Origins of an enigmatic genus of Asian butterflies carrying mythological names decoded

A group of rare Asian butterflies which have once inspired an association with Hindu mythological creatures have been quite a chaos for the experts. In fact, their systematics turned out so confusing that in order to decode their taxonomic placement, scientists had to dig up their roots some 43 million years back.

Now, having shed new light on their ancestors, a team of researchers from the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario at University of Guelph, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and University of Vienna, published their findings in the open access journal Zoosystematics and Evolution.

CalinagaTogether, Drs. Valentina Todisco, Vazrick Nazari and Paul Hebert arrived at the conclusion that the enigmatic genus (Calinaga) originated in southeast Tibet in the Eocene as a result of the immense geological and environmental impact caused by the collision between the Indian and Asian subcontinents. However, the diversification within the lineage was far from over at that point. In the following epochs, the butterflies had to adapt to major changes when Indochina drifted away, leading to the isolation of numerous populations; and then again, when the Pleistocene climatic changes took their own toll.

To make their conclusions, the scientists studied 51 specimens collected from a wide range of localities spanning across India, South China, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand. For the first time for the genus, the authors conducted molecular data and combined it with an examination of both genitalia and wing patterns – distinct morphological characters in butterflies. While previous estimates had reported existence of anywhere between one and eleven species in the genus, the present study identified only four, while confirming how easy it is to mislabel samples based on earlier descriptions.

However, the researchers note that they have not sampled specimens from all species listed throughout the years under the name of the genus, so they need additional data to confirm the actual number of valid Calinaga species. The authors are to enrich this preliminary study in the near future, analysing both a larger dataset and type specimens in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of London that holds the largest Calinaga collection.

Despite being beautiful butterflies, the examined species belong to a genus whose name derives from the Hindu mythical reptilian creatures Nāga and a particular one of them – Kaliya, which is believed to live in Yamuna river, Uttar Pradesh, and is notorious for its poison. According to the Hindu myths, no sooner than Kaliya was confronted by the major deity Krishna, did it surrender.

“It seems that the modern taxonomy of Calinaga is in need of a Krishna to conquer these superfluous names and cleanse its taxonomy albeit after careful examination of the types and sequencing of additional material,” comment the authors.

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Original source:

Todisco V, Nazari V, Hebert PDN (2017) Preliminary molecular phylogeny and biogeography of the monobasic subfamily Calinaginae (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae). Zoosystematics and Evolution 93(2): 255-264. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.93.10744

A hair’s breadth away: New tarantula species and genus honors Gabriel García Márquez

With its extraordinary defensive hairs, a Colombian tarantula proved itself as not only a new species, but also a new genus. It is hypothesised that the new spider is the first in its subfamily to use its stinging hairs in direct attack instead of ‘kicking’ them into the enemy.

Described in the open access journal ZooKeys by an international research team, led by Carlos Perafán, University of the Republic, Uruguay, the name of the new spider genus honours an indigenous people from the Caribbean coast region, whose language and culture are, unfortunately, at serious risk of extinction. Meanwhile, its species’ name pays tribute to renowned Colombian author and Nobel laureate for his novel ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ Gabriel García Márquez.male kankuamo

The new tarantula, formally called Kankuamo marquezi, was discovered in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. When examined, the arachnid showed something extraordinary about its defensive hairs and its genitalia. The hairs were noted to form a small oval patch of lance-shaped barbs, hypothesised by the scientists to have evolved to defend their owners by direct contact.

On the other hand, when defending against their aggressors, the rest of the tarantulas in this subfamily need to first face the offender and then vigorously rub their hind legs against their stomachs. Aimed and shot at the enemy, a ball of stinging hairs can cause fatal injuries to small mammals when landed into their mucous membrane (the layer that covers the cavities and shrouds the internal organs in the body). Once thrown, the hairs leave a bald spot on the tarantula’s belly.

“This new finding is a great contribution to the knowledge of the arachnids in Colombia and a sign of how much remains to be discovered,” point out he authors.

Figure 8“The morphological characteristics present on Kankuamo marquezi open the discussion about the phylogenetics relationship between subfamilies of Theraphosidae tarantulas and the evolutionary pressures that gave rise to the urticating hairs.”

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Original source:

Perafán C, Galvis W, Gutiérrez M, Pérez-Miles F (2016) Kankuamo, a new theraphosid genus from Colombia (Araneae, Mygalomorphae), with a new type of urticating setae and divergent male genitalia. ZooKeys 601: 89-109. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.601.7704

Celebration time: ZooKeys releases its 600th issue


zookeys 600 coverWith what already sounds like an annual tradition at this time of the year, we are delighted to announce yet another milestone that
ZooKeys just reached. Our 600th issue is now out and we are just as proud with it as we were exactly five years and a month ago, when we printed out our first three-digit issue number on a ZooKeys cover.

However, we feel nowhere near getting tired of counting pages, covers and issues, nor do we believe this will ever going to happen. Quite the contrary, every year we take more and more pleasure in adding new achievements next to the name of ZooKeys and Pensoft.   

Last year was no exception. During the past 13 months, we published a total of 673 articles, including research findings spectacular enough to reach out to not only the zoological fellowship, but to the wide audience from around the world. While our Impact Factor keeps on increasing, according to the figures Thomson Reuters released last week, we are gratified to observe our progressively growing impact on both the scholarly and the popular-science front.

Thanks to the discoveries, which found a suiting publication partner in ZooKeys, our authors and us made a lot of big headlines in outlets such as National Geographic, Science, CNN, BBC, Sky News, New York Times, Deutsche Welle, Der Standard, DR, Washington Post, Fox News, Huffington Post, The Guardian, NBC News, and a lot more. We had a bit of everything: record-breakers, species given mystic or splashy names and others bearing nerdy ones. Together, we also gave public voice to serious conservation issues, calling for immediate action.

Last June, we introduced you to the Hades centipede, known to be the world’s deepest-dwelling species of its kind. Who knew that the entrance to the Underworld is located in a Croatian cave?

Later on, in November, published with us snail species Acmella nana broke the World record for the tiniest land snail. Moreover, this happened only about a month after we published the previous ‘prizewinner’ Angustopila dominikae, and that one was already tiny enough to fit 10 of its shells within the eye of a needle at the very same time!  

Our pages, which have been and always will be openly available to read for anyone who is online, were also the first to let you know about the existence of the Johnny Cash tarantula, the (Edward) Snowden crayfish, the two daddy longlegs: Smeagol and the ‘Master-of-the-crypt’ Behemoth, the Chewbacca beetle and the Brad Pitt wasp, among many others.

About two months ago, graduate student Madhu Chetri spotted the ancient Himalayan woolly wolf in Nepal. The new knowledge about the beautiful and, sadly, Critically Endangered carnivore, which he acquired, will hopefully help in preventing its otherwise imminent extinction.

In the meantime, Deutsche Welle (DW) featured our Zorro fish along with the eight-legged Johnny Cash’s namesake in their rank list of the 7 “newcomer” species of the year.

While being in the spotlight is definitely a gratifying feeling, we also indulge in our successes achieved far from the eyes of the public, although we are certain that our authors will be just as excited to hear about. Such an accomplishment is our recently sealed partnership with open digital repository Zenodo, who are helping us, along with the rest of the journals, published by Pensoft, to keep our research findings safe and easily accessible by archiving all our articles in both PDF and XML format on the date of publication.

However, let’s not forget that nothing of all the above would be what it is without our authors, editors and reviewers, who have always done their best to keep ZooKeys at the World’s top open access academic journals. We’d especially like to thank our Most active authors, editors and reviewers for being substantial part of ZooKeys.