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Researchers from the Missouri Botanical Garden have discovered in dry forests and transient sand dunes in Bolivia and Paraguay, a new plant species in the moonseed family Menispermaceae. The discovery was reported in the open access journal PhytoKeys.

The new species was described in the genus Cissampelos, which includes vining species that for the most part are found in disturbed habitats of the tropical and subtropical regions of the World.

This new Cissampelos is morphologically unique by its small leaves, its 8 anther-cells in the male flowers, and a large endocarp–a bony tissue surrounding the curved seed–obscurely ornamented.

The new species bears the name arenicola alluding to its preference for sand dune and dry forest habitats. Interestingly, the new species is superficially similar in habit to C. capensis a southern African taxon that also found in dry habitats.

As typical of most members of the Menispermaceae family, plants in the genus Cissampelos are also dioecious, with their male and female, mostly inconspicuous flowers found in different individuals.

The study by Dr. Rosa Ortiz and Dr. Michael Nee notes that the dioecious condition and increasing land transformation of its transient habitat may make this newly described species potentially vulnerable to extinction.

Original source:

Ortiz RdC, MH Nee (2014) A new species of Cissampelos (Menispermaceae) from Bolivia and Paraguay. PhytoKeys 38: 8. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.38.6504

Many representatives of the fauna possess unique masking abilities but stick insects are among the masters of disguise within the animal world. During a field trip in Guangxi, China Mr. Ho Wai-chun George from the Hong Kong Entomological Society discovers a new species from this enigmatic insect group, which he describes in a recent research paper published in the open access journal Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift.

Like the name suggests the new stick insect Sinophasma damingshanensis is distinguished by peculiarly elongated body and green-brownish coloration, which bear an astonishing resemblance to a plant stem. This natural camouflage can make stick insects extremely difficult to spot, and to make it even harder for the observer many also show rocking behavior, where they move from side to side to resemble plant movements in the wind.

The new species was discovered hiding in the thick evergreen forests of Damingshan, located at the south-central Guangxi, China during a collecting trip. To make the work of scientists harder this insects had to be collected at night when it is active. Luckily with the help of a torch used to spot them on the leaves of plants a number of specimens were collected, which later turned out to belong to a new species.

Guangxi is one of the Chinese provinces having high diversity of stick- and leaf insects. Sometimes new species can still be discovered from the undisturbed primitive forests in the province and the newly described Sinophasma damingshanensis is the one of the new taxa from this fascinating group of insects found in China.

“In order to find this new species, I had to use torch to spot it on leaves of trees at night because almost all stick- and leaf insects are nocturnal insects. If you know the insects’ food plant, you can find the corresponding species. Sinophasma damingshanensis favours to eat the leaves of Fagaceae and this is the tactic we used to find it in the wild. Hence, if you are a Phasmatologist you may have to not only study the taxonomy of the stick- and leaf insects, but also the taxonomy of the plants.” comments the author of the study Mr. Ho Wai-chun George.

Original Source:

Wai Chun George H (2014) A new species of Sinophasma Günther, 1940 from Guangxi, China (Phasmida: Diapheromeridae: Necrosciinae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 61(1): 23-25. doi: 10.3897/dez.61.7129

Baltic amber deposits reveal a new species of flat bug from the genus Aradus

A piece of Eocene Baltic Amber of about 45 million years age contains a well preserved extinct flat bug, which turned out to be a new species to science. This exciting discovery is one of the many secrets that deposits of Baltic amber have revealed in the last years and are yet to come in the future. The study describing the new species was published in the open access journal Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift.

The new species Aradus macrosomus is a rather large representative of the genus, differing by its size and particular structures from its congeners. The name of the new species is chosen to reflect its unusual size and derives from the Greek words “macros” – large and “soma” – body.

Baltic Amber, a fossilized tree resin found on or near the shores of the eastern Baltic Sea, represents the largest deposit of amber in the world. It is exceptionally rich in well-preserved inclusions of botanical and zoological objects, particularly arthropods.

To date 14 species of the genus Aradus have been described from Baltic amber inclusions. Extant species of flat bugs commonly live on and under the bark of dead trees, which could be an explanation why so many species are well preserved in amber deposits.

Original Source:

Heiss E (2014) Revision of the flat bug family Aradidae from Baltic Amber IX. Aradus macrosomus sp. n. (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 61(1): 27-29. doi: 10.3897/dez.61.7155

One of the World’s oldest entomological journals Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift goes advanced open access with Pensoft

One of the oldest entomological journals Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift enters in a new collaboration with Pensoft Publishers to step right into the future with an innovative publishing platform. The first issue for 2014 is now available in a novel open access, semantically enriched format to show how tradition and innovation can work together.

Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift was founded in 1857 as Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift by the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. The journal is recognized as one of the oldest in entomology worldwide, and the oldest one in Germany. It publishes original research papers in English on the systematics, taxonomy, phylogeny, evolution, comparative morphology, and biogeography of insects.

As a member of Pensoft’s family of advanced open access journals, Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift now benefits from the innovative semantically enriched open access model, while at the same time keeping the traditional PDF and high quality print versions.

The new open access format means not just that the articles and all associated materials are free to download but even more so that novel approaches are used in the dissemination and reuse of published content.

This is not only of use for the authors who can freely share and promote their articles and hence benefit from increased citation rates and new collaboration opportunities, but for the whole scientific community as the articles become available practically to everyone, independent of an access via a library or a university server. More and more taxonomic works are being published by experts from developing and transitional countries and open access is the only way to provide them with an open and efficient mechanism for exchange and growth of knowledge.

Pensoft also ensures the visibility and longevity of published taxonomic information by distributing it to global portals, such as Encyclopedia of Life, Plazi Treatment Repository, the wiki treatment repository Species-ID, and many others. New taxon names published in the journal are also automatically registered in ZooBank through an innovative workflow pioneered by Pensoft.

“With the beginning of this year the Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, one of the world’s oldest entomology journals, became a front-line fighter of modern scientific publishing. When I was invited to take the editorship for this journal, it was the perspective to lead it onto the modern publishing paths of Pensoft that excited me most. The transfer to the new publisher brings changes about which are all, as I see it, for the benefit of the scientific community.” comments Dominique Zimmerman from the Natural History Museum Vienna, Editor-in-Chief of the journal.

“Innovation is central to how Pensoft sees its role as a publisher. We strongly believe that the attractive combination between historical legacy and tradition and the advanced publishing technologies of Pensoft will take Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift into the future!” said the Managing Director of Pensoft Publishers, Prof. Lyubomir Penev.

Original Source:

Zimmermann D (2014) Jump into the future: Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift goes for advanced open access in its 157 th publishing year. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 61(1): 1-1. doi: 10.3897/dez.61.7967

 

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 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.

 

A new eyeless cavefish is described from Indiana and named after the Indiana Hoosiers. It is the first new cavefish species described from the U.S. in 40 years. Notably, it has an anus right behind its head, and the females brood their young in their gill chamber. The new species was described in the open access journal ZooKeys.

The new species, Amblyopsis hoosieri, is the closest relative of a species (A. spelaea) from the longest cave system in the world, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. These two species are separated by the Ohio River, which also separates the states of Indiana and Kentucky.

The species from south of the Ohio River, A. spelaea, has a knockout mutation in the genetic sequence of rhodopsin, a gene important in vision. The new species, on the other hand, lacks this mutation and maintains a functional rhodopsin gene, despite lacking eyes and vision. The new species shows distinct morphological differences compared to its southern congener. It has a plumper, Bibendum-like body and shorter fins. It also has smaller mechanosensory neuromasts on papillae, which allow them to sense movement in the dark waters of the caves they are found in.

The authors decided to name the new species, A. hoosieri, the Hoosier Cavefish, not only after the Indiana Hoosiers team, but mainly to honor the proximity of the new species to Indiana University and several famed ichthyologists who worked there. “The senior author of the manuscript is a fervent fan of Indiana Hoosier basketball, but the first author is an alumni of the University of Michigan and is not. Also notable is that the middle author of the publication is currently an undergraduate at Louisiana State University.” explain the authors.

Indiana University used to be the Mecca of North American Ichthyology but unfortunately it no longer has an ichthyology department. David Starr Jordan (1851–1931), The Father of North American Ichthyology, spent much of his distinguished career at Indiana University, later going on to be the first Chancellor of Stanford University. It is said that all living North American ichthyologists can trace their lineage of graduate training back to Jordan (e.g., Chakrabarty – Fink – Weitzman – Myers – Jordan).

Carl Eigenmann (1863–1927) was also one of the greatest ichthyologists and studied many blind vertebrates, while at Indiana University. It was very likely that he was actually the first person to have collected what we now recognize as Amblyopsis hoosieri. Notably, Eigenmann’s wife Rosa (1858–1947) is considered by many to be the first female ichthyologist. She and her husband described more than 100 species together.

Original Source:

Chakrabarty P, Prejean JA, Niemiller ML (2014) The Hoosier cavefish, a new and endangered species (Amblyopsidae, Amblyopsis) from the caves of southern Indiana. ZooKeys 412: 41–57. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.412.7245

Field and laboratory work by Omar Torres-Carvajal from Museo de Zoología QCAZ, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, and his former undergraduate student Simón Lobos has resulted in the discovery of a gem-looking new species of shade lizard from the cloudforests in northwestern Ecuador. This region is part of the 274,597 km2 Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena hotspot that lies west of the Andes. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Shade lizards (genus Alopoglossus) are widely distributed across tropical South America. They differ from most other lizards in having their tongues covered by folds instead of scale-like papillae. Shade lizards are generally brown leaf-litter dwellers that live on both sides of the tropical Andes. The unusually brightly coloured new species described by Torres-Carvajal and Lobos was named Alopoglossus viridiceps and increases to seven the number of species of this group of lizards, six of which live in Ecuador.

Lizards collected as far back as 1977 and deposited in Museo de Zoología QCAZ were examined. The authors were soon surprised with an interesting finding. Some individuals collected during the last five years, mostly at the Santa Lucía Cloud Forest Reserve in northwestern Ecuador, had a metallic greenish head and an orange belly.

Other features like numbers of scales, as well as DNA evidence, indicated that these cloudforest lizards actually belong to a new species. DNA data also suggest that its closest relative is Alopoglossus festae, a species that inhabits the Pacific lowlands of Colombia and Ecuador.

‘Simón Lobos and I have been working on shade lizards since 2010, and we have preliminary data suggesting that the widespread Pacific shade lizard, Alopoglossus festae, might actually represent several species new to science. The same pattern of “hidden diversity” applies to the Amazonian species. Therefore, the diversity of shade lizards has been underestimated. We are presently working on papers to share these discoveries with the scientific community.’ said Dr. Torres-Carvajal.

Additional Information:

This research was funded by Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación del Ecuador (SENESCYT) and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE)

 

Original source:

Torres-Carvajal O, Lobos SE (2014) A new species of Alopoglossus lizard (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae) from the tropical Andes, with a molecular phylogeny of the genus. ZooKeys 410: 105–120. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.410.7401

Scientists describe a new species of praying mantis, Dystacta tigrifrutex, or the bush tiger mantis from Rwanda’s mountainous Nyungwe National Park. Like all praying mantises the new species is a vicious hunter. The wingless females are adapted for catching prey close to the ground and in the undergrowth, which inspired the name of the species due to the similarities in hunting practices with one of the world’s favorite big cats. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

The new species was discovered on a cool and rainy night in a thick montane forest during a survey of the insects in Nyungwe National Park in southwestern Rwanda. The light traps used by the scientists attracted a male specimen of what then seemed as an unknown species of praying mantis, which unlike the female is winged and flew there attracted to the light.

When the scientists reached to the leaf litter they also found the female of what turned out to be the same new species. But the surprises of this lucky find did not finish there.

Soon after the female was placed in captivity, she laid an egg case, called an ootheca, and the researchers were later able to see the emerging nymphs. This lucky string of events allowed scientists to describe in one go the male, female, nymphal stages and a large portion of the biology of the new species which rarely happens in insect biology.

The three-week Rwanda survey turned up a wealth of finds among which the bush tiger mantis was the only new species, but after 8 months of identifying the collected insects the researchers also found a dozen new to Rwanda.

“We knew this mantis was special after completing nearly eight months of work to identify all the specimens found during the three week expedition,” said Riley, who is studying evolutionary biology at Case Western Reserve University. “The new species is amazing because the fairly small female prowls through the underbrush searching for prey while the male flies and appears to live higher in the vegetation.”

“The new praying mantis species was found in the high altitude rain forest region of southwestern Rwanda and probably only lives within Nyungwe National Park, which adds significant justification for protecting the park to ensure species like this can continue to exist,” said Dr. Gavin Svenson, curator of invertebrate zoology at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History and adjunct professor at Case Western Reserve University.

After such a fruitful collaboration the two lead authors Dr. Gavin Svenson, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Riley Tedrow, Case Western Reserve University, and fellow researchers in Rwanda, they plan to return to Nyungwe in June to survey more mantises where they found the bush tiger and to search several other locations in the park. They hope to return with more new species as well as to learn whether the bush tiger’s habitat is limited or more broadly spread.

Original Source:

Tedrow R, Nathan K, Richard N, Svenson GJ (2014) A new species of Dystacta Saussure, 1871 from Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda (Insecta, Mantodea, Dystactinae). ZooKeys 410: 1. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.410.7053

Smithsonian scientists describe a colorful new species of small coral reef sea bass from depths of 182–241 m off Curaçao, southern Caribbean. With predominantly yellow body and fins, the new species, Liopropoma santi, closely resembles the other two “golden basses” found together with it at Curaçao: L. aberrans and L. olneyi.

The scientists originally thought there was a single species of golden bass on deep reefs off Curaçao, but DNA data, distinct color patterns, and morphology revealed three. The study describing one of those, L. santi—the deepest known species of Liopropoma in the Atlantic Ocean, was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Dr. Carole C. Baldwin and Dr. D. Ross Robertson, who discovered the new species, propose the common name “spot-tail golden bass” to distinguish it from the other golden bass species, referencing the dark spot on the lower part of the tail fin. It appears to be more closely related to the other new deep-reef golden bass from Curaçao, Liopropoma olneyi, and members of a related genus, Bathyanthias, than to species of Liopropoma such as the candy and peppermint basses inhabiting shallower reefs.

“With Bathyanthias falling out within the western Atlantic Liopropoma clade,” notes Baldwin, “further study of the classification of this group is needed.” The researchers also note that related groups of Liopropoma species have different depth distributions, suggesting that depth may have played a role in their evolution.

To collect deep-reef fish specimens, the scientists are diving to 300 m off Curaçao using a manned submersible, the Curasub. “This underexplored zone between 60 and 300 m in the tropical southern Caribbean is revealing extraordinary biodiversity, including a wealth of new species of beautifully colored fishes,” says Baldwin. “It’s a zone that science has largely missed because it’s too deep to access using scuba gear, and deep-diving submersibles rarely stop at such shallow depths.”

As part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP), Smithsonian scientists are working to improve our knowledge of Caribbean deep-reef biodiversity.

Original Source:

Baldwin CC, Robertson RD (2014) A new Liopropoma sea bass (Serranidae, Epinephelinae, Liopropomini) from deep reefs off Curaçao, southern Caribbean, with comments on depth distributions of western Atlantic liopropomins. ZooKeys 409: 71–92. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.409.7249

The recently extinct Caribbean monk seal (Monachus tropicalis) was one of three species of monk seal in the world. Its relationship to the Mediterranean and Hawaiian monk seals, both living but endangered, has never been fully understood. Through DNA analysis and skull comparisons, however, Smithsonian scientists and colleagues have now clarified the Caribbean species’ place on the seal family tree and created a completely new genus. The team’s findings are published in the scientific journal ZooKeys.

First reported by Columbus in 1494, the Caribbean monk seal ranged throughout the Caribbean with an estimated population in the hundreds of thousands. Unrestricted hunting in the 19th century, however, caused a rapid decline in numbers. The last definite sighting of a Caribbean monk seal was in 1952, making it the most recent extinction of a marine mammal in the Western Hemisphere.

To find the answers about the classification of the Caribbean monk seal, the scientists turned to DNA extracted from century-old monk seal skins in the Smithsonian’s collections. For the DNA comparisons, the Smithsonian team worked with scientists at the Leibniz Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany and Fordham University in New York. Their analyses showed that the Caribbean species was more closely related to the Hawaiian rather than the Mediterranean monk seal. It also showed that Caribbean and Hawaiian monk seals split into distinct species around 3 to 4 million years ago―the same time the Panamanian Isthmus closed off the connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which would have naturally separated the two.

“Scientists have long understood that monk seals are very special animals,” said Kristofer Helgen, curator of mammals at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. “This study is exciting because it gives us a clearer view of their evolution and provides us with new context that highlights the importance of conserving these remarkable and endangered seals.”

The team’s analysis determined that the molecular and morphological differences between the Mediterranean species and the two New World species (Caribbean and Hawaiian) were profound. This led them to classify the Caribbean and Hawaiian monk seals in a newly named genus, Neomonachus. This remarkable discovery is the first time in more than 140 years that a new genus has been recognized amongst modern pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses).

“We occasionally identify new species of larger mammals, like the olinguito we announced last year,” said Graham Slater, co-author and Peter Buck Post Doctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian. “But to be able to name a new genus, and a seal genus at that, is incredibly rare and a great honor.”

Monk seals, as a group, are unusual among seals in being adapted for life in warm water. With the Caribbean species now extinct, the Hawaiian monk seal is the last surviving species of the genus Neomonachus, as the Mediterranean species is in its genus, Monachus. Both species are listed as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. With about 1,200 Hawaiian but less than 600 Mediterranean monk seals left, they are some of the rarest mammals on Earth.

Original Source:

Scheel DM, Slater GJ, Kolokotronis S-O, Potter CW, Rotstein DS, Tsangaras K, Greenwood AD, Helgen KM (2014) Biogeography and taxonomy of extinct and endangered monk seals illuminated by ancient DNA and skull morphology. ZooKeys 409: 1-33. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.409.6244

In recent years the cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) has colonized American continent. Invasive species are a worldwide problem and studies are devoted to assess the damage they cause to local species populations. Thus, the process of colonization of a new territory that has continental dimensions such as Brazil offers an excellent opportunity to examine how non-native species disperse, adapt and survive. A new study of the colonization patterns of the cattle egret in Brazil, published in the open access journal NeoBiota, offers a new take on the study of alien species.

The cattle egret primarily inhabits grassland habitats and forages in close association with grazing animals, such as cattle and other livestock. This bird is native to tropical and subtropical Africa, southern Europe and western Asia. The populations of cattle egret in Brazil are alien to the region but unlike a number of bird species that have been introduced to non-native areas through human intervention, the cattle egret is known to have established and expanded to the Americas without such intervention.

The first sightings in the New World were reported for Suriname between 1877 and 1882 in the North of South America, followed by sightings in British Guiana and Colombia and subsequent expansion throughout the Americas. In Brazil, the cattle egret was first recorded in the northern region of the country in 1964, feeding along with buffalos on Marajo Island in the state of Para.

Novel colonizers can cause problems outside of their native range. While the cattle egret is not currently a threat to native fauna in Brazil throughout most of its geographic distribution, it has the potential to produce adverse effects, as evidenced by its occupation of island environments. For example, in the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, the cattle egret drives adult native seabirds away from their nests in breeding colonies and predates the Noronha skink, which is endemic to the archipelago.

Understanding how the cattle egret colonized Brazil is crucial for the better understanding of dispersal patterns of bird populations and their interaction with the local species. Explaining the colonization of the Americas by the cattle egret is a challenging task due to the lack of sufficient information and reports on entrance time, locality, and number of events. Comparisons between native and non-native populations can provide a ‘natural’ experimental approach to clarify the biological and environmental factors that may contribute to range expansion and adaptation to climate change, and to reveal mechanisms by which organisms respond to novel ecological and environmental pressures.

Original Source:

Moralez-Silva E, Del Lama SN (2014) Colonization of Brazil by the cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) revealed by mitochondrial DNA. In: Capdevila-Argüelles L, Zilletti B (Eds) Proceedings of 7th NEOBIOTA conference, Pontevedra, Spain. NeoBiota 21: 49–63. doi: 10.3897/neobiota.21.4966