Situated at the foothills of the Western Tian-Shan, Kyrgyzstan is home to a diverse range of vascular plants, many of which are endemic and can only be found in very narrowly circumscribed areas. Such is the case for the onion species Allium spathulatum that had long remained undetected in spite of living within the famous Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve. Even in close proximity to the headquarters it remained unnoticed until it was finally described in 1998.

The species occurs in the low-altitude forest zone, between 1600 and 1700 m a.s.l., dwelling in river valleys, on open sunny slopes with sparse savanna-type vegetation or sheltered by stones. The plants grow clustered in small patches, suggesting the most successful establishment nearby mature plants. When originally found, the species was considered unique in the subgenus Allium because of its unusual spatule-like bracts subtending pedicels. It probably belongs to an old phylogenetic lineage that has archaic characters and is survived in very few representative species.

A new rare species, Allium formosum, closely related to A. spathulatum, has been now discovered by the scientists Alexander Sennikov from the Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki and Georgy Lazkov from the Institute of Biology and Soil Science, National Academy of Sciences in the Kyrgyz Republic, Bishkek. The study was published in the open access journal Phytokeys. The new plant is possibly a very narrow endemic species of the Babash-Ata Mountains, Kyrgyzstan, so far known only from the type locality. The name of the new species is derived from the Latin word for ‘beautiful’ (formosum) because of its elegant habit and beautiful colouration of the flower, transitional between deeply pink and purple.

The distance between the localities of A. spathulatum and A. formosum, both narrow endemics of mountains surrounding the eastern end of Fergana valley, is about 60 km. The area of the eastern part of the Chatkal Range and the northern outliers of the Fergana Range (Babash-Ata and neighbouring mountains) harbour many other narrow endemics of Allium, and this discovery stresses the need of further explorations and plant protection in this area.

"Because of the vulnerability of the species, we anticipate its inclusion in the forthcoming Red Data Book of Central Asia and the next edition of the Red Data Book of Kyrgyzstan", says the lead author Dr Alexander Sennikov.

 

All raw data underpinning this article have been published open access through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and in the Dryad Data Repository at doi: 10.5061/dryad.pq87t, so that other scientists can verify and build on these records or re-use the data in their studies.

Original Source

Sennikov AN, Lazkov GA (2013) Allium formosum Sennikov & Lazkov (Amaryllidaceae), a new species from Kyrgyzstan. Phytokeys 21: 29, doi: 10.3897/Phytokeys.21.4130

The Gastropoda, more commonly known as snails and slugs, are a large group of animals within the phylum Mollusca. Gastropоds species are extremely diverse in forms and sizes, ranging from microscopic to large. About 50 species of snails are currently considered to inhabit Skadar Lake, the largest on the Balkan Peninsula. The Bojana River connects the lake with the Adriatic Sea, and the Drin River provides a link with the Ohrid Lake.

Scientists Vladimir Pešić from the University of Montenegro and Peter Glöer from the Biodiversity Research Laboratory have recently discovered the new snail species Karucia sublacustrina. The new species inhabits the ancient lake of Skadar that is situated at the border between Montenegro and Albania.

"Ancient lakes are among the most vulnerable and threatened ecosystems, and their faunas are frequently under extreme anthropogenic pressure. The small range of many endemic species living in the Skadar Lake system – together with ever increasing human pressure – make its fauna highly endangered. This becomes even more important in light of ongoing eutrophication, pollution and sand and gravel exploration activities in the lake and its basin. Therefore, knowledge on their inhabitants are of primary importance for timely and efficient conservation and preservation", says the lead author Vladimir Pešić.

These circumstances and the reported decline in endemic gastropod diversity should trigger efforts to save this sensitive lake ecosystem. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species includes 21 endemic species from the Skadar Lake basin. Six of them are assessed as Critically Endangered and nine are listed as Endangered. All this comes to say that being such a valuable biodiversity location, Skadar Lake must be preserved together with its endemic biota.

 

 

Original Source

Pešić V, Glöer P (2013) A new freshwater snail genus (Hydrobiidae, Gastropoda) from Montenegro, with a discussion on gastropod diversity and endemism in Skadar Lake. ZooKeys 281: 69–90, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.281.4409

A widely distributed red alga from New Zealand receives a scientific name at last.

The most commonly occurring red alga in the algal order Bangiales in New Zealand has at last received a formal scientific name. Pyropia plicata, is an intertidal red alga, found in abundance in the North, South and Chatham Islands. It has been confused for many years with a species first collected from the New Zealand subantarctic islands in 1840. Recent research had clarified the identity and distribution of the southern species, Porphyra columbina, and also transferred it to the genus Pyropia. The description of Py. plicata was published in the open access journal PhytoKeys.

The newly described Py. plicata has a distinctive growth form with pleated blades. It has beautiful purple to grey coloration, bleaching to khaki-green on upper edges. It is found attached to high intertidal rocks by a central rhizoidal holdfast, which are hair-like extensions of the blade cells. Although the blades are only one cell layer thick they are remarkably resistant to the rigours of life on the intertidal shore and can withstand drying in the sun, and rehydrating when the tide returns.

This is one of the species that is known in New Zealand as karengo, and is highly prized by Maori as a taonga or treasure. Pyropia species are also eaten worldwide and known to be high in protein and trace elements. In Japan species of Pyropia are known as nori and are familiar to many people worldwide as the seaweed sheet that is wrapped around sushi.

"When we began work on the Bangiales of New Zealand over 20 years ago, we thought there were only a few species in this order in the southern Pacific." comments Dr. Wendy Nelson from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand. "We have come to realise the diversity in this region is very high, and there are still many species that are undescribed. Documenting species and clarifying their relationships are important steps in understanding diversity and protecting our environment."

Оriginal source:

Nelson, W.A. (2013) Pyropia plicata sp. nov. (Bangiales, Rhodophyta): naming a common intertidal alga from New Zealand. PhytoKeys 21: 17-28., doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.21.4614

Sutherland, J.; Lindstrom, S.; Nelson, W.; Brodie, J.; Lynch, M.; Hwang, M.S.; Choi, H.G.; Miyata, M.; Kikuchi, N.; Oliveira, M. Farr, T.; Neefus, C; Mols-Mortensen, A.; Milstein, D.; Müller, K. (2011).. A new look at an ancient order: generic revision of the Bangiales. Journal of Phycology 47:1131-1151.

DNA analysis helps to rapidly discover new species in order to beat their extinction rates

Tropical rainforests are known for their high biodiversity of countless species, many of them unknown and not named by scientists yet. A large proportion of this undiscovered life on earth is formed by insects, especially beetles.

German researchers Alexander Riedel (Natural History Museum Karlsruhe) and Michael Balke (Zoological State Collection Munich), know this well, being experts for faunas of remote tropical countries such as the wilderness of New Guinea. Now they came across a special case, the weevil genus Trigonopterus which is truly "hyperdiverse". Hundreds of distinct species roam the jungles of this tropical island and most of them have never been recorded by scientists.

To describe this huge diversity using traditional approaches would take more than a lifetime, but there is no time to waste! Forests disappear for the sake of ever expanding palm oil plantations, and good arguments are needed in the battle for the conservation of each hectare of primary forest.

"This called for a new approach", said Dr Riedel. "A portion of each weevil species’ DNA was sequenced, which helped to sort out and diagnose species efficiently. Besides, we have taken high-resolution photographs of each weevil that will be uploaded to Species ID, along with a short scientific description. More than 100 species were brought to the light of science and public attention this way right now – about five times faster than possible with traditional techniques!" added Dr Riedel.

Another problem was tackled with an equally innovative idea: To find suitable names, Papua New Guinea´s phonebook was used as a helpful resource. Many species were named for Papuan families found in the yellow pages, for example Trigonopterus moreaorum which is based on the popular name "Morea". Some of them may not even guess of their honor – a weevil species with their own name in the backyard!

The new species and the general idea of how to get biodiversity better known before it becomes extinct are described in the journals ZooKeys and Frontiers in Zoology, both of them open access under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License. As such, the research is open to anyone with internet access for free – in fact, the Papuan people who donated their names may learn about it that way.

Original Sources:

Riedel A, Sagata K, Surbakti S, Tänzler R & Balke M (2013) One hundred and one new species of Trigonopterus weevils from New Guinea. Zookeys , 280: 1. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.280.3906

Alexander Riedel, Katayo Sagata, Yayuk R. Suhardjono, Rene Tänzler and Michael Balke: Integrative taxonomy on the fast track – towards more sustainability in biodiversity research. Frontiers in Zoology (2013), 10:15. DOI: 10.1186/1742-9994-10-15

A mysterious parasitoid wasp was found in the Böhmerwald (Northeast Austria) and reared in the garden of the amateur entomologist Ewald Altenhofer of Gross Gerungs municipality, Austria. The parasitoid was identified by Kees van Achterberg, senior researcher at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands, as the rare Seleucus cuneiformis. It is the first time that a tip of its biology was discovered. The study was published in the open access journal Journal of Hymenoptera Research.

The parasitoids reared by Mr Altenhofer belong to the peculiar genus Seleucus. The reared parasitoid Seleucus cuneiformis is known from only a few countries in Europe and is new to Austria. The host is the fern sawfly Blasticotoma filiceti, the only member of the family Blasticotomidae in Europe. The family is considered to be one of the oldest extant families of the true sawflies. This particular sawfly was previously known only from the region near Linz since 1973 and this is the second find reported for the fauna of Austria.

The larvae of B. filiceti live in the stems of ferns in a small chamber, or gall, that they induce themselves for their protection. They feed on the nutrients in the phloem fluids and may produce foam on the outer side of the gall. The larvae have a true ant trophobiosis, or ants can live in symbiosis based on food for protection, the only known occurrence of this phenomenon within the Hymenoptera. The Myrmica ants receive fluids through some holes connected to the stem gall of the larva.

During the rearing experiments, important notes on the previously unknown biology of the parasitoid wasp were recorded. Four weeks after the sawflies emerged from the gall, the adults of Seleucus cuneiformis also started appearing, which continued over a period of two weeks. Interestingly, the parasitoid females at first had a droplet-shaped rear body characteristic for males. During the course of the first day the metasoma got expanded into the very elongate shape typical of females, which is of use to inject their eggs into the galls of the sawflies.

 Original source:

Achterberg C van, Altenhofer E (2013) Notes on the biology of Seleucus cuneiformis Holmgren (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Ctenopelmatinae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 31: 97–104. doi: 10.3897/JHR.31.4204

 

The two endangered fish species, Squalius aradensis and S. torgalensis, most generally belong to the Cyprinidae, or the carp family. This is the largest fish, and vertebrate family, formed of freshwater fish with a diversity of more than 2,400 species. The family also has an important economic value as a food source. More specifically, the two species studied are members of the subfamily Leuciscinae, formed of small freshwater fish commonly known as minnows. A new genetic study of the two endangered fish was recently published in the open access journal Comparative Cytogenetics.

S. aradensis and S. torgalensis are sister-species endemic to Portugal. These fish were listed as critically endangered in 2005 due to the rapid loss and destruction of their natural habitat, formed of local rivers and intermittent streams. Although the two species have adjacent distributions, they live in relative habitat isolation, which is believed to have enforced the differentiation process.

In their study of these endangered species, the team of scientists lead by Prof. Collares-Pereira, Universidade de Lisboa, have provided a comparative genetic analysis of DNA features in both species that confirm their common ancestry, but also the evolutionary divergence, believed to have been potentiated by the semi-arid conditions they are adapted to with drastic changes in hydrological regimes, namely drought events. Such events, by creating isolates and bottlenecks, might have strengthened the fixation of genome mutations.

The authors address the current worrying status of the two fish species as highly endangered and draw attention towards the need of conservation of such two narrow-ranged and confined species. Specific measures regarding habitat protection and rehabilitation, which also include exotic species control, have to be actively implemented to preserve the genome integrity of the two highly vulnerable species.

 

Original Source:

Nabais C, Rampin M, Collares-Pereira MJ (2013) Comparative cytogenetics of two endangered leuciscine fish, Squalius aradensis and S. torgalensis (Teleostei, Cyprinidae), from the Iberian Peninsula. Comparative Cytogenetics 7(1): 33–42. doi: 10.3897/CompCytogen.v7i1.4672

Two new woodlizard species have been uncovered from poorly explored areas of the Peruvian jungles. The males have beautiful body colouration with a distinctive green pattern before a dark brown and black background. It is assumed that the two species share the same territory, with only a slight difference in altitude ranges, which makes their biological divergence intriguing from an evolutionary point of view. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.

Being traditionally regarded as a group with a low species diversity, recent fieldwork on Enyalioides has increased the species richness considerably with three of the ten known species described in last 5 years. The new members of this still poorly known group of animals have been discovered during expeditions on both sides of the Andes‘ slopes, parts of Ecuador and Peru. This success rate suggests that more of these lizards might be awaiting discovery in other unexplored areas of the region.

The two newly described lizards were found in Cordillera Azul National Park, the 3rd biggest national park in Peru protecting the largest mountain rainforest in the country. The area includes some of the least explored forests in Peru. The basins of the rivers Pisqui and Pauya in the National park are remarkable with their great diversity of reptiles and amphibians.

One of the new species, Enyalioides azulae, is known only from a single locality in the mountain rainforest of the Río Huallaga basin in northeastern Peru. It was named after the Spanish word "azul" (blue) referring to the Cordillera Azul National Park where this species was discovered. The second newly described lizard, Enyalioides binzayedi, can be seen in the same river basin and is named after the sponsor of the field survey Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE, who created the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund (MBZSCF).

"Thanks to these discoveries, Peru becomes the country holding the greatest diversity of woodlizards. Cordillera Azul National Park is a genuine treasure for Peru and it must be treated as a precious future source of biodiversity exploration and preservation!", says the lead author Dr Pablo Venegas from Centro de ornitología y Biodiversidad (CORBIDI) in Lima, Perú.

 

Original Source:

Venegas PJ, Torres-Carvajal O, Duran V, de Queiroz K (2013) Two sympatric new species of woodlizards (Hoplocercinae, Enyalioides) from Cordillera Azul National Park in northeastern Peru. ZooKeys 277: 69, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.277.3594

1 of 3 recently discovered wasp species was named after Beatrix Kiddo, referring to the deadly parasitoid practices of the animal

Parasitoid wasps of the family Braconidae are known for their deadly reproductive habits. Most of the representatives of this group have their eggs developing in other insects and their larvae, eventually killing the respective host, or in some cases immobilizing it or causing its sterility. Three new species of the parasitoid wasp genus Cystomastacoides, recently described in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research, reflect this fatal behavior.

Two of the new species were discovered in Papua New Guinea, while the third one comes from Thailand. The Thai species, Cystomastacoides kiddo, was named after the character Beatrix Kiddo in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill’ films. The deadly biology of the wasp inspired this reference to the protagonist played by Uma Thurman, where she embodies a deadly assassin and a master of the Tiger/Crane style of kung fu. She is a master of the "Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique", a method of killing a person by quickly striking five pressure points around the heart with the fingertips. After the victim takes five steps, the heart explodes and the person falls dead.

The macabre in the name of one of the new species from Papua New Guinea references back to another strand of contemporary pop culture: Cystomastacoides nicolepeelerae is named after Nicole Peeler, the favourite novelist of Donald Quicke, the lead author of this article. Peeler’s writing deals with murder mystery, dark powers, the subconscious and the supernatural. The name of the third species, Cystomastacoides asotaphaga, also from Papua New Guinea, lacks the popular culture element but still brings up the deadly survival techniques of the wasps described. In translation, it means feeding on Asota, described genus of moths whose caterpillar is eaten from the inside by the wasp’s larva and thus eventually killed.

Asota plana is the first host record for the genus to which the new species belong. It is a widespread moth species known to feed on multiple fig tree (Ficus) species. With three new species from Papua New Guinea and Thailand, this paper also extends the known range of the genus considerably. Previously, Cystomastacoides had been known only from a single species, Cystomastacoides coxalis, which was found only in mainland China (Yunnan).

 

Original Source:

Quicke DLJ, Smith MA, Hrcek J, Butcher BA (2013) Cystomastacoides van Achterberg (Braconidae, Rogadinae): first host record and descriptions of three new species from Thailand and Papua New Guinea. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 31: 65, doi: 10.3897/JHR.31.3385

Experiments predict that populations of native European species may be substantially suppressed by the invader

Daphnia is a genus of small, planktonic crustaceans, commonly called ‘water fleas’ because of their jumpy swimming style and their size (between 0.2 and 5 mm). They live in various aquatic environments, ranging from acidic swamps to freshwater lakes, ponds, streams and rivers. Species of the genus Daphnia play a key role in freshwater food webs: they consume algae and are themselves an important food item for small fish.

Daphnia lumholtzi is a small subtropical and tropical representative, known as an invader in North America. It has never been found in Europe in the wild. Laboratory experiments were conducted by scientists from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; University of Bayreuth; and Technische Universität, München, to assess the possibilities of a potential invasion in Europe. The study was published in the open access journal NeoBiota.

The experiments suggest that D. lumholtzi can invade European lakes and can cause substantial declines in the populations of native water flea species, e.g. Daphnia hyalina and D. cucullata. It was also shown that absence of predatory fish may ease establishment in European lakes. Surprisingly, the invasive plankter proved to be a strong competitor even at temperatures as low as 15°C, despite its tropical origin.

"We still do not know whether D. lumholtzi will invade European lakes, but our experiments did not identify any obstacles. In contrast to some studies suggesting that it might be filling an empty niche in North America, the results of our experiments indicate that it may suppress the population growth or even outcompete some native European Daphnia" says the lead author Meike J. Wittmann.

Original Source:

Meike J. Wittmann, Wilfried Gabriel, Eva-Maria Harz, Christian Laforsch, Jonathan M. Jeschke, Can Daphnia lumholtzi invade European lakes? NeoBiota: 16: 39, doi: 10.3897/neobiota.16.3615

 

Researchers Robert Hoare (Landcare Research, New Zealand) and Erik van Nieukerken (Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Netherlands) have named new moths after the Minotaur of Greek mythology and the legendary Italian philanderer Giacomo Casanova in a study of the evolution of southern pigmy moths. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

The tiny moths, with wingspans of 3 to 8 millimetres, belong to a very old group (the family Nepticulidae), which dates back more than 110 million years to the time of the dinosaurs. Australian pigmy moths are particularly diverse and unusual, and one group (genus Pectinivalva, ‘ancient pigmy moths’) has until now only been reported from that continent, where over 140 species are known.Each species of pigmy moth is associated with one or a few related species of plant on which they lay their eggs. Caterpillars make a mine inside the leaf, the shape of the mine often being characteristic of the species that made it.

By reconstructing the evolution of the ancient pigmy moths, Hoare and van Nieukerken have shown that the original host of the group was probably a rainforest plant of the myrtle family (Myrtaceae). As Australia dried out from about 15 million years ago, the rainforest was greatly reduced in extent, and the myrtle family came to dominate the vegetation of the arid interior, with the now familiar eucalyptus trees becoming especially diverse and abundant. The ancient pigmy moths in their turn transferred to the newly dominant host-plants, and now most known species of Pectinivalva feed on Eucalyptus and its close relatives, with just a few still attached to rainforest myrtles. Probably, the rainforests of Indonesia, New Guinea and New Caledonia will be found to be home to further undiscovered members of the genus Pectinivalva; a new species (P. xenadelpha) from Borneo is the first non-Australian member of the genus known.

What of those new names? The males of many species of ancient pigmy moths display special scales for close-range scent dispersal during courtship of the female. These can be on the front legs, on the wings or on the body of the moth, and may form moustache-like tufts or groups like overlapping shells, best seen under high magnification. Some species have a strange pocket-like structure on the hind wing with scent scales surrounding it in a palisade. In one group of metallic-coloured species, the males are particularly well equipped for courtship with a variety of sex-specific modifications. This group has been named as a subgenus Casanovula after Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798), the Italian adventurer famous for his many romantic entanglements. The male of the most spectacular species not only has two different kinds of shell-like scent scales on the body, but huge flattened and expanded antennae, whose function is unknown, but which are also presumed to be attractive to females. This species has been named Pectinivalva (Casanovula) minotaurus, after the bull-headed Cretan beast of Greek mythology.

 

The research collaboration was aided by funding from the Naturalis Temminck Fellowship programme, taken up by Robert Hoare in 2009.