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Gorgonians are a type of soft corals easily distinguishable by the complex branching shape, which has also probably inspired their name, coming from the Gorgon Medusa- a creature from the Greek mythology that had hair made of venomous snakes. The existence of Medusa outside myth might be debatable, but gorgonian corals do exist and decorate our ocean with complex patterns and vibrant colors.

A recent study in the open access journal Zookeys reveals two new species of these beautiful soft coral species, discovered in the waters of the Pacific. The two new species belong to the gorgoniid genus Eugorgia, which is exclusively found in the eastern Pacific. It has a wide geographic and bathymetric range of distribution, found from California to Peru and extends down to 65 m deep.

The genus Eugorgia is recognised for their vibrant colored colonies decorating the ocean bottom. The white color has been reported only for one species, Eugorgia alba, but this research adds two more pale representatives within the genus. Both new species E. beebei and E. mutabilis are characterized by pure white color, with the only difference that the latter changes coloration to pale pink and later to a pale gray, when taken out of water.

“These new species increases the number of species in the genus to 15.”, comments Dr. Breedy, Universidad de Costa Rica, “This is an important contribution to the knowledge of the eastern Pacific octocoral biodiversity.”

Original Source:

Breedy O, Williams GC, Guzman HM (2013) Two new species of gorgonian octocorals from the Tropical Eastern Pacific Biogeographic Region (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Gorgoniidae). ZooKeys 350: 75. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.350.6117

Sea level rise caused by global warming can prove extremely destructive to island habitats, which hold about 20% of the world’s biodiversity. Research by C. Bellard, C. Leclerc and F. Courchamp of the University of Paris Sud look at 3 possible scenarios, from optimistic to very pessimistic, to bring attention to the dangers in store for some of the richest biodiversity hotspots worldwide. The study was published in the open access journal Nature Conservation.

Despite climate change having received considerable attention in recent years, no global assessment of the consequences of sea rising is available for island ecosystems. Yet those are amongst the regions most vulnerable to potential sea level rise, which in their case would cause a direct reduction of habitat.

Several recent studies strongly suggest that sea levels will rise substantially until the end of the century, with estimates ranging from 0.5 m to 2.3 m increase. Worst case scenarios of ice sheet melting and sliding lead to estimates of sea-level rise of the worrying 4 to 6 m. Such increases could lead to the immersion of very large proportions of many islands with low elevation. In many cases, sea level rise may lead to their total submersion, wiping out completely self-contained ecosystems and their inhabitants .

The study uses the 1,269 islands from different areas that France harbored, out of which, New Caledonia and French Polynesia are found to be the most vulnerable to sea level rise. The French maritime domain is ranked as the second most important in the world, these islands in total holding a large proportion of the world’s biodiversity. Research shows that 5% of the number of islands could be permanently inundated under an increase of sea level by 1 meter. This figure dramatically rises to 8% and 11%, in the more pessimistic scenarios, respectively, for 2 and 3 meters of sea level rise. Assuming that French islands are representative of worldwide islands, roughly 10,800 islands could be entirely lost in the 1 meter scenario, the most optimistic one.

For the New Caledonia hotspot, under the worst scenario, up to 6.8 % of the islands could be half submerged. Speaking in terms of biodiversity loss, this indicates endemic plant species that are already at risk of extinction will be the most vulnerable to sea level rise.

“Losses of insular habitats will thus be relatively important in the future, probably leading to a major impoverishment of insular biodiversity. Given the implications of these results, decision makers are required to define island conservation priorities that accounts for sea level rise following climate change.”comments the lead author Dr. C. Bellard.

Original Source:

Bellard C, Leclerc C, Courchamp F (2013) Potential impact of sea level rise on French islands worldwide. Nature Conservation 5: 75. doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.5.5533

Additional information:

This work was funded by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR).

Life history traits are the basic ecological descriptors of a species. These include physical traits, such as body mass and physiological traits, such as reproductive rate. Ecologists have investigated the variation in life history traits and their role in determining the response of species to changing conditions, such as climate change, as well as to anthropogenic stressors.

Generation length is one of the most studied among such traits. It represents the age at which half of total reproductive output is achieved by an individual. It is a fundamental piece of information for population ecology, as well as conservation biology, since it is commonly used as a time reference when measuring species extinction risk. Nonetheless, such an important variable is often hard to calculate due to the paucity of detailed reproductive data, even for well-studied groups such as mammals.

A recent paper published in the open access journal Nature Conservation provides the first comprehensive attempt to complete a database of generation lengths for all extant mammals. This database represents an essential reference point for ecological and conservation-related studies that need pragmatic information on species generation length. Additionally, the work provides a methodology for calculating generation length for species when direct information is not available. This can be easily expanded to other taxonomic groups, thus contributing to the improvement of an enhanced toolkit available for extinction risk assessments, especially in the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The database on generation lengths was developed by the Global Mammal Assessment team at University Sapienza of Rome (Italy). The lab is a partner of the IUCN Red List, the most complete system operating for the assessments of species extinction risks (built on the contributions of thousands of experts worldwide). The IUCN Red List database served as a basis for the development of the mammal generation length dataset.

The database contains data on generation length for 5427 mammal species as well as data on adult body mass, maximum longevity, reproductive life span and age at first reproduction. The source of each piece of information provided is accurately documented.

Original source:

Pacifici M, Santini L, Di Marco M, Baisero D, Francucci L, Grottolo Marasini G, Visconti P, Rondinini C (2013) Generation length for mammals. Nature Conservation 5: 87. doi:10.3897/natureconservation.5.5734 Resource ID: Dryad key: 10.5061/dryad.2jd88

 
Additional information:

Pacifici M, Santini L, Di Marco M, Baisero D, Francucci L, Grottolo Marasini G, Visconti P, Rondinini C (2013) Database on generation length of mammals. 5427 data records. Online athttp://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gd0m3, version 1.0 (last updated on 2013-08-27), Resource ID: 10.5061/dryad.2jd88, Data Paper ID: doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.5.5734

Scientists discover and describe a new species of scorpion, Euscorpius lycius, coming from the area of ancient Lycia, nowadays the regions of the Muğla and Antalya Provinces in Southwestern Turkey. With the new discovery, the scorpions from this genus found in the country go up to a total of five known species. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Euscorpius is a genus of scorpions, commonly called small wood-scorpions. As their name suggest these scorpions don’t impress with a large size, the biggest representative being around 5 cm long. The group is widespread in North Africa and across Europe. Euscorpius scorpions are relatively harmless, with poison that has effects similar to a mosquito bite.

The new species is named after the historical region of Ancient Lycia, which is referenced in Egyptian and Ancient Greek myths. Like the mystical history of the region the new species is rather secretive and can be found mainly in pine at night hidden away in pine forests, crawling on rocks or sitting on stone garden walls. All localities where the species was found were humid and cool, with calcareous stones covered with moss.

The new scorpion is a relatively small representative, reaching a size ranging between two and two and a half centimeters. The color of the adult representatives is pale, between brown and reddish, with pedipalps, or claws, usually darker than the rest of the body.

“A total of 26 specimens belonging to the new species were collected from Antalya and Muğla Province, in the south-west of Turkey.” explains Dr. Yağmur, the lead author of the study. “Further studies are in progress to understand the quantity and distribution of the different species and populations of the genus Euscorpius in Turkey and their relationship with the Greek populations.”

Original Source:

Yağmur EA, Tropea G, Yeşilyurt F (2013) A new species of Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Scorpiones, Euscorpiidae) from south western Turkey. ZooKeys348: 29. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.348.5943

A joint research led by the Smithsonian Institution (US), Saint Louis University (US) and Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela) resulted in the discovery of an exciting new species from the daisy family. The two expeditions in the paramos high up in the Venezuelan Andes were crowned by the discovery of the beautiful and extraordinary, Coespeletia palustris. The study was published in the open access journal Phytokeys.

The species of the genus Coespeletia are typical for high elevations and six of seven described species in total are endemic to the heights of the Venezuelan Andes; the 7th species comes from northern Colombia, but needs further revision according to the authors of the study. Most of the species are restricted to very high elevations, in a range between 3800–4800 m. The specifics of such habitat are believed to be the reason behind the peculiar and unrepeated pollen characteristics of the genus.

This new species Coespeletia palustris, is found in a few marshy areas of the paramo, and is endemic to the Venezuelan Andes. Páramo can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems, and is often described with its geographical confinements in the Andes. The páramo is the ecosystem of the regions above the continuous forest line, yet below the permanent snowline.

“Even after decades of studies and collections in the paramos, numerous localities remain unstudied.” explains Dr. Mauricio Diazgranados. “The new species described in this paper is called “palustris” because of the marshy habitat in which it grows. High elevation marshes and wetlands are among the ecosystems which are most impacted by climate change. Therefore this species may be at a certain risk of extinction as well.”

Original Source:

Diazgranados M, Morillo G (2013) A new species of Coespeletia (Asteraceae, Millerieae) from Venezuela. PhytoKeys28: 9–18. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.28.6378

Costa Rica reveals astonishing biodiversity of braconid wasps, with 277 new species of the tribe Heterospilini described in the latest special issue of the open access journal ZooKeys.

This is the second part of an extensive two-part study of the braconid subfamily Doryctinae from Costa Rica, the first part published In this part, the authors Paul M. Marsh, and Alexander L. Wild and James B. Whitfield, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, describe a total of 286 species of wasps within the tribe, but reveal a possibility of additional 50-100 species to be added to the counts.

“If the numerous unplaced species in the unsorted specimens we have looked at are added to the above figures, the enormous diversity of this genus in such a small locality becomes obvious.” explains Dr Marsh. “We estimate that perhaps another 50-100 species could be added to the total to contribute to the astonishing biodiversity of Costa Rica.”

This study is remarkable in one more way, being the first large monograph incorporating hundreds of species to be automatically registered on ZooBank as a part of an innovative workflow implemented for the first time in zoology by ZooKeys. Why is this important? The automated registration saves many hours of manual work and reduces the risks of human mistakes in the data transfer.

The braconid family, to which the tribe described belongs, is a large and diverse group of parasitoid wasps. There are approximately 17,000 recognized species and many thousands more undescribed. Most braconids are internal and external parasitoids on other insects, especially upon the larval stages of beetles, flies and moths.

Parasitoid wasps often present some of the most extraordinary and morbid techniques to ensure larval survival within the host. Some harbor and introduce into the host specific viruses for compromising host immune defenses. The DNA of the wasp actually contains portions that are the templates for the components of the viral particles and they are assembled in an organ in the female’s abdomen known as the calyx. Members of two subfamilies, Mesostoinae and Doryctinae, to which the tribe described belongs, are known to form galls on plants.

Original Source:

Marsh PM, Wild AL, Whitfield JB (2013) The Doryctinae (Braconidae) of Costa Rica: genera and species of the tribe Heterospilini. ZooKeys 347: 1. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.347.6002

Zookeys, the first zoological journal to introduce automatic registration in ZooBank

The latest issue of ZooKeys – no. 346 – has been automatically registered in ZooBank on its day of publication last Friday. This marks the successful deployment of an automated registration-to-publication pipeline for taxonomic names for animals. The innovative workflow was jointly funded by the EU FP7 funded project pro-iBiosphere and a U.S. National Science Foundation project to develop the Global Names Architecture (DBI-1062441).

The process of post-publication recording and indexing of species names has a long tradition, in some cases dating as far back as the middle of 19th century. But now in the 21st century with the advance of modern technologies and the opportunity to publish taxonomic novelties online, the process of post-publication recording brought into focus the concept of automated pre-publication registration.

Why is this important? The proportion of ‘turbo-taxonomic’ papers describing hundreds of new species increases. Registration of hundreds of new species is an issue, however it is even more important that the final publication data of the pre-registered names are reported back to ZooBank on the day of publication.

Launched as an open access peer reviewed journal in 2008, to coincide and adopt from inception the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature changes for electronic publications, ZooKeys was the first journal to provide a mandatory in-house registration in ZooBank. Since 2008, it has contributed about one third of all names currently registered in ZooBank. With the adoption of the automated ZooBank registration, ZooKeyscontinues its mission to set novel trends in biodiversity publishing.

Implementation of automated workflows and invention of XML-based tools will facilitate the process of publication and dissemination of biodiversity information. It will pave the way for unification and streamlining the registration process, even more to building the next-generation e-infrastructure for a common global taxon names registry. Within the pro-iBiosphere project and in cooperation with Plazi that have created the TaxPub XML schema, an automated registration workflow for plants has already been established between the International Plant Names Index (IPNI) and the PhytoKeys journal, to be applied soon also for fungi between Index Fungorum and the journal MycoKeys.

Contact:

Dr. Richard Pyle
Bishop Museum, Honolulu
deepreef@bishopmuseum.org

An improved and expanded nomenclature for genetic sequences is introduced that corresponds with a ranking of the reliability of the taxonomic identification of the source specimens. This nomenclature is an advancement of the “Genetypes” naming system, which some have been reluctant to adopt because of the use of the “type” suffix in the terminology. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.

The use of genetic sequences has been increasing with each passing year but unfortunately, the separation between voucher specimens and genetic sequences is similarly growing. With increasing frequency, the link between the genetic sequences being used in analyses and the organisms from which they came is not being reported. The taxonomic determination remains solely the responsibility of the submitter of the sequences. Erroneous identifications are difficult to discover, and the perpetuation of the error in subsequent uses of the sequence data is nearly impossible to stop.

In the new nomenclature, genetic sequences are labeled “genseq,” followed by a reliability ranking (e.g., 1 if the sequence is from a primary type), followed by the name of the genes from which the sequences were derived (e.g., genseq-1 16S, COI). The numbered suffix provides an indication of the likely reliability of taxonomic identification of the voucher. Included in this ranking system, in descending order of taxonomic reliability, are the following: sequences from primary types – “genseq-1,” secondary types – “genseq-2,” collection-vouchered topotypes – “genseq-3,” collection-vouchered non-types – “genseq-4,” and non-types that lack specimen vouchers but have photo vouchers – “genseq-5.”

To demonstrate use of the new nomenclature, the authors of the study review recently published news species descriptions in the ichthyological literature that include DNA data and apply the GenSeq nomenclature to sequences referenced in those publications.

“Use of the new nomenclature and ranking system will improve integration of molecular phylogenetics and biological taxonomy and enhance the ability of researchers to assess the reliability of sequence data.”explains one of the authors Dr. Prosanta Chakrabarty, Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University. “We further encourage authors to update sequence information on databases such as GenBank whenever nomenclatural changes are made.”

Original Source:

Chakrabarty P, Warren M, Page LM, Baldwin CC (2013) GenSeq: An updated nomenclature and ranking for genetic sequences from type and non-type sources. ZooKeys 346: 29–41. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.346.5753

The supposedly widespread and variable Australasian liverwort species Radula buccinifera is nothing of the kind. The species was described in 1844, and reported for New Zealand in 1855. It has gone on to be the most commonly collected species in both countries, yet it doesn’t even occur in New Zealand, according to results of research led by Dr Matt Renner at Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust.

Molecular and morphological evidence show that what was thought to be one species of leafy liverwort from Australia and New Zealand is in fact eight different species, and five of these are new to science. The study was published in the open access journal PhytoKeys.

The species is an Australian endemic restricted to the wetter parts of the south-east of the country. Records from the tropics are referable to other species, two of which are found only there. Another two species are endemic to Australia, and a third is shared between Australia and New Zealand. The species may have been confused because many appear similar, and are variable so overlap in form.

Better understanding of species diversity has implications for studies of biogeography, in that this ‘widespread species’ is actually a complex of geographically restricted species. Liverworts also contain many bioactive compounds, which exhibit a range of activity including anti-microbial and anti-retroviral properties, and the greater the recognized species diversity the greater the pool of potentially useful molecules.

“There may be no direct application of this research unless you are identifying liverworts, but direct application is only one kind of benefit, and solid taxonomic studies have many, the least of which is that we learn what is out there in the world around us.” comments the lead author Dr. Matt Renner.

Original Source:

Renner MAM, Devos N, Patiño J, Brown EA, Orme A, Elgey M, Wilson TC, Gray LJ, von Konrat MJ (2013) Integrative taxonomy resolves the cryptic and pseudo-cryptic Radula bucciniferacomplex (Porellales, Jungermanniopsida), including two reinstated and five new species. PhytoKeys 27: 1–113. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.27.5523

A specimen preserved in a jar of alcohol in The Natural History Museum, London has remained the only record of the Mortlock Islands flying fox, one of the least known bat species on the planet, for over 140 years. That is until now. A team of bat biologists led by Dr. Don Buden from the College of Micronesia has collected new information about this “forgotten” species, and studied it in the wild for the first time. The study is reported today in the open access journal ZooKeys.

The original London specimen was collected in 1870 from the remote Mortlock Islands, a series of low-lying atolls and part of the Federated States of Micronesia in the west-central Pacific Ocean. British biologist Oldfield Thomas used this specimen to name the species Pteropus phaeocephalus in 1882. However, information uncovered by Dr. Buden proves that a German naturalist, voyaging on a Russian Expedition, got there first.

“We found a report written by F.H. Kittlitz in 1836 describing his expedition to the Pacific Islands in the late 1820s. In that report he describes the flying-foxes of the Mortlocks and names them Pteropus pelagicus. This means the species was named long before Thomas’s description in 1882.” said Buden.

According to internationally established rules for naming animals, the earliest available scientific name of a species must be officially adopted, so the Mortlock Islands flying fox is now correctly known as Pteropus pelagicus. Not only does Kittlitz correctly deserve credit for the discovery of the species, 50 years earlier than previously thought, but he can also be now credited for the “new” name. Furthermore, Buden and colleagues demonstrated that flying foxes from the nearby islands of Chuuk Lagoon, long regarded as a separate species (Pteropus insularis), are also best regarded as a subspecies of Pteropus pelagicus, showing that the species has a wider geographic distribution than previously realized.

New fieldwork in the Mortlock Islands revealed more than name changes. The ZooKeys article describes the first study of the behavior, diet, and conservation status of this flying fox, finding that the Mortlock Islands support a small population of 900 to 1200 bats scattered across a land surface of only 12 km² (4.6 square miles). Legal rules have brought better protection to the species, which was once heavily hunted. But the future of the species is still uncertain in its island home. Rising sea levels, generated by climate change, threaten the flying foxes’ habitat and food resources through flooding, erosion, and contamination of freshwater supplies.

“This remarkable study shows how much we have to learn about Pacific Islands mammals. “said Prof. Tim Flannery of Macquarie University in Sydney, who was not involved in the research. “Where there was darkness, Dr. Buden and colleagues have shed light.”

Co-authors of the ZooKeys study included Dr. Kristofer Helgen of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and Gary Wiles of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington State.

 

Original source:

Buden DW, Helgen KM, Wiles GJ (2013) Taxonomy, distribution, and natural history of flying foxes (Chiroptera, Pteropodidae) in the Mortlock Islands and Chuuk State, Caroline Islands. ZooKeys 345: 97. doi:10.3897/zookeys.345.5840