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Ten subsocial cobweb spider species were discovered in a research on nearly 400 Madagascan colonies, conducted by Dr. Agnarsson’s team. Most of them are single forest endemics and belong to one genus, Anelosimus.

The number of newly found species in an otherwise ongoingly deforested area such as Madagascar triggers the need for additional samplings, the research team point out.

In their report the scientists also stress on the fact that the extraordinary biodiversity there is still “mostly unexplored and undescribed” in terms of “many arthropod groups, such as spiders.” The California Academy of Sciences is one of the few institutions to have thoroughly looked into Madagascan spider research.

Curiously, five of the new species bare the names of the staple figures within the field of evolutionary biology: Wallace, Huxley, Buffon, Hooker and Lamarck. The Anelosimus darwini derives its name from the father of evolutionary biology Charles Darwin himself.

Yet, another one out of the ten species, Anelosimus moramora, got its name from the Madagascan motto ‘no rush’ or ‘take it easy.’

Dr. Agnarsson led the research in the biodiversity hotspot of Madagascar on behalf of both the University of Vermont’s Biology department and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The study can be found in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

Researchers from the California Academy of Sciences (Rick Overson and Brian Fisher) have described six new species of strange subterranean ants from the genus Prionopelta in Madagascar and Seychelles.

Members of the ant genus Prionopelta are fierce, social predators that hunt down their prey with dagger-like teeth. These ants live throughout the tropics of the world, but usually go completely unnoticed for two main reasons.

Firstly, they are tiny. The smallest of the newly described species makes a fruit fly look huge. At 1.5 mm in length and 0.2 mm wide it is a barely visible fleck, skinnier even than the diameter of some single-celled protozoa.

Secondly, they lead an extremely cryptic lifestyle. Unlike many ants that are seen marching around at picnics, Prionopelta are either subterranean or live deep within leaf litter on the rainforest floor – some never catch a glimpse of sunlight their entire lives.

In keeping with their dark and mysterious habits, Prionopelta are part of a larger group of ants that have been dubbed Dracula ants by Fisher, as they are known to engage in the strange behavior of wounding the young of the colony and drinking their blood–more correctly called hemolymph in insects–as a bizarre means of distributing nutrients throughout the colony.

All of the newly described species of Prionopelta are endemic to the Malagasy region: six from Madagascar and one known only from the islands of Seychelles. This investigation increases the total number of species in the genus from 15 to 21, and highlights Madagascar as a major center of diversity for these fascinating insects. Previously, only one species was known from Madagascar which was described in 1924.

The new discoveries are a result of intensive sampling for over a decade by Fisher and members of the Madagascar Biodiversity Center. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

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Original source:

Overson R & Fisher BL (2015) Taxonomic revision of the genus Prionopelta (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in the Malagasy region. In: ZooKeys 507: 115-150. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.507.9303

Other references:

Ito F & Billen J (1998) Larval hemolymph feeding and oophagy: behavior of queen and workers in the primitive ponerine ant Prionopelta kraepelini (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). In: Société royale zoologique de Belgique 128: 201-209

Masuko K, (1986) Larval hemolymph feeding: a non-destructive parental cannibalism in the primitive ant Amblyopone silvestrii Wheeler (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). In: Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 19: 249-255

Inspired by the discovery of more than 1000 eriophyoid mite species in China so far, Dr. Ji Wei Li and his team collected mites from four different areas across the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. A consecutive study of the samples proved the existence of three new mite species all from separate genera. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

All new species come from representatives of the rose family Rosaceae. Interestingly, one of the new mites is also the first ever representative of the genus Paracolomerus found to inhabit a Rosaceae plant.

Eriophyoid mites are so tiny that they are invisible to the naked human eye. Nevertheless, they are recognized as important pests in agriculture and forestry all over the world. They can induce plant malformations such as galls and disturb the normal growth of plants by piercing their cells with saliva.

About half of the eriophyoid mites, however, don’t cause any apparent damage to their hosts.

Such is the case with the newly discovered three species. The mites were found to infest the undersurface of the leaves of two species of flowering plants (Rosa beggeriana and Cotoneaster ignavus), without causing any apparent damage to the host.

The collected type specimens are now being kept at the Department of Plant Protection, Shihezi University, China.

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Original source:

Li J-W, Wang Z-H, Xue X-F, Zhang J-P (2015) Three new species of eriophyoid mites (Acari, Eriophyoidea) from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. ZooKeys 508: 97-111. doi:10.3897/zookeys.508.8940

Revisiting original types and DNA analysis exposed hidden diversity in minute non-biting midges. Two species new to science were discovered and one misapprehended species was removed by following the traces back to the source in Brussels. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

“Nobody suspected a mystery until we solved it”, says Elisabeth Stur, the senior author of the paper describing the misconception. – “Maybe even some will be upset that we discovered this long lasting misidentification”.

It all started with Elisabeth Stur and Torbjørn Ekrem from the NTNU University Museumstarted to look at type material of species in the genus Gymnometriocnemus to put correct names on their Norwegian specimens. These were vouchers for DNA barcodes in the Barcode of Life Data Systems, thus correct identification was important.

“We were surprised to find that the types of one species was not at all what it was supposed to be according to current belief”, Stur says. – “They belonged to a quite different genus, but previous revisers never checked the types”. Thus, a completely wrong understanding of the species was commonly accepted among entomologists working with midges.

As a result of their investigation and DNA barcoding of midges collected through the Norwegian Taxonomy Initiative, two species new to science were also discovered.

There is little information about bee populations in Alaska, where native bee pollination is critical to the maintenance of subarctic ecosystems. A team from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the USDA have now completed a two-year study on bumble bees in agricultural areas in the region. The research was published in the Biodiversity Data Journal.

Pollination is one of the most fundamental processes sustaining agricultural production and natural ecosystems. While decrease in bee populations is a common concern, most press coverage has been directed towards Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD. This is a phenomenon that affects commercially managed honeybees.

However, wild native pollinators, such as bumble bees, are perhaps even more important for the crops.

Alaskan bumble bees, for example, are so well adapted to their environment that they have been observed in temperatures as cold as -3.6°C during snowfall, during the night, and above the tree line. Many of the berries, nuts, and seeds consumed by birds, mammals, and other insects are also a result of bumble bee pollination of native woody and herbaceous plants.

There is a real need to monitor bumble bee populations in North America to assess how their populations are faring and if conservation actions are needed. Alaska, the last frontier, is no exception.

The new survey represents the first multi-year study on bumble bees from the main agricultural areas of Alaska to provide baseline data on species composition, distribution, seasonal biology, and parasites of the bumble bee genus Bombus

Disturbing trends have been identified in populations of the western bumble bee, Bombus occidentalis. Once considered to be one of the most common west coast bumble bee species, it is now declining in the Pacific Northwest. In Alaska, however, it was collected from all three sites and represented roughly 10% of the total specimens, suggesting that B. occidentalis is a relatively abundant species in the areas studied.

Unfortunately, B. occidentalis specimens tested positive for Nosema – a microsporidian parasite linked to recent catastrophic declines throughout North America in the western bumble bee. Social parasites as well as nematodes were also documented in our survey.

“This report provides baseline data needed to help understand reported patterns of bumble bee declines in North America,” explains the lead author Dr. Rehanon Pampell. “Additional research is needed to better understand the biology, geographical distribution, contribution of bumble bees to Alaska agriculture, and the possible effects of endo- and social parasites on bumble bees in the state,” she insisted.

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Additional Information:

Funding for this research was provided by the United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service, Subarctic Agricultural Research Unit.

Original source:

Pampell R, Sikes D, Pantoja A, Holloway P, Knight C, Ranft R (2015) Bumble Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus spp.) of Interior Alaska: Species Composition, Distribution, Seasonal Biology, and Parasites. Biodiversity Data Journal 3: e5085. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.3.e5085

A team of researchers from Brazil and Canada has found a South American example of interactions between a group of flies and the mushrooms they feed on as larvae. Though this group of flies has more than 1,100 species known from South and Central America, this is the first report of a species from the family being reared from, and associated with, a host fungus from the South America. The study was published in the open access journal Biodiversity Data Journal.

Even with the large amount of recent research on South American biodiversity, there are still large areas of study that remain unexplored. The natural history and diversity of the mushroom eating fauna (i.e., fungivores) in the region falls into this category.

“Unlike in places like Europe, there has been very little exploration of the fungi inhabiting animals of South America” says Chris Borkent, Postdoctoral researcher at the California State Collection of Arthropods, Sacramento, CA.

Mushrooms and other forms of fungi represent a short-lived shifting habitat that must be quickly found and exploited by the organisms that use them. However, we have very little understanding of how these animals find and use the mushrooms, and what the diversity of this miniature ecosystem is.

One important group of fungal feeder are the fungus gnats, a group of ~4500 species of small flies whose larvae infest mushrooms the world over. These larvae serve in turn as the prey for various other animals, as well as hosts for a suite of parasites and parasitoids.

“We were able to successfully rear a species of fungus gnat from two different mushroom species in Brazil” states Sarah Oliveira, Professor at the Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil.

This also allowed the different life stages to be studied, providing insights into how this species feeds and goes through its metamorphosis.

“Due to these promising first results we are actively collecting other mushrooms and rearing out the larvae within” says Oliveira. “We have already found several records of different species and are planning to continue this effort in order to make linkages between different groups of fungus gnats and mushrooms.”

The dynamics of modern forests are deeply dependent on the life and activity of the fungi and their associated ecosystem.

“In the long run”, mentions Dalton de Souza Amorim, Senior Professor at the Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, “understanding the evolution of the relationships between fungus-gnats (and other fungivores) and the fungi themselves helps us understand the evolution of temperate and tropical forests over the last 145 million years..”

The future of mushroom ecosystem study in South America is wide open for exploration!

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Original source:

Oliveira S, Albertoni F, Borkent C, Amorim D (2015) First record of Neoempheria Osten Sacken (Diptera, Mycetophilidae) biology in the Neotropical region, with associations between its larvae and fungi. Biodiversity Data Journal 3: e5073. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.3.e5073

A new research paper published in the open access journal ZooKeys reports on a discovery made during a Los Angeles class fieldtrip — a new species of marine pillbug (Crustacea: Isopoda). While documenting that new species, a second new species of pillbug originally collected 142 years ago by biologists on a wooden sailing ship in Alaska was discovered in a collection room at theNatural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) by researchers Adam Wall and Dr. Regina Wetzer.

The Los Angeles discovery was made during a Loyola Marymount University field trip for an invertebrate zoology lab course taught by NHM researcher Dean Pentcheff. The new species wasn’t discovered in one of California’s pristine Marine Protected Areas, but a dirty, little, rocky beach at the very southernmost tip of the city of Los Angeles — less than a mile from the busiest port in America. “We discovered it clutching on for dear life to one of the five arms of a common sea star,” said Pentcheff. “As soon as we saw this bumpy little guy, we knew it was something special that the researchers at NHM had to see, but my class and I had no idea we were looking at a new species.”

This newly discovered marine pillbug (or isopod, as it is known to biologists) is directly related to the terrestrial pillbugs found in backyards. Despite their misleading common name, all pillbugs (including the ones in your backyard) are not insects at all. They are crustaceans specially adapted for living on dry land. Pentcheff knew the strange looking animal was an isopod but needed help learning more. He handed the specimen off to world isopod experts Dr. Regina Wetzer, Associate Curator and Director of the Marine Biodiversity Center, and Adam Wall, Assistant Collections Manager for Crustacea at NHM.

“Once we got the specimen to the Museum, we knew it was something unusual. But it was so small that we couldn’t just use a normal light microscope to study it. We had to use a scanning electron microscope,” said Adam Wall, lead author of the scientific paper describing the new discovery.

“It is amazing to think that you can discover a new species in one of the most urban places in the world like the Port of Los Angeles,” says Wall. “What is even better is that it wasn’t an older guy wearing a white lab coat or a marine biologist in SCUBA gear that discovered it. It was a group of college students and their teacher in a regular college class — true citizen scientists,” said Wall.

The surprises didn’t stop there. While comparing the new species to specimens in the NHM Crustacea collection, as well as other collections from around the world, Wall and Wetzer discovered a second new species that had been preserved, unrecognized, for over a century. “It was really exciting to discover a new species that had just been hiding in a collection room for 142 years, waiting for someone to come along and realize it was a new species,” said Wall. “NHM’s Crustacea collection is the fourth largest in the world, with millions of specimens in it. There are more new species in it, waiting to be discovered.”

“One of the best things about discovering a new species is you get to name it. We named the new species from Los Angeles Exosphaeroma pentcheffi in recognition of the amazing teacher who discovered the first specimen. We named the 142-year-old Alaskan species Exosphaeroma paydenae in honor of Joan Payden, a passionate supporter of science at the Museum, whose support made this discovery possible,” said Wall.

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Additional information:

About the Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is a national leader in research, exhibitions and education. The Museum was the first dedicated museum building in Los Angeles, opening its doors in 1913. It has amassed one of the world’s most extensive and valuable collections of natural and cultural history — with more than 35 million objects, some as old as 4.5 billion years. For more information, visit the Museum’s website at http://www.nhm.org or call (213) 763-DINO.

Original Source:

Wall AR, Bruce NL, Wetzer R (2015) Status of Exosphaeroma amplicauda (Stimpson, 1857), E. aphrodita (Boone, 1923) and description of three new species (Crustacea, Isopoda, Sphaeromatidae) from the north-eastern Pacific. ZooKeys 504: 11-58. doi:10.3897/zookeys.504.8049

An international team of scientists have discovered a new species of typhlogammarid amphipod in the limestone karstic caves of Chjalta mountain range – the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus Range. The study was published in the open access journal Subterranean Biology.

The new amphipod, which belongs to the genus Zenkevitchia, is the second species known from this group. This new addition to the genus is named Zenkevitchia yakovi after the famous Russian biospeleologist Prof Yakov Birstein.

Typhlogammarid amphipods are a group blind and unpigmented endemic Balkan-Transcaucasian cavernicole crustaceans, which inhabit subterranean rivers and lakes. Their modern distribution is believed to be the result of marine transgressions of the bygone eras.

Taking into consideration that the first member of Zenkevitchia was described 75 years ago this is still an understudied group of cave animals. Despite their unique morphology featuring “filtration mouth parts”, today we still know nothing about the biology of this relict group of animals.

While most species can be easily differentiated on the basis of morphological analysis, Z. yakovi has no reliable morphological differences with Z. admirabilis and was discovered through sequencing of the barcode region of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) — highlighting the cryptic nature of the new species.

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Original source:

Sidorov DA, Gontcharov AA, Palatov DM, Taylor SJ, Semenchenko AA (2015) Shedding light on a cryptic cavernicole: A second species of Zenkevitchia Birstein (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Typhlogammaridae) discovered via molecular techniques. Subterranean Biology 15: 37-55. doi: 10.3897/subtbiol.15.4872

The spigot for plant discoveries in Madagascar continues to flow steadily, with no signs of slowing down in the near future.

“The number of new plant species from Madagascar continues to be amazingly high”, said Dr. Neil Snow, botanist and Director of the T.M. Sperry Herbarium atPittsburg State University in Kansas.

Working with coauthors Martin Callmander and Pete Phillipson, Snow recently described seventeen new species of Eugeniain the Myrtle family in the journal PhytoKeys(10.3897/phytokeys.49.9003). Callmander and Phillipson, of the Missouri Botanical Garden, teamed up with Snow to provide greater depth to the study, particularly regarding historical collections in Europe, where both are based.

“It’s been great to collaborate with Neil”, commented Callmander and Phillipson.

“Although as many as 100 new species are often described from Madagascar per year across all plant families, Neil’s contribution to our knowledge of the Myrtaceae is really important, especially since most of them have highly restricted ranges and many are threatened.”

With over 1000 species, Eugenia is one of the largest woody plant genera in the world. The seventeen new species join with fifteen others described since 2000 by Snow and colleagues, for a total of 32 out of the 68 currently species of Eugenia in Madagascar.

“In other words, about half of the known Eugenia species in Madagascar have described by botanists only in the past fifteen years”, Snow added. “Describing 17 new species in one plant genus from one country rarely happens these days.”

Even so, 10 or more species of Eugenia remain to be described from Madagascar, judging from dried herbarium specimens that do not match known species.

Among the new species were Eugenia ravelonarivoi and Eugenia razakamalalae, which recognize Désiré Ravelonarivo and Richard Razakamalala. These two Malagasy botanists are prolific plant collectors who gathered many of the specimens cited in the paper. Other species in the paper were named to honor colleagues in the United States and Australia.

Snow was quick to emphasize that other parts of the world also are yielding a steady stream of new plant species in the Myrtle family.

“Colleagues and their collaborators are doing fabulous work in Australia, India, Africa and South America. Many new myrtle species are discovered yearly, particularly in Western Australia and Brazil, the latter of which frequently includes new Eugenia species.”

Snow concluded by commenting that “It is enjoyable research, which is good, because Myrtle specialists have many years of field and lab ahead before we can more fully understand the remarkable richness of this family.”

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Original Source:

Snow N, Callmander MW, Phillipson PB (2015) Studies of Malagasy Eugenia – IV: Seventeen new endemic species, a new combination, and three lectotypifications; with comments on distribution, ecological and evolutionary patterns. PhytoKeys 49: 59-121. doi:10.3897/phytokeys.49.9003