Tag: competition

The Pensoft Biodiversity Cup 2026 comes to a close

Now that the 2026 FIFA World Cup is over, it’s time for us to blow the final whistle on Pensoft’s Biodiversity Cup.

The floodlights have dimmed, the confetti has settled, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup has officially come to an end. A huge congratulations to Spain, who saw off Argentina 1-0 after extra time to lift their second World Cup trophy.

And with the football finished, it’s time for us to blow the final whistle on our own tournament too. Throughout the World Cup, we ran the Pensoft Biodiversity Cup alongside the real competition – a weekly knockout contest on our Instagram page, pitting some of the most remarkable species described in our journals against one another.

Every Thursday we opened the polls, and every Monday we brought you the result. Now that the dust has settled, we thought it was the perfect moment to look back at how the tournament unfolded.

Here’s how each fixture played out, with the winning species (as voted for by you!) shown in blue bold:

DateSpecies #1Species #2
11/06Nadzikambia goodallaeFerreiraella populi
18/06Hellwigia opalinaNeohelicomyces coffeae
25/06Thecacera sesamaDolichopoda balrogi
02/07Pikelinia floydmurariaTrachischium lalremsangai
09/07Theridion himalayanaPyralis papaleonei
19/07Iberoscia zaragozaiEchinodorus nenufar
General recap of Pensoft’s Biodiversity Cup.

Our first week’s competition kicked off with a cloud-forest chameleon named after Jane Goodall, which faced off against a public-named deep-sea chiton from the abyssal Pacific:

Nadzikambia goodallae vs Ferreiraella populi.

The chameleon, Nadzikambia goodallae, came out on top in this opening clash, advancing past the deep-sea chiton Ferreiraella populi.

Round two, meanwhile, pitted a turquoise-flowered jade ginger from Sulawesi against a newly identified fungus found on dead coffee branches in Yunnan:

Hellwigia opalina vs Neohelicomyces coffeae.

…and round two went to the fungi! Neohelicomyces coffeae ended up decisively defeating the jade ginger Hellwigia opalina in this Plant vs Fungi edition.

Round three brought Cave vs. Coast: a Balrog-named cave cricket unearthed on Kastellorizo faced a sesame-speckled nudibranch discovered off northeastern Taiwan:

Thecacera sesama vs Dolichopoda balrogi.

Our third round went to the underdog (or in this case, undercricket): Dolichopoda balrogi, which hopped past Thecacera sesama in a unanimous win.

Round four was our Animal Kingdom edition, with the newly described Pink Floyd spider Pikelinia floydmuraria facing off against the burrowing snake Trachischium lalremsangai for the top spot:

Pikelinia floydmuraria vs Trachischium lalremsangai.

The snake slithered through – Trachischium lalremsangai defeated Pikelinia floydmuraria, its burrowing lifestyle proving harder to top than a rock-star spider name in this round.

Our second-to-last round paired the smiley-faced Himalayan Happy-Face Spider, Theridion himalayana, against Pyralis papaleonei, a papal-named moth endemic to Crete’s White Mountains:

Theridion himalayana vs Pyralis papaleonei.

The moth flew past the competition! Pyralis papaleonei took the win over Theridion himalayana, its rare papal namesake and striking wing bands proving enough to edge out even a face full of smiles.

Our own final on 19 July ended up mirroring the World Cup final to a tee, with a species from Spain going head-to-head with one from Argentina:

Iberoscia zaragozai vs Echinodorus nenufar.

Representing Spain in the final was Iberoscia zaragozai, a newly described genus and species of cave-dwelling isopod, published only this April in our open-access journal Subterranean Biology.

Discovered in caves across Catalonia, Murcia and the Valencian Community, this blind crustacean measures barely 3-4 mm long, yet required a new genus to accommodate it, thanks to its unique features – right down to its antennal sensory structures.

Fittingly, it’s named in posthumous tribute to the Spanish arachnologist Juan Antonio Zaragoza-Miralles, in recognition of his decades of work on the cave-dwelling fauna of the Iberian Peninsula.

Standing in Argentina’s corner was Echinodorus nenufar, a new aquatic plant described in PhytoKeys back in January. Found in the temporary ponds and seasonal wetlands of the dry Chaco region of northern Argentina and western Paraguay, it earns its name – “nenúfar” being Spanish for water lily – thanks to its rounded floating leaves and creamy-white flowers, which give it an uncanny resemblance to a true Nymphaeaceae water lily.

Like the seasonal killifish it shares its ephemeral ponds with, it has evolved to complete its whole life cycle in habitats that can appear and vanish with the rains.

Two species, two countries, both barely a few months old to science. This is a proper final if ever there was one. And… just like their footballing counterparts, it was the Spanish contender that came out on top!

We had an absolute blast running the Biodiversity Cup alongside this year’s World Cup, and we hope it gave you a fun new way to discover some of the incredible species being described in our journals. Thank you to everyone who voted, shared and cheered along from the side lines.

Keep up with our latest news and campaigns by following us on Facebook, Bluesky, X, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.

Celebrating FIFA World Cup 2026: Live from the Pensoft Commentary Box

Football fans and nature enthusiasts, welcome to our pre-match build-up!

The crowd is roaring, the floodlights are blinding, and the pitch is absolutely pristine. Football fans and nature enthusiasts, welcome to our pre-match build-up!

We are just days away from the kickoff of the biggest show on Earth. That’s right, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is commencing soon, and it is already breaking all the records. This year, we are looking at a historic 23rd edition of the tournament, running from June 11 to July 19, 2026. For the first time in history, three powerhouse nations – the United States, Mexico, and Canada – are teaming up to host across 16 spectacular cities. 

But hold onto your hats, because at Pensoft, we are launching our very own tournament to run right alongside the World Cup. While the world’s best footballers are battling it out on the grass, we are hosting an equally fierce competition.

We’ve scouted our journals, drafted the top talent, and placed different incredible species into a head-to-head knockout tournament.

This biodiversity battle will rage throughout the World Cup season, with the grand finale taking place on the same week as the final. But who will lift the ultimate trophy of public affection? Only you can decide… 

The Match Schedule: How to play your part

We need you, the fans, to act as the referee! Here is how the tournament layout looks:

Thursday kickoff: Every Thursday, head over to our Instagram page where the latest head-to-head match will go live on our stories. You’ll have 24 hours to cast your vote in our poll for the species you want to win. 

Monday post-match analysis: Every Monday, we will announce who won their corresponding match on our Instagram Story.

Consider this your ultimate pre-match scouting report. While you’re backing your favorite species to lift the trophy, you’ll also get the inside track on some of the most fascinating species described in our journals.

Tournament disclaimer

Before we kick-off, it is noteworthy that this tournament is purely for entertainment and a bit of good-natured fun. Narrowing down our roster to just 16 species was tough and we acknowledge that we’ve left some spectacular creatures on the bench.

To ensure total fairness and transparency, our selection was based on the latest 2026 Altmetric data. This system tracks online mentions across news media, blogs, and social networks for articles published in Pensoft journals from 2010 onward. 

We did our best to diversify the list as much as possible in terms of taxonomic groups. However, due to the visual-centric nature of social media, we gave preference to immediately attractive species.

Are you ready for the whistle?

Make sure you are following our Instagram page so you don’t miss out!

A race against pine: Wood-boring wasp in North America threatened by a Eurasian invader

Invasive species have diverse impacts in different locations, including biodiversity loss, as a result of native species being outcompeted for similar resources. A U.S. research team, led by Dr. Ann Hajek, Cornell University, studied the case of an aggressive Eurasian woodwasp that has recently established in North America and poses a threat to a native species. Their study is published in the open-access journal NeoBiota.

Most woodwasps play an essential part in the forest ecosystem, as they decompose wood, preferring dying or felled trees. They do so by laying their eggs in the wood underneath the tree bark. Curiously, the wasps also deposit a symbiotic fungus and venom that shuts down the tree’s defenses. As the tree weakens, the fungal infestation begins and the the tree starts to rot. When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the rotten wood before they emerge. This relationship is called obligate since the survival of the wasp is impossible without the fungal infestation.

IMG_2322Originating from Eurasia, the presence of the invasive species is dangerous because it can kill healthier pines. It has long been established in the southern hemisphere causing economic issues due to its attacks on pines. While pines have been introduced to that part of the world, they are native to North America, where the invasive wasp could be far more devastating.

Now that the invasive woodwasp has already been identified in the States, the scientists seek to find a way to protect its frail competitor, reporting a rapid decline in the North American species.

“We would often observe both species emerging from the same infested pine trees, but the ratios changed with time,” explains Dr. Ann Hajek.

“Shortly after the invasive colonizes an area, the native wasps emerging from the trees would equal the invasive. However, a few years later, the natives started to get fewer and fewer.”

It turned out that the Eurasian woodwasp has larger venom glands and produces more eggs, thanks to its greater body size. Furthermore, it emerges earlier than the North American species, so that it can find and colonize the most suitable trees first. By the time the native species lays its eggs, the authors speculate, most of the preferred trees are already occupied by the invasive, leaving a reduced supply of habitat for the newcomer’s larvae.

“Woodwasps are difficult to study and their biologies are generally poorly understood,” note the authors. “While the native species appears to be outcompeted from pines that both species prefer, it is possible that populations of the native can be sustained in trees less desirable to the invasive or unavailable during the time and place that the invasive is present.”

The scientists call for additional research on the native woodwasp in southeastern pine forests in USA, before the invaders spread to that area with extensive pine forests.

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Original source:

Hajek AE, Henry JC, Standley CR, Foelker CJ (2017) Comparing functional traits and abundance of invasive versus native woodwasps. NeoBiota 36: 39-55. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.36.14953

Feeding strategies in competing hummingbird species observed in a small area in Brazil

Being the vertebrates with the highest metabolic rate thanks to their rapid wing flaps, the hummingbirds have evolved various types of feeding behaviour. While the nectar-feeders tend to go for food high in energy, strong competition affects greatly their preferences and behaviour towards either dominance, subordination, a strategy known as trapline and a fourth one named hide-and-wait, conclude the Brazilian scientists Lucas L. Lanna, Cristiano S. de Azevedo, Ricardo M. Claudino, Reisla Oliveira and Yasmine Antonini of Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto. Their conclusions following six months of observations in an Atlantic Forest remnant in southeastern Brazil are published in the open access journal Zoologia.

To test previous assumptions as well as their own hypotheses, the researchers placed artificial bird feeders filled with variable in concentration sugar-water solutions across four separate patches at the core of the forest fragment.

The scientists sought to find out whether the birds would show clear preference for the most sugary food source; whether larger size and heavier weight would guarantee better access to the most nutritious feeders; what strategies would be adopted by each species; and which ones would prove the dominant and most aggressive.

As expected, the scientists concluded that the birds prefer the most sugar-dense solutions. However, when subordinate species, such as the white-throated hummingbird and the versicoloured emerald, confronted dominant species guarding the most nutritious food sources, they would be either frightened or expelled following a short chase. Subsequently, these hummingbirds would resort to the feeders with low-sugar solutions.

FEMALE Clytolaema rubricauda fêmeaIn their turn, the Brazilian ruby and the violet-capped woodnymph proved to be the dominant and most aggressive species in the studied area. Upon seeing an ‘intruder’ in their territory, which might be either another species, or belonging to their own, they would vocalise their threats, alert them by perching by the feeder, or expel them following a short pursuit. However, they would only try to limit the access for subordinate hummingbirds if the energy that could be gained from the feeder exceeded the energy loss of the chase.

Contrary to another initial hypothesis, it was not the largest and heaviest species that were the dominant ones. There were two species of hermit hummingbirds which were the largest and the heaviest, however, they expressed no territorial or aggressive behaviour. Instead, they were recorded intruding in the territory of the two dominant hummingbird species. In their turn, the Brazilian ruby and the violet-capped woodnymph would often frighten them. Nevertheless, rather than fleeing, the ‘castaways’ were seen hiding in the shrubs, remaining quiet, and returning to the feeder as soon as the dominant bird was gone. This behaviour strategy, named hide-and-wait, has not been reported in hermit hummingbirds prior to this study, according to the authors.

Having reported all feeding strategies in their study, the scientists conclude that the dominant territorial species and the trapliners feed most frequently and most sufficiently, as they use the most sugary sources.

However, the authors note that the high abundance of food, as well as the presence of aggressive territorial species might have affected the hummingbirds’ behaviour and preferences.

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Original source:

Lanna LL, de Azevedo CS, Claudino RM, Oliveira R, Antonini Y (2017) Feeding behavior by hummingbirds (Aves: Trochilidae) in artificial food patches in an Atlantic Forest remnant in southeastern Brazil. Zoologia 34: 1-9. https://doi.org/10.3897/zoologia.34.e13228

To be fragrant or not: Why do some male hairstreak butterflies lack scent organs?

Female butterflies generally choose among male suitors, but in the tropics with hundreds of close relatives living in close proximity, how can they decide which males are the right ones? After all, if she mates with a male of another species, she is unlikely to have surviving offspring. One solution is that males of some species have scent producing organs on their wings, so if a male has the right smell, the female will presumably be receptive to his advances. Strangely, males of some species lack these scent producing organs, which would seem to be a huge disadvantage.

Biologists have theorized that when a species loses a male scent producing organ during evolution, its closest relatives do not occur in the same places. In other words, the female does not have to choose among males of the most closely related species, and the males do not devote energy to producing scents.

A team of researchers, led by Dr. Robert Robbins from the Smithsonian Institution, digs into this question in a small group of Latin American butterflies in a study published in the open access journal ZooKeys. Two newly discovered representatives in this butterfly group possess scent pads while their closest relatives do not. The researchers report that scent pads were lost evolutionarily twice in this group, and as predicted, in each case, the species without the scent pad does not co-occur with its closest relative. The present study adds more evidence to accumulating support for the explanation why some males lack scent pads.

Evolutionary losses, such as the one observed herein in Thereus oppia and related butterflies, are quite common, as Dr. Robbins and collaborators have observed in a previous research. Such disappearances of male secondary sexual features have been explained by geographic isolation of a species from its closest relatives, and the butterflies in this study are no exception.

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Original source:

Robbins RK, Heredia AD, Busby RC (2015) Male secondary sexual structures and the systematics of the Thereus oppia species group (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Eumaeini). ZooKeys520: 109-130. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.520.10134