Pensoft blog - Part 64

Pensoft welcomes Neotropical Biology & Conservation to its open-access journal portfolio

Eleven studies in the first issue demonstrate the modernized look & feel of the Brazil-born journal, as provided by the scholarly publishing platform ARPHA

Launched by the Brazilian university Unisinos (Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos) in 2006, the open-access, peer-reviewed Neotropical Biology & Conservation moves to the journal family of scholarly publisher and technology provider Pensoft.

Neotropical Biology & Conservation welcomes research and review articles, short communications and commentaries on the biology and behaviour of organisms from the tropical ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South America. Special emphasis is given to papers that demonstrate the application of conservation principles for natural resource management and policy. Manuscripts can be published in Portuguese, as well as English, where an English-language abstract is mandatory.

The journal is published three times a year, with the first 2019 issue already available on the new website. New research papers, part of the second issue, will be out next Monday (15th July).

New website for Neotropical Biology & Conservation

Beyond Neotropical Biology & Conservation‘s new glossy and user-friendly appearance, the Pensoft-developed scholarly platform ARPHA provides its signature fast-track, end-to-end publishing system to the benefit of its users: authors, reviewers and editors alike. Thereby, each submitted manuscript is carried through the review, editing, publication, dissemination and archiving stages without leaving ARPHA’s collaboration-centred online environment. The articles are available in PDF and machine-readable XML formats, so that they are easy to discover, access, cite and reuse.

Editor-in-Chief of Neotropical Biology & Conservation Dr Ana Maria Leal-Zanchet, says:

“It’s an honour for the Editorial board of Neotropical Biology & Conservation that the journal becomes a member of the Pensoft/ARPHA team. This journal was born as Acta Biologica Leopoldensia, which was published by Unisinos between 1979 and 2005. Since 2006 Neotropical Biology & Conservation continued the tradition of this former journal, publishing articles from all around Brazil, and even enhancing its coverage to other parts of the Neotropics. In recent years, the scientific community that uses our journal as a venue to disseminate their research results has been continuously increasing. We maintain our commitment to disseminate scientific findings through open access and to continue pursuing a sustainable international growth. I am sure that the user-friendly ARPHA’s publishing system and the great support of the Pensoft team will please authors, reviewers and the Editorial board of the journal, enhancing the efficiency, quality and swiftness of publishing, as well as the international visibility of Neotropical Biology & Conservation.”

ARPHA’s and Pensoft’s founder and CEO Prof Lyubomir Penev says:

“I’m delighted to welcome Neotropical Biology & Conservation to the Pensoft/ARPHA family, where the journal not only feels at home amongst predominantly biodiversity-themed titles, but also comes to complement another two Brazil-born journals: Check List, which publishes biogeographical data, especially for the use of biodiversity conservation, and Zoologia: mostly focusing on systematics, evolution and taxonomy in the field of Zoology. With this kind of background and the constantly expanding high-tech functions of ARPHA, I’m certain that we are fully equipped to build on the image and success of Neotropical Biology & Conservation.”

What’s on in the first issue?

Amongst the 11 articles in the first issue of Neotropical Biology & Conservation, there is the study by Dr Lucas Porto (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul) and Dr Ana Maria Rui (Universidade Federal de Pelotas), which observes Crab-eating and Pampas foxes in southern Brazil for a year to compare the diets and habitat uses of the two sympatric species. Curiously, the canids demonstrated a high overlap of their diets at all times, with the exception of autumn.

Another paper, authored by a research team from the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Goiano and the Federal University of Goiás, describes the frequency, occurrence status and activity period of the most common medium- and large-sized mammals living in the world’s most biodiverse savanna: Brazil’s Cerrado. Namely, subjects of the study were the Giant anteater, Nine-banded armadillo, South American tapir, Crab-eating fox and Lowland paca, where the largest species were found to have the greatest variation in time period of activity.

A collaborative work at the Federal University of Pernambuco, University of Brasília and the Rural Federal University of Pernambuco, reports important observations of the unexpectedly diverse bat fauna in an urban environment located in the Atlantic Forest, northeastern Brazil. Between May 2006 and April 2007, the researchers captured 950 bats identified to 16 species and five families.

The first 2019 issue of *Neotropical Biology and Conservation*.

Follow Neotropical Biology & Conservation on Twitter and Facebook.

Two new species of parasitic wasps described from an altitude of over 3,400 m in Tibet

Specimens kept in the collection of the Institute of Beneficial Insects at the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (FAFU, China) revealed the existence of two previously unknown species of endoparasitoid wasps. Originally collected in 2013, the insects are known to inhabit prairies and bushes at above 3,400 m, which is quite an unusual altitude for this group of wasps.

The new to science wasps are described and illustrated in a paper published in the open-access, peer-reviewed scholarly journal ZooKeys by the team of Dr Wangzhen Zhang (FAFU and Fuzhou Airport Inspection and Quarantine Bureau) and his colleagues at FAFU: Dr Dongbao Song and Prof Jiahua Chen.

Looking very similar to each other, the species were found to belong to one and the same genus (Microplitis), which, however, is clearly distinct from any other within the subfamily, called Microgastrinae. The latter group comprises tiny, mostly black or brown wasps that develop in the larvae of specific moths or butterflies. Interestingly, once parasitised, the host continues living and does not even terminate its own growth. It is only killed when the wasp eggs hatch and feed on its organs and body fluids before spinning cocoons.

From now on, the newly described wasps will be called by the scientific names Microplitis paizhensis and Microplitis bomiensis, where their species names refer to the localities from where they were originally collected: Paizhen town and Bomi county, respectively.

Due to their parasitism, some microgastrine wasps are considered important pest biocontrol agents. Unfortunately, the hosts of the newly described species remain unknown.

In addition, the scientists also mention a third new to science species spotted amongst the specimens they studied. However, so far they have only found its male, whereas a reliable description of a new microgastrine wasp requires the presence of a female.

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Original source:

Zhang W, Song D, Chen J (2019) Two new species of the genus Microplitis Förster, 1862 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Microgastrinae) from China. ZooKeys 859: 49-61. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.859.31720

Trendy on eight legs: Jumping spider named after fashion czar Karl Lagerfeld

Newly described ‘brushed’ jumping spider species *Jotus karllagerfeldi* and its famous namesake: fashion icon and designer, creative director, artist, photographer and caricaturist Karl Lagerfeld (1933-2019).
Photos by Mark Newton, CeNak (
*Jotus karllagerfeldi*, CC-BY 4.0) and
Siebbi (Karl Lagerfeld, CC-BY 3.0). Modified by CeNak.

New to science species of Australian jumping spider was named after Hamburg-born fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld (1933-2019) after the arachnid reminded its discoverers of the designer. Intrigued by its distinct ‘downplayed’ black-and-white colours, the Hamburg-Brisbane-Melbourne team likened the spider’s appearance to Lagerfeld’s trademark style: his white hair and Kent collar that contrasted with the black sunglasses and gloves.

Thus, the curious species, now officially listed under the name Jotus karllagerfeldi was described in the open-access journal Evolutionary Systematics by Dr Danilo Harms of the Center for Natural History of the University of Hamburg (CeNak), Dr Barbara Baehr, Queensland Museum (Brisbane, Australia) and Joseph Schubert, Monash University (Melbourne).

Typically, the members of the jumping spider genus *Jotus* demonstrate striking red and blue colours.
Photos by Robert Whyte (*Jotus fortiniae* sp. nov., top row) and Michael Doe (unidentified species, bottom row), CeNak.

When compared with other members in the ‘brushed’ jumping spider genus Jotus, the novel species clearly stands out due to its black-and-white legs and tactile organs (pedipalps), whereas the typical representative of this group demonstrates striking red or blue colours.

“The animal reminded us with its colours of the reduced style of Karl Lagerfeld. For example, we associate the black leg links with the gloves he always wore”, Danilo Harms explains.

Newly described ‘brushed’ jumping spider species *Jotus karllagerfeldi*.
Photo by Mark Newton, CeNak

In fact, what was to be now commonly referred to as Karl Lagerfeld’s Jumping Spider was identified amongst specimens in the Godeffroy Collection. Kept at CeNak, the historical collection was originally compiled by the inquisitive and wealthy tradesman from Hamburg Johann Cesar Godeffroy, who financed several expeditions to Australia back in the 19th century. Here, the research team identified another link between Australia, Godeffroy, Hamburg and Jotus karllagerfeldi.

Besides the tiny (4 to 5 mm) arachnid, whose pedipalps resemble a white Kent collar, the scientists describe another seven new to science species and add them to the same genus. Two of those, Jotus fortiniae and Jotus newtoni, were also named after inspirational figures for their hard work and creativity: educator, molecular biologist and science communicator Dr Ellen Fortini (Perth College, Western Australia) and keen naturalist and photographer Mark Newton. All novel species were found either in the Godeffroy Collection or amongst the jumping spiders housed at Queensland Museum.

Surprisingly, even though the genus Jotus comprises numerous species found all over Australia, there is not much known about these spiders. An interesting feature, according to the scientists behind the present study, are the huge telescopic eyes, which allow for spatial vision. The Jotus species need this ability in foraging, since they do not weave webs, but rather hunt in the open. Thus, they have evolved into extremely fast and agile hunters, capable of jumping short distances.

Curiously, back in 2017, the team of Barbara and Danilo, joined by Dr Robert Raven from Queensland Museum, described another previously unknown, yet fascinating species: a water-adapted spider, whose sudden emergence at the coastline of Australia’s “Sunshine State” of Queensland during low tide in January brought up the association with reggae legend Bob Marley and his song “High Tide or Low Tide”. The species, scientifically known as Desis bobmarleyi, was also published in Evolutionary Systematics.

Female individual of the marine spider *Desis bobmarleyi*, named after reggae legend
Bob Marley. The species was also described in the open-access *Evolutionary Systematics* in 2017 by the team of Barbara and Danilo.
Photo by R. Raven.

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Find an interview (in German) with co-author Dr Danilo Harms on the University of Hamburg’s website.

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Original source:

Baehr BC, Schubert J, Harms D (2019) The Brushed Jumping Spiders (Araneae, Salticidae, Jotus L. Koch, 1881) from Eastern Australia. Evolutionary Systematics 3(1): 53-73. https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.3.34496

All Pensoft journals indexed in Transpose to support transparency in journal policies

All open-access, peer-reviewed academic titles of Pensoft‘s, as well as those using the white-label publishing solution provided by the scholarly publishing platform ARPHA, have their journal policy data fed into the Transpose database, in order to increase their discoverability and transparency.

Thanks to the recent integration with the community-sourced initiative Transpose, details about each journal’s approach to peer review, co-review and preprint publication can be easily accessed, navigated and compared through a user-friendly interface. Visitors can also query the data by journal title, publisher, ISSN or DOI, and apply several filters.

Having estimated that almost 1/3 of the top-cited journals across disciplines do not provide clearly basic information about their editorial policies, including whether they operate blind peer review or not, the team behind Transpose launched the forward-thinking community-sourced initiative with the aim to advance practices in academia and increase awareness and transparency amongst authors, editors and many other stakeholder groups. To highlight the essentiality of free and easy access to editorial policies for a wide range of actors, Transpose have published user testimonials on their website coming from various points of view, including early researchers, supervisors, project investigators, funders, publishing staff, and others.

Recent integration of the scholarly publishing platform ARPHA and Transpose results in the editorial policies of all ARPHA-hosted journals being fed into the associated database. Thus, various stakeholders from across the academic landscape are provided with an easy access to details about the peer review, co-review and preprint policies at each journal via a user-friendly interface.

Pensoft and ARPHA’s founder and CEO Prof. Lyubomir Penev says:

“Having been Open Science advocates from the very beginning, at Pensoft and ARPHA, we have always supported our clients and users in being as transparent as possible. Favourite examples are the open-science journal Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO), welcoming continuously updatable publications from across the whole research cycle, and Rethinking Ecology, launched to voice innovative and even bold ideas for the purposes of taking swift actions towards the conservation of the environment. The former operates public pre- and post-publication peer review to support efficient collaboration in research, while the latter relies on double-blind peer reviews, in order to encourage researchers of various experience and background to share their inventive ideas in ecology. Obviously, journal policies are and should be crucial when it comes to picking a specific journal over another regardless of the perspective. This is why I am certain that joining Transpose is doing good for all ARPHA-hosted journals, as well as the academic community.”

ASAPbio‘s Executive Director and member of the team behind Transpose, Dr Jessica Polka adds:

“We’re thrilled to incorporate data from Pensoft into Transpose. Making policy information clear and easy to find ensures that authors and reviewers can work with journals that best align with their values — and that scholarly work can be fairly interpreted by everyone, including general readers.”

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Additional information:

About Transpose:

Transpose is an initiative to build a database of journal policies. It focuses on three areas: open peer review, co-reviewing, and detailed pre-printing policies. It welcomes contributions from anyone, but seeks verification from journals and publishers. The goal of Transpose is to foster new practices while increasing awareness among authors, editors, and other stakeholders, and we seek to provide resources to assist journals in setting, sharing, and clarifying their policies.

Be prepared: Prioritising invasive species for strategic prevention in Durban, South Africa

Durban Harbour, used for both commercial and recreational purposes, is an important hub of human activity. The harbour was found to be an important point of first introduction as well as a site for naturalisation for the three species highlighted in this study.
(Photos by Şerban Procheş /left/ and Carl Munsamy /right/)

While exploring the way alien species invade cities around the world, South African PhD student Ashlyn L. Padayachee (University of KwaZulu-Natal, UKZN) and her supervisors, Serban Proches (UKZN) and John Wilson (SANBI and Stellenbosch University) remember suddenly being stricken.

What they realised was that while cities were gradually starting to prepare for climate change, their responses to invasions were rather reactive. Even though management focused on widespread invasive species, which were currently having the most negative impacts on native biodiversity, the researchers noted that if those decision makers had only targeted the next highly damaging invaders ahead of their arrival, the associated costs would have greatly decreased.

Consequently, the team developed a methodology, based on three key aspects: priority species, points of first introduction and sites of naturalisation, in order to identify the most probable and concerning invasive species for Durban (eThekwini in KwaZulu Natal), a coastal city in South Africa. Furthermore, their work, published in the open-access journal Neobiota provides decision makers from around the world with a new tool, that is easy to use and adjustable to the specificity of different cities.

Firstly, the researchers identified cities with a similar climate to Durban and used existing alien species watch lists, environmental criteria and introduction pathways to identify species, which are not present in South Africa, but are considered of unacceptable risk of invasion. The team continued by figuring out which of those selected species are likely to have pathways facilitating their introduction to the city and developed a climatic suitability model for each. Finally, the scientists linked the climate and pathway information, so that they could identify sites within Durban to be considered as a focus for the contingency planning for particular species.

As a result, the authors identified three alien species as priorities for Durban: Alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides), American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) and the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta).

River systems are ideal habitats for Alligator weed. River systems adjacent to points of first introduction were identified as important sites of first naturalisation of this species.
(Photo by Şerban Procheş)

In terms of points of introductions, the data highlighted the Durban Harbour, especially for the red imported fire ant. Plant nurseries and garden centres, as well as pet and aquarium shops were also identified as important sites for the three studied species. Additionally, suitable habitats located near the points of introduction, such as river systems and built infrastructure, were found in need of monitoring.

The red imported fire ant is usually found in close proximity to human dwellings, which provide ideal habitats for this species. Built infrastructure, especially those adjacent to the Durban Harbour, was identified as an important site of its naturalisation.
(Photo by Şerban Procheş)

In conclusion, the implementation of prioritisation schemes to consider the three aspects (species, pathways, and sites) allows managers to focus resources on those species which pose a greater risk of invasion and impact.

“This will only ever be one part of a broad range of biosecurity efforts, but it is one where, we believe, we can be prepared,” comment the authors.

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Original source:

Padayachee AL, Proches S, Wilson JRU (2019) Prioritising potential incursions for contingency planning: pathways, species, and sites in Durban (eThekwini), South Africa as an example. NeoBiota 47: 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.47.31959

Scientists challenge notion of binary sexuality with naming of new plant species

A collaborative team of scientists from the US and Australia has named a new plant species from the remote Outback. Bucknell University biology postdoctoral fellow Angela McDonnell and professor Chris Martine led the description of the plant that had confounded field biologists for decades because of the unusual fluidity of its flower form. The discovery, published in the open access journal PhytoKeys, offers a powerful example of the diversity of sexual forms found among plants.

The new species of bush tomato discovered in remote Australia provides a compelling example of the fact that sexuality among Earth’s living creatures is far more diverse – and interesting – than many people likely realize.

Bucknell University postdoctoral fellow Angela McDonnell and biology professor Chris Martine led the study following an expedition last year to relocate populations of the new plant, which were first noted by Australian botanists during the 1970s.

Herbarium specimens from those few earlier collections are peppered with notes regarding the challenge of identifying the sexual condition of this plant, which appeared at various times to be female, male, or bisexual.

According to Martine, about 85% of the planet’s quarter-million flowering plant species have flowers that are bisexual – with both male and female organs present in every blossom.

“So that’s already quite different than what some people might expect; but the remaining 15% or so come in all sorts of forms that push the envelope further, including unisexual flowers and (like we see in a plant like Cannabis) whole plants that are either male or female.”

“For the most part, a given plant species will stick to one primary and predictable type of sexual expression,” said Martine “but what makes Solanum plastisexum stand out is that it is one of a just a few plants that kind of do it all. It really seems like you never know what you’ll get when you come across it.”

When DNA studies in Martine’s lab offered proof that these plants were not only all the same thing, but a species not yet described, he, McDonnell, Jason Cantley (San Francisco State University), and Peter Jobson (Northern Territory Herbarium in Alice Springs) set out to hunt for populations along the unpaved Buchanan Highway in the remote northwestern region of the Northern Territory.

The botanists were able to collect numerous new specimens and have now published the new species description in the open-access journal PhytoKeys, choosing the name Solanum plastisexum as a nod to the notable variation exhibited by this plant in its sexual condition.

“This name, for us, is not just a reflection of the diversity of sexual forms seen in this species,” wrote the authors in the article. “It is also a recognition that this plant is a model for the sort of sexual fluidity that is present across the Plant Kingdom – where just about any sort of reproductive form one can imagine (within the constraints of plant development) is present.”

Also known as the Dungowan bush tomato, Solanum plastisexum is a distant cousin of the cultivated eggplant and is a close relative of two other Australian species recently discovered by Martine and colleagues that were also published in PhytoKeys: Solanum watneyi, named for Mark Watney, the space botanist of the book/film The Martian; and Solanum jobsonii, a species named last year for S. plastisexum co-author Jobson.

*S. plastisexum* with scientist Jason Cantley

The scientists hope that the naming of this latest new species turns a spotlight on the fact that nature is full of examples for the myriad ways in which living things behave sexually.

“In a way, S. plastisexum is not just a model for the diversity of sexual/reproductive form seen among plants – it is also evidence that attempts to recognize a “normative” sexual condition among the planet’s living creatures is problematic.”

“When considering the scope of life on Earth,” the authors conclude, “The notion of a constant sexual binary consisting of two distinct and disconnected forms is, fundamentally, a fallacy.”

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Bucknell sophomore Heather Wetreich, who measured and analyzed the physical characters of the new species using plants grown from seed in a campus greenhouse, joins McDonnell, Cantley, Jobson, and Martine as a co-author on the publication.

Follow PhytoKeys on Twitter and Facebook for live updates and news across Kingdom Plantae.

Original source:

Citation: McDonnell AJ, Wetreich HB, Cantley JT, Jobson P, Martine CT (2019) Solanum plastisexum, an enigmatic new bush tomato from the Australian Monsoon Tropics exhibiting breeding system fluidity. PhytoKeys 124: 39-55. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.124.33526

Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Scientific Society’s journal moves to high-tech ARPHA platform

Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Scientific Society’s journal join the high-tech ARPHA platform and the fast-expanding portfolio of scholarly titles by Pensoft.Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Scientific Society’s journal join the high-tech ARPHA platform and the fast-expanding portfolio of scholarly titles by Pensoft.

The established Pharmacia demonstrates a complete makeover in its new issue after signing with scientific publisher and technology provider Pensoft and its signature open-access platform

Launched by the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Scientific Society in 1954, the open-access, peer-reviewed Pharmacia has been available online as full text since 2007. As of 2019, the journal moves to the fast-expanding portfolio of scholarly publisher and technology provider Pensoft. The journal’s 2019 inaugural issue and the first since the realisation of the new partnership is already live on the journal’s new website.

Homepage of *Pharmacia*‘s new website, https://pharmacia.pensoft.net

Thanks to the Pensoft’s signature open-access scholarly publishing platform ARPHA, Pharmacia demonstrates a complete makeover, including a modern and user-friendly interface in addition to a long list of high-tech perks, meant to ensure that published articles are easy to discover, access, cite and reuse by both humans and machines all over the world.

Furthermore, all users of the journal’s system: authors, editors and reviewers alike, are to greatly benefit of ARPHA’s integrated approach to the publication process. This means that once submitted each manuscript goes through the whole cycle: from review and copy/layout editing to publication, dissemination and archiving without leaving ARPHA’s collaboration-focused online environment.

One of the interesting features now available in Pharmacia is the article-level metrics available thanks to the partnership between ARPHA and the revolutionary discovery and analytics tools Dimensions and Altmetric. By searching through millions of research articles, grant applications, clinical trials, as well as policy documents, news stories, blogs and social media posts, they allow for each article’s references and citations in both the academic and the public sphere to be monitored in real time.

Continuing its tradition, the journal welcomes original research and review articles, preliminary and short communications (notes) on a wide range of topics within the pharmaceutical and related sciences. In addition, the journal also publishes conference reports, biographies and book reviews. Articles in Pharmacia are published in English and subjected to single-blind peer review.

Pharmacia‘s Editor-in-Chief Prof Plamen Peikov, comments:

“We have been looking forward to our collaboration with Pensoft and ARPHA, as it is certainly going to not only help modernise Pharmacia on the outside, but also make it more appealing to our authors and readers by building on the journal’s accessibility and global outreach. I believe that this nice step forward is already clearly evident in Pharmacia‘s latest issue.”

ARPHA’s and Pensoft’s founder and CEO Prof Lyubomir Penev says:

“I’m delighted to see this particular journal joining the Pensoft’s and ARPHA’s family,” says ARPHA’s and Pensoft’s founder and CEO Prof. Lyubomir Penev. “With our strong background in scholarly publishing, technology development and open science practices, I am certain that we are able to provide the right venue for a high-quality and enterprising journal like Pharmacia.”

What’s on in the new issue?

The creeping cinquefoil – a perennial plant from the Northern hemisphere – has its status as a traditional medicine for treating diarrhoea, haemorrhoids and bleeding gums confirmed in a collaborative ethnobotanical study by researchers at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Medical University of Sofia (Bulgaria). Further, the team, led by Irena Mincheva, seek to explore the suggested use of the plant against mastitis: a relatively common disease and a major cause for milk reduction in both people and dairy cows.

Another paper, authored by Dr Illya Podolsky and Sergiy Shtrygol from the National University of Pharmacy in Ukraine, adds new information about “the pharmacological nature” of a molecule already known as a promising antidepressant with a unique spectrum of additional properties. By conducting an experiment in rats, using the preferred Morris water maze assessment method, the scientists study the effects of Atristamine on spatial memory and learning.

*Pharmacia*‘s latest issue is available on the new website. Available in HTML, XML and PDF formats, the articles are easy to find, access, mine, reuse and cite by both humans and computers. Check out the issue at: https://pharmacia.pensoft.net/issue/1757/.

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Pharmacia is indexed byScopus, Altmetric, Biotechnobase, CAplusSM/Chemical Abstracts, CNKI, CrossRef, Dimensions, EBSCOhost, Embase, ExtraMED, Google Scholar, J-Gate, MEDLINE/PubMed, Mendeley, Microsoft Academic, Naviga (Softweco), OpenAIRE, Pascal, ReadCube, Toxcenter, Unpaywall.

About the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Scientific Society:

The Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Scientific Society was registered in 2003 with the aim to organise national and international science forums, support education and publish academic literature. Its main objectives are to organise and encourage pharmacological research and support collaboration between pharmacology professionals and related organisations on both national and global level.

New to science New Zealand moths link mythological deities to James Cameron’s films

In an unexpected discovery from New Zealand, two species of narrowly distributed moths were described as new species. Interestingly, both Arctesthes titanica and Arctesthes avatar were named after mythological deities and top-grossing blockbusters by famous filmmaker James Cameron: Titanic and Avatar, respectively.

The newly described moth species Arctesthes avatar in its natural habitat (South Island, New Zealand). Photo by Brian Patrick.

In an unexpected discovery from the South Island (New Zealand), two species of narrowly distributed macro-moths were described as new species. Interestingly, both Arctesthes titanica and Arctesthes avatar were named after mythological deities and top-grossing blockbusters by famous filmmaker James Cameron: Titanic and Avatar, respectively.

Each of the newly described species are believed to be restricted to only a couple of subalpine/alpine localities. Therefore, they are particularly vulnerable to extinction and need to be “considered of very high priority for conservation”, point out New Zealand scientists Brian Patrick (Wildland Consultants Ltd), Hamish Patrick (Lincoln University) and Dr Robert Hoare (Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research) in their paper in the open-access journal Alpine Entomology.

Male (left) and female (right) specimens of the newly described moth species *Arctesthes titanica*. Photo by Birgit Rhode.

Because of its relatively large size, one of the new discoveries: A. titanica, was named in reference to the Titans: the elderly gods in Greek mythology and the legendary, if ill-fated, record-breaking passenger ship ‘Titanic’, which became the subject of the famous 1997 American epic romance and disaster film of the same name. Unfortunately, the moth’s small wetland habitat is located in an area that is currently facing a range of damaging farming practices, such as over-sowing, grazing, stock trampling and vehicle damage.

On the other hand, A. avatar received its name after Forest & Bird, the New Zealand conservation organisation that was behind the 2012 BioBlitz at which the new species was collected, ran a public competition where “the avatar moth” turned up as the winning entry. The reference is to the indigenous people and fauna in Avatar. Just like them, the newly described moth is especially vulnerable to habitat change and destruction. In addition, the study’s authors note that the original avatars came from Hindu mythology, where they are the incarnations of deities, including Vishnu, for example, who would transform into Varaha the boar.

In conclusion, the scientists point out that future studies to monitor and further understand the fauna of New Zealand are of crucial importance for its preservation:

“Quantitative studies as well as work on life histories and ecology are particularly needed. Already one formerly common endemic geometrid species, Xanthorhoe bulbulata, has declined drastically and is feared possibly extinct: its life history and host-plant have never been discovered. Without further intensive study of the fauna of modified and threatened New Zealand environments, we will be unable to prevent other species slipping away.”

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Original source:

Patrick BH, Patrick HJH, Hoare RJB (2019) Review of the endemic New Zealand genus Arctesthes Meyrick (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Larentiinae), with descriptions of two new range-restricted species. Alpine Entomology 3: 121-136. https://doi.org/10.3897/alpento.3.33944

Human impact on the activities and social behaviour of urban capuchin monkeys

To better understand how primates modify their behaviour to adapt to the increasing presence of humans, a research team monitored 17 robust capuchin monkeys for a year and a half.

Confined to a small green area, surrounded by houses and small corn and soy plantations in the municipality of Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil), the primates were frequented by both city government officers and casual visitors. It was found that the monkeys spent more time roaming around in search for food, but less in feeding, resting and socialising. This is considered to be the result of a diet comprising predominantly of human-provided food and restriction of dispersal due to a fragmented habitat.

The study, conducted by the Brazilian team of Janaína Back and Dr Lucas Aguiar, both affiliated with the Federal University for Latin American Integration and Adriane Suzin of the Federal University of Uberlândia, is published in the open-access journal Zoologia.

Adult female of *Sapajus sp*. finds oranges (*Citrus sp.*) provided by humans in a green urban area in Foz do Iguaçu, southern Brazil.

Capuchin monkeys are omnivorous primates with flexible social and feeding behaviour inhabiting Central and South America. Living in multi-male, multi-female groups of 3 to 30 individuals, they are heavily dependent on their social interactions, both agonistic and affiliative (grooming, social play, alloparental carrying etc.) However, they allocate their time according to many factors, including season, daytime, social status, sex and age. Their pronounced adaptability is also seen in their behavioural repertoire, which can rapidly increase in response to new stimuli in the environment.

In late 2011, the researchers began their study by spending three months familiarising the monkeys to the presence of human observers. Then, they conducted regular visits between January 2012 and June 2013, when they would monitor the population for a total of 10 hours a day. Thus, they obtained 15,208 behavioural records and noted 2,538 events of social interaction.

While the monkeys were seen to feed on the fruits of the native and exotic trees present in the habitat, as well as food provided by the city government officers and the passers-by, according to the data, their diet comprised 71% human-provided food, mostly given by casual visitors. The monkeys seemed to have accepted the scattered and unpredictable nature of their primary source, resulting in more time spent in searching for food (80%), when compared to populations in larger fragments and continuous forest. It could also be that the animals were spending extra time travelling to explore the many objects left behind by people.

Naturally, more time spent in searching for food results in less time left for social interactions. Additionally, roaming animals are staying apart from each other for longer periods of time.

On the other hand, the monkeys were reported to spend less time eating, which is considered to be a consequence of the human-provided food being much higher in energy content and availability, thus satisfying individual demands with less effort and smaller amounts.

To the surprise of the researchers, the capuchins were not found to spend more time resting, which is a commonly observed phenomenon in animals regularly fed by humans. The team attributes the deviation to pedestrians frequently disturbing the monkeys by using the forest patch as shortcuts.

As a result of food abundance, the monkeys were rarely seen to act in a hostile manner with each other. Alternatively, it could be that the population favours affiliative and cooperative social interactions since the fragmented habitat had led to well-pronounced kinship in the group.

“In conclusion, we found deviations in activity budget and social interactions of capuchins living in the studied small urban fragment, possibly influenced by the availability of anthropic food and the restrictions for dispersion imposed by the urban matrix,” say the scientists.

“These kind of studies are very important in Primate Conservation Biology, because we have an urgent demand to understand how primates adapt around human beings, as the contact between human and nonhuman primates are an inescapable aspect today.”

Adult female and juvenile of *Sapajus sp.* consuming watermelon (*Citrullus lanatus*) provided by humans in a green urban area in Foz do Iguaçu, southern Brazil.

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Original source:

Back JP, Suzin A, Aguiar LM (2019) Activity Budget and Social Behavior of Urban Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus sp.) (Primates, Cebidae). Zoologia 36: 1-10. https://doi.org/10.3897/zoologia.36.e30845

Austrian Herpetological Society’s journal Herpetozoa moves to Pensoft’s ARPHA platform

Newly published research articles demonstrate numerous innovative features to the benefit of readers, authors and all other users

Published since 1988 by the Austrian Herpetological Society (ÖGH, Österreichische Gesellschaft für Herpetologie), the renowned peer-reviewed, open-access Herpetozoa is added to the growing portfolio of international scientific journals published on the ARPHA scholarly platform, as a result of a new partnership with scholarly publisher and technology provider Pensoft.

Follow Herpetozoa on Twitter and Facebook.

As before, Herpetozoa welcomes original research articles, short contributions and reviews covering all aspects of the study of amphibians and reptiles. The papers are published in English, whereas a translation of the abstract into German may also be included. The journal operates a single-blind peer review policy.

Thanks to the fast-track and convenient publishing provided by ARPHA, each manuscript is carried through all stages from submission and reviewing to dissemination and archiving without ever leaving the platform’s collaboration-friendly online environment.

Right underneath the new sleek look and feel welcoming users from the journal’s homepage, there are a lot of high-tech perks to benefit authors, readers, reviewers and editors alike.

Furthermore, all publications are available in three formats (PDF, XML, HTML), complete with a whole set of semantic enhancements, so that the articles are easy to find, access and harvest by both humans and machines.

Editor-in-Chief of Herpetozoa, Dr Günter Gollmann states:

“We decided to move to Open Access online publishing to increase the visibility of our journal, and to speed up the publication process. The highly attractive presentation provided by Pensoft should boost attention for the papers we publish. While Herpetozoa welcomes contributions of any length on all topics in herpetology, I hope that authors will appreciate the suitability of the new format for data-rich studies in natural history. Such research is often dismissed as “too descriptive” by other international journals, but is essential for conservation of biodiversity.”

ARPHA’s and Pensoft’s founder and CEO Prof Lyubomir Penev says:

“I am pleased to see Herpetozoa having found its new home on the ARPHA platform amongst all Pensoft journals and other highly reputed academic titles from around the globe. With our own strong background in zoological sciences, I am certain that our partnership with Herpetozoa will be quick to prove fruitful to both of us, but most importantly, to all readers, authors, editors and reviewers alike.”

With its move to the open-access, technologically advanced scholarly publishing platform, Herpetozoa lines up next to historical and well-known society journals, including Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, Alpine Entomology (previously Journal of the Swiss Entomological Society), Journal of Hymenoptera Research, Zoologia and others, which have all chosen to modernise with the help of ARPHA.

What’s new on Herpetozoa?

Amongst the first batch of articles published in Herpetozoa in partnership with ARPHA/Pensoft, there is an Italian study tracking the long-disputed origin of the Mediterranean-native common chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleo) back to its ancestors in North Africa and the Middle East. Another paper by a research team from Romania compares the effects of carnivore, vegetarian and omnivorous diets on the growth, development and mortality in tadpoles of the common toad. In their study of the South American frog species Leptodactylus fuscus, scientists from Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazil) compare the diet of a population living in the wild with another one, which inhabits an urban environment. Their aim was to determine the impact urbanisation could be having on this otherwise abundant amphibian.

Distribution of the common chameleon in Salento (southern Italy) in 2018. Black dots represent observation localities (Basso et al. 2019).
Study openly accessible at:
https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.32.e35611

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Herpetozoa is indexed in Biological Abstracts; BIOSIS (Previews); Current Contents – Agricultural, Science Citation Index (Expanded); Web of Science; Zoological Record (Plus). Currently, its Journal Impact Factor stands at 1.125.

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About the Austrian Herpetological Society:

The Austrian Herpetological Society (Österreichische Gesellschaft für Herpetologie, ÖGH) was founded in 1984 to advance all branches of herpetology. The society supports scientific research and promotes conservation of amphibians and reptiles, as well as their habitats. To raise public awareness of these animal groups, ÖGH organizes meetings and excursions and publishes the journals Herpetozoa and ÖGH-Aktuell.