scientific publisher and tech innovator well-known in the field of biodiversity science.

The event saw a day-long series of lectures and a poster session, during which the participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with the work of their colleagues in various fields of biology. 

Amongst the topics were the development of the Bulgarian molecular laboratory in Antarctica; the study of the invertebrate fauna currently underrepresented in DNA reference libraries; the return of the beaver to Bulgaria; and research on phytopathogenic fungi on agricultural crops.

During the coffee breaks sponsored by the National Museum of Natural History, the delegates had the chance to network and exchange experience between institutions and fields of expertise.

Teodor Georgiev, CTO at Pensoft held a presentation about the 2.0 version of the ARPHA Writing Tool. In its greatly improved version, it will feature many new, refined and elaborated workflows that help and simplify data publishing, discoverability, reusability and overall FAIRness. 

The event was opened and closed by Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev, who was elected as the Chair of the Governing Board at the Bulgarian Barcode of Life last year. He is also the founder and CEO of Pensoft.

In his closing speech, Penev expressed his hopes for the development of BgBOL and confirmed the plans of the consortium to turn the symposium into an annual tradition. Congratulations were extended to BgBOL’s newest member: the Institute of Oceanology “Fridtjof Nansen” at BAS. 

He also announced the launch of a new special collection in the Biodiversity Data Journal, which will welcome scientific papers related to the Bulgarian and Balkan biota and using DNA barcoding methods. The authors of the first five papers to be submitted and accepted at the collection will take advantage of free publication.

Finally, he thanked the hosts of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Headquarters: Stefania Kamenova and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Georgi Bonchev, who are also Vice-Chair and Chair of the Executive Board at BgBOL, respectively. A special thanks went also to Prof. Pavel Stoev, Director of the National Museum of Natural History.

***

You can visit the website of the Bulgarian Barcode of Life (BgBOL) at https://bgbol.org/en and follow the BgBOL consortium on Facebook.

Cyber catalogue and revision of the nematode genus Enchodelus 

All available information on Enchodelus species is brought together. This will contribute to a more complete assessment of species diversity and distribution.

Guest blog post by Milka Elshishka and Vlada Peneva

The order Dorylaimida is the most diverse nematode group, with over 2640 valid species and more than 260 valid genera, with new taxa being described each year. They are the richest nematode order in number of species in natural soils. Dorylaims are often regarded as good environmental bio-indicators since the number of species/specimens drastically decreases following any significant disturbance in their habitat.

In our study, published in the Biodiversity Data Journal, we examined one intriguing free-living dorylaimid nematode taxon: the genus Enchodelus which is considered to have conservation value. The genus currently includes 28 species, which display a distinct distributional pattern, being spread mainly in high altitudinal enclaves of the Northern Hemisphere (with the exception of E. brasiliensis, only known to occur in Brazil). Its representatives are often associated with mosses and cliff vegetation. Although their feeding habits have not been studied with experimental protocols, it is traditionally assumed that they are omnivorous.

Distribution of Enchodelus species

The genus Enchodelus has not been recently revised; the descriptions of many ‘old species’ (that have been described long ago and have not been reported since their original discovery) are of poor quality, hardly discoverable, and do not conform to today’s taxonomical standards.

An Enchodelus species.

Actually, information available from databases often is limited to some of the species and usually incomplete as relevant data are missing. Consequently, a comprehensive compilation and analysis of literature data is indispensable to reach new insights into the taxonomy of the genus and to elucidate its evolutionary relationships.

Our work provides a cyber catalogue of Enchodelus species, where all available data for the species are accessible and collected in one place, which will greatly facilitate future research. It compiles available information from key European Research Infrastructures, such as TreatmentBank, the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics Literature Services (SIBiLS), the Catalogue of Life (CoL), the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) and the Biodiversity Literature Repository (BLR). Data about their distribution (geographical records and habitats) are incorporated too and all brought together. It is completed with discussion and notes for some species, along with information on species distributions and microhabitats.

Here, all available information on Enchodelus species is brought together. This will contribute to a more complete assessment of species diversity and distribution and support further biogeographical and ecological research.

The type species Enchodelus macrodorus is the most widely spread and reported Enchodelus species. It is a typical member of Palearctic nematode fauna, recorded in a myriad of countries and habitats and very sporadically recorded in Nearctic and Indomalayan enclaves. In our study we add new morphological and molecular data for this species collected from Spain.

Enchodelus macrodorus from Spain.

Additionally, type material of Enchodelus vestibulifer, belonging to Edmond Altherr’s collection, deposited at the Museo Cantonale di Storia Naturale di Lugano (Switzerland), is re-examined.

This species was described by the Swiss nematologist Edmond Altherr in 1952 on the basis of a single female from Switzerland and no later record of it exists. The re-examination of this material revealed that several relevant traits are not compatible with those characterising the genus Enchodelus and we considered it as incertae sedis.

In our study we also present one new species, Enchodelus enguriensis. It was collected from moss on stone (Tortellasquarrosa) in Caucasus, Georgia (Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Region, Bogreshi, Enguri River, Tower of Love). The description of the new species was supported by a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis based on D2-D3 of 28S rRNA. When naming the new taxon, we selected the name of the place from which the material was collected, namely the River Enguri; it was recovered from the stone next to the Tower of Love on the bank of the river.

We are grateful for the support the BiCIKL project, Grant No 101007492.

Research article:

Elshishka M, Mladenov A, Altash S, Álvarez-Ortega S, Peña-Santiago R, Peneva V (2024) Cyber catalogue and revision of the nematode genus Enchodelus (Dorylaimida, Nordiidae). Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e126315. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e126315

Better data practices advance biodiversity knowledge

A framework to retrieve, refine and align secondary biodiversity data with FAIR standards.

Guest blog post by Nubia Marques et al.

In a world increasingly defined by data-driven decisions, biodiversity research stands to benefit from standardized and accessible data. Despite their importance for research, biodiversity datasets often fail to meet FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) standards, leading to concerns about data quality, reliability, and accessibility.

To address this, we propose a framework to retrieve, refine and align secondary biodiversity data with FAIR standards, utilizing the Darwin Core model. We followed four steps:

  1. data localization (systematic review)
  2. quality validation
  3. standardization using the Darwin Core standard
  4. sharing and archive in the appropriate repository.

Our approach integrates data validation and quality control steps to ensure that secondary data sets can be trusted.

Our study in Biodiversity Data Journal focused on ecotonal estuarine ecosystems near the easternmost Amazon, where we recovered data from 46,000 individuals representing 3,871 taxa across eight biotic groups (birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, fish, phytoplankton, benthos, and plants) from 1985 to 2022. These data were used to illustrate how our strategy improves validation, making the data more reliable for macroecological modeling and conservation management. As data becomes more standardized, researchers around the world will be better equipped to collaborate, identify trends, protect ecosystems, and advance sustainability efforts.

Relationships between numbers of taxa and occurrences gathered through an extensive review of secondary biodiversity data from the Golfão Maranhense area, in the estuarine regions of eastern Amazonia.

Accessible biodiversity data empowers stakeholders and provides critical insights into ecosystem health and species conservation. However, without standardized formats, this data is often fragmented, incomplete, or difficult to compare. By creating a consistent framework for collecting, storing, and sharing data, we are opening the door to more informed decision-making and innovation in biodiversity conservation.

The key to conserving biodiversity is collaboration and transparency. By prioritizing accessible and standardized data, we ensure that vital information reaches those who need it most – whether it’s for scientific study, habitat management or policymaking.

Let’s continue to make biodiversity data a tool for global change!

Research article:

Marques N, Soares CDdeM, Casali DdeM, Guimarães E, Fava F, Abreu JMdaS, Moras L, Silva LGda, Matias R, Assis RLde, Fraga R, Almeida S, Lopes V, Oliveira V, Missagia R, Carvalho E, Carneiro N, Alves R, Souza-Filho P, Oliveira G, Miranda M, Tavares VdaC (2024) Retrieving biodiversity data from multiple sources: making secondary data standardised and accessible. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e133775. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e133775

Orthoptera and origami: Pensoft at the International Congress of Entomology

Meeting our authors in person was a chance for us to gather valuable feedback and make sure we are doing our best.

The International Congress of Entomology 2024 (ICE2024), which took place on August 25-30 2024 in Kyoto, Japan, was arguably the biggest entomology event of the year. For the Pensoft team, it was an excellent chance to catch up with our authors and editors and discuss new partnerships.

At the Kyoto International Conference Center, entomologists visited lectures, symposia, and poster presentations, but they also enjoyed insect-themed haikus, origami, and artworks, and got to sample some edible insects.

Meeting our authors in person was a chance for us to gather valuable feedback and make sure we are doing our best to provide entomologists with a frictionless process that makes their published research shine.

At Stand 25, congress participants browsed the company’s open-access entomological journals, including ZooKeys, Biodiversity Data Journal, and Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, as well as its wide range of books on insect diversity, systematics, and ecology.

Scientific illustrator Denitsa Peneva’s beautiful works adorned Pensoft’s stand; Mostafa Ghafouri Moghaddam, subject editor at ZooKeys and Biodiversity Data Journal and author at a number of Pensoft-published journals even got to take one of her prints home after winning a raffle that Pensoft organised. He won a beautiful illustration of Bombus fragrans on Trifolium pratense.

Pensoft’s founder and CEO and one of the founding editors of the company’s flagship journal ZooKeys, Prof. Lyubomir Penev, was there representing the company and meeting with fellow entomologists.

They also got the chance to learn about the ARPHA Platform, a next-generation publishing solution that offers a streamlined and efficient workflow for authors, reviewers, and editors.

At ICE2024, Pensoft also presented its newest open-access jorunal, Natural History Collections and Museomics. A peer-reviewed journal for research, discussion and innovation of natural history collections, NHCM will publish under a diamond open access model, allowing free access to published content without any fees for authors or readers.

In addition to its publishing endeavors, Pensoft also presented some of the EU-funded pollinator projects that it takes part in such as Safeguard, PollinERA, and WildPosh.

ICE2024 was a chance to advance entomological science and foster collaboration within the global scientific community. For those who missed the chance to connect with Pensoft in Kyoto, the company’s journals and platforms remain accessible online, offering opportunities to read and produce groundbreaking research in insect diversity and ecology.

Truffles and tulips: Pensoft and the 12th International Mycological Congress

Over 1,000 fungi enthusiasts gathered in Maastricht for the biggest mycology event of the year.

The Pensoft team had a fantastic time at the 12th International Mycological Congress in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Organised by the International Mycological Association, together with the Dutch Mycological Society and the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, the four-day meeting saw around 1,400 fungi fanatics gather for the biggest mycology event of the year.

It all began with an opening ceremony complete with live music and stunning visuals, which set the stage for five days of research exchange and collaboration.

Pensoft welcomed faces new and old at a decorated stand featuring numerous illustrated materials designed by scientific illustrator Denitsa Peneva. Manning the stand were Prof Dr Lyubomir Penev (MycoKeys Founding Editor & Pensoft Founder and CEO) and Slavena Peneva (Pensoft Head of Graphic Design).

The booth hosted a special gathering for MycoKeys editors, including Editor-in-Chief Prof Dr Thorsten Lumbsch, who were shown a video looking back on the history of the journal. Many long-time collaborators of Pensoft, such as Prof Dr Urmas Kõljalg of Pluto F and Dr Dmitry Schigel of Pluto F, also dropped by to say hello.

The congress provided the perfect opportunity to announce Pensoft’s new, exciting partnership with the International Mycological Association. This collaboration will see the IMAFungus journal move to the ARPHA platform, where it will benefit from cutting-edge publishing technology and workflows.

Several MycoKeys contributors presented and hosted keynote lectures, bridging sessions, and workshops across the seven major topics of the conference:

  • Cell biology, biochemistry and physiology
  • Environment, ecology and interactions
  • Evolution, biodiversity and systematics
  • Fungal pathogenesis and disease control
  • Genomics, genetics and molecular biology
  • Applied Mycology
  • Nomenclature

The full program can be found on the congress website.

The next International Mycology Congress will be held in Incheon, South Korea, in 2027. IMC13 already has an active website and the Pensoft team look forward to another exciting installment!

***

Follow Pensoft on social media:

Plants, prizes and paella: Pensoft at the International Botanical Congress 2024

Held every six years, the world’s largest botany event hosted thousands of researchers and enthusiasts in Madrid, Spain.

Towards the end of July 2024, members of the Pensoft team travelled to Madrid for the XX International Botanical Congress, where an estimated 3,000 botanists gathered for the biggest event of the year.

Held once every six years, the congress has enlarged its scope over more than a century to become an integrated forum for knowledge on the plant and mycological world.

Proceedings kicked off with a fantastic lecture from PhytoKeys Editor-in-Chief Sandy Knapp titled, “Why botany? Why now?” The following day, Thorsten Lumbsch, Editor-in-Chief of MycoKeys, gave a keynote lecture titled, “Unravelling diversity and evolution of lichens in the genomic era.”

In fact, many authors, editors and readers of Pensoft’s journals were in attendance. And several gave presentations, including a plenary talk by renowned PhytoKeys editor, Pamela S. Soltis, on the changing face of herbarium collections.

The Pensoft team welcomed attendees with a bespoke stand, complete with print copies, illustrations and various promotional materials depicting beautiful species featured in PhytoKeys.

Lyubomir Penev, founder of Pensoft and founding editor of PhytoKeys, hosted a gathering of PhytoKeys editors at the stand, where he presented the story, latest results and highlights of the journal.

The congress included numerous lectures, symposia sessions, workshops and meetings across a variety of subject matters, all of which can be found on the IBC 2024 website. The major topics of the event were:

  • Systematics, phylogenetics, biogeography and evolution
  • Ecology, environment and global change, including invasive species and plant-animal interactions
  • Biodiversity and conservation
  • Structure, physiology and development, including Evo-Devo
  • Genetics, genomics and bioinformatics
  • Plants and Society

At the closing ceremony, multiple awards were presented, including Pensoft’s Early Career Researcher Talk Award. Sandy Knapp presented the award to Sonia Molino for her talk on a global study of the genus Parablechnum, a lineage of ferns of the family Blechnaceae. The award grants her a free publication in PhytoKeys. 

Describing her study, Sofia Molino said: “To date there has been no study that takes into account all the centres of diversity of the genus at the same time, and what we have found is that it has a very complex evolutionary history, with several cases of cryptic diversity, hybridisation and rapid radiation.”

On her plans to use her free publication for a pending study on a series of novelties within Parablechnum in Bolivia, she added: “Although this is probably the country in South America where Parablechnum has been studied the most, after one expedition we have still found a lot of new things, such as several undescribed species, hybrids and new localities of some species that were only known from type material.”

The next International Botanical Congress is in 2029 and will take place in South Africa, where the Pensoft team looks forward to seeing plenty of new faces and old friends!

***

Follow Pensoft on social media: