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Two new beautiful wasp species are added to the rare pompilid genus Abernessia, which now contains a total of only four known species. The two new species A. prima and A. capixaba are believed to be endemic for Brazil alongside the rest of the representatives of the genus. Both wasps are distinguished by the large size (almost 3cm in length) and the beautiful black color with metallic shine typical for the family. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

The enigmatic genus Abernessia is part of the spider wasp family Pompilidae. Spider wasps take their name from the preference of the representatives to parasitize spiders. The females paralyze the prey by stinging it, which is then put in a specifically built nest. The female then lays a single egg on the abdomen of the spider and bury it carefully marking any signs that might give away the nest.

Interestingly it is believed to have a connection between the sizes of prey and size of the offspring of the wasps, the lager wasps are believed to appear from nests containing larger prey.

“There is a positive correlation between size of the spider preyed and size of the wasp produced in the next generation.” comments Dr. Waichert, Utah State University.

Original Source:

Waichert C, Pitts JP (2013) Two new species of Abernessia Arlé (Pompilidae, Ctenocerinae). ZooKeys 353: 77. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.353.6223

The lowland tropics were once though filled with widespread species, while moderate and higher elevations were thought to contain species with more restricted distributions. That idea is turning out to be partially incorrect. Widespread species now appear to be the exception, instead of the rule. A new study describes four species once considered to be the collared treerunner, a lizard known to the scientific community as Plica plica. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

The collared treerunner was originally described in 1758 and has been the subject of many biological, ecological, and behavioral studies in recent years. A new ZooKeys paper by John C. Murphy, Field Museum (Chicago) and Michael J. Jowers, Estación Biológica de Doñana (Sevilla, Spain) describe four new species formerly thought to be one.

“The collard treerunner was considered a single species ranging from Trinidad and Tobago and northern Venezuela southward into the Amazon Basin, south of the Amazon River.” Murphy said. ” The Treerunners ancestor diverged about 25-30 million years ago, and throughout this time the South American continent has undergone dramatic remodeling, including the rise of the Andes, rising and falling sea levels, and changing climates that isolated populations for long periods of time, allowing them to become new species. Treerunners live on vertical surfaces, such as tree trunks, rock walls, and even buildings and they eat a variety of insects.”

The new paper focuses on populations of this lizard in northern South America, but in an overall survey the authors examined specimens from across the Amazon basin and suspect there may be at least another five to seven undescribed species in what is currently considered the collared treerunner. The treerunners from Trinidad and northern Venezuela were 4.5% genetically different from those in southern Venezuela, and more than 5% different from those in Brazil. For comparison purposes humans and chimpanzees are less than 2% genetically different.

While some species may form by genetic divergence without showing any morphological differences from their ancestor, other often show subtle or obvious morphological differences that may be quite easy to detect. The latter is the case with the collard treerunners.

Some had as few as 92 scales around the body while others had 202 scales around the body. Some adult males have yellow heads while other have red heads, some have distinctive patterns of spots while others have transverse bands.

Unraveling cryptic species is important for a more complete understanding of biodiversity, evolution, and for long term conservation efforts.

The take home message here is that there are many more species of squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes) in the world than previously thought, and it is likely many species have and will disappeared before science is even aware of them. Cutting forests and draining swamps undoubtedly causes extinctions of the species depending upon those habitats. While none of the treerunners described in this paper are likely to be threatened with extinction this discovery and many other similar recent discoveries suggest our knowledge of biodiversity is lacking.

Original Source:

Murphy JC, Jowers MJ (2013) Treerunners, cryptic lizards of the Plica plica group (Squamata, Sauria, Tropiduridae) of northern South America. ZooKeys 355: 49. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.355.5868

For many decades, researchers thought the closest relatives of papaya were certain trees from the Andes, the so-called highland papayas. A study employing DNA sequences from all species of the papaya family instead revealed that the closest relatives of papaya are three herbaceous species and a small tree with stinging hairs occurring from Mexico to Guatemala and El Salvador. The stingy-haired tree in fact is only known from cloud forests in the Sierra de Juarez in Oaxaca, southern Mexico.

The three herbaceous species are well known to Mexicans living in the area, and Mexican botanists had figured out their correct names some time ago. This was overlooked, however, in the most recent treatment, resulting in an erroneous merging and choice of names of two species.

In a paper published in PhytoKeys, Carvalho and Renner clarify the species boundaries, illustrate the least known species, and provide a key to all taxa comprising the papaya sister group.

“Before our studies the closest relatives of papaya were known only by local people living along the areas where these plants are growing. These people could never imagine they were eating a close relative of the famous papaya because the fruits and leaves are very unlike.”comments Dr. Carvalho. “For some people is hard to believe that the highland papayas from the Andes are not closer related to papaya than are these Mesoamerican herbs. However, the fact that the closest relatives of papaya are endemic to Central America coincides with the distribution of the wild-form of the crop, which has much smaller fruits and thinner pulp than the ones we can buy in supermarkets.”

Original Source:

Carvalho FA, Renner SS (2013) Correct names for some of the closest relatives of Carica papaya: A review of the Mexican/Guatemalan genera Jarilla and Horovitzia. PhytoKeys 29: 63–74. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.29.6103

Carvalho FA, Renner SS. 2012. A dated phylogeny of the papaya family (Caricaceae) reveals the crop’s closest relatives and the family’s biogeographic history. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 65: 46–53.

Carvalho FA. 2013. e-Monograph of Caricaceae http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/caricaceae

Scientists discover three new gorgeous species of the wafer trapdoor genus Fufius – F. minusculus, F. jalapensis, and F. candango. The discovery of the three new species, published in the open access journal ZooKeys, paves the road to understanding the morphological variability of the species in this little known mygalomorph genus.

The family Cyrtaucheniidae is a widespread family of spiders, known also as wafer trapdoor spiders. Many, but not all, make wafer-like doors to their burrows, while others build the cork-like doors found commonly in the true trapdoor spiders. Little is known about the biology of the enigmatic genus Fufius, but among the curiosities is that instead of burrows these spiders live in silken tubes in crevices, carefully prolongued with silk.

The mygalomorph neotropical genus Fufius comprises ten species, widely distributed distributed from Guatemala in Central America to southeastern Brazil, in South America. This new study describes three beautiful new species from Brazil, alongside the re-description of the previously known F. funebris and the first description of a female F. lucasae.

“What is curious about the genus Fufius is the wide distribution of the species. Normally, mygalomorphs have a very restricted distribution. Furthermore, the genus has species living in contrasting environments as the Amazon, Savannah, and Brazilian Atlantic forest. This makes the genus a potential model for biogeographic studies.” comments one of the authors Dr. Rogerio Bertani.

“The relationship with other mygalomorph spiders is also unclear, and several authors considered the genus to belong in very distinct families. The 3 new species described in the paper as well as the redescription of an old species and the description of a female of another species formerly known from male specimen aids in understanding the morphological variability of the species in this little known mygalomorph genus.” concludes Dr. Bertani.

Original Source:

Ortega DRM, Nagahama RH, Motta PC, Bertani R (2013) Three new species of Fufius Simon, 1888 (Araneae, Cyrtaucheniidae) from Brazil with the redescription of Fufius funebris Vellard, 1924 and description of the female of Fufius lucasae Guadanucci & Indicatti, 2004. ZooKeys 352: 93–116. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.352.6189

Currently, butterfly populations in many countries decline at alarming rates. Many of these populations are closely associated with the agricultural landscape. Changes in farming practices and land use can therefore have far-reaching consequences for the success and persistence of the butterfly fauna. A research team from Sweden and Germany have now reviewed effects of land management on butterfly diversity using historical and current surveys during the last 100 years.

The study focuses on systematic surveys of butterfly population trends and extinction rates in southern Swedish agricultural landscapes. In some areas, half of the butterfly fauna has been lost during the last 60-100 years. The study is published in the journal Nature Conservation.

Land use in these parts of northern Europe has changed markedly with key butterfly habitats such as hay meadows disappearing at alarming rates. Grazed, mixed open woodlands have been transformed into dense forests and domestic grazers have been relocated from woodlands to arable fields and semi-natural grasslands. Hay and silage harvest now start much earlier in the season which reduces the time available for larval development. The changed and intensified land use has also markedly reduced the availability of nectar resources in the landscape. Adding to these problems, current agricultural subsidy systems favour intensive grazing on the remaining semi-natural grasslands, with strong negative effects on butterfly diversity.

While the documented changes in farming practises and land use are problematic for the butterfly fauna, relatively minor adjustments to land management have a potential of drastically counteracting these effects. In order to mitigate risks of further species loss and to work towards recovery of threatened butterfly populations, the review ends by recommending twelve management measures favourable for many butterflies. Examples include later grazing, rotational grazing with parts of semi-natural grasslands grazed only in late summer in some years, and careful choice of grazers.

Original Source:

Nilsson SG, Franzén M, Pettersson LB (2013) Land-use changes, farm management and the decline of butterflies associated with semi-natural grasslands in southern Sweden. Nature Conservation 18: 31–48. doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.6.5205

 

Additional information:

The research was jointly funded by the European Union FP7 STEP-project (grant 244090–STEP–CP–FP; Potts et al. 2011) Lund University, and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (contract 2227-13-003). It is part of the strategic research area Biodiversity and Ecosystems in a Changing Climate, BECC.

 

Researchers from the University of New England (Australia) and the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney (Australia), have discovered a high-altitude species of sedge from south-western Tasmania. A small clumping plant, Lepidosperma monticola grows on mountains including Mount Field and Mount Sprent. It is unique in the genus in being the only species essentially restricted to alpine vegetation. At less than seven centimeters tall, this Tasmanian endemic is also the smallest known species of Lepidosperma.

Mr. George Plunkett and Prof. Jeremy Bruhl (University of New England), and Assoc. Prof. Karen Wilson (Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney) described this new species in the open access journal PhytoKeys.

Mr. Plunkett, who is undertaking a PhD on Lepidosperma, first discovered the new species amongst herbarium specimens on loan to the N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium from the Tasmanian Herbarium. A field trip to Tasmania to collect additional material, observe the species in the wild and examine relevant collections at the Tasmanian Herbarium provided further evidence supporting the recognition of Lepidosperma monticola as a new species. Analysing the morphological and anatomical attributes of the plants demonstrated conclusively that L. monticola is a distinct species in need of formal recognition.

Species of the genus Lepidosperma, commonly known as sword-sedges, mostly have elongate, flattened leaves that are shaped like a double-edged sword. Many also possess sharp, cutting leaf margins, alluding to this common name. The genus with more than 100 species is widespread across Australia. It is of particular ecological interest because its fruits are removed by ants after falling. The authors are also working with colleagues from University of Sydney to investigate the taxonomic value of aromatic resins, which also appear to have therapeutic value.

Most species of Lepidosperma occur in open forests, woodlands and heath, and some in swamps, but L. monticola is essentially restricted to alpine vegetation. All known populations of this new species occur above 700 m altitude. Individual plants are often inconspicuous, growing in the crevices of rock outcrops. Other individuals form attractive rounded clumps up to about 20 cm in diameter intermingled with mosses and lichens.

Lepidosperma monticola is somewhat similar to a previously named species, L. inops, which grows at lower elevations. The two species can be readily distinguished by traits such as fruit morphology. Ongoing work by the authors and collaborators is likely to uncover additional undescribed species of Lepidosperma.

Original source:

Plunkett GT, Wilson KL, Bruhl JJ (2013) Sedges in the mist: A new species of Lepidosperma (Cyperaceae, Schoeneae) from the mountains of Tasmania. PhytoKeys 28: 19. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.28.5592

 

Additional Information:

For funding information, see acknowledgements in: Plunkett GT, Wilson KL, Bruhl JJ (2013) Sedges in the mist: A new species of Lepidosperma (Cyperaceae, Schoeneae) from the mountains of Tasmania. PhytoKeys 28: 19. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.28.5592

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