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A team of Japanese scientists found and described a new species of scarab beetle from Cambodia. The beetle was named Termitotrox venus, after Venus – the Roman goddess of beauty and love. The study was published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

Mr. Kakizoe and Dr. Maruyama from the Kyushu University in Japan covered the new scarab beetle from fungus garden cells during their research in Cambodia.

The species belongs to the Termitotroxgenus genus and is only the second representative of its to have been found in the Indo-Chinese subregion after the discovery of T. cupido in 2012. The close relation between the two is the reason why it was named after Venus, often illustrated next to her male divine counterpart, Cupid.

Seven out of the eight recovered samples were found in the fungus garden cells of a termite species, Macrotermes cf. gilvus, where they were camouflaged and moving slowly so that their collection was hindered.

The researchers found that the termites are usually indifferent to the T. venus species, but the beetle is also treated amicably at times.

Compared to its relative, the T. cupido, the T. venus beetles are larger. According to the scientists, this is due to their different hosts.

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Original source:

Kakizoe S, Maruyama M (2015) Termitotrox venus sp. n. (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae), a new blind, flightless termitophilous scarab from Cambodia. ZooKeys 513: 13-21. doi:10.3897/zookeys.513.9958

A research team from the University of Lomé in Togo provide the first local scientific information on Togolese fern flora. They explored the largest family of the lower vascular plants in the country, Pteridaceae, and identified 17 species, including one recorded for the first time in the small African country. The scientists also present an identification key for the species. Their study can be found in the open-access Biodiversity Data Journal.

In their work the biologists use the data they have gathered during their recent field work as well as the herbaria specimens from Lomé and Paris. Thus they identified a total of 17 species spread among nine genera from the family of Pteridaceae. The two dominant genera within the group are the brake ferns (5 species) and the maidenhair ferns (4 species). The researchers also confirmed the presence of the terrestrial brake fern species, Pteris similis, after discovering it on the forested banks of Dikpéléou, Adélé area.

The Pteridaceae fern plant family has been known from Togo, but few studies have focused on it so far. The current data on Togolese biodiversity (MERF 2009) shows a diversity represented almost in its entirety within the forest zone of Togo. In addition, recent revisions of the family are not taken into account either at the herbarium of the University of Lomé, nor in the local flora.

Now, in their present study, the researchers give an identification key for all identified species with a complete list of synonyms and species descriptions as well as a map of the geographic distribution of the family in Togo.

They hope that their study sets a new beginning in the local study of ferns in Togo and could lead to more and more works on the flora in both Togo and the whole West African sub-region.

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Original source

Abotsi K, Radji A, Rouhan G, Dubuisson J, Kokou K (2015) The Pteridaceae family diversity in Togo. Biodiversity Data Journal 3: e5078. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.3.e5078

The application of new information technologies in natural history museums collections is not only making herbaria collections easily manageable. The datasets also facilitate the access to a large volume of biodiversity information. Databases with specimens information and images of high priority, such as nomenclatural types, simultaneously preserve the specimens physically and increase the impact of the collections. This represents a major advance in the preservation of sensitive materials, which has been fully described in the open-access Biodiversity Data Journal.

A nomenclatural type is a particular sample of an organism to which a scientific name is formally attached. It serves to anchor or centralize the defining features of a particular taxon. Because access to type specimen data is fundamental for taxonomists, types constitute a very important and special sub-collection at any herbarium. Publication of data related to types and their associated metadata (including images) is critical for quality taxonomic research. This is the model that many collections are adopting now.

Recently, the Herbarium of the University of Granada developed several projects to digitalize images of high-priority specimens in order to preserve them and make them available on the Internet. As a result of the reviewing process, catalogues of type specimens of different groups were compiled, published, and made accessible on the Internet through the “Biodiversity Image Portal of Spanish collections” at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility Hosting and Publishing Service in Spain (GBIF.ES) and at the institutional network of the Herbarium of the University of Granada.

The catalogue of type specimens of fungi and lichens has been one of the first published on the GBIF.ES Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT). This dataset contains 88 type specimens, most of which belong to the Agaricales order and the Cortinarius genus, described by Antonio Ortega (the main collector and researcher in the fungus collection) and his Spanish, French, and Italian colleagues. These types are from the western Mediterranean, mainly Spain, and a few others from France and Italy.

This dataset is associated with an image collection named “Colección de imágenes de los tipos nomenclaturales de hongos, líquenes, musgos y algas incluidos en el Herbario de la Universidad de Granada (GDA y GDAC)”, which is accessible at GBIF.ES and at the Herbarium GDA institutional web. The image collection contains 113 images of types, documents, and specimens or microscopy photographs which are included in the herbarium specimens of fungi.

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Original source:

Vizoso M, Quesada C (2015) Catalogue of type specimens of fungi and lichens deposited in the Herbarium of the University of Granada (Spain). Biodiversity Data Journal. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.3.e5204

Andrew Hicks from the Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado and his team discovered a previously unknown leafhopper species in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, located just east of the megalopolis that extends from New York City to Washington, DC. This was the first time an insect has been reported from the state-listed threatened pinebarren smokegrass, Muhlenbergia torreyana. The study can be found in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

The discovery was made with the help of Dr. Gerry Moore of the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Greensboro, NC, and Uli Lorimer of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Called F. whitcombi, the leafhopper was named after the author’s “extraordinary” mentor, colleague and friend, Dr. Robert Whitcomb. “Among many other accomplishments,” in the fields of microbiology and ornithology, Mr. Hicks points to Whitcombs’ “major contributions” to leafhopper taxonomy and ecology.

Actually, it is exactly the ecology factor that could make it or break it for the “charismatic” new leafhopper. Not only is pinebarren smokegrass, which the insect inhabits, a threatened species, but it is known that the rest of the leafhoppers from the genus Flexamia, with a few exceptions, are each dependent on a very specific plant.

Although pinebarren smokegrass is still relatively well-distributed in the Pine Barrens, the Pine Barrens themselves have already been seen to suffer the effects of a warming climate. Various human activities could also pose a further threat to the leafhopper’s host and the its habitat.

“The description of any new species may serve as a catalyst for additional research, and this will be best accomplished while the species still can be found in nature–something that can no longer be taken for granted,” stressed the scientist. “To delay the publication of a species description until the time of a genus revision is to deny the pace of change in the natural world in the 21st century and may consign said new species to a future status of “known from a single collection”, or, “presumed extinct, life history unknown,” he added.

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Original source:

Hicks A (2015) In the shadow of a megalopolis, a new Flexamia from a threatened grass species in the New Jersey Pine Barrens (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae, Deltocephalinae, Paralimnini). ZooKeys 511: 69-79. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.511.9572

Discovered forty years ago, the two roundworm species, A. isokaryoni and P. paradoxus, are yet to be studied in detail. To obtain new information on the worms’ morphology and taxonomic position, a research team from Bulgaria were the first to implement scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to study these nematodes. The research was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Through their initiative, the scientists also concluded that the Pararhyssocolpus genus can be considered endemic to the Maritime Antarctic.

So far has been known that the two worm species are widespread in the Antarctic Islands and they live in different microhabitats, having various diet. Nevertheless, all data has been derived from light microscopy analysis and therefore, it has been insufficient.

The new SEM pictures revealed curious peculiarities of lip region and spear, shape of vulva and other external characters. Along with new data about the worms’ postembryonic development and the evidences produced by molecular analyses, the micrographs helped in solving the taxonomic problems around these remarkable species.

Roundworms are the most diverse and numerous representatives of high-latitude invertebrate fauna in Antarctica. Very well adapted to its severe climate conditions, they are even called glacial survivors. However, there is still the need for further studies on the nematode diversity in these overwhelming habitats, the research team pointed out.

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Original source:

Elshishka M, Lazarova S, Radoslavov G, Hristov P, Peneva V (2015) New data on two remarkable Antarctic species Amblydorylaimus isokaryon (Loof, 1975) Andrássy, 1998 andPararhyssocolpus paradoxus (Loof, 1975) n. gen., n. comb. (Nematoda: Dorylaimida). Zookeys511: 25-68. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.511.9793

Additional information:

This study was partly funded by project ANIDIV2, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and several previous projects supported by the National Scientific Fund.

A research in the North Caucasus, conducted by a group of Russian scientists over three years, has revealed an intermediate distribution of Caucasian populations of non-biting midges between Europe and Siberia. Their observations also proved some interesting morphological distinctions between the studied populations and the previously researched ones from Europe and Siberia. Their results have been published in the open-access journal Comparative Cytogenetics.

The study on karyotypical and morphological peculiarities of Ch. bernensis is a part of the investigation of the fauna and distribution of non-biting midges in the Northern Caucasus.

“Non-biting midges is a very interesting group of insects,” said Dr. Karmokov, senior staff scientist in Tembotov Institute of Ecology of Mountain territories. “The fauna and distribution of many species are still almost unknown. We investigated the species Ch. bernensis of the genus Chironomus, observed by us in northern Caucasus for the first time. We found interesting distinctions in the morphology of the mouthparts of larvae, as well as new, not previously known for this species, rearrangement in the second chromosome.”

The genus Chironomus is one of the most well-studied groups of non-biting midges. It consists of over 200 species. Dr. Karmokov explained that on comparing the populations from Caucasus with the already studied ones from Europe and Siberia, they found similarities between the Caucasian and the European. However, the former was occupying a special intermediate location, which might indicate a fairly large degree of isolation.

“The dominance of different genotypic combinations at various sites of the Caucasus probably can be explained by the fact that in some areas some combinations can be more adaptive than the others,” the scientists suggest. “Perhaps this is happening due to a different level of mineralization, temperature and degree of eutrophication in the different collection sites.”

Although the research team points out that more researches are needed for more specific information to be obtained, they propose that the geographical location of the studied regions reflects the true course of the species’ settlement (either from west to east or from east to west). Dr. Karmokov conducted the current study with the help of Dr. Polukonova and Dr. Sinichkina from Saratov State Medical University named after V.I. Razumovsky.

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Original source:

Karmokov MKh, Polukonova NV, Sinichkina OV (2015) Karyotype characteristics and polymorphism peculiarities of Chironomus bernensis Wülker & Klötzli, 1973 (Diptera, Chironomidae) from the Central Caucasus and Ciscaucasia. Comparative Cytogenetics 9(3): 281-297. doi: 10.3897/CompCytogen.v9i3.4519

A team of scientists, led by Dr. Tremaine Gregory from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, worked with a pipeline construction company to preserve the branches of large trees that connected over the pipeline clearing forming natural canopy bridges in the Lower Urubamba Region of Peru. For a year, the researchers used camera traps in the bridges to monitor their use, and it didn’t take long for an unexpected animal to appear in the photographs: a tiny porcupine weighing just 770g. Curiously, the small mammals appeared to be unable to leap across canopy gaps, choosing only well-connected bridges. The finding was published in the open-access journal ZooKeys, and funding and logistical support for this canopy bridge study were provided by Repsol Exploración Perú.

Similar to a road, a natural gas pipeline clearing in the tropical forest presents a problem for arboreal animals, like monkeys, whose paws never touch the ground. They need to either take a chance and dare to cross the clearing on the ground or remain safely in the canopy while losing access to the resources on the other side. The researchers decided to test the utility of a solution to this problem: natural canopy bridges.

“When my colleague, Farah Carrasco-Rueda, and I saw this species for the first time in the camera trap photos, we were confused,” said Dr. Gregory. “The animals were much smaller than the species known to exist in the area, but they didn’t seem to be youngsters.”

Because no dwarf porcupines are known to the region, as the bridge monitoring project came to a close, the researchers opted to collect one individual. After a careful identification process, they determined that the animals belong to a species known to exist only as far south as Iquitos, Peru, 900 km to the north.

The camera trap photos revealed the species not only to be present but also to be quite abundant, with 17 individuals revealed in the photos. This species was described just over a decade ago, and previously, knowledge of the species came from only 5 specimens collected over the past century, while behavioral information could only be deduced from a single live specimen observed. However, in this study, the researchers found camera trapping to be a successful method to study them, with the porcupines even developing an apparent affinity for the cameras.

“At one point we began to have problems with the cameras. When we checked them, we found many of them opened and exposed to the tropical weather. After reviewing the photos, we realized it was the porcupines inadvertently opening them when they came to gnaw on them!”

The behavioral information gathered in this study from over 2,000 camera trap photos provides new insight into the lives of these tiny, spiny creatures.

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Original source:

Gregory T, Lunde D, Zamora-Meza HT, Carrasco-Rueda F (2015) Records of Coendou ichillus(Rodentia, Erethizontidae) from the Lower Urubamba Region of Peru. ZooKeys 509: 109-121. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.509.9821

Researchers Ullmann and Stachowitsch critically review the current state of sea turtle rescue centres and first-aid stations in relation to the mortality trends for two charismatic yet endangered flagship species – the Mediterranean loggerhead and green turtle populations. Their findings were published in the open-access journal Nature Conservation.

The authors emphasise an urgent need for additional and more evenly spread turtle rescue centres and first-aid stations. They also call for improving communication and collaboration among existing centres to form a tightly knit rescue network spanning the entire Mediterranean.

The research team points out that while countries such as Italy, Greece and Spain have a fair number of rescue centres and first-aid stations, others have no facilities at all. For a number of countries no official data on this issue were available.

Sea turtles are highly migratory by nature and face a range of human-induced threats at sea and on land.A disturbing fact, featured in the review, is a bycatch rate of up to 200,000 loggerheads per year, leading to more than 50,000 deaths through direct interaction alone. The authors point out that because sea turtles grow slowly and reach sexual maturity late in their lives, every adult is extremely important.

This is precisely where the role of rescue centers grasps: every rescued individual counts. The research team provides a list of over 40 rescue institutions with contact details as a starting point for a common online database to connect existing centres and to inform potential volunteers where their valuable help is most needed.

“Proposals similar to ours have been previously advanced. The Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas, for example, has suggested building a Mediterranean-wide rescue network, but unfortunately it has never been realized in the envisioned scope.” commented Ullmann from the Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway. “With the current worrying trends, however, action should not be delayed until further evidence has been collected. A functioning network of sea turtle rescue centers would be a good first step in this direction.”