The article “The amphibians and reptiles of Luzon Island, Philippines, VIII: the herpetofauna of Cagayan and Isabela Provinces, northern Sierra Madre Mountain Range”, recently published in the open access, peer reviewed journal Zookeys, has gained incredible popularity through uploading all images to Wikimedia Commons.

Thanks to the rich, high resolution illustrations featured in the article, all figures have been since ported to Wikimedia Commons (the media repository used by Wikipedias, Wikispecies and their sister projects), and till date, they have been used on well over 300 pages across some 30 languages.

The same Images are also automatically exported by the journal on the day of its publication to Encyclopedia of Life and the Wiki species descriptions catalogue Species-ID.

All authors are encouraged to submit high resolution quality figures and videos to be featured in their articles and achieve the same level of dissemination.

Reference:

Brown RM, Siler CD, Oliveros CH, Welton LJ, Rock A, Swab J, Van Weerd M, van Beijnen J, Jose E, Rodriguez D, Jose E, Diesmos AC (2013) The amphibians and reptiles of Luzon Island, Philippines, VIII: the herpetofauna of Cagayan and Isabela Provinces, northern Sierra Madre Mountain Range. ZooKeys 266: 1-120. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.266.3982

The newly described species might benefit the development of organic rice farming

The semi-aquatic earthworms in the genus Glyphidrilus are somewhat unfamiliar species that live between the terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems of rivers, streams, canals, ponds, swamps and paddy systems. Remarkably, each species is endemic to a single water basin, carrying its own signature of evolution from their common origin. A study describing ten newly discovered species of the genus has been published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

In Thailand, the species demonstrate astonishing biodiversity due to the monsoon climate contributing to drastic river system changes and a large variety of microhabitats. While general interconnections among these allow for gene flow, their great diversity leads to independent evolution and specialization in isolation.

The animals orient themselves vertically, with their bodies in the wet soil along the banks and tails placed on the soil surface. Among the interesting characteristics of these worms is a rounded body tip, while the end is square shaped. When twisted, the posterior end, which is normally above the soil surface, forms U-shaped channels. These are used to allow water circulation down the burrow. This is probably an evolutionary adjustments that ensures oxygen transport to the deeper surface of the worms, while their bodies remain in the burrows.

Another peculiar feature are the so-called "wings", or the expanded part of epidermis near the body tip. The function of the wings is still unknown to scientists, but it has been suggested that they evolved to assist breathing in such aquatic habitats. Because the wings will be located deep in the burrow at a low oxygen supply and are absent in sexually immature juveniles, a more conventional explanation might be that they are used to aid copulation rather than respiration.

Among the natural habitats of these worms are the rice fields in Thailand, which serve as a reservoir and breeding ground for the animals. The worms turn out to play an important role in the development of rice farming, being a facilitator in the decomposition of organic matter to be a natural fertilizer, as well as improving the soil properties for better rice root system. The species also assist the release of essential minerals in some chemical fertilizers, though not in pesticides, which prove to be lethal to the worms.

The increased use of pesticides in agriculture puts these species in danger. The author Dr. Somsak Panha, from the Animal Systematics Research Unit, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, comments: "The worms will survive in areas using chemical fertilizers but not those using chemical pesticides. However, the worms did well in areas of organic farming and so are likely to be sensitive to modern agrochemical contamination of the environment. They may play an important role in organic rice farming."

Original Source:

Chanabun R, Sutcharit C, Tongkerd P, Panha S (2013) The semi-aquatic freshwater earthworms of the genus Glyphidrilus Horst, 1889 from Thailand (Oligochaeta, Almidae) with re-descriptions of several species. ZooKeys 265: 1. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.265.3911

In response to several inquiries, we have now published the following FAQs to facilitate society journals that want to move to advanced open access publishing: http://www.pensoft.net/FAQ-by-society-journals.

 A recent study of the amphibians and reptiles of Sierra Madre Mountain Range, northeastern Luzon, reveals a preliminary enumeration of more than 100 species that contribute to the unique biodiversity of the region. At present, the Luzon region’s herpetological range stands at more than 150 species. Out of these, a total of 49 amphibian species have been documented, 44 of which are native and a remarkable 32 endemic. In the world of reptiles, Luzon can boast with 106 native species, 76 of which are unique to this region.

The catalogue published in the open access journal Zookeys features a fascinating range of reptiles and amphibians, such as the beautifully coloured colubrid snake Hologerrhum philippinum, which is one of the four endemic snake genera from the region and can be recognized by the vibrant-yellow skin decoration. Another species that provokes amazement is the bizarre soft-shell turtle Pelochelys cantorii. The variety described in this study includes fascinating frogs, crocodiles, snakes, lizards and many more, offering a menagerie of shapes and colours all documented in stunning photography.

With such a great array of biodiversity, the northern Philippines has been the focus of of large numbers of new species discoveries and re-discoveries of new species in recent decades, establishing it as a major regional biodiversity hotspot. The herpetological diversity of the island may grow to as many as 90-100 (70-80% endemic) amphibian species and as many as 150-160 reptiles with the contributions of ongoing biodiversity studies in the near future. It will be a major challenge to monitor these communities through time in order to assess their responses to land use changes, climate change, resource extraction, introduced species, emerging infectious disease, and habitat degradation.

With the initial baseline information provided in the survey, tremendous opportunities exist for future studies in taxonomy, biogeography, ecology and conservation of northern Luzon’s amphibians and reptiles. Conservation of Luzon’s vertebrate biodiversity remains an on-going effort, challenged by rapid development,logging, mining and conversion of natural habitats into agricultural lands to provide food for a burgeoning human population.

 

 

Original Source 
Brown RM, Siler CD, Oliveros CH, Welton LJ, Rock A, Swab J, Van Weerd M, van Beijnen J, Jose E, Rodriguez D, Jose E, Diesmos AC (2013) The amphibians and reptiles of Luzon Island, Philippines, VIII: the herpetofauna of Cagayan and Isabela Provinces, northern Sierra Madre Mountain Range. ZooKeys 266: 1-120. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.266.3982

27 new moth species described in the latest issue

Since its inception in 2009, the "Contributions to the systematics of New World macro- moths" series in ZooKeys has been playing an important role in publishing taxonomic changes and new discoveries concerning moth diversity in North America. With a total of 49 publications by 38 authors, this well-established series is among the topic leaders, alongside publications such as Canadian Staphylinidae.

Geographic coverage in Zookeys has previously focused primarily on the North American fauna (Canada, United States and Mexico). This issue marks a rapid acceleration in contributions concerning tropical areas: its articles expand the geographic reach to regions from all over North and South America, the adjacent islands and territories.

The total of 27 new species described in this issue includes moths from North America, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and the Dominican Republic. Among the more interesting ones are 5 newly described additions to the particularly big family of Neotropical tigermoths. As the name suggests, they can be easily recognized by their wing decoration that imitates the fur pattern of a big cat.

Another newly described species that could be of great interest was found near the Brazilian Airport, Salvador. Despite its modest looks, this animal could potentially be used for biological control in Florida against the invasive and problematic Brazilian peppertree, which is the natural habitat and food for these moths.

Original Source:

Schmidt BC, Lafontaine JD (2013) Contributions to the systematics of New World macro-moths IV. In: Schmidt BC, Lafontaine JD (Eds) Contributions to the systematics of New World macro-moths IV. ZooKeys 264: 1. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.264.4687

Dr Michael Pogue, a Research Entomologist in the ARS Systematic Entomology Laboratory, at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, was sent a series of moth specimens from Bahia, Brazil, for identification. The insects were under consideration as a possible biocontrol agent for the invasive Brazilian peppertree in Florida.

‘The species was initially identified as a common species, but when comparisons were made, it became evident that there were multiple species involved’ said Dr. Pogue. Using characters from the moths’ male and female genitalia, Dr. Pogue determined that the so-called ‘common’ species actually consisted of six new species, plus two described species.

Brazilian peppertree is one of the most damaging invasive species in Florida. Originally introduced as an ornamental plant into Florida at least three times in the mid- to late 1800’s, it has since invaded a number of habitats throughout southern and central Florida. In addition to this new biocontrol species, two other species (one new) native to Florida also feed on Brazilian peppertree. The potential biocontrol species had been described previously, but the remaining five new species were described in the present study in ZooKeys.

‘What was interesting about this identification was the discovery of so many new species’, said Dr Pogue. ‘The wing pattern was similar among these species, but their reproductive systems were quite different’. ‘It became obvious that multiple cryptic species were involved only when these dissections were made.’

Cryptic species complexes can be confusing and require proper careful assessment of morphological or molecular characters in order to allow for identifications.

 

 

Original Source:

Pogue MG (2013) A review of the Paectes arcigera species complex (Guenée) (Lepidoptera, Euteliidae). In: Schmidt BC, Lafontaine JD (Eds) Contributions to the systematics of New World macro-moths IV. ZooKeys 264: 125–163. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.264.3274

Taxonomy – the discipline that defines and names groups of organisms – is a field of science that still employs many of the methods used during the beginnings of the discipline in the 18th century. Despite the increasing use of molecular information to delineate new species, the study of the morphology of specimens remains one of the major tasks of taxonomists. These studies often require first-hand examination of the reference specimens (so-called type material) deposited at museum collections around the globe – a time-consuming and laborious task.

To facilitate this procedure, a group of researchers from the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) are exploring the possibilities offered by 3D digital imaging. In a recent article published in the open-access journal ZooKeys, the researchers use X-ray computed tomography to create digital, three-dimensional representations of tiny animals, displaying both internal and external characteristics of the specimens at a detail level similar to that of the microscope.

To demonstrate their method, the researchers imaged a number of polychaete species (marine bristle-worms)—the choice of this group being obvious to Sarah Faulwetter, the leading author, because "despite being ecologically very important, these animals exhibit a fascinating diversity of forms and tissue types, allowing to test the methodology across a range of samples with different characteristics".

The resulting interactive 3D models allow any researcher to virtually rotate, magnify or even dissect the specimen and thus extracting new scientific information, whereas the structure and genetic material of the analysed specimen are kept intact for future studies.
The team stress the importance of 3D imaging methods for taxonomy on its way into the twenty-first century: "Our vision for the future is to provide a digital representation of each museum specimen, simultaneously accessible via the internet by researchers and nature enthusiasts worldwide," says the team leader, Dr Christos Arvanitidis from HCMR.

The instant accessibility of specimens will speed up the creation and dissemination of knowledge. As the authors point out, "human efforts, combined with novel technologies, will help taxonomy to turn into a cyberscience whose discoveries might rival those made during the great naturalist era of the nineteenth century."

See also the playlist in the Pensoft video channel at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrYfgSbGP4qRsKnc-47wkxgz6ww1HMHox

The study was supported by the European Union projects MARBIGEN (FP7-REGPOT-2010-1) and ViBRANT (RI-261532)

Original Source:

Faulwetter S, Vasileiadou A, Kouratoras M, Dailianis T, Arvanitidis C (2013) Micro-computed tomography: Introducing new dimensions to taxonomy. ZooKeys 263: 1-45. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.263.4261

 

Two wasp species, Calymmochilus dispar and Gelis apterus, have been recorded as parasitoids on ant-eating spiders in a study published in the open access journal ZooKeys. The host spider, Zodarion styliferum, belongs to the largest genus of predominantly ant-eating spiders. Their distribution area includes Europe, Asia and North Africa, significantly with at least 35 species reported for the Iberian Peninsula only, marking a record in numbers in Portugal, where this study was conducted.

Available data on the biology of the host spider shows that all species of the genus Zodarion are compulsory ant eaters. What is interesting is that these spiders perform aggressive mimicry, i.e. disguise as ants to help them in their hunt and to capture their prey. These crafty hunters are often nocturnal wanderers and mainly active in twilight.

During the day, these spiders remain hidden in carefully built igloo-shaped stone retreats that are attached to the underside of rocks or dead wood. The igloos provide protection against unfavourable environmental conditions and enemies such as ants.

Despite these evolutionary advancements in the fight for survival, however, the Z. styliferum spider turns out to be an easy victim for wasp species in their strive for reproduction.

The predatory wasp attacks during daylight when the spiders are inactive. The females of the parasitoid species attack the hosts in the shelter of their igloo, penetrating the walls with their long ovipositors. When collected for this study, the wasp larvae were attached to the abdomen of an immobilised spider juvenile, which they used as food for their own development.

Apart from feeding on the juveniles, the peculiar home of the ant-eating host provides another convenience for the parasites. The larva of G. apterus makes a cocoon inside the spider igloo before pupation. The other species (C. dispar), however, does not create a cocoon. Rather, it takes advantage of the already built spider igloo to help protect the bare larvae inside.

Such parasitoid behavior is common among wasp species. The author of the original research article, Dr. Korenko from the Department of Agroecology and Biometeorology of the Czech
University of Life Sciences  explains: “Several groups of Hymenoptera develop on spider hosts feeding on the flesh of the spider or on its eggs. The parasitoids attack a number of spiders ranging from ground dwelling and fast moving hunters like wolf spiders to web spiders such as orb-web weavers that stay on webs during most of their life.”

 

Korenko S, Schmidt S, Schwarz M, Gibson GAP, Pekár S (2013) Hymenopteran parasitoids of the ant-eating spider Zodarion styliferum (Simon) (Araneae, Zodariidae). ZooKeys 262: 1-15. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.262.3857

A success story announced by the International Society of Hymenopterists and Pensoft Publishers

The open access model has created a range of new opportunities for the dissemination and popularization of scientific research, but many society- or institution-based academic journals continue on a subscription basis.

In 2011, the International Society of Hymenopterists (ISH) decided to move their publication, the Journal of Hymenoptera Research (JHR), from a conventional, subscription-based model to open access with Pensoft Journal Systems (PJS 2.0). The two years of positive experience are described in an Editorial in the latest issue of JHR.

One of the many positive changes that JHR has been experiencing since the switch is a flexible schedule allowing an unlimited number of published articles per year, as opposed to the earlier restriction of two issues per year. "The open access model and online publication of Pensoft offers a wide range of additional dissemination services", says Dr Stefan Schmidt from the Zoologische Staatssammlung in Munich, Germany.

These services include data publishing and automated export of "atomized" content, that is, separate parts of the articles – like species descriptions and images – to important scientific databases and global aggregators." Amongst these platforms are the Encyclopedia of Life, the wiki Species-ID, and the Plazi Treatment Repository.

Open access facilitates public outreach of research through press releases associated with published articles. Since May 2011, Pensoft has been supporting authors in "translating" the technical texts into press releases with accessible language and illustrative media, which then result in postings on science news distributors, mass and scientific media and through the social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.). The service means a wider outreach and popularity for the research performed by the authors as well as for hymenoptera research more broadly.

"The results are more than obvious – the journal started a new life, experienced a visible growth and became a place to go for Society members and specialists with an interest in Hymenoptera", Schmidt says, adding that "while we put a lot of effort into technological development, we continue to produce a high resolution full-colour printed version with a subscription option for individuals and institutions, and offer a discount on printed copies and open access fees for Society members."

"The Journal of Hymenoptera Research was the first society journal that trusted the novel journal publishing platform of Pensoft. I am convinced that using the previous print-based, and PDF-only publishing model (even in open access) brings a lot of trouble to institutional and society journals. Many of them simply struggle to survive. We are glad to witness such a successful transition of JHR", concludes Prof. Lyubomir Penev, founder and managing director of Pensoft Publishers.

 

 

Original source:

Schmidt S, Broad GR, Stoev P, Penev L (2013) The move to open access and growth: experience from Journal of Hymenoptera Research. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 30: 10.3897/JHR.30.4733 doi: 10.3897/JHR.30.4733.

Additional information:

International Hymenopterists Society (ISH): The Society aims to encourage scientific research and promote the diffusion of knowledge about sawflies, bees, ants, and other wasps. Membership is open to all persons with an interest in Hymenoptera and members are entitled to receive discounts on open access fees and for printed copies of the journal.

Pensoft Journal System (PJS 2.0) is a novel editorial management system launched by Pensoft Publishers in early 2013. PJS 2.0 completes for the first time ever the cycle from article authoring, through submission, community peer-review and editing, to publication and dissemination within a single online collaborative platform. PJS 2.0 has its own online, collaborative, article-authoring tool (Pensoft Writing Tool, PWT) that provides a large set of pre-defined, but flexible, templates of different types of article. In the PWT environment, the authors can work collaboratively on their manuscripts online and may also invite external contributors, such as mentors, potential reviewers, linguistic and copy editors, colleagues, etc., who may watch and comment on the text during the manuscript preparation. PJS 2.0 also optionally allows open, public and community peer-review processes.

ImpactStory is an open-source, web-based service that is designed to make it quick and easy to uncover the impact of  research output. Being philanthropically-funded and not-for-profit, this project builds on the belief that open altmetrics are key for building the coming era of Web-native science. ImpactStory is committed to working towards open access, free and open data and radical transparency for the future of science.

ImpactStory goes beyond traditional measurements of research output to embrace broader evidence of use, such as social networks, blogs, reference and citation managers, Wikipedia, and more. The tool helps scholars to explore and share the diverse impacts of all their research products—not just journal articles, but also blog posts, datasets, and software. ImpactStory’s combination of traditional and innovative approaches aims to bring additional use to the rich Web environment.

The project began its life at the Beyond Impact workshop in 2011, after which a few passionate participants migrated into a hotel hallway to continue working, eventually completing a 24-hour coding marathon to finish a prototype. ImpactStory is now funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation , and is in the process of incorporating as a non-profit corporation.

The people behind this innovative approach are Heather Piwowar, a leading researcher in the area of research data availability and data reuse, and Jason Priem, who contributed to and created several open-source software projects and who coined the term “altmetrics”.

“People bookmark and download research articles for a reason,” says Jason. “Articles that provoke interesting discussions amongst fellow scientists may or may not get cited a lot, but they are still providing important feedback and quality indicators. Additionally, activity in venues like Wikipedia, Twitter, and Delicious provides evidence of broader impacts–evidence that is increasingly important to research funders and administrators.”

“We are glad to be the first to use ImpactStory services and to work together on bringing them to an industry standard. Our authors are happy to see these meaningful icons appearing automatically alongside their articles and summarising, for example, the number of tweets, or Wikipedia articles, in which their work has been mentioned or cited.  A tool that certainly has a great future!” says Pror, Lyubomir Penev, founder and managing director of Pensoft Publishers.

 

 

For more information about the services and the vision of ImpactStory please visit http://impactstory.org or follow us at @impactstory.

Additional information:

ImpactStory is an open-source, web-based tool that helps researchers explore and share the diverse impacts of all their research products–traditional ones like journal articles, but also alternative products like blog posts, datasets, and software. Authors, publishers, and institutions can create, explore and share web-based collections, or embed rich impact data right in their webpages with an easy-to-use widget. By helping researchers tell data-driven stories about their impacts, ImpactStory aims to help build a reward system that values and encourages new forms of web-native scholarship. ImpactStory is funded by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Pensoft Publishers specialize in academic book and open access journal publishing, mostly in the field of biodiversity science and natural history. In early 2103, we launch the Pensoft lJournal System (PJS 2.0), a novel editorial management system that for the first time in scholarly publishing completes the cycle from article authoring through submission, community peer-review and editing, to publication and dissemination within a single online collaborative platform. PJS 2.0 has its own online, collaborative, article-authoring tool (Pensoft Writing Tool, PWT) that provides a large set of pre-defined, but flexible, templates of different types of article.