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Following its recent synonymisation with Meloidogyne ulmi, a species known to parasitize elm trees in Europe, it has become clear that M. mali has been in the Netherlands for more than fifty years.

Evidences given by the authors suggest that M. mali was probably introduced during the breeding program on Elms against the Dutch Elm Disease (DED) during which large numbers of Elm rootstocks and seeds were imported from several different countries. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

M. ulmi, the synonym of M. mali, was first described in Italy on the Elm tree species Ulmus Chenmoui. According to this current article, it has also been associated with several other plant species from a survey conducted in the Netherlands. It causes severe galling symptoms on its host, thereby interfering with their water and nutrient uptake from the soil.

On the current distribution of Meloidogyne mali in Europe, the authors speculate it could be found in ten other European countries namely Belgium, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Slovakia and Romania. These were the European countries to which resistant Elm rootstocks were sent at the end of the breeding program.

The first description of M. mali was in Japan and it dates back to 1969, with the type host being apple. Many studies later on associated this nematode species with several plant species including Elms. In Europe, however it was for years only known to parasitize Elms. The trial field, ”Mierenbos”, in Wageningen used for growing the resistant Elm cultivars is completely infested with M. mali, with all the trees showing severe galling symptoms.

During this study, M. mali was tested on some more plant species which were found to be hosts to this nematode species. The authors compounded a list of about 44 different plant species currently recognized as host to M. mali. It is highly probable that this root-knot nematode has even a wider host range than what is known now, and possibly a wider distribution in Europe than where it is currently confined to be (Italy and the Netherlands).

Original source:

Ahmed M, van de Vossenberg BTLH, Cornelisse C, Karssen G (2013) On the species status of the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne ulmi Palmisano & Ambrogioni, 2000 (Nematoda, Meloidogynidae). ZooKeys 362: 1–27. doi:10.3897/zookeys.362.6352

Reliable and cost-effective species recognition is the dream of many scientists, and has important applications. While the use of morphological features is often uncertain, and can lead to misidentification, species identification based on the composition of short DNA sequences -the so-called “DNA barcodes“- has proven to be the safest way to reach this goal, both in animals and in many groups of plants.

Palms belonging to the genus Phoenix, including the economically-important date palm Phoenix dactylifera, i.e. the main fruit crop in North Africa and the Middle East, are amongst the groups of flowering plants characterized by difficulties in species discrimination based on their look. Moreover, given their high interfertility, they can easily hybridize whereas they come into contact, generating even more confusion for palm scientists.

To overcome such an issue, an international team of scientists examined a small region of chloroplast DNA, looking for a potential “barcode” for this group of plants. By screening over 130 palm individuals from 13 out of the 14 species of the genus Phoenix, they found enough variation in the composition of the DNA, to be able to identify correctly eight species out of 13, and more than 82% of the individuals. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

”It’s a very encouraging result.”, said Marco Ballardini, a biologist at that time research assistant at the Consiglio per la Ricerca e la Sperimentazione in Agricoltura (CRA-FSO) in Sanremo, Italy, and first author of this study. ”Finding the appropriate DNA barcode for Phoenix palms has several practical applications, ranging from the conservation of endemic and/or endangered species, like the Canary Island date palm, or the Cretan date palm, to the identification of hybrids having an ornamental value.”

The identification of palm individuals at the species level, as well as the detection of hybrids, can also be very helpful for preserving the genetic characteristics. Consequently, as in the case of date palm, the fruit quality of cultivated stocks, is one of the most interesting returns of this kind of study.

”To achieve a 100% success in identifying Phoenix palms, we have to analyze a few more regions of DNA, especially in the case of closely related species. Moreover, as the chloroplast DNA is inherited only through the maternal lineage, DNA of paternal origin should also be taken into consideration, in order to detect all possible hybrids.”, concluded Ballardini.

Original source:

Ballardini M, Mercuri A, Littardi C, Abbas S, Couderc M, Ludeña B, Pintaud JC (2013) The chloroplast DNA locus psbZ-trnfM as a potential barcode marker in Phoenix L. (Arecaceae). In: Nagy ZT, Backeljau T, De Meyer M, Jordaens K (Eds) DNA barcoding: a practical tool for fundamental and applied biodiversity research. ZooKeys 365: 71–82. doi:10.3897/zookeys.365.5725

The ability to sequence the DNA of plants and animals has revolutionized many areas of biology, but the unstable character of DNA poses difficulties for sequencing specimens in museum collection over time. In an attempt to answer these issues, a recent study of 31 target spider species from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, discovers that both time and body size are significant factors in determining which specimens can produce DNA barcode sequences. The study was published in a special issue of the open access journal ZooKeys.

The specimens contained in the world’s natural history museums are the basis for most of what scientists know about biodiversity. Much like libraries, natural history museums are responsible for the long term preservation of their collections while circulating loans to active scientists. Museum curation techniques were developed over hundreds of years and optimized for anatomical preservation, and are often not ideal for preserving tissues for DNA sequencing.

DNA barcoding is an approach to the study of biodiversity that involves sequencing a standard region from the genome of an unidentified specimen and comparing it to a library of identified reference sequences representing many species. The success of this approach is in part dependent on the completeness of the library of reference sequences. When building such a reference library, specimens must either be freshly collected or taken from an existing collection.

The question addressed in this study is can we predict which specimens in a museum collection are likely to yield a successful DNA barcode sequence? If so, we can optimize our resources, wisely select museum specimens to sequence, and plan fresh collections to supplement. This study focused on Dutch spiders.

31 target species that have been frequently collected in the Netherlands over several decades and deposited in the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden were selected. For each target species, a series of increasingly older specimens was selected and brought to the lab for DNA sequencing. This was supplemented with freshly collected material representing nearly 150 Dutch spider species. The scientists recorded which specimens successfully produced DNA barcode sequences and which failed. They also experimented with DNA extraction techniques.

Typically, DNA extraction begins with the removal of muscle tissue; this is destructive extraction. An alternative approach is to soak the specimen in a solution that releases DNA from cells but does little or no damage to anatomy; this is nondestructive extraction. They found that failure rates for DNA barcode sequencing rise with time since collection, but body size is also a significant factor.

For freshly collected specimens overall, body size is not a predictor of sequencing success or failure. But larger species have a longer DNA barcoding shelf life than smaller species. Nondestructive extraction techniques can significantly improve the chances of obtaining a DNA barcode sequence. Considering only the commonly applied destructive extraction method, small spiders are useful for only a few years while those with a body length of around 3 mm or more have a good chance of yielding a barcode sequence for about 20 years after collection.

But using nondestructive extraction, even small spiders with a body length of 4 mm or less have a good chance of yielding a DNA barcode sequence for about 15 years after collection while spiders above this size can yield barcode sequences for a considerably longer time. The success of nondestructive extraction demonstrated here coupled with the need to preserve museum specimens for a variety of research purposes bodes well for museum collections are source material for DNA barcode libraries.

Original Source:

Miller JA, Beentjes KK, van Helsdingen P, IJland S (2013) Which specimens from a museum collection will yield DNA barcodes? A time series study of spiders in alcohol. In: Nagy ZT, Backeljau T, De Meyer M, Jordaens K (Eds) DNA barcoding: a practical tool for fundamental and applied biodiversity research. ZooKeys 365: 245–261. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.365.5787

Three beautiful new lizards from the Andes of Peru have been delimited and discovered using different lines of evidences by Peruvian and American biologists from San Marcos and Brigham Young universities respectively. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.

These lizards have been “hidden” and confused with other lizards of the same group because of their overall similar appearance. However this study, which includes molecular, ecological and more detailed morphological analyses, has identified them as new species. This research can be seen as an example of a midpoint between, on one extreme, species delimitation studies which rely on expensive molecular data and rarely include descriptions of new species, and at the other extreme, species descriptions that rely on morphology and rarely include more than elementary analyses.

The new study shows that with few resources, multiple different lines of evidence can be integrated to discover new species and provide a basis for more stable scientific names. Species with scientific names are crucial because they become “visible” to national and international governments and organizations devoted to biodiversity conservation. Species delimited but not formally described and without scientific names don’t exist in the real world, and this is an issue of pivotal importance in the Andean, Patagonian, and Neotropical regions of South America.

The new species are named for and dedicated to two different old Andean civilizations, Chavín and Wari, and an Inca ruler, Pachacutec. Liolaemus pachacutec was found above Písac, an Inca ruin built by Pachacutec. Liolaemus chavin was found in an area close to the center of the Chavín culture, where reptiles and other animals were represented in some remarkable artistic expressions. Liolaemus wari was found close to the center of Wari culture, in Ayacucho department, southeastern Peru.

Original Source:

Aguilar C, Wood PL Jr, Cusi JC, Guzmán A, Huari F, Lundberg M, Mortensen E, Ramírez C, Robles D, Suárez J, Ticona A, Vargas VJ, Venegas PJ, Sites JW Jr (2013) Integrative taxonomy and preliminary assessment of species limits in the Liolaemus walkeri complex (Squamata, Liolaemidae) with descriptions of three new species from Peru. ZooKeys 364: 47. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.364.6109

 
Contacts:

César Aguilar
Email: caguilarp@gmail.com

Jack Sites
Email: jack_sites@byu.edu

Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift and Zoosystematics and Evolution join the family of Pensoft journals

Enough has been written and said about “platinum” open access as a step beyond the “green” and “gold” open access models. However, comparatively little has been seen of its practical implementation. On 1 January 2014, two of the oldest German journals in Zoology – Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift and Zoosystematics and Evolution – make a step right into the future by joining the journal publishing platform of Pensoft Publishers and adopting “platinum” open access.

For Pensoft, “platinum” open access means not just that the articles and all associated materials are free to download and that there are no author-side fees but even more so that novel approaches are used in the dissemination and reuse of published content. This publishing model includes:

• Free to read, reuse, revise, remix, redistribute
• Easy to discover and harvest by both humans and computers
• Content automatically harvested by aggregators
• Data and narrative integrated to the widest extent possible
• Community peer-review and rapid publication
• Easy and efficient communication with authors and reviewers
• No author-side fees

Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift and Zoosystematics and Evolution are titles of the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, founded in 1857 as Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift, is one of the oldest entomological journals worldwide, and the oldest one in Germany. It publishes original research papers in English on the systematics, taxonomy, phylogeny, comparative morphology, and biogeography of insects. Having long been indexed by Thomson Reuters’s Web of Science, now the journal will go on the route of innovation with Pensoft.

Zoosystematics and Evolution, formerly Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Zoologische Reihe – is an international, peer-reviewed life science journal devoted to whole-organism biology, that also has a rich history behind itself (established in 1898). It publishes original research and review articles in the field of zoosystematics, evolution, morphology, development and biogeography at all taxonomic levels.

“Innovation is central to how Pensoft sees its role as a publisher. We want to make our articles as widely available and harvestable as possible both for the research community and the wider public. The attractive combination between historical legacy and tradition, advanced publishing technologies of Pensoft and free and open publishing models will ensure for these two authoritative journals a jump right into the future!” said the Managing Director of Pensoft Publishers, Prof. Lyubomir Penev.

“Making published data automatically harvestable by aggregators like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility or the Encyclopedia of Life is the only effective way how such databases can be increased and re-used to generate new knowledge. The Museum für Naturkunde is the first museum transferring its journals to the path of Pensoft Publishers and adapting them to such modern demands. I am excitedly looking forward to leading the Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift on this way.” said the new Editor-in-Chief of the Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, Dominique Zimmermann from the Natural History Museum in Vienna.

Additional Information:

Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity is a research museum within the Leibniz Association. It is one of the most significant research institutions worldwide in biological and geo-scientific research on evolution and biodiversity. Established in 1810, its collections comprise more than 30 million items relating to zoology, palaeontology, geology and mineralogy, which are highly significant for science as well as for the history of science and at the centre of the research performed at the Museum.

Pensoft Publishers specialize in academic and professional book and journal publishing, mostly in the field of biodiversity science and natural history. In 2008, Pensoft launched its first open-access journals named ZooKeys and BioRisk, and since then then it has taken a leadership in introducing innovations in the field of open access. On 16th of September 2013, Pensoft launched the Biodiversity Data Journal (BDJ) and the associated Pensoft Writing Tool (PWT), as the first workflow ever to put together article authoring, community peer-review, publishing and dissemination within a single online collaborative platform.

 

Contacts:

Dominique Zimmermann
Editor-in-Chief of Deutsche Entomologische Zeitshrift
Natural History Museum Vienna
E-mail: dominique.zimmermann@nhm-wien.ac.at

Dr Matthias Glaubrecht
Editor-in-Chief of Zoological Systematics and Evolution
Natural History Museum Berlin
E-mail: Matthias.Glaubrecht@mfn-berlin.de

Dr Lyubomir Penev
Managing Director of Pensoft Publishers
E-mail: penev@pensoft.net

The sweet-gum family Altingiaceae is a small group of wind-pollinated trees that produce hard, woody fruits that contain numerous seeds. This widespread tree family has been puzzling botanists for a while, due to its complicated taxonomic structure, and the morphological similarities between the different genera which makes their separation and description a challenge. Best known for their biogeographic intercontinental disjunction between E Asia and E North America, recent molecular analysis have shown that Altingia and Semiliquidambar are nested within Liquidambar.

A new taxonomic synopsis, published in the open access journal PhytoKeys, formally transfers all Altingia and Semiliquidambar taxa to Liquidambar, which has nomenclatural priority and provides a new analysis including nine new combinations.

Traditionally classified into members with a predominantly temperate distribution (Liquidambar), those with a largely tropical to subtropical distribution (Altingia) are also presented in the new study, including the taxonomic enumeration and distribution of 15 recognized species based on studies of 1,500 specimens from 24 herbaria throughout the distributional range of the taxa.

Despite the difficulties in their taxonomy, sweet gum trees are in fact widely distributed and well known, due to their varied uses by people. They are valued for their high quality timber and they produce fragrant resin (styrax). Some species are also cultivated as ornamentals, while others are locally highly prized for the roots and bark used in traditional Chinese medicine. Some species are local endemics and Liquidambar chingii is listed as near-threatened by the IUCN.

Original Source:

Ickert-Bond SM, Wen J (2013) A taxonomic synopsis of Altingiaceae with nine new combinations. PhytoKeys 31: 21. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.31.6251

A new study provides seventeen records of the cuckoo wasp genus Cleptes from China, nine of which are beautifully coloured new to science species. The study, published in the open access journal ZooKeys, is the first revision of the genus from China, providing morphological data and illustrations.

The revised genus belongs to the engaging cuckoo wasp family Chrysididae. As their common name suggests, these wasps have some peculiar parasitoid nesting habits. Often highly sculptured, with brilliantly colored metallic-like bodies they are also called jewel wasps, gold wasps, or emerald wasps.

Just like the cuckoo the wasps sneak in and lay their eggs in host nests. When hatched the larvae consume the host egg or larva, while they are still young, and after eliminating competition they move onto consuming the provisions. The members of the genus revised are parasitoids of the prepupae of sawflies.

Another interesting survival mechanism of the cuckoo wasps is their ability to curl into a protective ball when in danger, a process known as conglobation. In nature this mechanism is also seen in pill bugs and armadillos.

“Relatively thoroughly studied in Europe and North America, there are only a few and non-systematic studies for Asia. In China, the fauna of Cleptes is still very poorly known. This study is the first revision of the genus there, recognising seventeen species, nine of which are new to science, and marking the road for future studies.” comments Zai-fu Xu, South China Agricultural University.

Original Source:

Wei N-s, Rosa P, XuZ-f (2013) Revision of the Chinese Cleptes (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae) with description of new species. ZooKeys 362: 55–96. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.362.6175

Wasps, bees, ants and relatives comprise the megadiverse insect order Hymenoptera, the third most speciose animal group on Earth, far surpassing the number of known vertebrate species. All the four most diverse orders of animals (beetles, butterflies, wasps, and true flies) belong to the group of insects with complete metamorphosis, i.e. having a dormant pupa, jointly known as Holometabola. Other holometabolans are lacewings, alderflies, dobsonflies, snakeflies, scorpionflies, fleas, and caddisflies. Hymenopterans are currently regarded as a very old lineage, which had been the first to separate from the holometabolan stem, the view supported by molecular evidence.

Eighty years ago the Russian entomologist Andrey Martynov—well known for naming the two major divisions of winged insects Palaeoptera and Neoptera, stressing the importance of the wing folding pattern for insect evolution—suggested that wasps had arisen from snakefly-like ancestors.

New fossils, which are 260–270 million years old, support his view, firmly attaching the wasp lineage to the lacewing (neuropteroid) branch of the holometabolan family tree and dating its origin no earlier than Late Permian. These fossils are the oldest known Megaloptera: alderfly-like Parasialidae, and a newly discovered closely related family Nanosialidae.

Dr. Dmitry Shcherbakov, a fossil insect specialist at the Arthropoda Lab, founded by Martynov at the Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow argues that parasialids gave rise to both wasps and nanonosialids, and the latter became the ancestors of snakeflies. Living alderflies, dobsonflies, and snakeflies represent remnants of the past diversity of archaic neuropteroids, which presumably had diverse lifestyles. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Parasialids were small to medium-sized; nanosialids were minute creatures 3–5 mm long and probably fed on jumping plant lice, common in the same fossil fauna. The earliest wasps, known from the mid-Triassic (about 240 million years ago), were rather small, too. “It appears that, early in their history,” the author says, “the lineages of Megaloptera, Raphidioptera and Hymenoptera experienced miniaturization, which profoundly and irreversibly affected their body structure.”

Original source:

Shcherbakov DE (2013) Permian ancestors of Hymenoptera and Raphidioptera. ZooKeys 358: 45–67. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.358.6289

 

Additional Information:

The study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project 13-04-01839).

Scientists from the Smithsonian Institution describe the Spectacular Guyane False-form beetle, or Guyanemorpha spectabilis, from Guyane (French Guiana). As its name suggests, the newly discovered species stands out among its dull relatives in the Western Hemisphere, with its great size and beautiful coloration. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

“This surprising large and colorful pseudomorphine came as a shock to me, as all other species of the Tribe in the Western Hemisphere are quite dull brown, dark reddish, or blackish with no, or little, color contrast on the upper surface.” explains the author Dr. Terry L. Erwin. “In the world of entomology this new species can be only compared in its rare characteristics to the Olinguito, a new carnivore species which charmed the world and just recently described by Kris Helgen in ZooKeys. ” he added.

The new species belongs to the Pseudomorphini Tribe, famous for the co-existence of its representatives with various ant species. Members of G. spectabilis occur at lowland rainforest sites in French Guiana and are accordingly most likely to live with ants, although at present nothing is known about their way of life.

“The pseudomorphines are a very interesting evolutionary off-shoot of the normal carabid morphotype in both form and function and are only just now beginning to be understood in North America. The fact that species of related genera in South America are living with arboreal ants will make learning about them far more difficult. Insecticidal fogging gets adults of these species, but only tearing apart arboreal Azteca ant nests while suspended in a tree will produce their larvae, and that is not for carabidologists faint of heart.” explains the author Dr. Erwin, and his Intern, Lauren Amundson.

Original Source:

Erwin TL (2013) Beetles that live with ants (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Pseudomorphini): A remarkable new genus and species from Guyane (French Guiana), Guyanemorpha spectabilis gen. n, sp. n.. ZooKeys 358: 11. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.358.6298

Bucknell professor Chris Martine never expected to be working with his mentor on identifying a new wild eggplant in Australia, especially since Martine’s former colleague passed away years ago

Bucknell University biology professor Chris Martine has discovered and described a new species of wild eggplant, found in Australia’s Lost City. Martine, who named the plant Solanum cowiei, recently detailed his findings in the journal PhytoKeys.

Martine described the plant as “gender bending,” and explained that the females actually pretend to be male by producing pollen.

“What they’re really doing is duping bees into visiting their flowers.” Martine said. “One of the things we’re going to do next is study what that means. Do the bees actually get anything from this fake pollen? And, if they don’t, that means the plants are actually tricking the bees into doing their bidding, which would be a really neat thing for a plant to do.”

Listed as a co-discoverer is David Symon, who mentored Martine while he was pursuing his doctorate in the early 2000s. Martine’s graduate research focused on varieties of wild eggplants in Australia — Symon’s area of expertise. The two began a long-distance correspondence, with Martine sending Symon emails and Symon, who at the time was nearly 90, returning handwritten replies by mail. In 2004, they teamed up on a field expedition to search for new plant species in the Outback.

After the research trip, the two parted ways. Martine traveled with another group of researchers to Western Australia, and Symon stayed behind to examine specimens in Australia’s Northern Territory Herbarium. It was the last time they would ever see each other.

Martine continued his work in Australia in 2009, which is when he first came across what is now known as Solanum cowiei. While DNA tests confirmed that the plant was an unknown species, Martine lacked the flowers he needed to assign it a scientific name.

Martine returned to Australia for a third time last May, hoping to find the elusive eggplants in bloom. He traveled to Litchfield National Park, where Martine had previously spotted the species. A wildfire had recently scorched the area, making it easier to pick out green sprouts amidst the gray and brown landscape. Combing through the brush, Martine found the wild eggplant with budding flowers.

“If I was capable of doing backflips, I would have done them,” Martine said. “The only issue was that this was supposed to be our last day in the field and not a single bud had opened. We extended our time in the bush and camped out for two more nights, but they never opened.”

Martine made his way back to the Northern Territory Herbarium, the same place he had last worked with Symon a decade earlier. He was elated to discover specimens of the plant with flowers on them. The find meant he could return to Bucknell to complete his description of the new species.

A day before heading home to America, Martine decided to dig deeper into the herbarium’s archives, hoping others had come across the mystery plant and recorded their own observations. He was shocked by what he found: some dried specimens, and a page of handwritten notes that Martine easily recognized from his correspondence so many years ago. Unbeknownst to Martine, his mentor Symon had started describing Solanum cowiei after their trip together in 2004; it is the first known attempt to describe the eggplant Martine is now credited with naming.

“I knew right away that the notes were David’s — and I can say without exaggeration that finding them gave me the chills.” Martine said. “Of course, then all I could do for a good ten minutes was sit there with a big smile on my face, shaking my head; he had beaten me to it.”

But Symon was never able to describe the species.

“He likely stopped short of publishing the new species for the same reason I have until now.” Martine explained. “Under the heading ‘female flowers’ he wrote – not seen. ”

Notes:

The name Solanum cowiei is in honor of botanist Ian Cowie of the Northern Territory Herbarium, who first showed Martine dried specimens of the formerly undescribed species. Also listed as an author on the recent publication is Bucknell University professor Elizabeth Capaldi Evans, who traveled to Australia with Martine in May, 2013.

 

Original Source:

Martine CT, Symon DE, Evans EC (2013) A new cryptically dioecious species of bush tomato (Solanum) from the Northern Territory, Australia. PhytoKeys 30: 23. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.30.6003