Category: Uncategorized

Dark and marked: Strikingly colored new fleshbelly frog from the Andean cloud forest

Carrying itself around with a dark brown mask on its face and a broad shapeless white mark on its chest and belly, a frog had been jumping across the Peruvian cloud forests of the Andes unrecognised by the scientific world. Now, this visibly distinguishable species has been picked up by Dr. Catenazzi of Southern Illinois University and his team from its likely only locality, a cloud forest near Cusco in Peru, at 2350 m elevation by Drs. Catenazzi, Uscapi and May. Their research is published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

The new fleshbelly frog species, called N. madreselva, was discovered by Peruvian researcher Vanessa Uscapi in January 2011 amid leaf litter in the humid montane forest of the Andes. Locally abundant and active during the day, the leaping amphibian was found to be small of size and leading a predominantly terrestrial life. It is likely that the new species has restricted distribution, inhabiting the upper watersheds in the valleys adjacent to the locality where it has been discovered.

The name “madreselva”, which translates to “mother jungle” from Spanish, honours the efforts of local conservation initiatives, such as the local ecotourism lodge Madre Selva and the ecological project Sircadia, that aim at protecting the delicate and biologically rich montane forest ecosystems in the region. The new frog is locally abundant in parts of the forest that are protected from logging.

Described by the authors as “striking”, the colouration is what visibly differentiates the new frog species from its relatives. Most noticeably, it stands out with the wide irregularly shaped white mark on black background all across, stretching from the creature’s chest down to its belly. A brown splash on its head forms a distinguishable dark facial mask.

Because of the frog’s limited habitat, the scientists fear that the species is threatened by a large number of risks, including deforestation, diseases and the agricultural activities in the region. However, as for the moment, the frog has been proposed by the researchers to be classified as “Data Deficient” in the IUCN Red List, until new data regarding its distribution become available.

Being often neglected by explorers, small amphibian species like this fleshbelly frog are at high risk of extinction, claim the authors. “It is therefore imperative to document the highly endemic amphibian faunas of wet montane Andean forests as a first step towards designing a network of natural reserves that maximizes protection of amphibian biodiversity,” they insist.

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Original source:

Catenazzi A, Uscapi V, von May R (2015) A new species of Noblella (Amphibia, Anura, Craugastoridae) from the humid montane forests of Cusco, Peru. ZooKeys 516: 71-84. doi:10.3897/zookeys.516.9776

Predator from a tank: New water mite genus from bromeliad phytotelmata

An extensive sampling effort in bromeliad aquatic fauna in Brazilian subtropical area of the Atlantic rainforest, revealed a new water mite genus and a new species in the Atlantic rainforests in São Paulo, Brazil. This research is published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

The scientist chose to name the new genusBromeliacarus after its host and the Latin word for ‘mite’ (‘acarus’). The new species, B. cardoso, is called after its collection point, the State Park of Ilha do Cardoso, São Paulo, Brazil.

The rosette (circular) formation of some bromeliad species traps water and organic matter from the canopy in leaf axils (bromeliad ‘tank’) and harbors many invertebrate animals species. Bromeliads phytotelmata are considered as biodiversity amplifiers in the environments where they occur due to the high number of species in this habitat which prefer it.

“A diverse aquatic arthropod fauna is associated with bromeliad tank, composed mainly of aquatic insect larvae of several groups such as dipterans, beetles and damselflies, but also small non-insect invertebrates, such as ostracods, oligochaetes and mites,” the lead author Vladimir Pešić from the Department of Biology, University of Montenegro explained. “The new species appear to live only in the water-filled leaf axils of the bromeliads where they walk attached to submerged detritus in bromeliads tank or free swimming in water column”.

“In these bromeliad aquatic microcosms water mites, such as the new genus Bromeliacarus, are top predators,” he concluded.

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Original source:

Peši? V, Piccoli GCO, de Araújo MS, Rezende JM (2015) A new genus of water mites (Acari, Hydrachnidia, Wettinidae) from bromeliad phytotelmata in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest.ZooKeys 516: 27-33. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.516.10179

World-famous, yet nameless: Hybrid flowering dogwoods named by Rutgers scientists

Garden lovers and horticulturalists now have two new species names to add to their vocabulary and memory. The world’s most commercially successful dogwood garden trees have finally received proper scientific names decades after their introduction into horticulture. The big-bracted, or flowering, dogwoods are beloved trees with cloud-like branches blossoming in early spring in white, sometimes red or pink. The new scientific names are published by a team of American scientists in the open-access journal PhytoKeys.

The two hybrid species were artificially hybridized at Rutgers University by renowned ornamental tree breeder Dr. Elwin R. Orton decades ago and are now commonly grown across the United States, Europe and Japan. These two hybrids were developed from Florida, Kousa and Pacific dogwoods (Cornus spp.), all well known ornamental trees. The breeding program, which started in 1965, had the aim to create garden dogwoods with better aesthetic qualities, such as larger pink or red floral bracts, unique growth habits and better disease-resistance.

So, why do we need formal names? “Crucial to communication in all parts of our lives is the naming of objects and phenomena,” explains Mr. Mattera, a Rutgers University graduate student in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. “Humanity needs words to tell other people what we are talking about, and the words need to have uniform and clear meanings,” he adds. Before their publication these horticultural plants largely lived in a taxonomic no-man’s land and could not easily be placed into horticultural databases.

Co-author Dr. Lena Struwe, a botanist also at Rutgers University, explains that “Even artificial hybrids created by the fusion of species from separate pieces of the Earth are living, evolving things that need scientific names so they fit into our encyclopedias of life.” She continues, “even if these are mostly sterile, but stable, hybrids they are now widespread components of worldwide garden biodiversity that get pollinated by native insects and interact with other local native and non-native species.”

Common garden plant hybrids, even if artificially produced from wild species, need formal species names to promote international communication and further scientific understanding. “If you can’t put a name on something, you can’t explain what you see, own, or remember,” Dr. Lena Struwe explains and adds: “Names and words are the basis for the transfer of all knowledge”.

The new hybrid species Cornus × rutgersensis was created by the hand-crossing of a an Asian species, the Kousa dogwood, with the common Florida dogwood. Most gardeners and horticulturist will recognize the pink-bracted cultivar Stellar Pink®, the most successful Cornus × rutgersensis hybrid. The crosses made by Dr. Orton were the world’s first known hybrid crosses between these two species. Many familiar with this hybrid may recall hearing this name before, and they probably have. Cornus × rutgersensis and similar names had been used informally by those in the horticultural trade before, but now the authors hope to provide clarity by formally publishing the name in the present paper. The researchers suggest Rutgers’ dogwood as the common-name for this hybrid.

The second hybrid, Cornus × elwinortonii, honors career-long ornamental plant breeder Dr. Orton from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ (United States). This cross produced a hybrid with larger white petal-like bracts around each flower head and resistance to the dogwood-killing fungal disease, dogwood anthracnose, that affects the native Pacific and Florida dogwoods. The cultivar Venus® is the most prominent example of this hybrid. The researchers have proposed the common name Orton’s dogwood for horticultural usage.

Both hybrid species represent long-distance artificial crosses of wild species that would never meet in nature, which were further developed into beloved commercial garden plants. Despite their parents being quite different in their flowers and fruits, the two new hybrid species are a clear combination of their ancestors.

“Such intermixing of parental characters is the key to successful plant breeding and artificial selection of new horticultural and agricultural varieties that can provide new forms of beauty, as well as new disease- and stress-resistant plants,” explains Rutgers University plant breeder Dr. Thomas Molnar, in Department of Plant Biology and Pathology.

According to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), all proposed scientific names, including hybrid names, require that they are formally published and described in a scientific publication, as well as represented by a type specimen in a scientific collection. The formal types of these new hybrids will be deposited in several herbaria, and are also represented by living trees at Rutgers University in New Jersey (USA).

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Original source:

Mattera R, Molnar T, Struwe L (2015) Cornus × elwinortonii and Cornus × rutgersensis(Cornaceae), new names for two artificially produced hybrids of big-bracted dogwoods.PhytoKeys 55: 93-111. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.55.9112

I think I found a new species, now how do I illustrate it?

When aiming to express a concept or convey a message, the use of visual material is certainly a clearer and more understandable method compared to a text-only description.

Images facilitate the reading of a text by providing an easy and immediate visual explanation. In biosystematics, descriptions of new plant and animal taxa are always combined with figures and plates in order to illustrate the anatomical parts and body details.

Taxonomists need images of good quality in describing taxa. As a rule, drawings are better detailed than stereo or light microscope photographs since some details, which are often barely visible in a photograph, can be highlighted in the drawing.

Nowadays only digital figures (drawings or photographs) are accepted by the most important journals of taxonomy. The usual method used so far to digitalise a conventional drawing is by scanning, however a simple scan does not always represent correctly the complex ink figure.

The new method, developed by Dr. Giuseppe Montesanto in the University of Pisa (Italy), to produce digitised drawings straight on your computer using specialised software.

The paper published in ZooKeys provides simple step-by-step instructions for users to produce noteworthy results with this easy method.

The procedure in short makes use of bitmap graphics with the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP). The method is very accurate, producing detailed lines at the highest resolution and the raster lines appear as realistic ink-made drawings.

Additional advantages are that it is faster than the traditional way of making illustrations and everyone can use this simple technique. The method is also completely free as it does not use expensive and licensed software and it can be used with different operating systems.

‘When you describe a new species for scientific literature, the illustrations are not an addition to your description. They are an integral part of it. You may not be a great artist (although many biologists are talented artists), but with this method you can learn to do adequate drawings’. adds Dr. Montesanto.

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Original source:

Montesanto G (2015) A fast GNU method to draw accurate scientific illustrations for taxonomy. In: Taiti S, Hornung E, Štrus J, Bouchon D (Eds) Trends in Terrestrial Isopod Biology.ZooKeys 515: 191-206. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.515.9459

The bold and the shy one: Could woodlice have personalities?

Unlike larger animals and even other invertebrates, the theory for the presence of personality traits in terrestrial isopods had not been studied before the research conducted by Dr. Ivan Tuf’s team.

Known to react to an external impact with varying in its duration death feigning, or tonic immobility, several hundreds of Common rough woodlice were observed while responding to random sequences of touch, squeeze and drop. When compared, the results showed there is in fact a significant individual pattern of defensive behaviour. The study is published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

In order to prove that the tested P. scaberwoodlice actually possess personalities, the scientists had to look for repetitiveness in their reactions to external impacts. Over the three-week observations, consisting of five experimental sets and four-day breaks, Dr. Tuf and his team recognised consistency in the reactions in the individuals. They even managed to identify some of them as “more ‘bold'” and others – “more ‘shy’.”

However, a number of other factors were found to influence the woodlice’ protective reactions such as habituation and body size. Ten minutes in a particular environment proved enough for a woodlouse to habituate it. As a result, their sensitivity towards the same stimuli decreased.

Similarly, it was not as noticeable with the larger specimens. Unlike their tinier relatives, they are capable of using chemical protection due to their better developed physiology. Nevertheless, the longest reaction time being measured in a medium-sized woodlice proves that body size is not of such importance.

Yet, it is still unclear whether the woodlice’ behaviour changes over time. If such a trend is present, then their reactions to the external stimuli is also likely to change.

“Investigation of long-time stability of behavioural traits in terrestrial isopods should be a possible goal of future studies,” the scientists suggest in conclusion.

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Original source:

Tuf IH, Drábková L, Šipoš J (2015) Personality affects defensive behaviour of Porcellio scaber(Isopoda, Oniscidea). In: Taiti S, Hornung E, Štrus J, Bouchon D (Eds) Trends in Terrestrial Isopod Biology. ZooKeys 515: 159-171. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.515.9429

When cars and wildlife collide: Virtual reality could prevent real-life road accidents

Roadside Animal Detection Systems (RADS), which use sensors to detect large animals on the road and to alert drivers by activating flashing lights on warning signs, could be the answer for preventing numerous wildlife casualties.

Such systems have been tested with varying degrees of success since the 1990s. Researchers from the University of Central Florida have now implemented a novel simulation approach to evaluate their efficiency. The study can be found in the open-access journal Nature Conservation.

The researchers stress that road accidents involving wild animals are posing a real threat to their populations.

Working with the UCF Institute for Simulation and Training, the researchers created a virtual road for test subjects to drive along in a realistic driving simulator. Some subjects were tested with a RADS, while some were not. The researchers evaluated their responses to an animal darting out into the road during the simulated drive.

In addition, the researchers tested whether simple, picture-based warning signs yielded better results than text-based ones. Using a simulator had additional benefits: “We were able to study responses that would be extremely difficult to measure using field observations, such as the precise moment a subject started braking,” said Dr. Daniel Smith, a Principal Investigator on the study.

Although picture-based warning signs outperformed word-based warning signs, both RADS versions were better than nothing at all, causing drivers to reduce their speed and brake earlier in response to an animal than drivers who had no warning system.

“There are different types of RADS that vary in how warnings are conveyed to drivers, but they are installed in completely different locations, so their performance can’t be directly compared,” said Molly Grace, a PhD candidate at UCF. “So, it was decided that rather than just performing traditional, on-the-ground monitoring of a single RADS, we would conduct a carefully-controlled simulation study in which we could vary aspects of the system.”

The simulated road was modeled after Highway 41 in Big Cypress National Park, Florida, where a RADS was installed in 2012 to reduce road-kill of the endangered Florida panther. “Road-kill is the largest controllable source of mortality for the Florida panther, and has been increasing virtually every year,” said the study’s other PI, Dr. Reed Noss.

“As more is learned about Roadside Animal Detection Systems, it is possible that we may start to see more of them at roadkill hotspots like the one in Big Cypress, hopefully making roads safer not just for panthers and other wildlife, but for humans as well,” he added.

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Original source:

Grace MK, Smith DJ, Noss RF (2015) Testing alternative designs for a roadside animal detection system using a driving simulator. Nature Conservation doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.11.4420

Life in the fast spray zone: 4 new endemic tooth-frog species in West African forests

No earlier than last year, did the first, and up until recently only, endemic to Upper Guinea family of torrent tooth-frog come to light. Now, Dr. Michael F. Barej from the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, and his colleagues verify the existence of as many as four new highly endangered species. In their study the researchers provide crucial insights for the conservation of the biodiversity hotspot. Their research on the suggested existence of a complex of cryptic (structurally identical) species is published in the open-access journal Zoosystematics and Evolution.

Suffice it to say, the family name derives from the frogs’ unique jawbones featuring tusk-like appendages on the bottom jaw and curved upper teeth. Meanwhile, the tadpoles are equipped with a sucker-like mouth. While easy to distinguish from the rest West African tooth-frog families, the species within the group are overall identical. This is the reason why they have all been assigned to the O. natator species for more than a century.

The present analyses revealed an unexpected high molecular variation. This and complementary biogeographical patterns made the presence of additional species in this presumably monospecific (comprising only one species) frog family likely. The description of four new species by Dr. Barej’s team is based on combinative analyses of genetics and morphological characters.

The researchers also claim that “recognition and description of species is just a first step which provides the baseline for subsequent studies to gather further data on the ecology or behaviour – or simply: naming does not mean knowing a species”.

The presented results call for the IUCN Red List category “Endangered” for all of the newly described species. These frogs occur along strong currents, cascades and waterfalls in the few remaining patches of primary forests in West Africa. The scientists fear that all “West African torrent-frog species are at risk of becoming extinct because of habitat loss in the U pper Guinean biodiversity hotspot, whose “true” biodiversity is still far from being completely known”.

The increase of species in this unique lineage and their distribution pattern further encourages other researchers to search for cryptic and undescribed species in the forests of the Upper Guinean biodiversity hotspot. Here the scientists highlight its vulnerability by assessing the morphological variation of all known populations of West African tooth-frogs through molecular techniques.

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Original source:

Barej MF, Schmitz A, Penner J, Doumbia J, Sandberger-Loua L, Hirschfeld M, Brede C, Emmrich M, Kouamé NG, Hillers A, Gonwouo NL, Nopper J, Adeba PJ, Bangoura MA, Gage C, Anderson G, Rödel M-O (2015) Life in the spray zone – overlooked diversity in West African torrent-frogs (Anura, Odontobatrachidae, Odontobatrachus). Zoosystematics and Evolution 91(2): 115-149. doi: 10.3897/zse.91.5127

Twisted wasps: Two new unique parasitoid wasp species sting the heart of Europe

Much to his own surprise, Hannes Baur from the Natural History Museum Bern not only reports on whole two new parasitoid wasps at the heart of Europe, the Swiss Alps and Swiss Central Plateau. While the common discovery usually involves cryptic, or “camouflaging” within their groups species, his stand out. Baur’s work is published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

The insects he describes are visibly quite unique with their body structures. In the case of thePteromalus briani wasp, its extraordinarily protruding hind legs differentiate it among the whole family. Meanwhile, the P. janstai wasp amazes with its unusually depressed middle part of the body.

The hind legs of the P. briani wasp species are described to be abruptly expanded unlike any other known species. The author points out that mere expansion has been observed in other representatives of the same family, but adds that “here they look quite different.”

In addition, while in the rest of the cases the peculiarity is said to be due to courtship purposes because of its availability only with males, in the new species it is observed in both sexes. Therefore, Baur suggests that a scanning electron microscopy and histological sections of fresh material are the only way for the function of the character to be determined.

The second new species, the P. janstai wasp possesses an unusually flattened middle section of its body, which purpose is also yet to be figured out. The trait has been noticed before among species from unrelated genera, but its function could vary between the separate groups. A possible reason behind it is suggested to be the specificity of the parasite’s host.

The author, however, is certain that the two new wasp species belong to the Pteromalus genus of parasitoids.

“The two records demonstrate that it is possible to discover entirely new species with extraordinary characters even in one of the most thoroughly explored taxonomically parts of the world,” concludes the scientist.

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Original source:

Baur H (2015) Pushing the limits – two new species of Pteromalus (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Pteromalidae) from Central Europe with remarkable morphology. ZooKeys 514: 43-72. doi:10.3897/zookeys.514.9910

The unexpected one: A new pale nectar-feeding bat species found in Brazil

A new species of nectar-feeding bat from Brazil was discovered unexpectedly amid a research into the whole genus ofLonchophylla. The study is available in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

During their study Drs. Ricardo Moratelli and Daniela Dias found that some of the specimens had their ventral (abdominal) fur considerably paler and some of their measurements were inconsistent with those of the type material of L. mordax, which species they had previously been confused with. To their surprise, a closer look revealed that this was indeed a completely different species, previously unknown to science.

The new species was named L. inexpectata – inspired by the surprise element in this new discovery. Using specimens from all currently recognised Brazilian representative of the Lonchophylla genus, the scientists concluded that what they had thought a mere variation of the colouring, is in fact one of the species’ distinguishable characteristics. Others include differences in the skull and the teeth morphology.

Specimens from the ‘unexpected’ bat species had been misidentified for more than a century, the scientists point out.

Vouchers used in the research are currently being preserved in a number of the world’s most reputable collections, including those in the American Museum of Natural History, London’s Natural History Museum, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and Brazil’s Museu Nacional.

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Original source:

Moratelli R, Dias D (2015) A new species of nectar-feeding bat, genus Lonchophylla, from the Caatinga of Brazil (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae). ZooKeys 514: 73-91. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.514.10013

Thriving in the tropics of Borneo: 2 new Hoya species on the third largest island

Dr. Michele Rodda describes two new tropical plants species from the Hoya genus, found on the world’s third largest island Borneo. The genus is one of the largest and most complex plant groups in Asia. The first to be described in the paper, H. ruthiae, is characterised with its lack of coloured milk-like sap typical for most of the Hoya species, and H. bakoensis – with its strict preference for growing epiphytically (without causing any harm to its host) and rooting inside ant nests. The study is published in the open-access journal PhytoKeys.

Collected by Ruth Kiew in Sabah in 2000, H. ruthiae was named after the tropical botanist based at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia. It grows on limestone with its so far only location being the Malaysian state. Therefore, its conservation status is not yet known and the plant species is categorised as Data Deficient following the IUCN guidelines. However, it is widely available in cultivation.

The second new species, H. bakoensis, was discovered by the author of the present paper in 2015 and was named after its for now sole locality, the Bako National Park in Malaysia. The species prefers moist, shady kerangas heath forests near streams. Most often, it sprouts its seedlings from the openings of small ant nests from inside hollow tree trunks and climbs up its host tree likely in need for more light. Additionally, the author points out that H. bakoensiscan be recognised from most of its relatives because of its smaller flowers.

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Original source:

Rodda M (2015) Two new species of Hoya R.Br. (Apocynaceae, Asclepiadoideae) from Borneo.PhytoKeys 53: 83-93. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.53.5079