Daytrippers’ chips are killing species in protected areas

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Leia em português

There’s nothing as threatening to nature as humans, as we all know. A lot of species have become endangered and even extinct due to human influence all around the world. As an attempt to protect whatever is left, we have been creating protected areas where species should be able to live their lives without the dangers of humanity.

However, in order to raise awareness about the importance of preserving the biodiversity, most protected areas accept human visitors. Although it does have some effect to improve the visitors’ view about nature and its importance, there are a lot of undesired side effects. Humans walking through a forest cause noise that disturbs the local fauna and the soil compaction caused by walking can lead to changes in vegetation growth and soil drainage.

But another human behavior that appears to have serious consequences on biodiversity conservation is our tendency to carry food with us, such as snacks, and eat it anywhere. People visiting a protected area may eat something on the way through the woods or stop for a picnic. Many species love food remains left by humans and will thrive with them.

Two Steller’s jays in Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Photo by iNaturalist user kgerner.*

One species that benefits from human food is the Steller’s jay, Cyanocitta stelleri, a corvid that is common across the the west coast of North America. As a result, this species is not at all threatened at the moment and it tends even to follow humans because of the easy access to food. In the wild, this species is a generalist omnivore, feeding on seeds, fruits, invertebrates, eggs and small vertebrates, such as rodents and bird nestlings.

Another bird that can be found in the same areas as the Steller’s jay is the marbled murrelet Brachyramphus marmoratus, a small seabird. Different from most seabirds, the marbled murrelet does not nest in cliffs or burrows near the water but on branches of old-growth conifers. As a result, they may move up to 80 km inland to find a suitable place to nest. Different from the Steller’s jay, the marbled murrelet does not benefit from human snacks. On the contrary, they may be its ruin.

A young marbled murrelet found in the Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Photo by iNaturalist user basinbird.*

The marbled murrelet relies heavily on old forests to reproduce and the female lays only one egg per year, leading to a low reproductive rate. Due to the removal of old forests by humans, the marbled murrelet has lost a lot of its original habitat and is currently considered an endangered species.

One of the few remaining areas for this species to nest is located in the Big Basin Redwoods State Park in California. The park contains many options for camping, which means humans bringing food all the time. This attracts a lot of Steller’s jays, which feast on the crumbs and other remains, and reproduce explosively. When humans are not present, this increased population migrates toward new areas, sometimes following humans to the cities, or starts to feed on whatever is present in the park, and one of the most nutritious options are nestlings of the marbled murrelet.

With an already endagered population, the marbled murrelet is about to get extinct because our desire to walk through the woods is accidentally increasing the population of one of its main predators. Will we ever be able to have a good impact on this planet?

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Reference:

West EH, Brunk K, Peery MZ (2019) When protected areas produce source populations of overabundant species. Biological Conservation 238: 108220. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108220

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Friday Fellow: Rhinoceros Tick

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Parasites exist everywhere and, although most of us see them as hateful creatures, more than half of all known lifeforms live as a parasite at least in part of their life. And there are likely many more yet unknown parasites around there. Today I’m going to talk about one of them, which is found in large portions of Africa.

Its name is Dermacentor rhinocerinus, known as the rhinoceros tick. As its name suggests, it is a tick, therefore a parasitic mite, and its adult stage lives on the skin of the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) and the critically endangered black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis).

A male rhinoceros tick attached to the skin of a rhinoceros in South Africa. Credits to iNaturalist user bgwright.**

Male and female rhinoceros ticks are considerably different. In males, the body has a black background with many large orange spots. In females, on the other hand, the abdomen is mainly black with only two round orange spots and the plate on the thorax is orange with two small dark spots. Males and females mate on the surface of rhinoceroses. After mating, the female starts to increase in size while the eggs develop inside her and then drops to the ground, laying the eggs there.

A female rhinoceros tick patiently waiting for a rhinoceros to come close. Photo by Martin Weigand.**

The larvae, as soon as they hatch, start to look for another host, usually a small mammal such as rodents and elephant shrews. They feed on this smaller host until they reach the adult stage, when they drop to the ground and climb on the surrounding vegetation, waiting for a rhinoceros to pass by and then attaching to them.

Conservation efforts to preserve biodiversity are mainly focused on vertebrates, especially mammals and birds. Rhinoceroses, which are an essential host for the rhinoceros tick to survive, are often part of conservation programs and, in order to increase their reproductive success, the practice of removing parasites from their skin is common. This is, however, bad for the rhinoceros ticks. If their host is endangered, they are certainly endangered too, and removing them worsens their condition. Are parasites less important for the planet? Don’t they deserve to live just as any other lifeform? We cannot forget that nature needs more than only what we consider cute.

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More mites and ticks:

Friday Fellow: Giant Red Velvet Mite (on 22 June 2016)

Friday Fellow: Cuban-Laurel-Thrips Mite (on 28 June 2019)

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References:

Horak IG, Fourie LJ, Braack LEO (2005) Small mammals as hosts of immature ixodid ticks. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 72:255–261.

Horak IG, Cohen M (2001) Hosts of the immature stages of the rhinoceros tick, Dermacentor rhinocerinus (Acari, Ixodidae). Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 68:75–77.

Keirans JE (1993) Dermacentor rhinocerinus (Denny 1843) (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae): redescription of the male, female and nymph and first description of the larva. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 60:59–68.

Mihalca AD, Gherman CM, Cozma V (2011) Coendangered hard ticks: threatened or threatening? Parasites & Vectors 4:71. doi: 10.1186/1756-3305-4-71

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** This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Alien invasions: the resistance lies in streams

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Human activities have been introducing, either deliberately or accidentally, several species in areas outside of their native range. Many os these species, when they reach a new ecosystem, can have devastating effects on the local communities.

One common practice is the introduction of exotic fish for food production or recreation. Although the impact of exotic fish species can be severe, there are several factors that modulate this severity. However, one situation in which it can have catastrophic outcomes is when fish are introduced in water bodies that were originally fishless.

Mountain streams and lakes are usually fishless because of physical barriers, especially waterfalls, as they prevent fish from moving upstream. But fish have been introduced in many mountain lakes to provide a local food stock or for sport fishing.

One place that was plagued this way is the Gran Paradiso National Park in the Western Italian Alps. During the 1960s, the brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, a fish that is native from North America, was introduced in several of the park’s high-altitude lake. Later, when the area became proteced, fishing was prohibited.

Salvelinus fontinalis, the brook trout. Photo by Alex Wild.

From 2013 to 2017, a fish erradication program was conducted in four lakes of the park, namely Djouan, Dres, Leynir and Nero. Fish were captured using gillnetting and electrofishing. Since the trouts had colonized the streams that are connected to the lakes, they had to be removed from there as well.

The communities of organisms living in the lakes and streams were monitored to assess their recovery after the fish removal. The lakes showed a remarkable resilience, reaching a community structure similar to that of lakes where fish were never introduced. The streams, on the other hand, did not show a great difference before and after fish removal. The reason, however, was not that streams have low resilience. On the contrary, streams showed a great resistance to fish invasion. Trouts did not seem to have affected the macroinvertebrate communities of streams that much. But why is it so?

Dres lake in the Gran Paradiso National Park. Image extracted from the park’s website (http://www.pngp.it).

One hypothesis was that macroinvertebrates constantly colonize the streams by passive dispersion, coming from upstream waters. However, this is not applicable to streams that drain the lakes, as lake and stream communities are very different. Lower predation by trouts is not an option either, because it was shown that stream trouts actually eat more than lake trouts. Maybe stream invertebrates reproduce more quickly than lake ones? No! Studies have shown than this is similar in both environments.

The reason why stream invertebrates are less affected by the introduction of fish is still a mystery. One possible explanation is that streams present more microhabitats that are not explored by the trouts, providing refuges for the invertebrates. We need more studies to understand what is going on.

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References:

Tiberti R, Bogliani G, Brighenti S, Iacobuzio R, Liautaud K, Rolla M, Hardenberg A, Bassano B. (2019) Recovery of high mountain Alpine lakes after the eradication of introduced brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis using non-chemical methods. Biological Invasions 21: 875–894. doi: 10.1007/s10530-018-1867-0

Tiberti R, Brighenti S (2019) Do alpine macroinvertebrates recover differently in lakes and rivers after alien fish eradication? Knowledge & Management of Aquatic Ecosystems 420: 37. doi: 10.1051/kmae/2019029

Friday Fellow: Eastern Eyed Click Beetle

by Piter Kehoma Boll

[Leia em português]

During the warmer nights of the year, in the eastern half of the United States, you may end up finding a nice-looking beetle that clicks when disturbed. Its name is Alaus oculatus, also known as the eastern eyed click beetle.

Eastern eyed click beetle in South Carolina, USA. Photo by Phillip Harpootlian.**

This species belongs to the family Elateridae or click beetles. All species in this family have an interesting mechanism on their thorax that allows them to jump in the air with a click, hence the name click beetle. This is used to avoid predators and also to help the beetle to right itself when it falls on its back.

Watch it click!

The eastern eyed click beetle measures about 2.5 to 4.5 cm in length and has a dark-gray to black color with many small white spots. The pronotum, the dorsal part of the anteriormost segment of the thorax, has two large black spots with a white outline that look like two eyes. These spots are actually more than black, they are superblack, meaning that they have a structure that makes them absorb more than 96% of all light in all angles.

A specimen in Philadelphia, USA. Photo by Eduardo Duenas.**

As an adult,this species is mainly nocturnal, as most click beetles, and feeds on nectar and other plant juices. They may be found inside houses, being atracted by the light of the lamps at night.

The voracious larva or wireworm of the eastern eyed click beetle. Photo by M. J. Raupp.

Different from the vegetarian habits of the adults, the larvae of the eastern eyed click beetle are voracious predators. They live in decaying wood and feed on the larvae of other beetles, especially of the family Cerambycidae, the longhorn beetles. The larvae of all click beetles have a flattened body with well marked segments and are known as wireworms. In the eastern eyed click beetle, the abdominal segments of the larva are yellow, except for the last one, which has a orange to brown tinge. The three thoracic segments have the same color, the anterior one being the widest and darkest. The head as a dark brown to black color. The pupae, on the other hand, have that miserable appearance of most insect pupae, being whitish and looking like an incomplete adult trapped in wax.

Despite being considerably popular, the eastern eyed click beetle is not a very well known species. There is a lot about its ecology that needs to be investigated.

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References:

Casari SA (2002) Larvae of Alaus myops, A. oculatus, Chalcolepidius porcatus, Hemirhipus apicalis and generic larval characterization (Elateridae, Agrypninae, Hemirhipini). Iheringia, Série Zoologia 92(2): 93–110.

Wikipedia. Alaus oculatus. Available at < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaus_oculatus >. Access on October 4, 2019.

Wong VL, Marek PE (2019) Super black eyespots of the eyed elater. PeerJ Preprints 7:e27746v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.27746v1

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** This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Friday Fellow: Turkish Spoonwing

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Continuing the tradition that I applied on the days of the 50th and 100th Friday Fellow, today we will have two again, so that you don’t have to wait one week for the 201st.

So let’s move from the sea in northwestern Europe to the land in southeastern Europe, more precisely the Mediterranean region around the Balkans and Turkey. During May and June, you can find this species flying in meadows and fields looking for yellow flowers. Its name is Nemoptera sinuata, one of the species of the genus Nemoptera known as spoonwings or thread-winged antlions. To distinguish it from other species, I decided to call it the Turkish spoonwing.

A Turkish spoonwing visiting the yellow flowers of Achillea coarctata in Bulgaria. Photo by Paul Cools.**

Like all antlions, the Turkish spoonwing is an insect of the order Neuroptera. The adults have a pair of large oval-shaped forewings and a pair of long and thin hindwings, both of which have a pattern of black and white marks that makes it difficult to locate them against the background. They are exclusively diurnal and fly very slowly using only the forewings. When they find their favorite flowers, they feed on their pollen and nothing else, having their mouthparts adapted for this diet.

After being inseminated by a male, the female starts to lay her eggs. She perches on a flower or raceme and lays one egg every two minutes, laying up to 14 in one day and up to 70 during her 20 days of life as an adult. The eggs, which are white and spherical, fall directly to the ground.

An adult specimen in Greece. Photo by Kostas Zontanos.**

The larvae leave the eggs after about 19 days and is grey with black spots on the segments of the thorax and the abdomen. They have large jaws and bury in the soil at a depth of about 1 cm. Like other antlions, they feed on small arthropods that they capture by surprise jumping out of the soil, although the exact species eaten by them remain largely unknown. The larvae probably pupate during winter and turn into adults around May of the next year, filling the meadows again to look for yellow flowers in the sun.

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References:

Krenn HW, Gereben-Krenn BA, Steinwender BM, Popov A (2008) Flower visiting Neuroptera: mouthparts and feeding behavior of Nemoptera sinuata (Nemopteridae). European Journal of Entomology 105: 267–277.

Popov A (2002) Autoecology and biology of Nemoptera sinuata Olivier (Neuroptera: Nemopteridae). Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 48(Suppl. 2): 293–299.

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** This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Friday Fellow: Gracile Sea Spider

by Piter Kehoma Boll

We reached the 200th Friday Fellow! And to finish another group of hundred species, I will present once more a group that never appeared here, the so-called sea spiders!

The species I chose is Nymphon gracile, commonly known as the gracile sea spider. It occurs in the nothern Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Europe, especially between France and Scandinavia.

A gracile sea spider in Norway. Photo by Asbjørn Hansen.*

Like most sea spiders, the gracile sea spider has a very thin body to which four very long legs are attached. Well, long here is a relative measurement because the whole creature fits on the tip of your finger. In the anterior region, there is the head which includes the proboscis, used to ingest food, a pair of chelifores, analogous to the chelicerae of aracnids, a pair of palps and a pair of ovigers, long and thin appendages used to carry the eggs and the young. The head has four small eyes located very close to each other on a spot at the middle of the dorsum right in front of the first pair of legs and above the ovigers. The fourth pair of legs appears at the very end of the body. The abdomen is only vestigial.

Look how tiny it is. Photo by iNaturalist user gogol.**

The gracile sea spider lives in shallow waters and is often found on the shore if you pay enough attention. It feeds mainly on hydroids, i.e., small sessile cnidarians of the class Hydrozoa, and bryozoans, that it captures using its proboscis and surrounding appendices. To distribute nutrients through the body, the gracile sea spider, like other sea spiders, has a highly branched intestine, which includes branches entering the legs, probably an adaptation to the lack of a functional abdomen.

During winter, the gracile sea spider moves away from the shore and mates in deeper waters. Both males and females have their gonads inside the first segments of the legs. Thus, when the eggs start to develop in the female’s ovaries, her legs become much thicker than those of the males. When mating occurs, the male crawls under the female and captures, with his ovigers, the eggs that she releases through a single pore on the base of each leg. The male then fertilizes the eggs by releasing sperm from the pores at the base of his legs and carry them with him until early spring, when he moves back to the shore and release the juveniles on colonies of hydroids and bryozoans.

A male carrying a mass of eggs with his ovigers. The dark lines seen inside the legs and chelifores are the branches of the intestine. Photo by Julien Renoult.**

The mitochondrial genome of the gracile sea spider was the first to be sequenced for the pycnogonids. It shows a series of gene relocations compared to other arthropods, which may explain, at least partially, why this group is so unusual. We could say that the gracile sea spider, and sea spiders in general, evolved to become only legs. They are basically a bodiless group of legs!

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References:

Isaac MJ, Jarvis HJ (1973) Endogenous tidal rhythicity in the littoral pycnogonid Nymphon gracile (Leach). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 13(1): 83–90. doi: 10.1016/0022-0981(73)90049-X

King PE, Jarvis JH (1970) Egg development in a littoral pycnogonid Nymphon gracile. Marine Biology 7: 294–304. doi: 10.1007/BF00750822

Podsialowski L, Braband A (2006) The complete mitochondrial genome of the sea spider Nymphon gracile (Arthropoda: Pycnogonida). BMC Genomics 7: 284. doi: 10.1186/1471-2164-7-284

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* This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.

** This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

New Species: September 2019

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Here is a list of species described this month. It certainly does not include all described species. You can see the list of Journals used in the survey of new species here.

Bacteria

• 8 new actinobacteria: Haloactinobacterium glacieicola; Nocardioides yefusunii; Nocardioides guangzhouensis; Nocardioides vastitatis; Antribacter gilvus; Rhodoluna limnophila; Microlunatus speluncae; Nocardia panacis;
• 6 new bacteroids: Flavobacterium ranwuense; Flavobacterium cellulosilyticum; Mucilaginibacter gilvus; Sphingobacterium puteale; Bacteroides faecalis; Chryseobacterium candidae;
• 8 new firmicutes: Paenibacillus xylanivorans; Paenibacillus thalictri; Paenibacillus pinistramenti; Schaedlerella arabinosiphila; Biomaibacter acetigenes; Bacillus cabrialesii; Bacillus lacisalsi; Lactobacillus xujianguonis;
• 15 new proteobacteria: Pseudomonas tructae; Methylobacterium oryzihabitans; Methylobacterium durans; Bradyrhizobium frederickii; Leucothrix sargassi; Salaquimonas pukyongi; Halobacteriovorax vibrionivorans; Rhodoferax bucti; Rhodoligotrophos defluvii; Lampropedia aestuarii; Halomonas radicis; Marinomonas agarivorans; Lichenihabitans psoromatis; Entomomonas moraniae; Rhizobium glycinendophyticum; Lacisediminimonas profundi;

Archaeans

• 1 new species: Halobellus captivus;

SARs

• 2 new ciliates: Chlamydodon pararoseus; Oxytricha seokmoensis;
• 1 new oomycete: Aphanomyces brasiliensis;
• 1 new diatom: Nediomorpha gusevii;

Bolbitis lianhuachihensis is a new fern from Taiwan. Credits to Chao et al. (2019).*

Plants

• 1 new rhodophyte: Sheathia matouensis;
• 6 new pteridophytes: Hymenasplenium guineense, H. kenyense, H. sabahense, H. wusugongii; Bolbitis lianhuachihensis; Asplenium simaoense;
• 57 new angiosperms: Neea itanhaensis; Henckelia collegii-sancti-thomasii; Eugenia lasiothecia; Dendrobium nagataksaka; Stachytarpheta sobraliana; Ceanothus fernandezii; Bulbophyllum chelicerum; Oenothera resicum; Eriocaulon rayatianum; Paramongaia multiflora, Rauhia albescens; Telosma thailandica; Nabalus muliensis; Bunium sivasicum; Scoparia pentapetala; Croton seccoi; Vicia brulloi; Saxifraga shennongii; Gustavia esmeraldana, G. gracieae; Peliosanthes revoluta; Amomum erythranthum, Amomum ampliflorum; Chusquea gamarrae, C. intipaqariy; Ternstroemia acajetensis; Crocus keltepensis; Memecylon kosiense, M. soutpansbergense, M. australissimum; Megalachne sp.; Codonoboea norakhirrudiniana, C. rheophytica, C. sallehuddiniana; Isoetes dubsii, I. santacruzensis; Oreocharis tetrapterus; Clinanthus inflatus, Ismene parviflora; Swertia hongquanii; Primulina serrulata; Rhamnella brachycarpa; Aulonemiella laegaardii; Inga kursarii; Rhynchospora chapadensis, Rhynchospora harleyi; Erythroxylum niziae; Fritzschia cordifolia; Serjania rosalindae, Serjania crucensis; Waltheria saundersiae; Tarenaya longicarpa; Varronia xinguana; Justicia birae, Justicia distichophylla , and Justicia mcdadeana; Oxylobus coyulensis;

Codonoboea norakhirrudiniana is a new flowering plant from Malaysia. Credits to Kiew and Lim (2019).*

Swertia hongquanii is a new flowering plant from China. Credits to Li et al. (2019).*

Amoebozoans

• 1 new mycetozoan: Echinostelium microsporum;
• 1 new discosean: Vannella samoroda;

Fungi

• 1 new mucoromycete: Gongronella sichuanensis;
• 15 new ascomycetes: Murispora aquatica; Cordyceps qingchengensis; Tremateia murispora; Neopestalotiopsis hadrolaeliae; Thyrostroma ephedricola; Colletotrichum artocarpicola; Seiridium chinense; Paraisaria orthopterorum, P. phuwiangensis, P. yodhathaii; Beauveria peruviensis; Simplicillium cicadellidae, S. formicidae, S. lepidopterorum; Metarhizium brachyspermum;
• 15 new basidiomycetes: Heimioporus sinensis; Marasmiellus griseobrunneus; Lactarius brunneocinnamomeus; Infundibulicybe kotanensis; Protomerulius commotus, Protomerulius hebes, Protomerulius madidus, Protomerulius pertusus, Psilochaete multifora; Inocybe botaurina, I. bombina, I. undinea; Clavulina mahiscolorata, C. parvispora; Clitopilus lampangensis;

Clitopilus lampangensis is a new mushroom from Thailand. Credits to Kumla et al. (2019).*

Sponges

• 5 new hexactinellids: Calyptorete falkorae, Farrea ritchieae, F. hieroglyphica, Amphidiscella hosiei, Rhabdocalyptus gomezi;
• 7 new demosponges: Erylus imperator, Geodia arma; Clathria (Axosuberites) aurantia, Clathria (Axosuberites) hillenburgi; Antho (Plocamia) sarasiri; Tsitsikamma michaeli, Tsitsikamma nguni;

Tsitsikamma michaeli is a new sponge from South Africa. Credits to Parker-Nance et al. (2019).*

Cnidarians

• 4 new anthozoans: Swiftia sahlingi; Ceriantheomorphe adelita; Porites farasani, Porites hadramauti;

Flatworms

• 2 new planarians: Cratera obsidiana, Luteostriata subtilis;
• 2 new monogeneans: Gyrodactylus decemmaculati, Gyrodactylus breviradix;
• 4 new trematodes: Asaccotrema vietnamiense; Galactosomum otepotiense; Brachylaima lignieuhadrae; Notocotylus primulus;

Bryozoans

• 1 new species: Pleurocodonellina jeparaensis;

Annelids

• 33 new polychaetes: Terebellides bonifi, T. ceneresi, T. europaea, T. gentili, T. gralli, T. lilasae, T. parapari, T. resomari, Trichobranchus demontaudouini; Aphelochaeta caribbeanensis, C. angusticrista, C. convexacapa, C. microbidentata, C. parapicula, C. parvinasa, C. quadrata, Chaetozone dossena, Kirkegaardia filiformis, K. panamaensis, K. playita, Dodecaceria alphahelixae, D. dibranchiata; Hyalopale leslieae, H. zerofskii, H. sapphiriglancyorum, H. angeliensis, H. furfuricula; Marphysa iloiloensis; Struwela camposi; Notodasus celebensis, N. chinensis;
• 4 new clitellates: Amynthas demptus, Amynthas lacustris, Metaphire reclusa; Petroscolex centenarius;

Mollusks

• 1 new gastropod: Satsuma guandi;

Nematodes

• 1 new species: Labrys khuzestanensis;

Tardigrades

• 3 new species: Cryoconicus antiarktos, Ramazzottius sabatiniae; Macrobiotus caelestis;

Arachnids

• 3 new mites: Leptus (Leptus) haitlingeri; Diptilomiopus indogangeticus, Diptilomiopus mohanasundarami;
• 7 new spiders: Otacilia fansipan; Apopyllus kanguery; Extraordinarius andrematosi, E. brucedickinsoni, E. klausmeinei, E. rickalleni; Teyl heuretes;
• 2 new pseudoscorpions: Neochelanops unsaac; Spelaeochernes popeye;
• 5 new harvestmen: Panzosus comayagua, Panzosus cusuco, Panzosus giribeti, Panzosus marginalis, Panzosus roeweri;

Myriapods

• 2 new diplopods: Taiyutyla caseophila, Opiona catorycha;

Petrolisthes virgilius is a new crab from the Caribbean. Credits to Hiller and Werding (2019).*

Tanaella quintanai is a new tanaid crustacean from Colombia. Credits to Morales-Núñez and Ardila (2019).*

Crustaceans

• 2 new copepods: Monstrilla chetumalensis; Dermoergasilus cichlidus;
• 1 new ascothoracid: Synagoga arabesque;
• 1 new tanaid: Tanaella quintanai;
• 1 new amphipod: Polycheria spongoteras;
• 3 new isopods: Alpioniscus busljetai; Xiphoarcturus kussakini, Xiphoarcturus carinatus;
• 9 new decapods: Cinetorhynchus gabonensis; Macrobrachium chainatense; Strengeriana quindiensis; Pugettia ferox; Arcithelphusa tumpikkai; Petrolisthes virgilius; Caridina enbilului, Caridina enkii, Caridina shahrazadae;

Acerentulus bulgaricus is a new proturan from Bulgaria. Credits to Shrubovych et al. (2019).*

Hexapods

• 1 new proturan: Acerentulus bulgaricus;
• 3 new collembolans: Homidia chroma, Homidia leniseta; Willemia panamaensis;
• 4 new ephemeropterans: Rhoenanthus (Rhoenanthus) tungaiensis; Deanophlebia radsjoshi; Behningia nujiangensis; Simothraulopsis primus;
• 4 new odonates: Mecistogaster kesselringi , M. mielkei, M. nordestina; Heteragrion denisye;
• 30 new orthopterans: Saga hakkarica; Afroanthracites guttatus, A. maculatus, A. magamba, A. pommeri, A. lineatus, A. inopinatus, Afroagraecia spp., Dendrobia plagata; Glaphyrosoma stephanosoltis; Kefalia grafika, K. laeta, K. omorfa, Sentia communa, Melidia adfinia, Horatosphaga laticerca, Horatosphaga scalata, Peronura wottae, Tenerasphaga mpwapwae; Gorochovius furvus; Pentacentrus dulongjiangensis; Tachycines (Gymnaeta) lalinus; Polionemobius marblus, Ornebius panda; Scaria rafaeli, S. jonasi, S. granti;
• 4 new plecopterans: Andiperla morenensis; Kamimuria peppapiggia; Leuctra khachapuri; Capnia khingana;
• 2 new thysanopterans: Merothrips meridionalis; Odontothrips moritzi;
• 29 new hemipterans: Macropsis tincta, M. viridofulgida, M. nikippa, M. antibia; Sinotympana caobangensis; Dwightla lancea; Ulopsina bimaculata; Reticuluma lageniformia, R. hamata; Nepiomistus eximius; Changbaninus furcatus, Changbaninus pleiospicules; Baya lata, Zinga longa, Pettya tenuis; Asialeyrodes nicobarica; Mycetocylapus alexeyi, Punctifulvius austellus, Punctifulvius aquilonius, Rhinocylapoides valentinae; Psylla frodobagginsi; Lembakaria saintemariae, Lembakaria mikeae; Anisoedessa proctocarinata, A. bispinosa, A. proctolabiata, A. flavomaculata, A. calodorsata, A. ypsilonlineata;
• 130 new coleopterans: Proterhinus tauai; Pyrrhalta carolusi, P. kaboureki, P. kambaitiensis, P. lucka, P. schillhammeri, P. tsoui;  Lacvietina nabanhensis; Trizogeniates beckeri, T. curvatus, T. eliskae, T. hallensorum, T. spatulatus, T. vazdemelloi, T. zuzanae; Xanthonia hirsuta, X. marquai, X. nitida, X. parva, X. picturata, X. querci, X. texana; Qianaphaenops (Sanwangius) rowselli; Marcepania princesa; Eucinetus bicolor, Eucinetus bicolorellus, Eucinetus brindabellae, Eucinetus dorrigo, Eucinetus limitaris, Eucinetus lorien, Eucinetus minutus, Eucinetus nebulosus, Eucinetus protibialis, Eucinetus similis, Eucinetus tasmaniae, Eucinetus tropicus, Noteucinetus ornatus, Noteucinetus victoriae; Ascopus girardi; Eustra yinggelingensis; Versicorpus daures; Obereoides peruviensis, Morvanica demezi; Mawenzhena koreana; Hybalus bellmanni; Lemula (s. str.) aequipilosa, L. (s. str.) nitidiuscula, L. (s. str.) zhani, L. (s. str.) jinfoshana, L. (s. str.) formosana, L. (s. str.) simillima, L. (s. str.) holzschuhi, L. (s. str.) shaanxiensis, L. (Pseudolemula) tichyi; Ischnomera sp.; Pygopleurus brullei; Sarmydus nicobarensis; Paraneseuthia zanetae; Phoberus ntlenyanae; Cyanopenthe granulata, C. hirtiscutellara; Cylindera ooa, Cylindera autumnalis; Solariola angelinii, Solariola benellii, Solariola bucolorum, Solariola cajetanibelloi, Solariola calida, Solariola comata, Solariola diottii, Solariola fancelloi, Solariola forbixi, Solariola gratiensis, Solariola hyblensis, Solariola ientilei, Solariola margaritae, Solariola mariaeclarae, Solariola mariaesilvanae, Solariola mariaetheresiae, Solariola melonii, Solariola nemoralis, Solariola normanna, Solariola obsoleta, Solariola pacei, Solariola paulimagrinii, Solariola pentaphyllica, Solariola petriolii, Solariola poggii, Solariola raphaelis, Solariola rosae, Solariola sabellai, Solariola saccoi, Solariola sbordonii, Solariola selinusia, Solariola tedeschii, Solariola venusta, Solariola zoiai; Coelostoma jaculum, C. phototropicum; Bomansius cheesmanae; Pentilia bernadette, P. chelsea, P. dianna, P. elena, P. ernestine, P. estelle, P. kari, P. jasmine, P. jody, P. kendra. P. krystal, P. lora, P. mable, P. muriel, P. nichole, P. nadine. P. paulette, P. rachael, P. sadie and P. traci; Charaea boukali, Ch. nilgiriensis, Ch. sahyadrica; Trichocircus decoris, T. antennatus, T. miser; Holocanthon giosilvai; Alphasida (Alphasida) perezverai;
• 2 new neuropterans: Neoconis szirakii, Coniopteryx (Scotoconiopteryx) josephus;
• 38 new hymenopterans: Undabracon binduae; Neohybrizon mutus; Casinaria camura, C. scalaris, Venturia aquila; Coelinius carmenae, Coelinius danielae; Masona popeye; Hylophasma luica; Propristocera seediq; Gastrodynerus guatemalensis, G. barretti, G. aimara, G. yungaensis; Bracon planitibiae; Homalictus atritergus, H. concavus, H. groomi, H. kaicolo, H. nadarivatu, H. ostridorsum, H. taveuni, H. terminalis, H. tuiwawae; Oodera arabica, O. omanensis, O. rapuzzii, O. similis; Metapone murphyi; Dioxybracon maridadi, D. aurumoram, D. vannoorti; Borgatomelissa flavimaura; Caupolicana rupestris; Temnothorax almeqeri; Stenocorse atlanticus, S. maesoi, S. pacificus, S. rosabricenae, S. sudamericanus;
• 3 new mecopterans: Kohlsia misantlensis; Panorpa jinhuaensis, Panorpa menqiuleii;
• 59 new dipterans: Chrysomydas phoenix; Pagastia (P.) subletteorum; Trichocoelina absidata, T. aemula, T. biplex, T. dicksoni, T. dispansa, T. dividua, T. hians, T. imitator, T. incrassata, T. ithyspina, T. jukkai, T. magnifica, T. nefrens, T. obesula, T. oricillifera, T. planilobata, T. quintula, T. semisphaera, T. semusta, T. tecta; Rachicerus carrerai; Paraleucopis auripes, P. bispinosa, P. boharti, P. nigra, P. paraboydensis, P. saguaro; Rhamphomyia (Eorhamphomyia) shewelli, R. (Pararhamphomyia) frigida, R. (Pararhamphomyia) lymaniana, R. (Pararhamphomyia) petervajdai, R. (Pararhamphomyia) septentrionalis; Epiphragma (Epiphragma) acuminatum, E. (E.) henanensis, E. (E.) longitubum; Zeugodacus madhupuri; Phortica allomega, P. archikappa, P. dianzangensis, P. imbacilia, P. liukuni, P. tibeta, P. xianfui; Anasimyia diffusa, Anasimyia matutina, Brachyopa caesariata, Brachyopa cummingi, Hammerschmidtia sedmani, Microdon (Microdon) scauros, Mixogaster fattigi, Neoascia guttata, Orthonevra feei, Psilota klymkoi, Trichopsomyia litoralis; Lipurometriocnemus spp.;
• 44 new lepidopterans: Neadeloides nubilus; Cyana (Cyabarda) nambi, C. (Idiovulpecula) lowa, C. (Idiovulpecula) foya; Polyphena chongzuoensis; Barsine wangi; Nosphistica abunda, N. apiculata, N. subrectangula, N. elliptica, N. fusoidea, N. grandiunca, N. albimaculata; Tumicla elephantina, T. mbeghai, T. admiranda, T. smithi; Eupithecia nemrutica; Lissochlora klausi; Cidariplura nanling, C. luding, C. hbun; Barsine victoria, B. kanchenjunga, B. dejeani, B. thagyamin, B. hreblayi, B. siberuta; Promalactis curviprocessa, P. digitiuncata, P. equisaccula, P. circimacularis, P. foliuncata, P. spinivalvaris, P. tenuiclavata; Anacochylidia maderana, Pogospinia floridana, Monoceratuncus lantana, Aethes triassumenta; Drasteria pseudopicta; Tarmia greeneyi; Moca austrasinensis; Metzneria freidbergi, Scrobipalpa aravensis;

Panorpa jinhuaensis is a new scorpionfly from China. Credits to Wang et al. (2019).*

Tunicates

• 1 new species: Botrylloides conchyliatus;

Actinopterygians

• 5 new siluriforms: Cetopsis aspis; Pimelodella yaharo; Batrochoglanis castaneus; Baryancistrus micropunctatus, Baryancistrus hadrostomus;
• 4 new cypriniforms: Paraschistura makranensis; Pseudophoxinus cilicicus; Garra roseae; Enteromius thespesios;
• 1 new gadiform: Physiculus cirm;
• 2 new perciforms: Centropomus irae; Epinephelus fuscomarginatus;

Amphibians

• 1 new anuran: Microhyla eos;

Lycodon pictus is a new snake from Vietnam. Credits to Janssen et al. (2019).*

Reptiles

• 11 new squamates: Cyrtodactylus dayangbuntingensis; Cyrtodactylus manos; Cordylus phonolithos; Hebius sangzhiensis; Saurodactylus splendidus, S. harrisii, S. slimanii, S. elmoudenii; Achalinus yunkaiensis; Lycodon pictus; Liopeltis pallidonuchalis;
• 1 new crocodile: Crocodylus halli;

Crododylus halli is a new species of crocodile from New Guinea. Photo extracted from Murray et al. (2019).

Mammals

• 1 new rodent: Chaetodipus durangae;

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* This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Friday Fellow: Blue Paddled Mosquito

by Piter Kehoma Boll

A common tropical disease in forested areas of South America and Africa is the yellow fever. Affecting most primate species, the yellow fever is usually transmitted by the famous mosquito Aedes aegypti, which also transmits the dengue and zika fevers, all caused by viruses of the genus Flavivirus.

But in forested areas of South and Central America, other mosquito species can also transmit the yellow fever to humans and monkeys. One of these species is Sabethes cyaneus, which I decided to call the blue paddled mosquito. This species occur from Mexico to Argentina and Brazil and, different from most mosquitos, is diurnal.

A female about to have a bloody lunch on a human in Mexico. Photo by Carlos Alvarez N.*

Even if you don’t find mosquitos nice creatures most of the time, you will have to admit that the blue paddled mosquito is a beautiful animal. The body of the adult is dark and has metallic blue shade on the dorsum and the legs, being slightly greener on the dorsum and slightly purpler on the legs. More than that, the second pair of legs have a large tuft of hair that makes it look like a pair of paddles.

But what is the function of those paddles? The first guess would be that they are sexually selected and are likely important during courtship behavior. But females also have paddles and, if they were the result of sexual selection caused by females on males, they would likely be much larger on males, which is not the case.

Another female feeding on a human, this time in Paraguay. Photo by Joaquin Movia.*

Males perform, indeed, a complex courtship ritual in front of the females using their paddled legs. When females are prepared to mate, they perch vertically on a branch and wait for males to come and dance before them. Most of the males are rejected by a female and, when she finally chooses a male, she will compulate only with him. Males, on the other hand, copulate with many females. This increases even more the idea that the paddles must have some importance on female choice.

Male (left) and female (right). Image extracted from South & Arnqvist (2008).

This is not what was found, though. When the paddles of a male are reduced in size or removed completely, he still has the same chances of getting a female than intact males. On the other hand, a female whose paddles were removed rarely attracts any male. She remains perched on her branch waiting and waiting and no male will come to dance for her. The interest that male blue paddled mosquitos have for paddles is so strong that they even approach other perched males with large paddles.

The reason why this species exhibits strong male preference and weak female preference is still a mystery but is a nice reminder that our ideas on sexual selection are not as well-established as we might think.

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References:

Hancock RG, Foster WA, Lee WL (1990) Courtship behavior of the mosquito Sabethes cyaneus (Diptera: Culicidae). Journal of Insect Behavior 3(3): 401–416. doi: 10.1007/BF01052117

South SH, Arnqvist G (2008) Evidence of monandry in a mosquito (Sabethes cyaneus) with elaborate ornaments in both sexes. Journal of Insect Behavior 21: 451. doi: 10.1007/s10905-008-9137-0

South SH, Arnqvist G (2011) Male, but not female, preference for an ornament expressed in both sexes of the polygynous mosquito Sabethes cyaneus. Animal Behaviour 81(3): 645–651. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.12.014

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* This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Going deep with your guts full of microbes: a lesson from Chinese fish

by Piter Kehoma Boll

All around the world, many animal species have adapted to live in cave environments, places that are naturally devoid of light, either partially or entirely, and are, therefore, nutrient-poor habitats. The lack of light makes it impossible for plants and other photosynthetic organisms to survive and, as a result, little food is available for non-photosynthetic creatures. They rely almost entirely on food that enters the cave from the surface by water or animals that move between the surface and the depths.

Due to the lack of light in caves, animals adapted to this environment are usually eyeless, because seeing is not possible anyway, and white, because there is no need for pigmentation on the skin to protect from radiation or to inform anything visually. On the other hand, chemical senses such as smell and taste are often very well developed.

All these limitations make cave environments relatively species-poor when compared to surface environments. Or at least that is what it looks like at first. There are, of course, much less macroscopic species, such as multicellular animals, but those animals are themselves an environment and they may harbor a vast and unknown diversity of microrganisms inside them.

As you may know, most, if not all, animals have mutualistic relationships with microorganisms, especially bacteria, living in their guts. Those microorganisms are essential for many digestive processes and many nutrients that animals get from their food can only be obtained with the aid of those microscopic friends. The types of microorganisms in an animal’s gut are directly related to the animal’s diet. For example, herbivores usually have a high diversity of microorganisms that are able to break down carbohydrates, especially complex ones such as cellulose.

A recent study, conducted in China with fishes of the genus Sinocyclocheilus, compared the gut microbial diversity of different species, including some that live on the surface and some that are adapted to caves. All species of Sinocyclocheilus seem to be primarily omnivores but different species may have preferences for a particular type of food, being more carnivorous or more herbivorous.

The study found that cave species of Sinocyclocheilus have a much higher microbial diversity than surface species. But how can this be possible if there is a limited number of resources available in caves compared to the surface? Well, that seems to be exactly the reason.

Sinocyclocheilus microphthalmus, one of the cave-dwelling species used in this study. Photo extracted from the Cool Goby Blog.

As I mentioned, species of Sinocyclocheilus are omnivores. On the surface, they have plenty of food available and can have the luxury of choosing a preferred food type. As a result, their gut microbiome is composed mainly by species that aid in the digestions of that specific type of food. In caves, on the other hand, food is so scarce that one cannot chose and must eat whatever is available. This includes feeding on small amounts of many different food types, including other animals that live in the cave and many different types of animal and plant debris that reach the cave through the water. Thus, a much more diverse community of gut microorganisms is necessary for digestion to be efficient.

Look how the number of different genera of bacteria is much larger in the cave group (right) than in two groups of surface species (left and center). Image extracted from Chen et al. (2019).

More than only an increased diversity by itself, the gut community of cave fish also showed a larger number of bacteria that are able to neutralize toxic compounds of several types. The reason for this is not clear yet but there are two possible explanations that are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The first states that water in caves is renewed in a much lower rate than surface waters, which promotes the accumulation of all sort of substances, including metabolic residues of the cave species themselves that can be toxic. The second hypothesis is of greater concern and suggests that this increased number of bacteria that are able to degrade harmful substances is a recent phenomenon caused by an increase in water pollutants coming from human activities, which is promoting a selective pressure on cave organisms.

The diverse gut microbiome of cave fish is, therefore, a desperate but clever strategy to survive in such a harsh environment. Nature always finds a way.

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More on cave species:

Think of the worms, not only of the wales, or: how a planarian saved an ecosystem

Don’t let the web bugs bite

Friday Fellow: Hitler’s beetle

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Reference:

Chen H, Li C, Liu T, Chen S, Xiao H (2019) A Metagenomic Study of Intestinal Microbial Diversity in Relation to Feeding Habits of Surface and Cave-Dwelling Sinocyclocheilus Species. Microbial Ecology. doi: 10.1007/s00248-019-01409-4

Friday Fellow: California Beach Flea

by Piter Kehoma Boll

If you are walking along the beach in the west coast of the United States, especially at night, little creatures may hop around your feet. If you look closer, you will notice that they are small crustaceans popularly known as sand hoppers or beach fleas. They belong to the order Amphipoda and there is a good chance that the ones among which you are walking belong to the species Megalorchestia californiana, popularly known as the California beach flea or long-horned beach hopper.

A female in California, USA. Photo by iNaturalist user lbyrley.*

The California beach flea occurs from the southernmost coast of Canada, around Vancouver Island, to the southern coast of the United States, around Laguna Beach. They are very large for an amphipod, reaching more than 2 cm in length, and have a typical “crustacean” color, varying from light brown to grayish. Males are slightly larger than females and have enlarged second antennae with a characteristic red coloration.

A male in California showing the enlarged red antennae and the enlarged boxing-glove-like gnathopods. Photo by Kim Cabrera.*

During the day, the California beach flea remains inside small burrows that it digs in the sand or hides under pieces of seaweed washed ashore. Females can share the same shelter but males cannot stand each other. At dusk, they move out of their shelters by the thousands and move over the sand looking for decaying organic matter on which they feed.

Several females trying to share the same shelter in Oregon, USA. Photo by Ken Chamberlain.*

The sexual dimorphism seen in this species reveals a complex sexual behavior. The enlarged antennae of the males seem to be a visual cue to other males to signal their strength. Additional to those enlarged antennae, the males also have an enlarged second pair of gnathopods or maxillipeds (legs right behind the mouth) that look like boxing gloves. Using the gnathopods, males fight each other for the possession of burrows containing many females. The male that wins the fight becomes the owner of that harem.

A male in Washington trying to invade the burrow of another male (whose antennae are visible). Photo by iNaturalist user pushtheriver.

Since both females and males leave their burrows every night to feed, harems can also be temporary. Although a male can conquer a burrow full of females, those will only return to that same place if they consider that the male is good enough to be the father of their children. This is so because females only reproduce once in their life, so it is crucial to let the best male fertilize her. More than that, females can only release their eggs soon after molting because the hardened exoskeleton prevents it during the rest of her life.

It’s not easy to be a sand hopper living on the beach in California.

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References:

Beermann J, Dick TA, Thiel M (2015) Social Recognition in Amphipods: An Overview. In: Aquiloni L, Tricarico E (Eds.) Social Recognition in Invertebrates: 85–100.

Iyengar VK, Starks BD (2008) Sexual selection in harems: male competition plays a larger role than female choice in an amphipod. Behavioral Ecology 19(3): 642–649. doi: 10.1093/beheco/arn009

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* This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.