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The newly discovered dragon tree species Dracaena kaweesakii from Thailand is characterized by its extensive branching. The new species reaches an impressive 12 m in both height and crown diameter, and has beautiful soft sword-shaped leaves with white edges and cream flowers with bright orange filaments, all highly distinctive features. The study describing this exciting new species was published in the open access journal Phytokeys by an international team of scientists.

Dracaena kaweesakii is a relative of the beautiful Canary Island dragon tree Dracaena draco. It is an ecologically important species found only on limestone hills and mountains that are often associated with Buddhist temples in Thailand.

Dracaena kaweesakii is extracted from the wild for use in horticulture in Thailand and is one of the more popular species due to its extensive branching. Dracaena species in general are thought by Thai people to bring luck to households that have them, hence their popularity. A number of populations of D. kaweesakii are protected by proximity to temples or having been transplanted into their gardens. There is no direct evidence yet of over-extraction but sustainability studies are needed at population level to insure the protection of this beautiful species.

“Dracaena kaweesakii is thought to be endangered through having a limited distribution, destruction of limestone for concrete and extraction of trees for gardens.” comments Dr. Wilkin about the conservation status of the new dragon tree species.

Original Source:

Wilkin P, Suksathan P, Keeratikiat K , van Welzen P, Wiland-Szymanska J (2013) A new species from Thailand and Burma, Dracaena kaweesakii Wilkin & Suksathan (Asparagaceae subfamily Nolinoideae). PhytoKeys 26: 101. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.26.5335

The bottomless pit of insect biodiversity has yielded a treasure trove of new species of jewel-like clown beetles. In a paper published today in the journal ZooKeys, Michael Caterino and Alexey Tishechkin of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History describe 85 new species in the genus Baconia, renowned for their brilliant coloration and bizarrely flattened body forms. The new species bring the genus up to 116 total species.

The new species, mainly from North and South America, were discovered through studies of numerous museum collections, as well as the authors’ own fieldwork.

”Although the genus Baconia was originally named in honor of Francis Bacon the Elizabethan philosopher, Francis Bacon the experimental artist would also be a fitting namesake for these fantastic beetles.”, says the study’s lead author Caterino.

While many groups of beetles are known for spectacular color patterns, they are rare and little-appreciated in the clown beetle family, Histeridae. ”Even beetle specialists are amazed by the fantastic colors of Baconia.’‘, observes Caterino. What purposes the colors may serve, however, remains a mystery. ”In natural history terms, the species of Baconia aren’t very different from several other groups of clown beetles with similar habits, but much duller coloration.”

Their beautiful bodies conceal a vicious disposition, as the species are mostly believed to stalk and eat wood-boring beetles and their larvae. Some are even drawn to pheromones of bark beetles, using their own seductive odors against them. The flattened bodies of many of the species let them pursue their prey deep under the bark of recently killed trees.

That the little jewels remained hidden for so long may be partly attributed to their extreme rarity. Although more than 20 museums’ collections were assembled for the study, nearly half the species are still known from only one or two specimens. ”Biodiversity science is humbling.”, admits Caterino. While the study provides a wealth of new data on a neglected group of beetles, ”We know it’s still the tip of the iceberg.”

”Our greatest hope is that by calling attention to the existence of such exquisite creatures, we will inspire others to go out and seek out new populations and data.”

This study was part of a large scale study of clown beetle diversity, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

 

Original Source:

Caterino MS, Tishechkin AK (2013) A systematic revision of Baconia Lewis (Coleoptera, Histeridae, Exosternini). ZooKeys 343: 1. doi:10.3897/zookeys.343.5744

A shrimp from America has been invading Europe’s rivers and lakes for several decades, but something seems to be preventing this colonist from becoming numerous and problematic, like so many other invaders – such as the Californian grey squirrel and American crayfish. Could the resident European shrimps have something to do with this?

Jaimie Dick and his colleagues mapped the occurrence of the interloper and found it only existed where native shrimps were absent or rare. When native shrimps were common, the American shrimp simply could not establish and it disappeared. The results have been published in the open access journal NeoBiota.

”We came up with the idea that the native shrimps might be eating the exotic species to the point of local extinction, and hence its patchy occurrence.” said Prof. Dick. ”So we staged fights between two of our native shrimps, Gammarus pulex and Gammarus duebeni, and they both proved very effective at killing and eating the invader Crangonyx pseudogracilis. Remarkably, one of the native shrimps. G. pulex, which almost never allows the invader to establish, was the better of the two predators in our experiments. The other native shrimp, G. duebeni, sometimes co-exists with the invader because it is a less effective predator. Thus, our laboratory experiments helped us understand a Europe-wide pattern of failed invasion.”

Invasion ecologists use the term ”biotic resistance” to describe how native species might fight back and drive invaders extinct. But unravelling how this occurs is not an easy task. By comparing the numbers of invaders killed over a range of their densities, the research showed that the native shrimps can kill most invaders to the point their populations crash, and hence the invasion is halted.

”Understanding how native species resist exotic species could help us prevent further invasions that damage crops, biodiversity and cost £Billions each year. If we act to help native species populations, we can reduce the menace of invaders. Finally we can begin to turn the tide on unwelcome and out-of-control colonists.” explained Prof. Dick.

The authors are conducting more work in Ireland, England, Canada and South Africa to understand how native and invasive species interact and thus how to combat a very real environmental and economic problem throughout the world.

Original source:

MacNeil C, Dick JTA, Alexander ME, Dodd JA, Ricciardi A (2013) Predators vs. alien: differential biotic resistance to an invasive species by two resident predators. NeoBiota 19: 1–19. doi:10.3897/neobiota.19.4839

The kinds of traits that show genealogical relationships between species are often minute and easily overlooked.

Dr. Neil Snow, a botanist at Pittsburg State University, published a paper in 1996 that included observations of some odd-shaped hairs on three species of grass native to Africa. Their odd shape stems from distinctly swollen tips that are then pinched into a small party-hat structure at the very apex.

“A tongue-twisting technical term for that shape is ”clavicorniculate”, but ”club-shaped” is a workable simplification we often prefer.”, remarked Snow.

In 2011, Drs. Paul Peterson and Konstatin Romaschencko, working at the Smithsonian Institution, used DNA sequences to determine that the 3 African species are related to an American species that lacks the odd-shaped hairs.

“Nobody previously anticipated a close relationship between the African and American species, particularly since the American species lacks the odd hairs.”, explained Dr. Snow.

“However”, added Snow, “the DNA data supporting this relationship is quite robust.”

The 3 authors just published a monograph in PhytoKeys, which places the four species together for the first time in a genus called Disakisperma.

“Our research is a good example of how big, bright, flashy or sexy traits are not always the ones that help solve taxonomic puzzles.”, concluded Snow.

Original Source:

Snow N, Peterson PM, Romaschenko K (2013) Systematics of Disakisperma (Poaceae, Chloridoideae, Chlorideae). PhytoKeys 26: 21-70. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.26.5649

The two new species described from Uruguay, Chaco castanea and Chaco costai, are middle sized spiders that range between 1 and 2 cm in body size. Like all Nemesiids they have elongated body and robust legs with predominantly black-brownish coloration. A recent study in the open access journal Zookeys provides a detailed description of the two news species and a rare glimpse into their living habits.

The two new species are typically found in sandy soils of oceanic and river coastal areas associated with psammophyte, or sand-dwelling, vegetation. This is where these peculiar spiders build their silk-lined burrow where they spend great deal of their lives. The burrows are also protected by a flap-like door that makes them particularly hard to find.

“Due to a number of life history characteristics, these spiders are difficult to collect and consequently little is known about their biology.”comments Laura Montes de Oca, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Uruguay. “Observations in natural conditions let us to know that they are mostly active during night. This knowledge is key to finding the spiders in order to perform the necessary studies, both on field and in laboratory. Remaining in the burrow most of their lives, makes these animals vulnerable to habitat perturbations. In Uruguay the psammophyte vegetation is critically decreasing, so it is very important to study and conserve the species.”

Experiments in laboratory environment reveal some of the secrets that the secluded burrow life of these spiders hide. Chaco costai was observed during hunting, when the spiders lift the entrance of the burrow with their front legs. The flap-like door of the spider den provides a perfect cover to ambush and catch the unsuspecting victim. The spiders return to their burrow after catching the prey. Another occasion when the spiders go in the open is during copulation when both the male and the female leave their hiding places. However, they return to the burrows straight after that.

Original Source:

Montes de Oca L, Pérez-Miles F (2013) Two new species of Chaco Tullgren from the Atlantic coast of Uruguay (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Nemesiidae). ZooKeys 337: 73. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.337.5779

A detailed annotated checklist of the scale insects of Iran, describing a total of 275 species from 13 families, represents a first effort towards a better knowledge of the Coccoidea family in attempt to improve the view in practical fields such as pest control management. The scale insects species are listed along with their locality data and host plants. In addition to latest species names for any record, new records for Iran and new host plants for some scale insects species. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.

Scale insects of the superfamily Coccoidea are sap-sucking hemipterous insects with an estimated 8000 species within 49 families, of which 16 are only known from fossils. They vary dramatically in appearance, some of them are very small (around 1 mm) and grow beneath wax covers, others look like shiny pearl-like objects or are covered with mealy wax. These peculiar looking creatures secrete a waxy coating for defense. This makes them resemble reptilian scales or fish scales, hence their common name.

Scale insects are studied relatively little in Iran, but are economically important as they cause reduced crop yield through their feeding and transferring pathogen microorganisms to a wide range of plants. “Although the scale insects of Iran have been relatively well studied, there is still a strong need for further investigations, including extensive collections of these families in Iran.”, explains the author of the study Dr. Masumeh Moghaddam, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Tehran.

The new detailed study of the Coccoidea superfamily aims at paving the road for future research on this important group of insects and the practical implementation of knowledge in pest control management.

Original Source:

Moghaddam M (2013) An annotated checklist of the scale insects of Iran (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha, Coccoidea) with new records and distribution data. ZooKeys 334: 1. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.334.5818

To understand the world’s biological diversity, the information included in scientific collections is essential. For this reason, many projects have been focused on computerizing the data from these collections and making them openly available to researchers on biodiversity and conservation.

The MGC Herbarium of the University of Malaga (Spain) includes 76000 sheets of vascular plants or cormophyta, 73156 of which have been computerized. The data sheets are accessible through the GBIF data portal in the web page http://data.gbif.org/datasets/resource/8105/.

The basic information about the MGC Herbarium has been also published in a recent data paper available through the open access journal PhytoKeys.

The sheets have been mainly collected in Andalusia (Southern Spain) and they include specimens of several Biosphere Reserves, National Parks, Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and RAMSAR wetlands. These harvested areas are among the richest biodiversity hotspots of the Mediterranean area, in particular the Baetic-Rifan complex (which is one of the areas with the highest number of endemisms in the Mediterranean region). In addition, the collection also includes sheets from other locations of the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco.

All sheets in the collection have been identified taxonomically (97% at species level) and a high fraction have been georeferenced (63%). Each sheet includes the scientific name, location, ecology, date of collection, collector and determiner of each plant. This collection is very active and in continual growth, with an annual intake of about 1.500 specimens.

Scientific supervision of the MGC Herbarium is carried out by the Plant Biology Department (Botany), University of Málaga (UMA), and its maintenance and management are correspond to the Central Research Services (SCAI) of the UMA.

The scientific journal Acta Botanica Malacitana is closely associated with the MGC Herbarium; papers based on sheets included in the MGC Herbarium are published in all of the issues of the journal.

For more information, please see the full study in the open access journal Phytokeys.

 

Original Source:

García-Sánchez J, Cabezudo B (2013) Herbarium of the University of Malaga (Spain): Vascular Plants Collection. PhytoKeys 26: 7. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.26.5396, Resource ID: GBIF key: http://gbrds.gbif.org/browse/agent?uuid=962cceea-f762-11e1-a439-00145eb45e9a

Previously unknown to science leaf beetles modify and use as shelter the holes in leaves of their host plants made by other beetles

Many animals construct homes or shelters to escape from biological and physical hostilities. Birds, spiders, termites, ants, bees and wasps are the most famous animal architects. As shelter construction requires considerable investment of resources and time, builders tend to minimize the cost of building while maximizing the benefits.

Builders are rather uncommon among adult leaf beetles though young ones of certain species use own feces to construct a defensive shield. Two closely related, hitherto unknown species of tiny southern Indian leaf beetles, only slightly larger than the size of a pin-head, and their clever way of using and modifying low cost shelters, is described in the open access journal ZooKeys. These beetles make use of holes pre-formed by larger leaf feeding beetles on the leaves of their host trees thus reducing cost of the shelter just like some birds that nest in existing cavities produced by primary cavity nesters, such as woodpeckers.

The beetles also use artificially made holes to construct hideouts called “leaf hole shelters”. As the shape and size of the hole were not exactly in tune with the requirements of the beetle, they resized the hole by partitioning with a wall constructed with own fecal pellets. Use of feces by adult leaf beetles for construction of shelters is being described for the first time, with these two new southern Indian species namely Orthaltica eugenia and Orthaltica terminalia. The beetles are named after their host trees, common in jungles of the Western Ghats Mountains, which is a globally recognized hot spot of biodiversity.

Original Source:

Prathapan KD, Konstantinov AS, Shameem KM, Balan AP (2013) First record of leaf-hole shelters used and modified by leaf beetles (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae), with descriptions of two new Orthaltica Crotch species from southern India. ZooKeys 336: 47-59. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.336.5435

A new study provides a rare glimpse into the natural history of some extraordinary Chrysomelinae beetle species in Central and South America

Hidden in the thick foliage of tropical forests a subfamily of colorful beetles hides the secrets of the earliest stages of social behavior, showing explicit signs of maternal instincts and care. An international team of scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Centro Universitário de Lavras, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, and Université libre de Bruxelles looked into the complex subsocial behaviors present in the extraordinary Chrysomelinae subfamily to discover and describe in detail the different degrees of maternal instincts present within 8 species. The exciting insight into the biology of these species was published in the 4th “Research on Chrysomelidae” special issue of the open access journal Zookeys, alongside 6 other research articles on the family.

Within the leaf beetles, maternal care of offspring is found in just two of 15 subfamilies, the broad-shouldered leaf beetles (Chrysomelinae) and the tortoise beetles (Cassidinae), groups possibly more vulnerable to predators and parasitoids due to slow-moving and exposed immature stages. The study of subsocial behavior, additional to its intrinsic appeal, may offer a perspective on selective forces at work during the earliest stages of insect social evolution.

Complex subsocial behavior was observed in pairs of one of the species studied, D. paykulli, interacting aggressively on newly expanded leaves. Whether these were contests over resources or precopulatory courtship is unclear, however, analysis of video taken of one of these interactions shows the use of the mesosternal horn in dislodging a competitor. Adult females were discovered during mid-May in close proximity to eggs attached to the cupped apical leaves.

Observations of additional species associated with a different family of plants, the Solananceae, suggest that mothers modify leaf resources in advance of bearing live offspring, and later block and herd movement of larvae among leaves on the same food plant. An adult was also recorded following a tightly arranged group of larvae moving between leaves on their food plant. Mothers at times tightly straddled their aggregated first and second instar larvae on the natal leaf, preventing their advance down the leaf petiole.

While guarding, mothers reacted aggressively by charging to the edge of the leaf when a thin stick was introduced to the area by an observer. Charges, stamping and shaking continued for a short period of time after the stimulus was removed. The strongest reaction was given to a camera held approximately 10 cm under and to the side of the natal leaf.

Observations and field studies find evidence that mothers actively defend offspring in at least eight species and three genera of Neotropical Chrysomelinae tightly associated with two host plant families. Reports on the three Doryphora species that feed on vines in the dogbane family, Apocyanaceae, reveal that mothers defend eggs and larvae by straddling, blocking access at the petiole and greeting potential predators with leaf-shaking and jerky advances. A less aggressive form of maternal care is found in two Platyphora and four Proseicela species associated with shrubs and small trees in the nightshade family Solanaceae.

“Large voids remain in our understanding of the natural history of both groups, including the identity and importance of predators and parasitoids and the diverse ways in which mothers may be influencing the survival of offspring.”, comments Dr. Windsor, one of the authors of the study. “We urge continued study of these magnificent insects, their enemies and their defenses, both behavioral and chemical, especially in forests along the eastern versant of the Central and South American cordillera.”

Original Source:

Windsor DM, Dury GJ, Frieiro-Costa FA, Lanckowsky S, Pasteels JM (2013) Subsocial Neotropical Doryphorini (Chrysomelidae, Chrysomelinae): new observations on behavior, host plants and systematics. In: Jolivet P, Santiago-Blay J, Schmitt M (Eds) Research on Chrysomelidae 4. ZooKeys 332: 71-93. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.332.5199

A recent paper published in the open access journal Zookeys provides a first-time glimpse in the natural history of the enigmatic spider species Progradungula otwayensis. Lurking in the hollows of old myrtle beech trees and thus hard to collect, this extraordinary spider is an endemic species confined strictly to the beautiful Great Otway National Park (Victoria, Australia).

P. otwayensis belongs to the small spider family Gradungulidae which consists of seven genera with a total of 16 described species found exclusively in eastern Australia and New Zealand. The genus Progradungula to which the species studied here belongs is among the few cribellate ones in the family. This term refers to the cribellum, a web producing organ which, unlike normal spinnerets, produces extremely fine fibers which are combed out by the calamistrum, producing silk with a wooly texture. The fibers are so small in diameter that prey insects easily become entangled in them, without any glue needed.

To add to its mystery P. otwayensis weaves highly stereotyped ladder-shaped webs, where they stand facing down after sunset, waiting for preys which will be caught by using the ladder as a trap – a behavior which was already described in detail by now retired arachnologist Mike Gray (Australian Museum) for the only known other species of this genus, P. carraensis. A single thick and shiny silk thread is then used by the spiders to provide a zip-line like connection between the external webs and the security of the enigmatic retreat in the hollows of ancient myrtle beech and mountain ash tree.

“On one occasion, we had access to a large hollow mountain ash tree and found catching ladders and supporting webs of juveniles inside of it.”, comments the lead author of the study Peter Michalik, Zoological Institute and Museum of the University of Greifswald (Germany), about the unusual bit of luck to have a glimpse into the secluded retreats of the spiders.

Martín Ramírez, from the Argentinian Museum of Natural History and co-author of the study, commented on the habitat specificity of this species, “confined to the oldest and extensively hollow myrtle beech trees in the humid forests in the western part of the Great Otway National Park, or in mountain ash trees, upon which the myrtle trees depend,” thus making an important case for the conservation of such habitats.

The unusual living habits and high degree of endemicity makes this spider a rare and remarkable species. The new study suggests that this spider is dependant on the microclimate in the hollows of old myrtle beech trees since other hollow trees were very much less inhabited and to some extent explains the confinement of the species distribution range.

Original Source:

Michalik P, Piacentini L, Lipke E, Ramírez MJ (2013) The enigmatic Otway odd-clawed spider (Progradungula otwayensis Milledge, 1997, Gradungulidae, Araneae): Natural history, first description of the female and micro-computed tomography of the male palpal organ. ZooKeys 335: 101-112. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.335.6030