Tag: USA

The woolly devil: a landmark U.S. plant discovery

Belonging to the sunflower family, the tiny plant was found in Big Bend National Park, Texas.

Based on this press release by the California Academy of Sciences.

Researchers have discovered the first new genus and species of plant in a U.S. national park for nearly 50 years.

Described in the OA journal PhytoKeys, the new-to-science woolly devil (Ovicula biradiata) is a member of the sunflower family, despite looking quite different to its sunburst-shaped relatives.

Small wooly plants between rocks. — The small, fuzzy flower grows in the harsh, rocky soils of the Chihuahuan Desert and only appears after rainfall. (Photo courtesy of Big Bend National Park)

Scientists from the California Academy of Sciences, Big Bend National Park, Sul Ross State University, and Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral Regional (CIDIIR) made the discovery in Big Bend National Park, Texas.

The national park is located within the Chihuahuan Desert, the largest and most biologically diverse warm desert in North America, and is a highly studied floristic region.

“While many assume that the plants and animals within our country’s national parks have probably been documented by now, scientists still make surprising new discoveries in these iconic protected landscapes,” says corresponding author and Academy researcher Isaac Lichter Marck, PhD.

Desert landscape. — From an elevation of less than 1,800 feet along the Rio Grande to nearly 8,000 feet in Chisos Mountains, Big Bend includes massive canyons, vast desert expanses, forest mountains, and an ever-changing river. (Photo courtesy of Big Bend National Park)

Park volunteer Deb Manley was first to observe the plant in March of 2024 by who uploaded the unknown species to the community science app iNaturalist, where an international community of botanists assembled to identify the mysterious flower.

Known to botanists as a “belly plant,” or a small, discreet plant that can only be properly observed by lying on the ground, this distinctive wild flower with furry white foliage and maroon ray florets is an ephemeral species that only blooms after rain. It thrives in harsh rocky habitats with scant rainfall and grows alongside a variety of drought-tolerant shrubs, such as ocotillo, hedgehog cactus, and creosote.

Researchers have only observed the plant in three narrow locations across the northernmost corner of the park, and it is possible that populations of the species are already diminishing.

Three researchers on hands and knees. — Big Bend National Park staff members Carolyn Whiting, Deb Manley, and Patty Manning discovered the plant while hiking through the northernmost reaches of the park. (Photo courtesy of Big Bend National Park)

“Plants that thrive in deserts are often quite unique, having evolved specific mechanisms to withstand the extreme drought-and-deluge conditions of these arid landscapes—from water-storing structures to rapid life cycles triggered by rain,” says Lichter Marck.

“But as climate change pushes deserts to become hotter and drier, highly specialized plants like the woolly devil face extinction.”

The plant’s woolly appearance and striking red petals inspired the name Ovicula biradiata. Ovicula, meaning “tiny sheep,” refers to the thick, white hairs that cover the plant’s leaves and honors a more iconic endangered species in Big Bend: the bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). Biradiata, or “bi-radial,” refers to the two ray florets in each of the plant’s flowers. Researchers working with the plant affectionately dubbed the fuzzy flower the “woolly devil,” which has become its suggested common name.

A researchers photographing a tiny plant using a phone. — Park botanist Carolyn Whiting observes the unknown species in March 2024. (Photo courtesy of Big Bend National Park)

“Now that the species has been identified and named, there is a tremendous amount we have yet to learn about it,” says Big Bend National Park botanist Carolyn Whiting.

“I’m excited to discover whether there are other populations in the park, the details of its life cycle, what pollinates it, and whether we’ll observe it this spring, given the current drought.”

Researchers are now investigating the woolly devil’s potential medicinal properties.

“Under the microscope, we noticed specific glands that are known to possess compounds with anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties in other plants within the sunflower family,” says Academy co-author Keily Peralta.

“While further research is needed to determine these properties, this discovery underscores the potential knowledge we stand to gain from preserving plant diversity in fragile desert ecosystems.”

Original source

Manley DL, Lichter Marck IH, Peralta K, Castro Castro A, Wogan KA, Whiting CV, Powell AM (2025) Ovicula biradiata, a new genus of Compositae from Big Bend National Park in Trans-Pecos Texas. PhytoKeys 252: 141-162. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.252.137624

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Newly discovered moth named Icarus sports a flame-shaped mark and prefers high elevations

The paper describing the new species is part of a special issue dedicated to macro moths of the New World published in the open-access journal ZooKeys

Newly-recognized species of owlet moth recently discovered to inhabit high-elevation mountains in western North America was named after the Greek mythological character Icarus. From now on, scientists will be referring to the new insect as Admetovis icarus.

In their paper, Dr Lars Crabo, Washington State University, USA, and Dr Christian Schmidt, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, explain that the combination of the distinct flame-shaped mark on the moth’s forewing and its high-elevation habitat were quick to remind them of Icarus, who is said to have died after flying so close to the sun that his wings made of wax and feathers caught fire.

The study is part of the seventh volume of the “Contributions to the systematics of New World macro-moths” series, where all previous volumes have also been published as special issues in ZooKeys.

Found in the town of Nederland, Colorado, the moth was collected at an elevation of 2,896 m above sea level. The species has also been recorded all the way from central Utah and central Colorado to the Selkirk Mountains of southeastern British Columbia, including a record from northeastern Oregon. It can be spotted between June and August at night.

In fact, it turns out that the moth has been collected during surveys in the past on multiple occasions, but has been misidentified with another closely related species: Admetovis oxymorus.

While the flame mark is a characteristic feature in all three species known in the genus (Admetovis), in the newly described species it is darker. When compared, the wings of the Icarus moth are also more mottled.

Despite the biology of the larvae being currently unknown, the scientists believe they are climbing cutworms and feed on woody shrubs, similarly to the species Admetovis oxymorus.

“Finding undiscovered moths is not that unusual, even though scientists have been naming insects since the eighteenth century,” says lead author Dr Lars Crabo.

“The Contributions series, edited by Don Lafontaine and Chris Schmidt, in which this discovery is published, really encourages professional and citizen scientists alike to go through the steps necessary to properly name the species that they have discovered. This series of seven volumes also includes a new check list for the United States and Canada, which has led to a re-kindling of interest in moths during the last decade.”

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Original source:

Crabo LG, Schmidt BC (2018) A revision of Admetovis Grote, with the description of a new species from western North America (Noctuidae, Noctuinae, Hadenini). In: Schmidt BC, Lafontaine JD (Eds) Contributions to the systematics of New World macro-moths VII. ZooKeys788: 167-181. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.788.26480

Tiny moth from Asia spreading fast on Siberian elms in eastern North America

In 2010, moth collector James Vargo began finding numerous specimens of a hitherto unknown pygmy moth in his light traps on his property in Indiana, USA. When handed to Erik van Nieukerken, researcher at Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Leiden, the Netherlands) and specialist in pygmy moths (family Nepticulidae), the scientist failed to identify it as a previously known species.

*These are male specimens of the studied leaf mining moth Stigmella multispicata collected from Iowa, USA.*

Then, Erik found a striking similarity of the DNA barcodes with those of a larva he had recently collected on Siberian elm in Beijing’s botanical garden. At the time, the Chinese specimen could not be identified either.

In October 2015, Daniel Owen Gilrein, entomologist at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County (New York, USA), received samples of green caterpillars seen to descend en masse from Siberian elm trees in Sagaponack, New York. He also received leafmines from the same trees.

Once they joined forces, the researchers did not take long to find out that the specimens from James Vargo and the caterpillars from New York belonged to one and the same species. The only thing left was its name.

Following further investigation, the scientists identified the moth as Stigmella multispicata – a pygmy moth described in 2014 from Primorye, Russia, by the Lithuanian specialists Agne Rociene and Jonas Stonis.

“Apparently, this meant that we were dealing with a recent invasion from East Asia into North America,” explains Erik.

Once the researchers had figured out how to identify the leafminer, they were quick to spot its existence in plenty of collections and occurrence reports from websites, such as BugGuide and iNaturalist.

With the help of Charley Eiseman, a naturalist from Massachusetts specializing in North American leafminers, the authors managed to conclude the moth’s existence in ten US states and two Canadian provinces. In most cases, the species was found on or near Siberian elm – another species transferred from Asia to North America.

Their study is published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Despite the oldest records dating from 2010, it turned out that the species had already been well established at the time. The authors suspect that the spread has been assisted by transport of plants across nurseries.

“Even though Stigmella multispicata does not seem to be a real problem, it would be a good idea to follow its invasion over North America, and to monitor whether the species may also attack native elm species,” the researchers point out.

Interestingly, in addition to the newly identified moth, the Siberian elms in North America have been struggling with another, even more common, invasive leafminer from Asia: the weevil species Orchestes steppensis. The beetle had been previously misnamed as the European elm flea weevil.

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Original source:

van Nieukerken EJ, Gilrein DO, Eiseman CS (2018) Stigmella multispicata Rociene & Stonis, an Asian leafminer on Siberian elm, now widespread in eastern North America (Lepidoptera, Nepticulidae). ZooKeys 784: 95-125. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.784.27296

Canadian scientist names a new species of cuckoo bee after Sir David Attenborough

A total of fifteen new species of bees, where one honors the English broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough, are described by Thomas Onuferko, PhD candidate at York University in Toronto, Canada. His paper is published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

The new species, called Attenborough’s epeolus (pronounced ee-pee-oh-lus), is rare and known from only nine specimens observed at two localities, in Colorado and New Mexico.

To name the other new species, the author referred to colleagues or relatives, the species’ physical appearance, their collectors, or the flowers on which the insects have been found.

Currently, not much is known about any of the newly described species, except that they belong to a specialized group of bees called cuckoo bees. Much like cuckoo birds, these bees sneakily lay their eggs in the nests of other species. When they hatch, the younglings seek out and kill the host egg or larva and then feed on the pollen stored by the female who has built the nest.

Female of the newly described cuckoo bee species, Epeolus attenboroughi . This specimen is the holotype for the species, meaning it is the one used to describe the new bee.

All new species belong to the cuckoo bee genus Epeolus, known to invade nests of polyester bees in the genus Colletes. In his publication, Thomas speculates that the name ‘epeolus’ is probably a diminutive of Epeus/Epeius, the soldier in Greek mythology said to have come up with the Trojan Horse. The sinister nature of these cleptoparasitic bees must have been compared to the Greek’s famous war strategy.

Cuckoo bees are difficult to recognize as bees because they lack the characteristic fuzzy look, which comes from the numerous long branched hairs evolved to efficiently pick up pollen. Instead, cuckoo bees rely on other bees to collect pollen for their offspring, leading to the trait being lost.

While, as a result, these species would rather be likened to wasps, their appearance is not plain at all. Cuckoo bees, including Attenborough’s epeolus, possess very short black, white, red, and yellow hairs that form beautiful patterns.

“It only seemed appropriate to name a species with such an unusual life strategy and attractive appearance after someone who has dedicated his life to illustrating the beauty and complexity of the natural world,” explains Thomas.

Including the new species, there are now 43 known Epeolus species in North America.

“It may seem surprising to some that in well-researched places like Canada and the United States there is still the potential for the discovery of new species,” says the scientist.

Male of the newly described cuckoo bee species, Epeolus attenboroughi , with its proboscis (i.e. mouthparts) extended. These are elongated in order to reach and feed on the nectar within flowers.

Since cuckoo bees are rarer than their hosts – as predators are rarer than their prey – and relatively small (5.5–10.0 mm in body length), they are likely to go undetected, which partly explains why it’s taken so long to identify these new ones.

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Original source:

Onuferko TM (2018) A revision of the cleptoparasitic bee genus Epeolus Latreille for Nearctic species, north of Mexico (Hymenoptera, Apidae). ZooKeys 755: 1–185. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.755.23939.

New species of extremely leggy millipede discovered in a cave in California

Along with many spiders, pseudoscorpions, and flies discovered and catalogued by the cave explorers, a tiny threadlike millipede was found in the unexplored dark marble caves in Sequoia National Park.

The enigmatic millipede was sent to diplopodologists (scientists who specialize in the study of millipedes) Bill Shear and Paul Marek, who immediately recognized its significance as evolutionary cousin of the leggiest animal on the planet, Illacme plenipes. The new species may possess “only” 414 legs, compared to its relative’s 750, yet, it has a similar complement of bizarre anatomical features, including a body armed with 200 poison glands, silk-secreting hairs, and 4 penises. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

This new millipede, named Illacme tobini after cave biologist Ben Tobin of the National Park Service, is described by its discoverer Jean Krejca, at Zara Environmental LLC, and millipede taxonomists Paul Marek at Virginia Tech and Bill Shear, Hampden-Sydney College.

“I never would have expected that a second species of the leggiest animal on the planet would be discovered in a cave 150 miles away,” says Paul Marek, Assistant Professor in the Entomology Department at Virginia Tech. It’s closest relative lives under giant sandstone boulders outside of San Juan Bautista, California.

In addition to the new millipede’s legginess, it also has bizarre-looking mouthparts of a mysterious function, four legs that are modified into penises, a body covered in long silk-secreting hairs, and paired nozzles on each of its over 100 segments that squirt a defense chemical of an unknown nature.

In conclusion, the authors note that by exploring our world and documenting the biodiversity of this planet we can prevent anonymous extinction, a process in which a species goes extinct before we know of its role in the ecosystem, potential benefit to humanity, or its beauty.

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Original source:

Marek PE, Krejca JK, Shear WA (2016) A new species of Illacme Cook & Loomis, 1928 from Sequoia National Park, California, with a world catalog of the Siphonorhinidae (Diplopoda, Siphonophorida). ZooKeys 626: 1-43. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.626.9681

New tarantula named after Johnny Cash among 14 spider species found in the United States

A new species of tarantula named after the famous singer-songwriter Johnny Cash is one of fourteen new spiders discovered in the southwestern United States. While these charismatic spiders have captured the attention of people around the world, and have been made famous by Hollywood, little was actually known about them. The new descriptions nearly double the number of species known from the region. Biologists at Auburn University and Millsaps College have described these hairy, large-bodied spiders in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

“We often hear about how new species are being discovered from remote corners of the Earth, but what is remarkable is that these spiders are in our own backyard,” says Dr. Chris Hamilton, lead author of the study. “With the Earth in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, it is astonishing how little we know about our planet’s biodiversity, even for charismatic groups such as tarantulas.”

Tarantulas within the genus Aphonopelma are among the most unique species of spider in the United States. One aspect of this distinctiveness that is particularly intriguing is the extreme size differences that can be found between species. Some species are quite impressive, reaching six inches (15 centimeters) or more in leg span, while others can fit on the face of an American quarter-dollar coin (see Image 1).

Within the United States, Aphonopelma are found in twelve states across the southern third of the country, ranging west of the Mississippi River to California. These spiders are conspicuous during the warmer months when adult males abandon their burrows in search of mates, yet very little was known about these spiders prior to the study. Dr. Hamilton notes that more than fifty different species of tarantulas had been previously reported from the United States, but that many of them were poorly defined and actually belonged to the same species.

To gain a better understanding of the diversity and distributions of these spiders, the research team spent more than a decade searching for tarantulas throughout scorching deserts, frigid mountains, and other locations in the American Southwest, sometimes literally in someone’s backyard. They studied nearly 3,000 specimens, undertaking the most comprehensive taxonomic study ever performed on a group of tarantulas.

Because most species of tarantula in the United States are very similar in appearance and cannot be distinguished from each other using anatomical features alone, the research team implemented a modern and “integrative” approach to taxonomy by employing anatomical, behavioural, distributional, and genetic data. Their results indicate there are 29 species in the United States, 14 of which are new to science.

Of the new species, one has been named Aphonopelma johnnycashi after the influential American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash. Dr. Hamilton coined the name because the species is found in California near Folsom Prison (famous for Cash’s song “Folsom Prison Blues”) and because mature males are generally solid black in coloration (paying homage to Cash’s distinctive style of dress where he has been referred to as the “Man in black”) (see Image 2).

While the researchers found that most species are abundant and have relatively large distributions, they also noted that some have highly restricted distributions and may require conservation efforts in the not-so-distant future, as they lose their habitats due to climate change and human encroachment.

“Two of the new species are confined to single mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona, one of the United States’ biodiversity hotspots,” says Brent Hendrixson, a co-author of the study. “These fragile habitats are threatened by increased urbanization, recreation, and climate change. There is also some concern that these spiders will become popular in the pet trade due to their rarity, so we need to consider the impact that collectors may have on populations as well.”

In addition to spider specimens collected by the research team, the study used a tremendous number of specimens gathered from museum collections across the United States, including the Auburn University Museum of Natural History (AUMNH). Project senior author Dr. Jason Bond, director of the AUMNH, notes that studies like these highlight the critical role that museum collections play in understanding our planet’s biodiversity. The AUMNH, located in Auburn, Alabama, possesses the second largest collection of Aphonopelma in the world, behind the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Tarantulas have gained notoriety for their imposing appearance and perceived threat to humans, but Dr. Hamilton notes that the fear is largely unfounded and that the species in the United States do not readily bite, are not dangerous, and are really just “teddy bears with eight legs”.

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Original source:

Hamilton CA, Hendrixson BE, Bond JE (2016) Taxonomic revision of the tarantula genusAphonopelma Pocock, 1901 (Araneae, Mygalomorphae, Theraphosidae) within the United States.ZooKeys 560: 1-340. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.560.6264

Behemoth in Leviathan’s crypt: Second Cryptomaster daddy longlegs species

Suggestively called Cryptomaster, the herein studied daddy longlegs genus, represented until recently by a single species, is not only difficult to find in the mountains of southwest Oregon, but had also stayed understudied for several decades since its establishment in 1969. Inspired by much newer records of the previously known species, called after the notorious Hebrew monster Leviathan, an American team of researchers from University of California Riverside and the San Diego State University, led by Dr. James Starrett, undertook a new search for mysterious endemic harvestmen, which was successfully concluded with the discovery of another beast, Cryptomaster behemoth. Their work is available in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

The Cryptomaster daddy longlegs belong in the largest and incredibly diverse harvestman suborder, called the Laniatores, which are characterized by having relatively short legs and preference for hiding underneath logs, stones and leaf litter in tropical and temperate forests. Typical for many of these well over four thousand species is that they might inhabit very restricted geographic regions and yet be strikingly genetically diverse. This is why when the authors understood about the recently expanded distributional range of the Leviathan’s namesake across different mountain ranges, they did not take long to assume that there could be more species having settled nearby.

Curiously, both Cryptomaster daddy longlegs species showed two forms of their species, a smaller and a larger one, but neither form was genetically different enough to suggest the presence of a separate group. The scientists observed the variation in both males and females from across both species and all their known localities.

Having its localities further increased as a result of the present study, C. leviathan shows surprisingly small genetic distance between its populations. In contrast, its sibling species is so far known to occupy far more restricted range, yet shows considerably more genetic variations.

Bearing the name of the huge notorious Hebrew monster Leviathan, the first member of the harvestman genus has won its name because of its excessive size when compared to its relatives within the family of travunioid daddy longlegs. Following the already established trend, the new species is called Cryptomaster behemoth after another large monster known from the Book of Job.

“This research highlights the importance of short-range endemic arachnids for understanding biodiversity and further reveals mountainous southern Oregon as a hotspot for endemic animal species,” point out the authors in conclusion.

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Original source:

Starrett J, Derkarabetian S, Richart CH, Cabrero A, Hedin M (2016) A new monster from southwest Oregon forests: Cryptomaster behemoth sp. n. (Opiliones, Laniatores, Travunioidea).ZooKeys 555: 11-35.doi: 10.3897/zookeys.555.6274

1,541 snout moth species and counting in the United States and Canada

The present snout moth list contains a ten-percent increase in the number of species since 1983. For the last thirty-three years snout moth specialists in the United States and Canada have been describing species new to science and recording species new to these two countries. Scientists have also published studies resulting in major changes to the classification above the species level, for example by studying snout moth “ears” (tympanal organs) and utilizing genes to study their relationships.

This check list was compiled over a three-year period by Dr. Brian Scholtens and Dr. M. Alma Solis. Brian Scholtens is a professor at the College of Charleston, South Carolina, and M. Alma Solis is a research entomologist at the Agriculture Research Service’s Systematic Entomology Laboratory, and curator of the U.S. National Pyraloidea Collection located at the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. Their results have been published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

“A check list is one of the most important pieces of research, with many applications,” says Dr. Solis. “Knowing the fauna of a geographic area makes it possible to track species and, in this case, potential invasive species. The caterpillars of snout moths are economically important worldwide as pests of planted crops for food or biofuel, of forest trees, and of stored products such as wheat and nuts.”

“Many species, for example, the stored product pests, occur worldwide, but others, such as pest species of grasses including corn, can be restricted or only exist in certain geographic areas,” the scientist further explains. “It is important to be able to recognize as soon as possible that a particular species is not native to the United States or Canada.”

Scientists use Latin scientific names as “unique tags” to communicate about the morphological or molecular identity and habits of a species. One of the functions of taxonomists is to determine if a species is new or if it has already been described. Historically, confusion is created when the same species is described more than once (called a synonym) in other parts of the world.

A regional check list such as this one and a worldwide check list can work together to reinforce precision in the definition and communication about species, especially decreasing confusion about synonyms. Most worldwide check lists exist as online databases that can be updated. Dr. Solis said that they had cited new discoveries relevant to the North American snout moth fauna found in GLOBIZ, or the Global Information System on Pyraloidea, an electronic list of over 15,500 snout moth species names for which she is a collaborator.

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Original source:

Scholtens, B. & M. A. Solis. 2015. Annotated check list of the Pyraloidea (Lepidoptera) of America North of Mexico. Zookeys.535:1-1136. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.535.6086.

How did the stonefly cross the lake? The mystery of stoneflies recolonising a US island

Massive glaciers once covered an island in one of the Great Lakes, USA, leaving it largely devoid of life. Its subsequent recolonisation by insects triggered the curiosity of entomologist R. Edward DeWalt and graduate student Eric J. South of the Illinois Natural History Survey and Department of Entomology. Not only did they prove there were significantly fewer species, compared to the mainland, but also that smaller stonefly species appeared to be more capable of recolonizing the island. This study was published in the open-access journal ZooKeys .

Isle Royale is a large island and national park in the middle of Lake Superior, isolated from the mainland by 22 — 70 km distance. As recently as 8,000 — 10,000 years ago, glaciers completely covered the island making it almost uninhabitable.

Over the last 10 millennia mammals as large as moose and wolves, swam, floated, flew, or walked on ice bridges to the island. Therefore, it seemed logical that it was the larger size that allowed some species to cross the water. However, as far as stoneflies are concerned, the results turned out quite different.

“We sampled stoneflies (Plecoptera), mayflies (Ephemeroptera), and caddisflies (Trichoptera), because they are important water quality indicators. Our laboratory has expertise in the taxonomy and ecology of these important species and we know that national parks potentially provide us with wilderness quality conditions,” says DeWalt.

Being much better fliers, the mayflies and caddisflies did not show a particular relation between a species’ body size and their ability to recolonise the island. Conversely, stoneflies on the island were considerably smaller than their mainland counterparts.

“Stoneflies are clumsy fliers, especially the larger species. Large ones are not very aerodynamic and because of this they don’t have the energy reserves to cover the distance to the island. Few species of stoneflies can actually live in the lake, so most could not swim to the island,” explains DeWalt. “Mayflies and caddisflies, on the other hand, are known to be better fliers and tolerant of lake conditions, which would allow for more of the mainland species and similarly sized species to reach Isle Royale.

“Smaller stoneflies have probably used updrafts from the mainland and prevailing winds to get to the island,” the scientist suggests. “The wind just held them up until they reached the island.”

Future research is to use molecular techniques to identify the possible mainland origin for several species inhabiting Isle Royale National Park.

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Original source:

DeWalt RE, South EJ (2015) Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera on Isle Royale National Park, USA, compared to mainland species pool and size distribution. ZooKeys 532: 137-158.doi: 10.3897/zookeys.532.6478