Category: Zookeys

Persian Gold Tarantula: a new species from Iran for Tarantula Appreciation Day 2023

Its “woolly, golden hairs” were one of the features so unique it was not necessary for additional individuals to be collected

Guest blog post by Dr Alireza Zamani (@Arachno_AZ)

In the latest issue (1174th) of the scientific open-access journal ZooKeys, you can find our paper describing a new species of tarantula (family Theraphosidae) found in northwestern Iran. 

This species belongs to Chaetopelma, a relatively small genus, distributed in Crete, Sudan, and the Middle East, and one of the only two tarantula genera inhabiting the Mediterranean region. 

Our discovery is significant for several reasons. Firstly, it marks the first record of this genus in Iran and the third known species of tarantulas in this country. Additionally, it extends the known range of Chaetopelma spiders by almost 350 km eastwards. 

We named this species Chaetopelma persianum, paying homage to its occurrence in Iran, which has historically been known as Persia. As a potential common name, we suggest “Persian Gold Tarantula”, where we are also making a reference to the “woolly, golden hairs’’ on its carapace.

The newly described tarantula species (Chaetopelma persianum) seen in a defensive posture.
Photo by Kari Kaunisto. 

For the purpose of our study, we only had one specimen: a female with a leg span of almost 9 cm, available. Yet, its distinct characteristics allowed us to confidently differentiate it from other known Chaetopelma species. 

This tarantula is an obligate burrower and inhabits high elevations in well-vegetated mountainous regions of the northern Zagros Mountains. The holotype specimen was collected from a self-made ground burrow on sloped rocky ground, amidst sparse low vegetation and grasses. 

It all started with local nature enthusiast Mehdi Gavahyan, who photographed a wandering male and sent me the photo. When I figured it was most likely an undescribed species, I asked him to team up with Amir Hossein Aghaei, a nature enthusiast and a friend of mine, and send me specimens of these spiders for further examination. Unfortunately, they only managed to collect that one female. However, it turned out to be enough for us to describe the Persian Gold Tarantula!

Additionally, thanks to local citizen scientists and naturalists, we later also got hold of photos of another two males of the same genus, taken very close to the type locality of the new species: one in Sardasht in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran, and the other in the surroundings of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq. While it is highly probable that both these males belong to Ch. persianum, this cannot be confirmed until further examination of collected material from both sexes is conducted.

Burrow of Persian Gold Tarantulas in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. The arrow in the photo on the right indicates the location of the burrow. Photos by Amir Hossein Aghaei.

During our research, we also noted that one species of Chaetopelma described from Cameroon is misclassified and should be transferred to another genus. However, this transfer is pending until the type material undergoes examination.

Looking ahead, we believe that more comprehensive investigations employing integrative methods would greatly benefit the taxonomy of Chaetopelma. 

Habitat of the newly described Persian Gold Tarantula (Chaetopelma persianum) in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran.
Photo by Amir Hossein Aghaei.

For example, Ch. olivaceum, a species with seven junior synonyms and one of the broadest ranges within the entire family, covering an area of approximately 1,493,978 km2, might potentially have cryptic species within its range. Moreover, the disjunct distribution of Ch. olivaceum in Turkey, where it occurs both in the southern regions and as far north as Istanbul, raises the possibility of distinct species status for the latter population, which is geographically isolated from the rest of the recorded occurrences. Integrative studies incorporating molecular data could offer insights into this. 

Additionally, further collection efforts in lesser-sampled or completely unexplored regions, such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, eastern Turkey and western Iran, could lead to the discovery of additional Chaetopelma species or records. These findings would be instrumental in gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the taxonomy and distribution of this genus.

Research paper:

Zamani A, West RC (2023) A new species of Chaetopelma Ausserer, 1871 (Araneae, Theraphosidae) from Iran. ZooKeys 1174: 75-84. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1174.109135 

***

Follow the work by Alireza @Arachno_AZ on Twitter.

Don’t forget to also keep up-to-date with the latest publications in ZooKeys by following the journal on Twitter and Facebook.

You can also sign up for the journal newsletter from the ZooKeys homepage.

Smithsonian Expedition Yields a New Species of Deep-Sea Coral

Collected from the deep waters off Puerto Rico, the species is a member of an enigmatic, and threatened, group of corals

When people think about corals, most picture the multi-hued reef-builders that reside in balmy waters off tropical beaches. But not all corals stick to the shallows. For example, most members of the order Antipatharia do not live within 160 feet of the surface. Some even reside at depths deeper than 26,000 feet. Commonly known as black corals due to their ink-colored skeletons, these corals are staples of deep-sea ecosystems around the world.

However, black corals remain enigmatic due to the challenges of studying them in the deep sea. This makes it difficult for scientists to assess how black corals, whose skeletons (which are made out of chitin, the same material that composes an insect’s exoskeleton) are prized components of jewelry, are responding to threats like poaching, ocean acidification and climate change.

“Describing these species is fundamental information to make conservation decisions,” said Jeremy Horowitz, a postdoctoral researcher at the National Museum of Natural History who specializes in studying black corals. “You have to know it before you can protect it.”

Jeremy Horowitz, a postdoctoral researcher in the museum’s invertebrate zoology department, examines a coral specimen during a subsequent expedition off Puerto Rico earlier this year. Credit: Jeremy Horowitz, NMNH

In a paper published this week in the journal ZooKeys, Horowitz and his colleagues at the museum and the University of Puerto Rico described Aphanipathes puertoricoensis, a new species of black coral that sports branching features found in multiple coral groups that diverged roughly 100 million years ago.

Taken by the deep-sea ROV Global Explorer, this image offered the scientists the first glimpse of the black coral species in its natural habitat. Image courtesy of Illuminating Biodiversity in Deep Waters of Puerto Rico 2022

The new black coral species was discovered in April 2022 during a joint Smithsonian and National Oceanic and Atmospheric (NOAA) expedition to a stretch of the Caribbean Sea just south of Puerto Rico. Here, the seafloor bottoms out into a network of deep-sea canyons and seamounts that remain largely unexplored.

The expedition, led by research zoologist Andrea Quattrini, the museum’s curator of corals and one of Horowitz’s co-authors on the new paper, aimed to explore some of this abyssal terrain and catalog some of the creatures that reside there. Many of these animals live far deeper than human divers can go. So the researchers deployed a remotely operated unmanned vehicle (ROV) called the Global Explorer to depths as deep as 4,000 feet below the ocean’s surface.

Andrea Quattrini, the expedition’s lead researcher, aboard the Nancy Foster research vessel. Image courtesy of Illuminating Biodiversity in Deep Waters of Puerto Rico 2022

Over seven dives, the ROV mapped 180 square nautical miles of the deep-sea floor. It collected a suite of biological samples and hours of footage for the researchers to parse on the research vessel above. They observed ghostly, blob-like predators called tunicates, gangly bristle stars, vibrant comb jellies and tiny crustaceans with fused eyes that live inside glass sponges. They even collected a colony of small invertebrates called bryozoa that had not been collected since a Smithsonian expedition to the Puerto Rico Trench in 1933.

One of the deep-sea anemones observed during the expedition. Image courtesy of Illuminating Biodiversity in Deep Waters of Puerto Rico 2022

They also found a multitude of species new to science. While exploring a canyon nearly 1,200 feet below the surface, the ROV came across a scraggly patch of black coral reminiscent of a deep-sea tumbleweed. As the ROV snipped off one of the coral’s spindly branches, Quattrini sent Horowitz, who was back in Washington, a picture of the coral on the ROV’s live feed. “She shared a picture of this coral and I immediately had no idea what it was,” Horowitz said.

When the expedition’s trove of specimens arrived in Washington, Horowitz could finally take a closer look at the puzzling coral. With long, coiled branches emanating from a short stalk like a tiny tree, the coral sported features found in multiple genera, or groups, of black coral that diverged long ago.

A microscopic close-up of the black coral’s spines taken with the help of the museum’s scanning electron microscope. Credit: Jeremy Horowitz, NMNH

To assign the new species in the right group, Horowitz placed a fragment of the coral specimen underneath a high-powered scanning electron microscope at the museum. That gave him a microscopic view of the miniscule spines that line the coral skeleton. Like a fingerprint, a coral species’ spines have their own distinct shape. Comparing these spines to known black coral species allowed Horowitz to get a better idea of where this new species may slot into the black coral family tree. To be sure, the researchers also used cutting edge techniques to compare the new species’ genetic code with other corals.

All this work allowed the researchers to find a taxonomic home for the new species in the genus Aphanipathes. They christened the black coral with the species name puertoricoensis in homage to the island near where it was found.

Discarded fishing gear sits on a thicket of black coral in the deep sea off of Puerto Rico. Image courtesy of Illuminating Biodiversity in Deep Waters of Puerto Rico 2022

Horowitz believes its resemblance to other groups of black coral reveals how helpful a simple body type is for survival in the deep-sea. “This simple morphological structure is evolving over and over again, probably because the conditions are the same in these different areas,” he said.  “This simple structure is what works.”

The team is still examining the specimens collected and expects to name additional new species in the near future. There are also plans to go back and conduct further field research in the deep-sea canyons and ridges off Puerto Rico. “Every time we go back to this region, we find new species,” Horowitz said.

But there is also plenty to uncover closer to home. The piece of black coral from Puerto Rico recently joined the museum’s 4,000 other black coral specimens — the largest such collection in the world. Many of these black coral specimens likely represent undescribed species hiding in plain sight. According to Horowitz, “we don’t even have to go offshore to find new species.”

Reference:

Horowitz J, Opresko DM, González-García MP, Quattrini AM (2023) Description of a new species of black coral in the family Aphanipathidae (Anthozoa, Antipatharia) from Puerto Rico. ZooKeys 1173: 97-110. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1173.104141

Story originally published by the Smithsonian Magazine. Republished with permission.

Virginia Tech researcher discovers new millipede species in the Los Angeles metropolis

Little is know about the creatures that crawl through the soil under our feet, even in a city like Los Angeles.

In busy Los Angeles, few people pay attention to what’s under their feet, but a new underground movement has people looking at the subterranean world just below the surface. A team of scientists discovered a new species of millipede crawling just beneath the soil surface in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

These never-before-seen creatures are pale, blind, thin, inch-long burrowers with the ability to produce a silk-like sticky substance, similar to spider silk. Measuring in at 0.5 millimeters wide and 2 1/2 centimeters long, these creatures are about the width of the a thin graphite lead of a mechanical pencil and about as long as a small paperclip.

The Los Angeles Thread Millipede’s size compared with a nickel. Photo by Paul Marek for Virginia Tech

Despite being so small, they are described as having a gaping toothy mouth and over 480 legs. The species in question is called the Los Angeles Thread Millipede, formally named Illacme socal.

Paul Marek, associate professor in the Department of Entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, was the lead author of the study that described the new millipede.

This minute critter, the Los Angeles Thread Millipede has gone unnoticed beneath feet until now. Photo by Paul Marek for Virginia Tech

“We hope that this discovery will encourage conservation efforts to protect these unique creatures and their habitats,” said Marek. “The discovery of Illacme socal highlights the importance of research into subterranean fauna.”

The discovery of Illacme socal was made possible by funding from the National Science Foundation. The research team included scientists from Virginia Tech, West Virginia University, and the University of California, Berkeley. The findings were published in the journal ZooKeys.

The team captured a video of the millipede burrowing and moving through small spaces and crevices underground. This is the first-ever video of this species in action and provides insight into the unique behaviors of these fascinating creatures. 

This research discovery highlights the importance of habitat preservation efforts to protect the environment and prevent the loss of biodiversity. The millipede was found in two parks in the Los Angeles and Orange counties but almost certainly lived in other parts of the metropolis in the past.

The fact that populations of this species is living in two small well-known areas that are near constant development emphasizes the need for conservation efforts to protect this and other threatened organisms.  

Research article:

Marek PE, Hall CL, Lee C, Bailey J, Berger MC, Kasson MT, Shear W (2023) A new species of Illacme from southern California (Siphonophorida, Siphonorhinidae). ZooKeys 1167: 265-291. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1167.102537

Press release originally published by Virginia Tech. Republished with permission.

Expedition uncovers four new tarantula species in Colombian biodiversity hotspot

This groundbreaking research expands our understanding of the region’s Mygalomorphae species.

The Colombian Pacific region, nestled within the heart of the Chocó Biogeographic Region, has unveiled some of its remarkable biological wonders. Recognized as one of the world’s most enigmatic biodiversity hotspots, this area has remained largely unexplored, particularly when it comes to spider diversity. A groundbreaking biological expedition, conducted at the Jardín Botánico del Pacífico (JBP) in Bahía Solano, has revealed some taxonomic novelties that are set to redefine our understanding of this captivating ecosystem. The area not only serves as a tourist attraction but also plays a pivotal role in the conservation of the tropical rainforests and mangroves in the region.

Led by a team of dedicated researchers, the study focused on Mygalomorphae spiders, aiming to shed light on their intricate world. This enigmatic spider group includes tarantulas, trapdoor spiders, funnel-web spiders, millimeter-sized spiders with little use of the silk, and bald-legged spiders with the ability to attach substrate to their bodies. They are predatory, mostly terrestrial, and very often have restricted geographic distributions and high levels of endemism.

In this first-of-its-kind exploration of the Colombian Pacific rainforest, the team discovered and documented four remarkable spider species. One of them is Ummidia solana, an exceptional trapdoor spider. Additionally, the researchers identified three species of tarantulas: Euthycaelus cunampia, Neischnocolus mecana, and Melloina pacifica.

A female Neischnocolus mecana.

“These taxonomic breakthroughs represent the first recorded instances of their respective genera in the region, expanding their geographical distribution. Each species was meticulously illustrated, described, and scientifically discussed, offering valuable insights into their morphological characteristics, taxonomy, and biogeography. The results of this study serve as a significant contribution to our understanding of the region’s biological diversity, known for its exceptional species richness and endemism,” say the researchers.

A male Ummidia solana.

Let us delve deeper into the newfound species. Ummidia solana, derived from the municipality of Bahía Solano, captures the essence of the stunning Colombian Pacific coast, with its mesmerizing landscapes and abundant vegetation. This discovery also marks the first record of the Ummidia genus within the Chocó Biogeographic Region.

Melloina pacifica, named after the Colombian Pacific region it inhabits, represents the first described species of the Melloina genus in Colombia. While Melloina is known to thrive in diverse ecosystems, including caves, this specific record expands the genus’ known distribution, previously documented solely in Venezuela and Panama.

A male Melloina pacifica.

Euthycaelus cunampia pays tribute to Don José and Don Antonio, members of the Emberá indigenous community from Mecaná, Chocó. Their transition from hunting traditions to becoming touristic and academic guides for the JBP inspired the species name. Notably, this discovery marks the first published record of the Euthycaelus genus and the subfamily Schismatothelinae outside the Andean Region and Eastern Cordillera for Colombia.

A male Euthycaelus cunampia.

Lastly, Neischnocolus mecana, named after a township in Bahía Solano, underscores the commitment of the Jardín Botánico del Pacífico community to conserve the region’s rich biodiversity. This is the fourth described species of the Neischnocolus genus in Colombia and represents its first record in the Chocó biogeographic region and the Colombian Pacific. Notably, this description expands the known geographic range of the genus.

“This groundbreaking study serves as a testament to the potential existence of undiscovered species and the need for comprehensive taxonomic research,” the scientists say in conclusion.

Research article

Echeverri M, Gómez Torres S, Pinel N, Perafán C (2023) Four new species of mygalomorph spiders (Araneae, Halonoproctidae and Theraphosidae) from the Colombian Pacific region (Bahía Solano, Chocó). ZooKeys 1166: 49–90. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1166.101069

Follow ZooKeys on social media:

twitter
facebook

Southernmost crocodile newt record is a threatened new species

“Exceptional discovery” for its colors, the amphibian is also the first crocodile newt species known from the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

A spectacular crocodile newt from the Central Highlands of Vietnam was just published in the international peer-reviewed open-access academic journal ZooKeys.

“It is an exceptional discovery as it is one of the most colourful species in the genus Tylototriton. This is also the first time that a crocodile newt species is recorded from the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Occurring at elevations from 1,800 to 2,300 m above sea level, this discovery sets an elevational record for the genus in the country, with former distribution ranges between 250 m and 1,740 m.”

says discoverer and first author of the study Trung My Phung.

Furthermore, the discovery by the Vietnamese-German researcher team, which was supported by the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and the Cologne Zoo (Germany), represents the southernmost distribution range of the genus known to date.

The habitat of the new species is located approximately 370 air km away from the nearest Tylototriton population, which makes it an important discovery in terms of evolution and zoogeography. 

The name “ngoclinhensis” refers to the type locality of the new species, Ngoc Linh Mountain. Restricted to evergreen montane forest, the Ngoc Linh Crocodile Newt is currently known only from the Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve, Kon Tum Province, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. This is the eighth salamander taxon described from Vietnam, and is the thirty-ninth Tylototriton species officially recognized.

The newly described crocodile newt Tylototriton ngoclinhensis sp. nov.
Photo by Prof. Dr. Tao Thien Nguyen.

Crocodile newts, scientifically known as the genus Tylototriton, include nearly 40 species inhabiting montane forest areas throughout the Asian monsoon climate zone. Remarkably, 15 of these species have been described in the past five years, and there remain several unnamed taxa, which contain cryptic species that are morphologically difficult to distinguish. 

Established in 1986, Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve is a key biodiversity area for rare species like the endangered Golden-winged Laughingthrush and the Truong Son Muntjac. The Ngoc Linh Crocodile Newt certainly will represent another flagship species of this protected area and its surroundings, say the researchers.

Ngoc Linh has become a hotspot of amphibian diversity, with numerous endemic species. An earlier study – published in the Nature Conservation journal in 2022 – highlighted the extraordinary endemism rate of amphibians in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

“[The Central Highlands is] where the highest amphibian species diversity was recorded for Vietnam, with 130 species, while also containing the highest number of regionally occurring, micro-endemic amphibians, amounting for 26 species,”

explains one of the authors of this and the present study, Prof. Dr. Truong Quang Nguyen, vice director of the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR), Hanoi.

Scientists identify gaps in the protection of Vietnam’s amphibians

This recent discovery is another remarkable case, “demonstrating that the Central Highlands play a special role in Vietnamese amphibian diversification and evolution,” by the words of co-author Dr. Cuong The Pham from IEBR. 

The Ngoc Linh Crocodile Newt belongs to the group of range-restricted, so-called micro-endemic species, which face the greatest risk of extinction because of their presumably small population size. Unfortunately, on top of its special zoogeographic situation and rarity, its particularly colorful appearance will likely make it highly attractive to illegal collectors.

“Therefore, this discovery is of high conservation relevance,”

says one of the corresponding authors, Prof. Dr. Tao Thien Nguyen from the Institute of Genome Research, Hanoi.

The species should be provisionally considered to be listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of threatened species, the researchers say. All the species of the genus Tylototriton are already listed in the Appendices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and also in the Governmental Decree No. 84/2021/ND-CP of Vietnam. The new species thus is automatically protected under these regulations.

Now, conservation activities on site have priority, but the team is already working on breeding conservation measures, which is in line with the One Plan Approach to Conservation, developed by IUCN’s Conservation Planning Specialist Group, which combines in-situ and ex-situ efforts and various expertises for the optimum protection of a species. 

“This has already been successfully implemented for another recently discovered, micro-endemic crocodile newt species from Vietnam, Tylototriton vietnamensis, of which already more than 350 individuals could have successfully been reproduced at the Cologne Zoo in Germany and also at the Melinh Station for Biodiversity in Vietnam, which is a promising example for IUCN’s Reverse the Red campaign and the idea of the conservation zoo”,

says Prof. Dr. Thomas Ziegler, Vietnam conservation team member and coordinator from Cologne Zoo, Germany.

***

Research article:

Phung TM, Pham CT, Nguyen TQ, Ninh HT, Nguyen HQ, Bernardes M, Le ST, Ziegler T, Nguyen TT (2023) Southbound – the southernmost record of Tylototriton (Amphibia, Caudata, Salamandridae) from the Central Highlands of Vietnam represents a new species. ZooKeys 1168: 193-218. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1168.96091

***

Follow ZooKeys on Twitter and Facebook.

Miniature Snail in a Rock Sandwich

First fossil record of thorn snails in the southern United States

Researchers from the USA and Switzerland, including Senckenberg scientist and first author Dr. Adrienne Jochum, have described the first fossil Carychium land snails from Florida. The rock layer containing the snail fossils, which are only a few millimeters in size, was accidentally uncovered during construction work and dates from the Pleistocene period between 2.58 million and 11,700 years ago. In their study, published in the open-access journal ZooKeys, the scientists also describe a previously unknown carychiid fossil species.
Light microscopic images of Carychium nashuaense.

The tiny snails of the genus Carychium with a maximum height of 2.5 millimeters and a width of 1.5 millimeters are known mostly east of the Mississippi River in the USA and from eastern Canada, Mexico and Jamaica as well as in sheltered humid habitats in Central America to Panama. “However, unlike the extant species, fossilized thorn snails are rarely found east of the Mississippi River. In our recent field work we have now provided the first fossil record of the genus in the southeastern United States, as well as the first fossil record ever for the species Carychium floridanum,” explains Dr. Adrienne Jochum of the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt and the Natural History Museum in Bern.

Fossil Carychium floridanum.

During the construction of a track bed for the Brightline railroad, which will connect Port Canaveral with Orlando International Airport, civil engineers accidentally came across a one-meter-thick layer of fossilized non-marine gastropods between two marine shell beds. “This ‘rock sandwich’ was formed during the Pleistocene, a geologic era characterized by repeated glaciations, climate changes, and fluctuations in water level that greatly influenced and shaped the region around present-day Florida. The shell layer is sandwiched between rock layers from the Lower Pleistocene, 2.58 to 0.77 million years ago, and the Upper Pleistocene, 140,000 to 120,000 years ago, and contains 14 freshwater and 28 terrestrial snail species.”

Later stage of excavation showing middle stratum of freshwater marl (c. 1 m thick) wedged between two layers of marine shell layers (each c. 3 m thick).

Among them is the snail Carychium floridanum, whose current representatives still live in humid, forested, and undisturbed habitats in central and northern Florida. The researchers also described a new species, Carychium nashuaense, which is less than 1.6 millimeters long and was previously unknown to science.

“To dislodge the fossil miniature snails from the rock layers, we first washed them through a graduated series of sieves. Next, 32 Carychium shells were culled under a microscope from a mixture of other mollusks and rock debris. A high-resolution X-ray tomograph helped us examine the spindle structure inside the fragile fossil shells and compare them with 3D reconstructions of the inner shell of still-living thorn snail species from the southeastern U.S., Mexico, Central America, and Jamaica,” explains Jochum.

While the design of the inner shell structure of Carychium floridanum has changed little from the Pleistocene to the present, the shell structure of Carychium nashuaense suggests a relationship with Central American Carychium relatives. “We suspect that the spread of the snails occurred via birds, mammals, and reptiles, who transported the small snails in their guts, fur, or feathers to the wetlands from which the alluvial sediments in the rock layer we studied originated. The subsequent mixing with other members of the genus led to the emergence of new species,” adds Jochum in conclusion.

***

Publication:

Jochum A, Bochud E, Haberthür D, Lee HG, Hlushchuk R, Portell RW (2023) Fossil Carychiidae (Eupulmonata, Ellobioidea) from the Lower Pleistocene Nashua Formation of Florida, with the description of a new species. ZooKeys 1167: 89-107.
https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1167.102840

Press release originally published by Senckenberg. Republished with permission.

Follow ZooKeys on social media:

Twitter
facebook

Eye for Detail: Papers in Pensoft journals sport a new look

As behaviours and needs of readers change, we strive to keep up with the times. Let’s run through what & why has changed to the PDF format.

Readers at some of the journals published by Pensoft, who have downloaded/printed a publication or ordered a physical copy of a journal issue over the last few weeks, might be in for a surprise concerning the layout of the PDF format of the articles. 

Research papers published in ZooKeys demonstrating the former (left) and the current (right) article layout seen in the PDF format. 

Even though it’s been years since online publishing has become the norm in how we are consuming information – including scientific publications – we understand that academia is still very much fond of traditional, often paper-based, article layout format: the one you use when accessing a PDF file or a print copy, rather than directly scrolling down through the HTML version of the article. 

Even if today large orders of printed volumes from overseas are the exception, rather than the rule, we know we have readers of ours who regularly print manuscripts at home or savе them on their devices. Trends like this have already led to many journals first abandoning the physical- for digital-first, then transitioning to digital-only publication format.

Meanwhile, it is true that needs and demands have fundamentally changed in recent times. 

As we speak, readers are accessing PDF files from much higher-quality desktops, in order to skim through as much content as possible. 

In the meantime, authors are relying on greater-quality cameras to document their discoveries, while using advanced computational tools capable of generating and analysing extra layers of precise data. While producing more exhaustive research, however, it is also of key importance that their manuscripts are processed and published as rapidly as possible.

So, let’s run through the updates and give you our reasoning for their added value to readers and authors.

Revised opening page

One of the major changes is the one to the format of the first page. By leaving some blank space on the left, we found a dedicated place for important article metadata, i.e. academic editor, date of manuscript submission / acceptance / publication, citation details and licence. As a result, we “cleaned up” the upper part of the page, so that it can better highlight the authors and their affiliations. 

Bottom line: The new layout provides a better structure to the opening page to let readers find key article metadata at a glance. 

Expand as much – or as little – as comfortable

As you might know, journals published by Pensoft have been coming in different formats and sizes. Now, we have introduced the standard A4 page size, where the text is laid in a single column that has been slightly indented to the right, as seen above. Whenever a figure or a table is used in a manuscript, however, it is expanded onto the whole width of the page.

Before giving our reasons why, let’s see what were the specific problems that we address.

Case study 1

Some of our signature journals, including ZooKeys, PhytoKeys and MycoKeys, have become quite recognisable with their smaller-than-average B5 format, widely appreciated by people who would often be seen carrying around a copy during a conference or an international flight.

However, in recent times, authors began to embrace good practices in research like open sharing of data and code, which resulted in larger and more complex tables. Similarly, their pocket-sized cameras would capture much higher-resolution photos capable of revealing otherwise minute morphological characters. Smaller page size would also mean that often there would be pages between an in-text reference of a figure or a table and the visual itself.

So, here we faced an obvious question: shall we deprive their readers from all those detailed insights into the published studies?

Case study 2

Meanwhile, other journals, such as Herpetozoa, Zoosystematics and Evolution and Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, had long been operating in A4 size, thereby providing their readers with a full view of the figures in their publications. 

Yet, the A4 format brought up another issue: the lines were too long for the eye comfort of their readers. 

What they did was organise their pages into two-column format. While this sounds like a good and quite obvious decision, the format – best known from print newspapers – is pretty inconvenient when accessed digitally. Since the readers would like to zoom in on the PDF page or simply access the article on mobile, they will need to scroll up and down several times per page. 

In addition, the production of a two-column text is technologically more challenging, which results in extra production time.

Bottom line: The new layout allows journals to not sacrifice image quality for text readability and vice versa. As a bonus, authors enjoy faster publication for their papers.

Simplified font

If you have a closer look at the PDF file, you would notice that print-ready papers have also switched to a more simplistic – yet easier to the eye – font. Again, the update corresponds to today’s digital-native user behaviour, where readers often access PDF files from devices of various resolutions and skim through the text, as opposed to studying its content in detail.

In fact, the change is hardly new, since the same font has long been utilised for the webpages (HTML format) of the publications across all journals.

Bottom line: The slightly rounder and simplified font prompts readability, thereby allowing for faster and increased consumption of content. 

What’s the catch? How about characters and APCs?

While we have been receiving a lot of positive feedback from editors, authors and readers, there has been a concern that the updates would increase the publication charges, wherever these are estimated based on page numbers.

Having calculated the lines and characters in the new layout format, we would like to assure you that there is no increase in the numbers of characters or words between the former and current layout formats. In fact, due to the additional number of lines fitting in an A4 page as opposed to B5, authors might be even up for a deal.

________

* At the time of the writing, the new paper layout has not been rolled out at all journals published by Pensoft. However, most of the editorial boards have already confirmed they would like to incorporate the update.

________

For news from & about Pensoft and our journal portfolio, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.

New grasshopper species from central Texas honor Willie Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker

These findings highlight the rich biodiversity of the region, emphasizing the importance of conservation efforts in the area.

A group of researchers from the Mississippi Entomological Museum taking break after exploring a site in Texas for grasshoppers. Left to right: Brady Dunaway, JoVonn Hill, Matthew Thorn. Photo by JoVonn Hill

The central region of Texas is a known hotspot of biological wonders. For the last five years, Dr. JoVonn Hill, an Assistant Professor and Director of the Mississippi Entomological Museum (MEM) at Mississippi State University, and his colleagues have made scientific expeditions to the area that have now revealed an extraordinary find.

The team uncovered seven previously unknown flightless grasshopper species, six of them endemic to the Edwards Plateau, which underscores the region’s extraordinary biodiversity.

With this discovery, Dr. Hill is paying tribute to two iconic musicians. In recognition of the “immense contributions” of Texas legends Willie Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker, he has named two of these flightless grasshopper species after them.

Melanoplus nelsoni held by Dr. JoVonn Hill. Photo by JoVonn Hill

“Melanoplus nelsoni and Melanoplus walkeri immortalize the enduring contributions of these legendary musicians and their connection to Texas,” he says.

Melanoplus walkeri.

“After these last few summers [of field studies], just like Mr. Nelson, we too have a little Texas in our souls,” he writes in his study, which was just published in the journal ZooKeys.

On Melanoplus walkeri, he writes: “Walker’s songs such as Hill Country Rain, Leavin’ Texas, and Sangria Wine brought me and my field team joy while traveling between field sites and added to the amazing ambiance of the Edwards Plateau.” In fact, the artist recorded his most influential album not far away from the spot where the new species was discovered.

Additionally, the team acknowledges the cultural heritage and deep connection to the region of the Comanche and Tonkawa tribes, naming two species after them, Melanoplus commanche and Melanoplus tonkawa respectively.

“These designations recognize the profound historical and cultural significance of the tribes in the region,” Dr. Hill explains.

Melanoplus tonkawa.

“These seven newly described species, alongside two preexisting ones, form a cohesive species group, highlighting their shared characteristics and evolutionary relationships,” Dr. Hill says in conclusion. “The formation of this new species group presents a significant contribution to our understanding of the diverse ecosystems present in central Texas,” he adds.

Melanoplus commanche.

The discovery of these seven flightless grasshopper species and the formation of a new species group underscore the ecological uniqueness of central Texas, Dr. Hill says. He and the staff of the Mississippi Entomological Museum remain committed to scientific exploration and understanding, promoting the conservation of biodiversity, and inspiring a sense of wonder and appreciation for the natural world.

Research article:

Hill JG (2023) Diversification deep in the heart of Texas: seven new grasshopper species and establishment of the Melanoplus discolor species group (Orthoptera, Acrididae, Melanoplinae). ZooKeys 1165: 101-136. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1165.104047

The amazing diversity of the Caribbean pygmy jumping leaves

Pygmy grasshoppers come in many shapes and colors and are often exciting to see, but their taxonomy is a mess.

Guest blog post by Josip Skejo & Niko Kasalo

A lovable mess

Tetrigidae, commonly known as pygmy grasshoppers, are an ancient and diverse family, currently numbering about 2000 species. As their name suggests, tetrigids are very small; their largest representatives are barely several centimeters long, so they might be difficult to spot on a casual stroll through tropical vegetation. However, when they are spotted, they are immediately recognizable by their elongated pronotum, a hard structure that starts behind the head and covers the entire body like a hood. They come in many shapes and colors and are often exciting to see, but this comes with a price—the taxonomy of Tetrigidae, the way they are organized into natural groups, is a mess. This is where we come in.

The mini grasshoppers that outlived dinosaurs: the fascinating world of Tetrigidae

In our latest paper, we dealt with Choriphyllini, a small Caribbean tribe that belongs to the subfamily Cladonotinae. This subfamily had been filling up with unrelated but similar-looking tetrigids for more than a century. It had never been clearly defined so almost everything wingless and robust was assigned to Cladonotinae. We decided to put an end to this by slowly removing the superficially similar genera from the subfamily and describing tribes to group the genera that are clearly related to each other. We piloted this system just last year, when we described the tribe Valalyllini from Madagascar, with only two endemic (and endangered) genera and species.

The diversity and the distribution of the tribe Valalyllini, the Malagasy dead-leaf-like Cladonotinae. Both species are endemic to small areas and are likely endangered because of deforestation. Both species most probably inhabit rainforest leaf litter.

Put the species of Choriphyllini and Valalyllini together, mix them up, and try to guess which belongs where—this is no simple task; they are all doing their impressions of dead leaves that our primate brains struggle to differentiate. And there’s more: such leaf-like grasshoppers live in Africa and South East Asia as well, and then there are those that look like twigs and spiky tree bark.

Only now that we have an idea of what the true Cladonotinae are can we be properly amazed by the duality they represent to us. On the one hand, they are incredibly diverse with every species having its own variation on the basic shape. On the other, they are so alike that they either represent the best example of convergent evolution ever documented or they all stem from a common ancestor that is currently supposed to have lived during the Mesozoic. The evolutionary history of Cladonotinae will take many years to unravel, but the work can only begin after we define what to call by that name.

Valalyllum folium, a member of the tribe Valalyllini, subfamily Cladonotinae. This species, endemic to Madagascar, is a relative of Choriphyllini.

It only took 250 years

The first species of Choriphyllini, Phyllotettix rhombeus, was described in 1765 as Cicada rhombea, that is, as a member of an entirely different order of insects. Continuing in this manner, many authors (including the great Linnaeus himself) made many taxonomic and nomenclatural mistakes that compounded over the centuries and made these grasshoppers difficult to identify and refer to. It didn’t help that new species and new records kept being reported without being contextualized by comprehensive literature reviews. Like detectives, we followed the scattered crumbs of data and arrived at a synthesis that will make future research in the region much more pleasant.

Hancock’s plate I from the “Tettigidae of North America” shows leaf-like Caribbean species under the numbers 1), 2) and 7), but has many taxonomic and nomenclatural errors. 1) – Phyllotettix foliatus (= female holotype of Hancock’s Choriphyllum foliatum), 2) – Phyllotettix rhombeus (= Hancock’s Choriphyllum westwoodi), 7) – Choriphyllum saussurei. (= Hancock’s Phyllonotus saussurei). Source: Biodiversity Heritage Library, available at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/25899#page/10.

This is not where interesting facts about Phyllotettix rhombeus stop. While looking through the literature, we tried to extract the measurements of drawings. Most of the drawings had a scale bar printed next to them, but the archaic usage of “lines” as the standard measurement initially gave us some trouble. That is why at first we doubted one of our most fascinating discoveries: with the pronotal length measuring nearly 3 centimeters, Phyllotettix rhombeus is the largest tetrigid ever recorded! Many, many authors dealt with this species over the last 250 years, but this record was never made explicit.

It should not go unnoticed now that its proposed common name is “Jamaican Colossal Jumping Leaf”. Inspired by this, we took the measurements of the other species as well and made a figure where all the specimens are resized to a common scale, which shows the diversity of both shapes and sizes.

The genera and species of the tribe Choriphyllini. All specimens are drawn to scale.

Besides P. rhombeus, there are three more species in the genus Phyllotettix: P. plagiatus, P. foliatus, and P. compressus. All four of them are known only from Jamaica. P. foliatus and P. compressus are known from the Blue Mountains, but for the other two no precise localities are known; we still don’t know where exactly the largest tetrigid lives. The other genus of the tribe is Choriphyllum, also with four species. Three of them, C. sagrai, C. saussurei, and C. wallaceum live in Cuba, while C. bahamense is all alone on Hummingbird Cay island in the Bahamas. The easiest way to differentiate these two genera is a little strange but practical, the tallest point of the leaf-like crest in Choriphyllum species is in the front, while in Phyllotettix species it is in the back.

A map of all known Choriphyllini records. For three species, not a single precise locality is known.

Some Caribbean leaves dance and jump

For each species, we proposed a common name as a means to give these animals even more character. Names, such as “Jamaican Bitten Jumping Leaf” and “Old Cuban Dancing Leaf” may not be “official”, but they have certainly found their audience. The tweet in which we shared the collage of all the species was viewed over 17000 times; everyone was amazed by the pretty shapes and some even noted that they especially liked the crazy common names. We were very glad to see our scientific and artistic package that is Choriphyllini be so warmly received.

Another hit on Twitter, with over 20000 views, is the post showcasing the newly-described species from Cuba, Choriphyllum wallaceum. The holotype of this species has been awaiting description for a long time. We found it in Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, Spain, with a note from Ignacio Bolívar, the father of the Tetrigidae classification system. He referred to it as “Choriphyllum Seoanei” but never managed to publish it.

This “new” species presented us with the perfect opportunity to honor the 200th anniversary of Alfred Russel Wallace’s birth. Wallace is often called the “father of biogeography” but is all too often neglected when discussing the origins of the theory of evolution, with which Charles Darwin is considered synonymous. Wallace, with his independent arrival at the key concepts of the evolutionary theory, his correspondence with Darwin, and his staunch defense of Darwin’s ideas, was (and is) at the very least equal to Darwin and deserves much more recognition than he currently gets.

Choriphyllum wallaceum, a newly-described species from Cuba, named after Alfred Russel Wallace.

This is just the start

Choriphyllini are a pretty package, but one that merely introduces the real problem. The history of this tribe is long, yet we have very few specimens to work with. Although we have an understanding of how morphology varies within species, P. compressus and P. foliatus are not only suspiciously similar to each other, but they also live in the same general area of the Blue Mountains. It remains to be seen if they are in fact a single species.

Much more pressing is that we have only a vague idea of where these animals live and how their populations are impacted by various factors such as human activity and climate change—we do not have a baseline against which to assess their conservation status. Then there is the fact that there are many more islands in the Caribbean, making the possibility of discovering new Choriphyllini species on them real and exciting. We can only guess what the future holds for these neglected animals.

Old Cuban Dancing Leaf (Choriphyllum sagrai) in its natural environment among the leaf litter in Cuba, photographed by Sheyla Yong.

The stage is set; everything we know about this group is laid out in the paper and now there is no path but forward. Research is expensive, dedication to this work takes a certain kind of soul, and everything takes time. It is our sincere hope that someone someday takes this further. The pygmy jumping leaves will wait for as long as they can, on their islands, hopping without a care in the world.

References:

Deranja M, Kasalo N, Adžić K, Franjević D, Skejo J (2022) Lepocranus and Valalyllum gen. nov. (Orthoptera, Tetrigidae, Cladonotinae), endangered Malagasy dead-leaf-like grasshoppers. ZooKeys 1109: 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1109.85565

Skejo J, Yong S, Bogić D, Kasalo N (2023) Caribbean pygmy jumping leaves (Tetrigidae, Cladonotinae, Choriphyllini). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 70(1): 129-141. https://doi.org/10.3897/dez.70.98982

Rare beetle, rediscovered after 55 years, named in honor of Jerry Brown

UC Berkeley entomologist Kipling Will discovered a specimen of Bembidion brownorum while sampling for insects near Freshwater Creek on former Gov. Jerry Brown’s ranch.

When University of California, Berkeley, entomologist Kipling Will first heard that former Gov. Jerry Brown was hosting field scientists on his Colusa County ranch, he jumped at the chance to hunt for beetles on the property.

“I reached out and said, ‘Hey, I want to sample your beetles,’” Will said. “And [Brown] was quite game to let me come up there.”

Will, a professor of environmental science, policy and management, has travelled to all corners of California to study carabid beetles, ground beetles that are important predators of other insects. But Will’s repeated visits to Brown’s ranch proved especially fruitful.

While sampling for insects near Freshwater Creek, Will collected a rare species of beetle that had never been named or described — and which, according to records, had not been observed by scientists in over 55 years. The new species will be named Bembidion brownorum, in honor of Brown and his wife, Anne Brown.

Former California Gov. Jerry Brown (right) and his wife, Anne Brown, with their dogs, Colusa and Cali, on the Browns’ Colusa County ranch. Photo courtesy Evan Westrup

“I’m very glad that [my ranch] is advancing science in some interesting and important ways,” said Brown, who has hosted a wild variety of field researchers, including geologists, anthropologists and botanists, on the property. “There are so many undiscovered species. I think it’s very important that we catalog and discover what we have and understand their impact on the environment — how it’s functioning and how it’s changing.”

Brown’s 2,500-acre ranch is about an hour’s drive north of Sacramento, in an agricultural region where most of the land is privately owned and insect biodiversity is historically understudied. For more than two years, Will has regularly sampled for insects on the ranch, sometimes even showing the beetles that he finds to the Browns.

Jerry Brown said his dedication to welcoming researchers onto his land is rooted in the ranch’s history as a stagecoach stop called Mountain House, and in his own interest in climate change and conservation.

“We don’t have stagecoach stop, but we have a place of gathering, of research and collaboration,” said Brown, who is currently chair of the California-China Climate Institute at UC Berkeley.

The location on Freshwater Creek where Kipling Will discovered the Bembidion brownorum beetle. Photo courtesy Kipling Will

After collecting a beetle at the ranch that didn’t resemble any species he was familiar with, Will called up Bembidion expert David Maddison, a professor of integrative biology at Oregon State University, to help identify the specimen. Together, the scientists used morphological and DNA analysis to confirm that the beetle represented a completely new species.

Will then combed through entomology collections at museums throughout California in search of other specimens that may have been unlabeled or misidentified. He found only 21 other specimens of the species, the most recent of which was collected in 1966.

UC Berkeley entomologist Kipling Will discovered a specimen of Bembidion brownorum while sampling for insects near Freshwater Creek on former Gov. Jerry Brown’s ranch. The species had not been observed by scientists in more than 55 years. Photo courtesy David Maddison

The lack of any more recent specimens indicated to him that the species likely collapsed during the second half of the 20th century, driven out of its natural habitat by rapid urbanization and agricultural development across the state.

“The sad truth is, [the species] has probably been in a huge decline. If you look at the places that it was found the ‘20s and ‘30s and ‘40s, almost none of that natural habitat is left,” Will said. “But we don’t know for sure. So, the thing to do is to get it out there, describe it and tell people, ‘Hey, look for this thing,’ because maybe we’ll find some place where it’s doing fine.

“Having access to Jerry’s ranch in Colusa County gives me the opportunity to really spend time sampling, to look for rare things like this.”

Will and Maddison describe Bembidion brownorum in a study published in the journal Zookeys.

Big for a Bembidion

To the naked eye, Bembidion brownorum isn’t particularly remarkable: The diminutive beetle is brown in color and measures around 5 millimeters in length, about the diameter of a standard pencil. But under magnification, it glows with a green and gold metallic shimmer.

The Bembidion brownorum beetle is approximately 5 millimeters long, slightly larger than other Bembidion beetles. The section of the insect behind the head, called the prothorax, is also larger than usual. Photo courtesy David Maddison

It was the unusual shape of the beetle’s prothorax, the segment of the insect that sits right behind its head, that first caught Will’s eye.

“I was looking at this one beetle thinking, ‘It just doesn’t fit any of the ones that I can identify,’” Will said. “The shape of prothorax is just not like any of the others.”

According to Maddison, Bembidion brownorum is also relatively large compared to other Bembidion beetles, which are usually closer to 3 to 4 millimeters in length.

“It’s big for a Bembidion,” Maddison said. “At first glance, it was pretty obvious that it was probably something new.”

With so few examples to study, it’s difficult to describe the lifestyle and behavior of Bembidion brownorum with any certainty, Will said. However, given where the beetle was found on Brown’s ranch — in the vicinity of Freshwater Creek, which occasionally dries into a series of trellis-like pools in the summer months — it is likely that the beetle lives near the edges of bodies of water that periodically flood and then evaporate.

The 21 historical specimens of Bembidion brownorum are housed at either the Essig Museum Entomology Collection at UC Berkeley or at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, which both have insect specimens going back more than 100 years. The discovery highlights the vital importance of maintaining these collections for current and future research, the scientists said.

“One of the things that I find interesting about is that, before Kip found that specimen, there were already specimens in collections — there was this hidden diversity that people didn’t recognize,” Maddison said. “At one point, [the beetle] probably was much more widespread and much more common, and Kip and I have some ideas as to where you would target to try to find more.”

Drawers containing prepared specimens of carabid beetles that Kipling Will collected on Jerry Brown’s ranch. Photo courtesy Kipling Will

Previous specimens were collected at locations throughout the Central Valley and in the Los Angeles Basin, regions that have been transformed over the last century. While the beetle may still survive in some areas, Will said that the patchwork of private landownership may make it difficult to find.

“There is a lot of desire to conserve the environment and combat climate change, but in many cases, we’re not keeping up with the rate of extinction — we’re not able to describe the species that need to be described as fast as things are going extinct,” Will said. “And this certainly is true in California, where there are an awful lot of undescribed insects out there and not a lot being done to get them described. I think that having more knowledge of what they are and where they where they live is really fundamental.”

John S. Sproul of the University of Nebraska Omaha is also a co-author of the study. This research was supported by the Harold E. and Leona M. Rice Endowment Fund at Oregon State University.

Research article:

Maddison DR, Sproul JS, Will K (2023) Re-collected after 55 years: a new species of Bembidion (Coleoptera, Carabidae) from California. ZooKeys 1156: 87-106. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1156.101072

Press release originally published by Kara Manke, UC Berkeley. Republished with permission.