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

A newly published article "Revision of the Afrotropical Mayrellinae (Cynipoidea, Liopteridae), with the first record ofParamblynotus from Madagascar" by Dr. Simon van Noort, from Natural History Department, Iziko South African Museum, and Dr. Matthew L. Buffington from the Systematic Entomology Lab, USDA offers the description of 9 remarkable new species of wasps. Mayrellinids are extremely rare wasps, which are under-represented in museum collections. Most species are known from single specimens. The study was published in the open access Journal of Hymenoptera Research.

The Mayrellinae subfamily includes two genera, Kiefferiella and Paramblynotus, with only the latter genus occurring in the Afrotropical region. The representatives of the genus are very small species that look superficially like cynipids, or gall wasps. Little is known about their biology. They are assumed to be parasitoid of wood-boring beetle larvae, although there is no confirmed host record to date.

The genus Paramblynotus is also recorded from Madagascar for the first time, with representatives of two species groups being present on the island. The P. seyrigi group, is erected in this study to accommodate a single, but highly distinctive new species, likely to be endemic to the island. The specimens were unearthed by the authors from a 1930s collection by André Seyrig, held in the Natural History Museum in Paris.

"Discovering the field box full of unusual wasps was reminiscent of excitement around opening presents as a child. In fact most new samples of wasps collected in the region evoke such a response when first sorted under a microscope." explains Dr van Noort. "There is a huge diversity of undiscovered species in Africa and Madagascar and every new sample contains species unknown to science. Seyrig was a prolific collector of wasps. It was a privilege to be able to work on some of his specimens that had not been examined by specialist taxonomists since they were collected in the 1930’s."

 

 

The spectacular diversity of African and Madagascan wasps can be viewed at http://www.waspweb.org.

Original source:

van Noort S, Buffington ML (2013) Revision of the Afrotropical Mayrellinae (Cynipoidea: Liopteridae), with the first record of Paramblynotus from Madagascar. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 31: 1–64, doi: 10.3897/JHR.31.4072

A new forum paper suggests bridging two important fields of ecological research

It is increasingly recognized that protected areas alone are not sufficient for successful biodiversity conservation, and that management of production areas (e.g. forestry and agricultural land) plays a crucial role in that respect. Retention forestry and agroforestry are two land management systems aiming to reconcile the production of human goods with biodiversity conservation.

The retention forestry model is, as the name suggests, based on retaining some of the local forest structures when harvesting trees in an attempt to preserve local biodiversity. Agroforestry addresses this need through the intentional management of shade trees alongside agricultural crops. Despite the technical differences, both systems provide an intermediary between unlogged forest and intensively managed land. A paper recently published in the open access journalNature Conservation, draws an important parallel between the two systems.

From a conservation point of view, both retention forestry and agroforestry are expected to provide a variety of ecological benefits, such as the maintenance and restoration of ecosystem heterogeneity. They also provide habitat for tree-dependent species outside the forest as well as increased connectivity for forest species within landscapes. Moreover, both systems minimize some of the off-site impacts of management. In spite of some inherent differences between the two systems, the large number of similarities suggests that both would benefit from a bridging of scientific and practical experiences.

The author team, led by Dr. Roberge from the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), calls for studies addressing cost-effectiveness of different retention and agroforestry systems in relation to biodiversity conservation, argues for a stronger focus on the two systems’ effects on species of special conservation concern, and encourages increased collaboration between researchers and practitioners across the two fields.

 

Original Source:

Roberge J-M, Mönkkönen M, Toivanen T, Kotiaho JS (2013) Retention forestry and biodiversity conservation: a parallel with agroforestry. Nature Conservation 4: 29, doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.4.5116

 

 

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.

American bullfrogs are native to eastern North America but have been transported by people to many other parts of the globe, and other parts of North America, where they have readily established populations and become an invasive alien menace to native ecosystems. In the largest study of its kind to date, the stomach contents of over 5,000 invasive alien American bullfrogs from 60 lakes and ponds on southern Vancouver Island were examined to identify the native and exotic animals that they had preyed upon. The study was published in the open access journal NeoBiota.

Over 15 classes of animals were reported from a total of 18,814 identifiable prey remains, including terrestrial and aquatic insects, spiders, crayfish, fish, frogs, salamanders, newts, snakes, lizards, turtles, birds, and small mammals. The study examined the stomach contents of adults and juveniles of all size-classes, but excluded tadpoles. These results show that bullfrogs will attack and consume virtually any organism that is within reach and can be swallowed, including their own species.

Previous studies on bullfrog diet have examined relatively small numbers of stomachs from a comparatively small number of lakes and ponds. Our results reinforce the general consensus that there is good reason for concern about the ecological harm that uncontrolled populations of American bullfrogs might have, or are having, on populations of native species.

For decades, bullfrogs have been transported and released around the world by prospective frog-farmers, pet owners, game managers, recreational fishermen, biological supply houses; and even by entrants in frog jumping contests. They adapt readily to a variety of habitats from the tropics to temperate zones and once established, their numbers grow fast with each adult female producing about 20,000 or more eggs per year. For these reasons, American bullfrogs are internationally recognized as one of the 100 worst invasive alien species in the world.

Original source

Jancowski, K, Orchard, SA (2013) Stomach contents from invasive American bullfrogs Rana catesbeiana (= Lithobates catesbeianus) on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. NeoBiota 16: 17, doi: 10.3897/neobiota.16.3806

The beetle family Cerambycidae, also known as long-horned beetles or longicorns, is characterized by emblematic extremely long antennae, which are usually longer than the total body length of the animal. The family is rather rich in diversity with more than 20 000 species known, distributed worldwide. Some representatives of these bizarre-shaped beetles, are also known as serious pests with their wood-feeding larvae causing extensive damage to living trees or untreated lumber. The beetles from this family are mainly associated with leaf litter habitats, where the specimens in this study were also collected.

The newly discovered species, Schwarzerium yunnanum, represents a remarkably engaging representative of the family with a blue-greenish beautifully colored body, and distinctive blue legs. A new subgenus, Rugosochroma, is also erected as a result of this recent discovery. The specimens examined were found in the Yunnan Province of China, where the name of the new species is derived from The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.

Alongside the new species, seven known ones have been recorded from China for the first time. Among these are the very rare Aphrodisium tricoloripes, known only from China, Myanmar and Vietnam, as well as Chloridolum semipunctatum, so far exclusively found in Northern Laos.

All the species described, including the new one, belong to the subfamily Cerambycinae, which includes 750 genera in total. Within the long-horned beetle family, this remarkable biodiversity can be only rivaled by a single other subfamily Lamiinae, more commonly known as flat-faced longhorns.

 Original Source:

Vives E, Lin M-Y (2013) One new and seven newly recorded Callichromatini species from China (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Cerambycinae). ZooKeys 275: 67–75, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.275.4576

Dog-strangling vine (Vincetoxicum rossicum) is an exotic plant originating from the Ukraine and southeastern Russia that is becoming increasingly invasive in southern Ontario, Canada. It has been found growing successfully in both disturbed and undisturbed areas, in open fields, forest edges and understories, parks, road edges and railway embankments. The invasive plant effectively competes for light by forming large and dense stands that climb over other plants. A study published in the open access, peer-reviewed journal NeoBiota explores the effects of V. rossicum invasion in Canada.

Apart from displacing local plant species, among the ecological effects of a possible V. rossicum invasion are endangered populations of local soil organisms and pollinator species. Another concern is the dog strangling vine’s good adaptability to and possible invasion of the alvar environment in the region, which for the Ontario is a rare kind of habitat supporting a number of important habitat-specific species. V. rossicum is also believed to be allelopathic, which means that in its roots, it produces chemicals that are toxic to other plants and exuded in the surrounding soil.

Along with photoperiod and moisture, temperature is considered a key environmental cue for flowering. Temperature majorly affects the reproduction of the dog-strangling vine. Generally, reproduction takes longer to occur under cooler growing conditions. A slight reduction from the current growing temperature conditions of the dog-strangling vine is sufficient to produce a significant delay in budding, flowering, and the formation of seedpods. Therefore, V. rossicum may be limited in its capacity to spread into northern climates simply because it may not be able to complete its life-cycle. To test this possibility the authors grew V. rossicum under simulated temperature conditions of northern and southern Ontario. In addition, they forcedV. rossicum to compete with Solidago canadensis, which is highly abundant across Ontario.

Laura Sanderson and Pedro Antunes from the Invasive Species Research Institute, Canada, found that "in spite of a delay in growth under cooler conditions, V. rossicumproduced just as many seeds as it did under temperature regimes typical of its current distribution range". They also found that competition with S. canadensis resulted in reductions in the fitness and total biomass of V. rossicum. However, the relative reductions in total biomass were greater for the competing native species, regardless of climatic temperature regime.

"Phenotypic plasticity may enable V. rossicum to spread into northern Ontario", conclude the authors.

 

Original Source:

Laura A. Sanderson, Pedro M. Antunes (2013) The exotic invasive plant Vincetoxicum rossicum is a strong competitor even outside its current realized climatic temperature range. NeoBiota 16: 1, doi: 10.3897/neobiota.16.4012

 

 

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Increasing of protected area does not necessarily lead to proportional improvement in ecosystem conservation

The Orinoco River flows from the Andes in Colombia to the Atlantic in Venezuela. The area of the basin includes landscapes of the Andes, plains of the Llanos and the Guiana shield. Orinoco’s tributary rivers form a basin considered to be the 3rd most important river system on the planet, and one of the most biologically diverse areas of the world.

Colombia has shown a strong commitment to the achievement of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2010 biodiversity target, by promoting the conservation of at least 10% of its natural ecosystems. Protected Area categories in Colombia are undergoing a standardization process that should enhance the country’s capacity to protect its ecosystems. It has been examined how the legislation and the civil society’s initiatives help in the conservation of natural ecosystems in the Colombian Orinoco Basin.

Just recently the Ministry of Environment passed a decree to standardize the Protected Area categories and to organize the National System of Protected Areas. More than 100 protected areas and more than 100 indigenous reserves have been established in the Colombian Orinoco Basin over the last six decades. However, the only strictly protected areas in Colombia are the National Natural Parks System Areas, which protect only 10% of the area of natural ecosystems and less than 50% of the natural ecosystems in the Basin. Indigenous Reserves help significantly in the conservation of the natural ecosystems in the Basin, but are not a Protected Area category, making it difficult for indigenous groups to assist with natural conservation in Colombia.

Some areas in the Llanos eco-region have lost up to 1/4 of their woody vegetation cover in the last decade. The natural savannas have been destroyed at an annual rate of more than 1,000 km² and converted to pastures and oil palm plantations. Some areas have management problems, such as the lack of control on the population growth inside the parks and the unsustainable use of the resources. Burning occurs more often in the natural savannas inside Indigenous Reserves than in private ranches. Private ranches dedicated to cattle farming on native vegetation tend to burn less often than other areas in this region. This might be a good indicator of the high-quality management capacity of private landowners.

Most of the lands owned and managed by indigenous people are still in a very good ecological condition, based on the percentage of natural ecosystems they hold, especially compared to the National System of Protected Areas. Making the Indigenous Reserves a Protected Area category would help greatly with the conservation of the Colombian Orinoco Basin, but this is a significant national debate, with a lot of controversy around it.

Although the protected area has almost doubled, ecosystem protection does not increase proportionally, which is a sign of the lack of planning and management capacities of the regional and local governments that established most of these areas. Urgent actions should be taken to ensure protection of the natural ecosystems of high conservation value, as these may be significantly endangered. It is possible that more than 22,350 km² of natural savannas will be lost over the next 10 years, and effective counter measures are necessary now to prevent losing these biodiversity hotspots forever.

 

Original source

Aldana AM, Mitchley J (2013) Protected Areas legislation and the conservation of the Colombian Orinoco Basin natural ecosystems. Nature Conservation 4: 15, doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.4.3682

Licensing

In 2010, it was shown that melons and cucumbers can be traced back to India. Because of the importance of the region for an understanding of Cucurbitaceae evolution and diversity, a new checklist of the Cucurbitaceae of India was produced to update the information on that family. The study was published in the open access journal PhytoKeys.

Vegetables are essential components of a healthy daily diet, not just in India but around the globe. Compared to grains and pulses, however, vegetables are under-investigated taxonomically, and information on their genome is scarce. The cucumber family, Cucurbitaceae, includes many of our favorite foods: pumpkins, melon, cucumber, watermelon, bottle gourds, and bitter gourd. Molecular data have recently revealed that both cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) and melon (Cucumis melo L.) are indigenous to India and likely to have originated from the foothills of the Himalayas.

Arun Pandey from the Department of Botany, University of Delhi, India and Susanne Renner from the Departments of Systematic Botany and Mycology, University of Munich, Germany decided to produce a checklist of the Cucurbitaceae of India that would bring up-to-date the information available for that family. The list treats 400 relevant names and provides information on the collecting locations for all type specimens. The list includes 94 species (10 of them endemic to India) from 31 genera.

For each species, the checklist provides distributional information, electronic links to images of living or dried plants, and information on publicly available DNA sequences. Of the 94 species, 79% have DNA sequences in GenBank, albeit rarely stemming from Indian material. The most species-rich genera are Trichosanthes with 22 species, Cucumis with 11 (all but two wild), and the bitter gourd genus, Momordica, with eight. The checklist also includes a phylogenetic reconstruction of the family that shows the DNA-based placement of the 31 Indian genera relative to the World’s remaining Cucurbitaceae.

Dr. Susanne Renner, one of the authors of the article, comments: "Updating and summarising the available information on Indian Cucurbitaceae and linking it to molecular data and images may help to focus phylogenetic and floristic research on poorly known species, and potentially strengthen conservation efforts. It may also provide vital genetic information to improve the current varieties of pumpkins, cucumbers, and their relatives."

 

 

 

 

Original Source:

Renner SS, Pandey AK (2012) The Cucurbitaceae of India: Accepted names, synonyms, geographic distribution, and information on images and DNA sequences. PhytoKeys 20: 53, doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.20.3948

 

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The article “’Mind the gap!’ – How well does Natura 2000 cover species of European interest?” published in Nature Conservation in December, 2012, has been now featured in the latest issue of SEP policy briefs. The piece named “Do Natura 2000 sites protect the most vulnerable species?”, was disseminated on 7th March 2013.

Abstract:
New research suggests that Natura 2000 sites are highly effective in minimising the number of endangered species of concern to European conservation. The findings may reduce concerns that poor coordination between Member States in setting up the European network of protected areas has led to inadequate protection of vulnerable species.

The full policy brief can be accessed here: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/320na1.pdf

Original sources:
"Science for Environment Policy", European Commission DG, Environment News Alert, Service, edited by SCU, The University of the West of England, Bristol.
Gruber B, Evans D, Henle K, Bauch B, Schmeller DS, Dziock F, Henry P-Y, Szabolcs L, Margules C, Dormann CF (2012) "Mind the gap!" – How well does Natura 2000 cover species of European interest?. Nature Conservation 3: 45. doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.3.3732