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An audit of more than 9000 species occurrence records in two online databases has uncovered a large number of errors. The study also highlighted the fact that online database publishers currently take no responsibility for the content of their databases, and do not collaborate with their data providers in checking and correcting the online data. The audit results and the associated data files have been published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

The records checked were for native Australian millipede species and were published online by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, GBIF and the Atlas of Living Australia, ALA. GBIF and ALA obtain most of their records from cooperating museums, but disclaim any responsibility for errors in museum databases, instead warning users that the data may not be accurate or fit for purpose.

The auditing was done voluntarily by Dr Bob Mesibov, who is a millipede specialist and a research associate at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania.

The audit found duplicated records and other bookkeeping problems, as well as errors in scientific nomenclature and in locations and dates for specimen collections. Location errors were particularly common, with 15% of a ‘best data’ subset of the records at least 5 km from the correct locality.

"The data quality problem is not trivial," said Dr Mesibov. "On the one hand, the data aggregators like GBIF and ALA are telling the world that they offer one-stop shops for data that can, for example, greatly assist decision-making in conservation and land management. On the other hand, the aggregators are not working to ensure that the data they publish are correct. And bad data aren’t very useful."

Dr Mesibov contacted museums directly to alert them to errors he found and to query inconsistencies in the occurrence records. The museums concerned have edited their records and will pass corrections on to GBIF and ALA when updating their contributions to the online databases. Error-correcting at the level of GBIF and ALA is slow and piecemeal, says Dr Mesibov, and should not have to rely on interested outsiders like himself.

"Data cleaning isn’t rocket science," said Dr. Mesibov. "The aggregators could do much more checking and could collaborate with their providers in sorting out inconsistencies and fixing at least some of the errors. At the moment, that doesn’t seem to be happening, so GBIF and ALA users need to take the aggregators’ warnings about data quality very seriously."

 

Original Source:

Mesibov R (2013) A specialist’s audit of aggregated occurrence records. ZooKeys 293: 1, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.293.5111

The world’s biodiversity is currently in rapid decline, with human-mediated global change being a principal cause. Europe is no exception, and the Natura 2000 network provides an important conservation tool for biodiversity on a European level. It forms a network of natural and semi-natural sites within the region with high heritage values due to the exceptional flora and fauna they contain. The goal of the Natura 2000 network is to maintain the biological diversity of environments, while taking into account economic, social, cultural and regional logic of sustainable development. A new study published in the open access journal Nature Conservation provides an evaluation of the effectiveness of Natura 2000 and sets objectives and recommendations for the future.

The analysis in the paper is based on a coverage ratio between the Natura 2000 sites and distribution maps of 300 threatened IUCN red listed European species. The study shows that the distributions of a large proportion of threatened species of mammals, birds and reptiles are highly covered (above 90%), demonstrating the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network. However, results also confirm that a large proportion of threatened species, especially fishes, are currently still poorly covered. Of the 124 fish species considered, 22 species had a range coverage of less than 10 %. The coverage of species also seems to be highly related to national demographic factors, as the proportion of the national urban population. Further analysis suggests that the designation of sites depends too strongly on governmental politics, economic and cultural criteria, and interactions between society and the environment.

In order to improve the management of sites, a common and standardized management of the Natura 2000 sites with a uniform framework among member states needs to be established. The study suggests that sites should be under continuous observation and evaluation, to determine their importance for the conservation of biodiversity in a biogeographical region. Such an approach would improve efficiency and determine high priority Natura 2000 sites, as well as provide a basis on which to determine appropriate resource allocation. These approaches will help with the selection process, and may decrease the impact of the political agenda, as current observed.

"Our results recommend increasing the number of Natura 2000 sites, in order to overlay a large proportion of the distribution map of considered species. We further recommend developing public awareness and participation to increase the ecological conscience. The involvement of local people in conservation strategies has been shown to be highly efficient.", comment the authors of the study Dr Trochet, Station d’Ecologie Expérimentale du CNRS а Moulis and Dr Schmeller, UFZ – Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research. "Our recommendations should increase the efficiency of Natura 2000 network by avoiding the establishment of ineffective sites (with a low number of protected species), as observed in several member states with a high Natura 2000 surface coverage but with a low number of protected species."

 

Original Source:

Trochet A, Schmeller DS (2013) Effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network to cover threatened species. Nature Conservation 4: 35. doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.4.3626

A new species of leaf miner from the important family Gracillariidae has been recently discovered in the depths of the Brazilian jungle and described in the open access journal Zookeys. The Gracillariidae family is an ancient one with fossils dating back its origins to around 97 million years. Among the leaf miners of this family there are some species with significance as economic factors as well as agricultural pests. The new species, Spinivalva gaucha, is associated with representatives of the Passiflora plant genus among which is the economically important and favorite to many passion fruit, also native to Brazil.

The name of the new species is derived from the Portuguese term "Gaúcho" used in Brazil to describe the native inhabitants of the fertile southernmost Brazilian lowlands, the pampas. What makes this species especially interesting are the fascinating stages of its early developments. Unlike most Brazilian gracillariids which are known only for their mature stages, the description of S. gaucha offers an insight in the complete life cycle of this intriguing leaf miner.

After the egg is laid on the surface of the leaf hatching occurs and the life history of the leaf miner begins. The new larva heads under the leaf surface to form a narrow serpentine shaped mine, which then expands with time and through the development stages to a blotch-like formation. Just before pupation the larva leaves the mine through a slit in the blotch to form a transparent cocoon on the leaf surface. Silk fragments are lined into a compact pattern to form a wall protecting the pupa. Another interesting phenomenon is observed during this stage of development, where the pupa discharges bizarre light yellow bubbles which are scattered along the periphery of the cocoon through a slit which closes soon after. When mature the new adult leaf miner emerges into the outside world head-first through the cocoon.

"Contrary to all known leaf-miner gracillarids whose larvae initially have modified mouthparts and feed on sap, this new species does not have a sap-feeding instar, the larvae presenting mandible of chewing type in all instars, and thus feeding on the upper leaf tissue since hatching" explain the authors of the study. "This discovery in particular will have important implications for future studies concerning the evolution of the wide diversity in feeding habits known to exist within this important family."

 

Original Source:

Brito R, Gonçalves GL, Vargas HA, Moreira GRP (2013) A new Brazilian Passiflora leafminer: Spinivalva gaucha, gen. n., sp. n. (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae, Gracillariinae), the first gracillariid without a sap feeding instar. ZooKeys 291: 1, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.291.4910

Ypsolophid moths are a peculiar group of Lepidoptera that attracts attention with their strange preference for a pose of rest. To take a break adult Ypsolophids like to go bottom up with antennae stretched forward. The larvae of these quirky species live and feed in webs they form on the leaves, buds and twigs of plants. When they are ready to pupate they produce a cocoon like cradle attached to the host plant.

This bizarre group of moths is also particularly hard to catch. The standard methods for collecting adults, usually comprising of breeding them from larvae or attracting the adults by light, both work rarely in the case of Ypsolophids. The larvae of most species usually live solitary on host plant and are hard to find in nature and unlike most flying insects, adults of many species fly on light infrequently. Thus the collecting of specimens from this group is big event for entomologists, especially if the species caught turns out to be unknown for science. Russian scientists have had the rare luck to catch and describe two new species of ypsolophid moths from the south regions of the Russian Far East. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Being thermophilic, Ypsolophid moths represent a group that has a propensity for relatively higher temperature of the southern regions of the Russian Far East. During last decade the number of known species from Russian Far East has been more than twice increased. Including the species described in this paper, they reached the number of 30 species, which makes for a fourth of all known Ypsolophids worldwide.

"Faunistic studies are not only a whim! Exploring species diversity is a task with ecological repercussions on a local, and global scales", explains Dr. Ponomarenko, Institute of Biology and Soil Science, Far Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Science. "Studying the species diversity in East Asia as a whole and in the Far East of Russia in particular is an important endeavour. Faunistic investigations are only the first step in a long row of scientific tasks towards forming a primary database for further theoretical reconstructions and conclusions for the benefit of biodiversity conservation and species preservation."

 

Original source

Ponomarenko MG and Zinchenko YuN (2013) New taxonomic data on the genus Ypsolopha Latreille (Lepidoptera, Ypsolophidae) with descriptions of two new species from the Russian Far East. Zookeys 289: 25, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.289.3905

Researchers from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok and the Natural History Museum, London (Thanit Siriboon, Chirasak Sutcharit, Fred Naggs and Somsak Panha) discovered many new taxa of the brightly coloured carnivorous terrestrial snails family Streptaxidae. Terrestrial snails are primarily herbivores and only a rare few groups like this one are carnivorous. The animals come from several limestone areas across the world, including some threatened by human exploitation, especially by quarrying.

Three new species from the genus Perrottetia were described from north and northeastern Thailand. The species show extraordinary endemism, with each of these colourful snails occurring as "One Hill One Species". This is a very peculiar phenomenon where each one of these highly endemic snails is specific and the only one inhabiting a certain mountain range. They live in rock crevices, feeding on tinier snails, insect larvae and some earthworms species. These beautiful animals are now at risk from extinction with the destruction of limestone ecosystems. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Limestone ecosystems in the world are now being destroyed at an alarming rate. This means we are losing biodiversity resources, a tendency especially threatening for the hot spot areas like Thailand. The new research findings show that key terrestrial invertebrates, such as several new bright carnivorous land snails are still persisting in such areas and are being described even from the highly endangered quarried sites. This demonstrates that there are still remnants of some fundamental ecosystem, which lives and is struggling for survival, a great experience for mankind to learn.

"The three new Perrottetia species exhibit distinct morphological characteristics, which make for a great example for evolutionary studies in unstable environments," comments one of the authors, Dr Somsak Panha. "More than 50% of limestone ecosystems in this region have been or still are being destroyed. This astonishing case of biodiversity persistence gives a valuable reason to put effort in the conservation of this important world ecosystem. "

 

 

Original source: Siriboon T, Sutcharit C, Naggs F, Panha S (2013) Three new species of the carnivorous snail genus Perrottetia Kobelt, 1905 from Thailand (Pulmonata, Streptaxidae). ZooKeys 287: 41-57. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.287.4572

The rare specimen was discovered by researchers from Bucknell University and Fauna & Flora International while conducting field research with wildlife authorities in South Sudan

LEWISBURG, Pa. — Researchers have identified a new genus of bat after discovering a rare specimen in South Sudan. With wildlife personnel under the South Sudanese Ministry of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism, Bucknell Associate Professor of Biology DeeAnn Reeder and Fauna & Flora International (FFI) Programme Officer Adrian Garside were leading a team conducting field research and pursuing conservation efforts when Reeder spotted the animal in Bangangai Game Reserve.

"My attention was immediately drawn to the bat’s strikingly beautiful and distinct pattern of spots and stripes. It was clearly a very extraordinary animal, one that I had never seen before," recalled Reeder. "I knew the second I saw it that it was the find of a lifetime."

After returning to the United States, Reeder determined the bat was the same as one originally captured in nearby Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1939 and named Glauconycteris superba, but she and colleagues did not believe that it fit with other bats in the genus Glauconycteris.

"After careful analysis, it is clear that it doesn’t belong in the genus that it’s in right now," Reeder said. "Its cranial characters, its wing characters, its size, the ears — literally everything you look at doesn’t fit. It’s so unique that we need to create a new genus."

In the paper, "A new genus for a rare African vespertilionid bat: insights from South Sudan" just published by the journal ZooKeys, Reeder, along with co-authors from the Smithsonian Institution and the Islamic University in Uganda, placed this bat into a new genus – Niumbaha. The word means "rare" or "unusual" in Zande, the language of the Azande people in Western Equatoria State, where the bat was captured. The bat is just the fifth specimen of its kind ever collected, and the first in South Sudan, which gained its independence in 2011.

"To me, this discovery is significant because it highlights the biological importance of South Sudan and hints that this new nation has many natural wonders yet to be discovered. South Sudan is a country with much to offer and much to protect," said Matt Rice, FFI’s South Sudan country director. FFI is using its extensive experience of working in conflict and post-conflict countries to assist the South Sudanese government as it re-establishes the country’s wildlife conservation sector and is also helping to rehabilitate selected protected areas through training and development of park staff and wildlife service personnel, road and infrastructure development, equipment provision, and supporting research work. || Read more about FFI’s conservation efforts in South Sudan here.

The team’s research in South Sudan was made possible by a $100,000 grant that Reeder received from the Woodtiger Fund. The private research foundation recently awarded Reeder another $100,000 dollar grant to continue her research this May and to support FFI’s conservation programs.

"Our discovery of this new genus of bat is an indicator of how diverse the area is and how much work remains," Reeder added. "Understanding and conserving biodiversity is critical in many ways. Knowing what species are present in an area allows for better management. When species are lost, ecosystem-level changes ensue. I’m convinced this area is one in which we need to continue to work."

 

To download hi-resolution photos of DeeAnn Reeder, Adrian Garside and Niumbaha superba in South Sudan, visit: http://www.bucknell.edu/X81336.xml

Original Source:

Reeder DM, Helgen KM, Vodzak ME, Lunde DP, Ejotre I (2013) A new genus for a rare African vespertilionid bat: insights from South Sudan. ZooKeys 285: 89. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.285.4892

The ‘Mongolian Death Worm‘, called olgoi-khorkhoi by the local population is a legendary animal with an unconfirmed existence that has preoccupied the imagination of the inhabitants and travelers in the region. It is said to inhabit the southern Gobi Desert where it terrorizes travelers with its deadly abilities to project acid that, upon contact, turns anything it touches yellow and corroded.

Two new sub-species of earthworms, Eisenia nordenskioldi mongol and E. n. onon, are reported from the same region. Although neither of them possesses the fatal characteristics of olgoi-khorkhoi, the sibling species exhibit the ability to partly regrow body parts when cut in two. Relatives of the sub-species are found in habitats as diverse as high mountains, deserts and geothermal hot-springs. They demonstrate extreme temperature tolerances and survival ranges thriving in environments from as little as -30°C up to +40°C.

E. nordenskioldi mongol has its name derived from the region of discovery. The name E. n. onon bears more romantic connotations, being inspired by the Onon River in Outer Mongolia, where Genghis Khan was born and grew up. The region is also supposed to be the resting place of this historical figure that inspires stories of great conquests, victories and brutality.

Earthworms as a group organisms have other more tangible, importance from an ecological point of view. Charles Darwin, for example, spent 50 years of his working life studying these humble worms. They are key organisms for monitoring and maintaining soil fertility. Earthworms are also the basis of food-chains as the Early-bird and any fishermen knows.

Whether olgoi-khorkhoi really exists, and whether the two new sub-species of the Siberian E. nordenskioldi species-complex are in any way related to it, is yet to be confirmed and in the meantime, can continue to inspire the romantic mind and stories.

 

 

Original Source:

Blakemore RJ (2013) Earthworms newly from Mongolia (Oligochaeta, Lumbricidae, Eisenia). ZooKeys 285: 1–21, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.285.4502

The genus Megachile is a cosmopolitan group of solitary bees, often called leafcutter bees. This is one of the largest genera of bees, with well over 1,500 species in over 50 subgenera. A new species, Megachile chomskyi, has been found only in Texas, US. What is specific and interesting about this bee is the fact that it is among those insects which exhibit a narrow, specialized preference for pollen sources. Presumably, the irreplaceable host of M. chomskyi are the beautiful flowers of the widespread Onagraceae, or the so-called Evening-Primrose Family. The study has been recently published in the peer review, open access journal ZooKeys, with distribution data available via Canadensys.

The new species is named after Professor Noam Chomsky, Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for his long career and many academic achievements and contributions as a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, political critic, activist and global champion of human rights. Previously, Prof. Chomsky had inspired the name of another animal, the chimpanzee Nim Chimpsky, who was a part of an extended study of animal language acquisition at Columbia University. The pun referred to Chomsky’s influential role in the development of modern linguistics, including in the ongoing debate about what aspects of language are unique to humans.

The most prominent features of M. chomskyi and the other members of this species group in the subgenus Megachiloides are their elongate tongues and the unique mandible structure of the females. Unlike the other representatives of the family that chew leaves or flower petals, many species of Megachile neatly cut circular pieces of leaves or petals for nest construction. Nests of Megachile are often constructed within hollow twigs or other similarly constricted natural cavities, but some species, including members of the subgenus Megachiloides, excavate burrows in the ground.

The subgenus Megachiloides still remains one of the most problematic Megachile groups in North America, partially due to males and females of many species not being associated with each other; as such, a large proportion of the species are described from one sex. Outdated identification keys and descriptions which are poorly illustrated are also contributing factors.

"In addition to naming the species after Dr. Chomsky to honour his many accomplishments, I also have been a huge fan and follower of his writings, lectures, and political views for a long time," said Dr Cory Sheffield, the author of the study.

 

Original Source

Sheffield CS (2013) A new species of Megachile Latreille subgenus Megachiloides (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae). ZooKeys 283: 43, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.283.4674

Situated at the foothills of the Western Tian-Shan, Kyrgyzstan is home to a diverse range of vascular plants, many of which are endemic and can only be found in very narrowly circumscribed areas. Such is the case for the onion species Allium spathulatum that had long remained undetected in spite of living within the famous Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve. Even in close proximity to the headquarters it remained unnoticed until it was finally described in 1998.

The species occurs in the low-altitude forest zone, between 1600 and 1700 m a.s.l., dwelling in river valleys, on open sunny slopes with sparse savanna-type vegetation or sheltered by stones. The plants grow clustered in small patches, suggesting the most successful establishment nearby mature plants. When originally found, the species was considered unique in the subgenus Allium because of its unusual spatule-like bracts subtending pedicels. It probably belongs to an old phylogenetic lineage that has archaic characters and is survived in very few representative species.

A new rare species, Allium formosum, closely related to A. spathulatum, has been now discovered by the scientists Alexander Sennikov from the Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki and Georgy Lazkov from the Institute of Biology and Soil Science, National Academy of Sciences in the Kyrgyz Republic, Bishkek. The study was published in the open access journal Phytokeys. The new plant is possibly a very narrow endemic species of the Babash-Ata Mountains, Kyrgyzstan, so far known only from the type locality. The name of the new species is derived from the Latin word for ‘beautiful’ (formosum) because of its elegant habit and beautiful colouration of the flower, transitional between deeply pink and purple.

The distance between the localities of A. spathulatum and A. formosum, both narrow endemics of mountains surrounding the eastern end of Fergana valley, is about 60 km. The area of the eastern part of the Chatkal Range and the northern outliers of the Fergana Range (Babash-Ata and neighbouring mountains) harbour many other narrow endemics of Allium, and this discovery stresses the need of further explorations and plant protection in this area.

"Because of the vulnerability of the species, we anticipate its inclusion in the forthcoming Red Data Book of Central Asia and the next edition of the Red Data Book of Kyrgyzstan", says the lead author Dr Alexander Sennikov.

 

All raw data underpinning this article have been published open access through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and in the Dryad Data Repository at doi: 10.5061/dryad.pq87t, so that other scientists can verify and build on these records or re-use the data in their studies.

Original Source

Sennikov AN, Lazkov GA (2013) Allium formosum Sennikov & Lazkov (Amaryllidaceae), a new species from Kyrgyzstan. Phytokeys 21: 29, doi: 10.3897/Phytokeys.21.4130

Dejean’s beetle catalogs reviewed for the first time

Two Canadian scientists have undertaken the challenging task to bring up to date the catalogues written by one of the most passionate collectors of beetles, Coleoptera, in the 19th century, Pierre Dejean. Dr. Yves Bousquet and Dr. Patrice Bouchard, who work with the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, have now produced a pioneering detailed review of the important nomenclatural and taxonomic data in these rich publications. Two articles analyzing the Coleoptera genera in the second (1833) and third (1836) catalogues of Dejean’s collection were published in the latest special issue of the open access journal ZooKeys.

Pierre François Marie Auguste Dejean was born in 1780 at Amiens, north of Paris. By the age of 13, he was already interested in entomology, collecting mainly butterflies and moths, Lepidoptera. His passion for beetle collection came shortly after these first steps, and Dejean decided to devote himself to the study of Coleoptera. By the age of 15, Dejean enrolled in the army and despite his following successful career as an officer and a politician, the most important legacy of his life was marked by his inextinguishable passion for collecting beetles.

On the battlefields around Europe during Napoleon’s time and while in exile in the Austrian Empire after his fall, Dejean was a restless and fearless collector of new specimens. His youngest daughter describes the intensity of her father’s passion in the preface of one of her poetry books: "He recounted himself that during the battle he stopped his horse to attach a small insect to his helmet and then carried on forward to combat". After his return to Paris in 1818, Dejean was rich and respected as were all the generals that served under Napoleon. He financed several collecting expeditions, and also bought a number of collections. Before his death in 1845, his collection contained a remarkable 24,643 species and more than 118,000 specimens, at the time the largest personal beetle collection in the world!

In total Dejean published four catalogues of the beetles in his collection, the first one was never officially published and presents no great interest for biologists as it does not provide any new scientific names. In contrast, the other three catalogues are important for nomenclature, since many new genus-group names were made available for the first time by the inclusion of at least one species name made available previously. Despite the fact that Dejean’s catalogues have been heavily cited since their publication, the genus-group names in those catalogues were often given the status of nomina nuda, since they lacked formal descriptions. The objective of this new review is to provide a detailed nomenclatural summary of all generic names included in the catalogues and thus to clear any confusion around the use of Dejean’s names in the biological literature.

"While working on a number of catalogues in the past, it became clear to us that the generic names in Dejean’s second and third catalogues had been a source of confusion." explain Dr. Bousquet and Dr. Bouchard. "While experts of some groups in Coleoptera had consistently applied the rules of nomenclature to deal with these names, genera in other groups were often misused or had been completely ignored. In an effort to standardize and stabilize the usage of genus-group names in Coleoptera as a whole, we decided to provide a detailed analysis of all generic names included in Dejean’s catalogues. Amongst other findings, our research revealed a number of new synonymies and also showed that several names available in Dejean’s catalogues are in fact older than currently accepted ones."

 

Original Sources:

Bousquet Y, Bouchard P (2013) The genera in the second catalogue (1833) of Dejean’s Coleoptera collection. ZooKeys 282: 1, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.282.4401

Bousquet Y, Bouchard P (2013) The genera in the third catalogue (1836) of Dejean’s Coleoptera collection. ZooKeys 282: 221, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.282.4402