Earthling Nature

by Piter Kehoma Boll

There are many spider groups that are well-known by the general public: tarantulas, jumping spiders, wolf spiders, orbweavers… but one of the groups with a very large number of species, the family Linyphiidae, is usually unnoticed.

Spiders of the family Linyphiidae are commonly known as sheetweavers because of the shape of their webs. A common species in the eastern United States, especially in the southeast, is Florinda coccinea, known as the black-tailed red sheetweaver or red grass spider. Being only 3 to 4 mm long, the black-tailed red sheetweaver has a red body with a small black tip on the abdomen. The legs are reddish-brown to black.

Female black-tailed red sheetweaver in Mississipi, USA. Photo by Tiffany Stone.*

Males and females are very similar in size, with males being slightly smaller. They can be easily distinguished by the abdomen and the pedipalps as in most spiders. Females have smaller pedipalps and a rounder abdomen, while males have larger pedipalps with a round expansion at the tip and slenderer abdomens.

A male in Florida, USA. Photo by iNaturalist user rsnyder11.*

The web of the black-tailed red sheetweaver, just like in other sheetweavers, consists of an horizontal sheet over which some additional threads above. Flying insects, when they colide with the threads, fall on the sheet and are captured by the spider.

Typical aspect of the black-tailed red sheetweaver’s web as seen in the field, here covered by dew droplets. Photo by iNaturalist user ndrobinson.**

The mating behavior of the black-tailed red sheetweaver begings with the male entering the female’s web. He usually cuts off part of the female’s web and deposits new web at the same place. After this, he approaches the female, touches all her legs with his two anterior pairs of legs, and then start the pseudopulation, in which he introduces the tubes of his palps into the female genitalia but, as they are still empty, fertilization cannot occur. After some time playing like this, the male builds a small triangular web sheet and deposits a drop of sperm on it. He then collects the sperm with his pedipalps and approaches the female once more, this time breeding her for sure.

Again, the ecology and life-history of the black-tailed red sheetweaver is not very well studied. And the same is true for almost all species in the family Linyphiidae, even though it is the second largest spider family on the planet. They are too tiny for most of us to care.

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References:

Robertson MW, Adler PH (1994) Mating behavior of Florinda coccinea (Hentz) (Araneae: Linyphiidae). Journal of Insect Behavior 7(3): 313–326. doi: 10.1007/BF01989738

Wikipedia. Blacktailed red sheetweaver. Available at < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacktailed_red_sheetweaver >. Access on October 23, 2019.

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

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

There’s one thing that I should do more often here, and that is presenting my own research for the readers of the blog, so today I am going to do exactly that.

As you may know, the group of organisms with which I work is the family Geoplanidae, commonly known as land planarians. Here in Brazil, the most speciose genus is Obama, of which I have talked in previous posts. This genus became considerably famous after one of its species, Obama nungara, became invasive in Europe, which called attention of the public especially because of the curious name of this genus, even though it has nothing to do with the former president of the United States.

Anyway, during my Master’s study, it became clear that species in the genus Obama feed on soft-bodied invertebrates, mainly slugs and snails, although some species also feed on earthworms or even other land planarians. Obama nungara, for example, feeds on all three groups, although it seems to have some preference for earthworms.

A specimen of *Obama anthropophila* with its testicle freckles. Photo by myself, Piter K. Boll.*

One common species of Obama in urbans areas of southern Brazil is Obama anthropophila, whose name, meaning “lover of humans” is a reference to this habit precisely. This species has a uniformly dark brown dorsal color, sometimes mottled by the mature testicles appearing as darker spots on the first half of the body. The diet of this species includes snails, slugs, nemerteans and other land planarians, especially of the genus Luteostriata, and more especially of the species Luteostriata abundans, which occurs very often in urbans areas too.

Watch Obama anthropophila capture different prey species.

So I wondered… if O. anthropophila feeds on different types of invertebrates, does it mean that each type provides different nutritients, so that a mixed diet is necessary or more beneficial than one composed of a single prey type? To assess that, I divided adult specimens of O. anthropophila into three groups, each receving a different diet:

Group Dela: fed only with the common marsh slug, Deroceras laeve
Group Luab: fed only with the abundant yellow striped planarian, Luteostriata abundans
Group Mixed: fed with both prey species in an alternating way

The results were not what I expected. The Mixed group showed a lower survival rate than the groups receiving a single diet. Another interesting feature was that the Mixed group showed a tendency to skip the slug meal and eat only the planarian after some days receiving the alternating prey types.

Based on the hypothesis that a mixed diet is more nutritious, I was expecting the Mixed group to have the best performance, or at least being similar to the single-diet groups if there was no increase in nutritional value with an additional prey type. However, the results indicate that a mixed diet may be bad for the planarian, at least if the animal has to eat a different food on every meal.

We don’t know what causes this, but my idea is that maybe different prey types demand different metabolic processes, such as the production of different enzymes and stuff, and having to constantly reset your metabolism is too costly. As a result, the fitness of specimens receiving such a diet decreases and the animals start to avoid one of the food types, because eating less is less dangerous than mixing food.

A “pregnant” *Obama anthropophila* about to ley an egg capsule. Photo by myself, Piter K. Boll.*

Another interesting aspect is that planarians receiving a mixed diet, even though they died earlier, laid heavier egg capsules than the single-diet groups. Heavier egg capsules generally mean that they have more embryos or are more nutrient for the embryos, increasing the reproductive success. But how can a dying animal be better at reproducing than a healthy one?

Well, this may be related to the terminal investment hypothesis. It is thought, and proven in some groups, that an organism may increase its investment on reproduction when future reproductive events are not expected, i.e., when the organism “realizes” it is about to die, it puts all its effort to reproduce in order to garantee that its genes will pass successfully to future generations.

We cannot be sure about anything yet. More studies are necessary to better understand the relationship of land planarians and their food. What we can assure is that, just like Obama nungara, O. anthropophila may end up in Europe or anywhere else soon because its relatively broad diet and its proximity to humans make it a potential new species to be spread accidentally around the world.

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Reference:

Boll PK, Marques D, & Leal-Zanchet AM (2020) Mind the food: Survival, growth and fecundity of a Neotropical land planarian (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae) under different diets. Zoology 138: 125722.

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

It’s time for our next beetle and this time our fellow is a species that spent its first century after discovery without calling much attention but then something happened. Its name is Agrilus planipennis and is commonly known as the emerald ash borer.

An adult emerald ash borer in Virginia, USA. Photo by Bryan Wright.*

Native from East Asia, the emerald ash borer is found in southeastern Russia, Mongolia, northern China, Korea and Japan. Adults measure about 8.5 mm in length and have a metalic green color on the head, pronotum and elythra, and an iridescent-purple metalic color on the dorsal side of the abdomen, seen when the wings are open. They live in the canopy of ash trees (Fraxinus spp.) during spring and summer and feed on their leaves.

After about a week as adults, the emerald ash borers start to mate. Females remain on the trees and males hover around looking for them. Once a female is located, the male drops over her and they start to mate. After mating is concluded, females live for some more weeks and typically lay about 40 to 70 eggs, although some live longer and may lay up to 200 eggs.

Dorsal view of an emerald ash borer with open wings showing the iridescent-purple abdomen.

The eggs are laid between crevices or cracks of the bark and hatch about two weeks later. The newly hatched larvae chew through the bark, reach the inner tissues of the trunk and start to feed on them. They reach up to 32 mm in length in the fourth instar, more than three times the length of the adult, and pupate during spring, emerging as adults soon after. In China, adults emerge from the trees in May.

A larva inside an ash tree in Pennsylvania, USA. Credits to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resource.**

In its native area, the emerald ash borer can be a nuisance but is not highly problematic to ash trees because it occurs in low densities. However, in 2002, the species was found in the United States feeding on local ash species. Since the emerald ash borer has no natural predators in North America and the ash species in this continent did not evolve to be resistant to infection, it started to spread very quickly. In less than two decades, the beetle has killed millions of ash trees and is a serious threat to the more than eight billion ash trees found in North America. With the death of ash trees, North American forests become vulnerable to more invasive species, which will only worsen the scenario.

Damage caused by the larvae to a tree in New York state, USA. Photo by iNaturalist user bkmertz.*

In order to control the spread of the emerald ash borer, ash trees are treated with pesticides. Four parasitoid wasps from China known to attack only the emerald ash borer have also been released in North America to help control the spread and their success is still being assessed. Traps, such as glue-covered purple panels, which are visually attractive to the beetles, are also used to capture the animals and determine the extent of the invasion.

Once more, a completely fine species has led to an ecological disaster due to human influence and now we are running to find ways to avoid an ecosystem collapse throughout an entire continent.

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References:

Francese JA, Mastro VC, Oliver JB, Lance DR, Youssef N, Lavallee SG (2005) Evaluation of colors for trapping Agrilus planipennis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). Journal of Entomological Science 40(1): 93-95.

Liu H, Bauer LS, Miller DL, Zhao T, Gao R, Song L, Luan Q, Jin R, Gao C (2007) Seasonal abundance of Agrilus planipennis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) and its natural enemies Oobius agrili (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) and Tetrastichus planipennisi (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) in China. Biological Control 42(1): 61-71. doi: 10.1016/j.biocontrol.2007.03.011

Wang XY, Yang ZQ, Gould JR, Zhang YN, Liu GJ, Liu ES (2010) The biology and ecology of the emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis, in China. Journal of Insect Science 10(1): 128. doi: 10.1673/031.010.12801

Wikipedia. Emerald ash borer. Available at < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_ash_borer >. Access on 9 December 2019.

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

** This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

by Piter Kehoma Boll

If you ever lived in the countryside or visited the country side often, you may be aware of the existence of an annoying group of flies that bite humans and other animals, the so-called horseflies that make up the family Tabanidae. Today’s fellow is a member of this family and is known scientifically as Tabanus biguttatus and commonly as the hippo fly.

This species is found throughout Africa and some areas of Middle East, being, apparently, much more common in eastern and southeastern Africa. As with all tabanid flies, the hippo fly has an aquatic to semiaquatic larva that lives in muddy areas. They are ferocious predators and prey on other animals living in the same habitat, such as larvae of crane flies, and can also feed on dead animals. When the larvae are about the pupate, they construct a mud cylinder, cover it with a circular lid with only a small hole to allow them to breathe, and remain there until they turn into adults. This is, apparently, a strategy to avoid desiccation.

Male hippo fly in South Africa. Photo by Ryan Tippett.*

Adult hippo flies measure about 2 cm in length, being relatively large tabanids, and show a considerable sexual dimorphism. As all tabanids, males are smaller but have larger compound eyes than females. The eyes of the males are so large that they touch each other, covering the whole top of the head. Females, on the other hand, have smaller eyes with a considerable space between them. The body of both males and females is predominantly black. Males have two white triangular spots on the abdomen while females have the thorax covered with white to golden hair with a small heart-shaped black spot in the middle.

Female hippo fly in South Africa. Photo by iNaturalist user bgwright.*

Male adult hippo flies are harmless and feed only on nectar. Females, on the other hand, need mammal blood to obtain enough protein for egg development. They attack many large mammal species, including humans, cattle and even dogs, but they have a strong preference for hippos, hence the common name.

Two female hippo flies feeding on a southern warthog (*Phacocerus africanus* spp. *sundevallii*). Photo by iNaturalist user happyasacupake.*

Hippo flies, like all tabanids, are diurnal flies and love sunny places. They avoid shaded areas, so animals in open areas are much more vulnerable. To get blood, a female approach animals and cut their skin with her sharp mouthparts, making them bleed and licking up the blood. This bite is very painful, which you may know if you have ever been bitten by a horsefly. If undisturbed, the fly can remain up to three minutes drinking blood.

Closeup of the two flies on the warthog’s back. Photo by iNaturalist user happyasacupake.*

The blood-drinking activity of female hippo flies, and of tabanids in general, make them likely mechanical vectors of some parasites, including species of the flagellate genus Tripanossoma, as well as Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes anthrax, which is a considerably common disease in hippos.

Hippo flies are such a nuisance for hippos that their behavior is heavily affected by the flies’ presence, much more than by the presence of any large predator. Most of the time, hippos remain in the water solely to get rid of these annoying insects.

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More Dipterans:

Friday Fellow: Housefly (on 12 October 2012)

Friday Fellow: Cute Bee Fly (on 29 July 2016)

Friday Fellow: Bathroom Moth Midge (on 5 April 2019)

Friday Fellow: Blue Paddled Mosquito (on 27 September 2019)

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References:

Callan EM (1980) Larval feeding habits of Tabanus biguttatus and Amanella emergens in South Africa (Diptera: Tabanidae). Revue de Zoologie Africaine 94(4): 791-794.

Tinley KL (2009) Some observations on certain tabanid flies in North-Eastern Zululand (Diptera: Tabanidae). Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London. Series A, General Entomology, 39(4-6), 73–75. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3032.1964.tb00789.x

Tremlett JG (2009) Mud cylinders formed by larvae of Tabanus biguttatus Wied. (Diptera: Tabanidae) in Kenya. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London. Series A, General Entomology, 39(1-3), 23–24. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3032.1964.tb00779.x

Wiesenhütter E (1975) Research into the relative importance of Tabanidae (Diptera) in mechanical disease transmission. Journal of Natural History, 9(4), 385–392. doi: 10.1080/00222937500770281

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

We all know that crustaceans comprise the most morphologically and ecologically diverse group of arthropods. One peculiar clade is that of the arguloids or fish lice.

As you may infer from the common name, the fish lice are parasites of fish, and eventually other vertebrates. One of the most common an well-known species is Argulus foliaceus, known as the common fish louse.

The common fish louse is found in freshwater bodies of Europe and parasitizes many different fish species. Their only food is fish blood, so they are forced to look for a host as soon as they hatch from their eggs. Once they find a fish, they attach firmly to its skin and remain there for most of their life. They only leave the host to mate or if the host dies and they need to find a new one. Trouts, perches, roaches and sticklebacks are some common hosts of the common fish louse.

Watch some eggs hatching and the larvae that come out of them.

The first and only larval stage, called metanauplius, measures less than 1 mm in length and has long and plumose antennae and palps but relatively short legs. The thoracic legs have claws, though, and help them to attach to the host. In the second stage, already a young adult, the antennae became much shorter but the legs grow more, especially the abdominal legs, which became plumose like the antennae used to be. From there on, the body remains with a more or less constant shape but increases in size, reaching about 6 mm at the 11th stage.

Several common fish lice parasitizing a brown trout in Denmark. Photo by iNaturalist user mikkel65.*

In natural environments, the number of common fish lice per fish is usually small and they do not harm the host that much. However, in confined habitats, such as fish farms, they can reach high densities and end up causing a high fish mortality.

Just like many other external parasites or other types of blood-sucking animals, the common fish louse can serve as an intermediary host for some nematode parasites that infect freshwater fish. The larval stages of the worm reach the fish louse when he feeds on infected fish and remain in its body, eventually infecting a new fish when the crustacean abandons its current home and searches for another one.

Thus, sometimes the main problem that fish face is not the fish louse itself, but rather its hitchhikers.

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More maxillopods:

Friday Fellow: Glacial calanus (on 1 July 2016)

Friday Fellow: Common Goose Barnacle (on 31 May 2019)

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References:

Harrison AJ, Gault NFS, Dick JTA (2006) Seasonal and vertical patterns of egg-laying by the freshwater fish louse Argulus foliaceus (Crustacea: Branchiura). Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 68:167–173.

Molnár K, Székely C (1998) Occurrence of skrjabillanid nematodes in fishes of Hungary and in the intermediate host, Argulus foliaceus. Acta Veterinaria Hungarica 46(4): 451-463.

Pasternak AF, Mikheev VN, Valtonen ET (2000) Life history charactheristics of Argulus foliaceus L. (Crustacea: Branchiura) populations in Central Finland. Annales Zoologici Fennici 37: 25–35.

Rushton-Mellor SK, Boxshall GA (1994) The developmental sequence of Argulus foliaceus (Crustacea: Branchiura). Journal of Natural History 28(4): 763–785. doi: 10.1080/00222939400770391

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Here is a list of species described this month. It certainly does not include all described species. Most information comes from the journals Mycokeys, Phytokeys, Zookeys, Phytotaxa, Zootaxa, Mycological Progress, Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, Systematic and Applied Microbiology, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, PeerJ, Journal of Natural History and PLoS One, as well as several journals restricted to certain taxa.

Bacteria

13 new actinobacteria: Flexivirga caeni; Cumulibacter soli; Glycomyces buryatensis; Herbidospora galbida; Microbacterium wangchenii; Frankia soli; Amycolatopsis acidicola; Agromyces protaetiae; Bifidobacterium tibiigranuli; Tessaracoccus antarcticus; Modestobacter excelsi; Kribbella capetownensis, Kribbella speibonae;
2 new bacteroids: Lacibacter luteus; Hymenobacter jejuensis;
1 new cyanobacteria: Reptodigitus chapmanii;
3 new firmicutes: Anaerosphaera multitolerans; Psychrobacillus vulpis; Halalkalibacillus sediminis;
14 new planctomycetes: Limnoglobus roseus; Anaerohalosphaera lusitana, Limihaloglobus sulfuriphilus; Lacipirellula parvula; Novipirellula artificiosorum, Novipirellula aureliae, Novipirellula galeiformis; Rubripirellula amarantea, Rubripirellula tenax, Rubripirellula reticaptiva; Rhodopirellula heiligendammensis, Rhodopirellula pilleata, Rhodopirellula solitaria; Alienimonas californiensis;
21 new proteobacteria: Thalassocella blandensis; Rheinheimera sediminis; Segnochrobactrum spirostomi; Elioraea thermophila; Rhodobacter sediminicola; Rhodobacter flagellatus; Novosphingobium umbonatum; Phytobacter palmae; Luteimonas yindakuii; Nioella ostreopsis; Algoriphagus aquimaris; Pararobbsia silviterrae; Lysobacter alkalisoli; Polymorphobacter arshaanensis; Pseudocitrobacter vendiensis; Roseomonas vastitatis; Francisella opportunistica; Salinibius halmophilus; Vibrio taketomensis; Corallincola spongiicola; Candidatus Methylobacter oryzae;
1 new spirochaete: Borrelia maritima;
2 new tenericutes: Mycoplasma nasistruthionis, Mycoplasma struthionis;

*Rhodopirellula* *heiligendammensis* (Poly21), *Rhodopirellula pilleata* (Pla100), and *Rhodopirellula solitaria* (CA85) are three new plancomycetes. Credits to Kallscheuer et al. (2019).

SARs

2 new ciliates: Apolitonotus lynni, Protolitonotus clampi;
1 new apicomplexan: Theileria lupei;
3 new ochrophytes: Planothidium kaetherobertianum; Lobophora caboverdeana, L. dagamae;

*Linum* *aksehirense* is a new flax species from Turkey. Credits to Tugay & Ulukuş (2019).*

Plants

5 new rhodophytes: Gayliella ardissonei, G. iemanja, G. tamoiensis, G. jolyana; Schizymenia jonssonii;
1 new chlorophyte: Droopiella limnetica;
1 new marchantiophyte: Leptolejeunea nigra;
3 new lycophytes: Phlegmariurus cocuyensis, P. idroboi, and P. josesantae;
2 new pteridophytes: Hymenophyllum exquisitum; Stegnogramma australis;
3 new magnoliids: Magnolia archilana, Magnolia tribouillierana; Magnolia napoensis;
12 new monocots: Chusquea limensis; Bulbophyllum rinkei; Sarcoglottis neillii; Geschollia spp.; Chlorophytum tillariense; Habenaria gracilisegmenta; Dichorisandra striatula; Araeococcus lageniformis;
39 new eudicots: Eugenia quiriri, Myrceugenia basicordata; Eugenia andiraana, E. libens, Myrcia iranduba, M. javariana, M. piptocalyx, Plinia rufiflora; Bredia malipoensis; Zeravschania khorasanica, Z. podlechii; Peucedanum akaliniae; Begonia depressinerva; Youngia jiulongshanensis; Ceropegia chuakulii; Begonia dinhdui, B. bacmeensis; Amana baohuaensis; Cynoglossum dalianum; Syzygium guamense, Syzygium mesekerrak; Crassothonna agaatbergensis; Rindera cetineri; Cousinia agridaghensis; Alysicarpus bhuibavadensis; Salacia pueblana; Silene sunhangii; Zahora ait-atta; Tryssophyton quadrifolius; Linum aksehirense; Phyllanthus huamotensis, P. chantaranothaii; Aeschynomene chicocesariana; Bernardia allemii; Dalechampia margarethiae; Turnera acangatinga, T. ibateguara; Fritzschia atropurpurea; Monteiroa rubra; Besleria discreta; Solanum adamantium;

*Zahora ait-atta* is a new cabbage cousin from Morocco. Credits to Koch & Lemmel (2019).*

Fungi

1 new mucoromycete: Gongronella zunyiensis;
10 new ascomycetes: Phyllachora dendrocalami-membranacei, P. dendrocalami-hamiltonii; Kamalia indica; Diaporthe sinensis; Strelitziana sarbhoyi; Ochroconis helicteris; Geopora sinensis; Longihyalospora ampeli; Wickerhamomyces psychrolipolyticus; Beltrania sinensis;
15 new basidiomycetes: Calocybe erminea; Entoloma conchatum, E. flabellatum, E. gregarium, E. pleurotoides, E. reductum; Aroramyces guanajuatensis; Fuscoporia ramulicola, Fuscoporia acutimarginata; Aureoboletus glutinosus, A. griseorufescens, A. raphanaceus, A. sinobadius, A. solus, A. velutipes;

*Aureoboletus glutinosus* is a new mushroom from China. Credits to Zhang et al. (2019).*

Cnidarians

6 new anthozoans: Speirogorgia robertbollandi; Trichogorgia spp.; Epizoanthus xenomorphoideus, E. australis, E. gorgonus;

Flatworms

3 new macrostomids: Macrostomum janickei, Macrostomum mirumnovem, Macrostomum cliftonensis;
1 new rhabdocoel: Collastoma esotericum;
1 new trematode: Caudotestis dobrovolski;

Mollusks

5 new gastropods: Sinorachis baihu; Muangnua arborea; Antrorbis tennesseensis; Atrimitra isolata; Radix dgebuadzei;
3 new bivalvians: Pusillolucina arabica, P. africana, P. biritika;
1 new cephalopod: Euprymna brenneri;

*Sinorachis baihu* is a new snail from China. Credits to Wu et al. (2019).*

Annelids

5 new polychaetes: Sigambra hernandezi, S. diazi, S. ligneroi, S. olivai;

*Sigambra olivai* is a new polychaete from the Caribbean. Credits to Salazar-Vallejo et al. (2019).*

Nematodes

1 new species: Aoruroides chubudaigaku;

Arachnids

Myriapods

2 new diplopods: Orthomorpha caramel, O. vietnamica;
5 new chilopods: Rhysida ikhalama, Rhysida konda, Rhysida lewisi, Rhysida pazhuthara, Rhysida sada;

Crustaceans

4 new copepods: Bicorniphontodes clarae; Acartia nadiensis; Caligus chinglonglini, C. kajii;
1 new leptostracan: Nebalia tagiri;
5 new amphipods: Cephalophoxoides fortisetus, Cephalophoxoides obtusimanus; Seba longimera; Acutocoxae ogilvieae; Cerrorchestia taboukeli;
10 new decapods: Conchoecetes atlas, C avikele, C. chanty, C. investigator, C. pembawa; Periclimenella agattii; Pilumnus mantelattoi; Australatya hawkei; Pagurus pseudoalbus; Aegla nebeccana;

*Nebalia tagiri* is a new leptostracan from Japan. Credits to Hirata et al. (2019).*

Hexapods

Head of *Amblycheila katzi*, a new tiger beetle from the USA. Credits to Duran & Roman (2019).*

Echinoderms

2 new asteroids: Limnasterias oinops, L. estradivariae;
1 new holoturoid: Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) viridiaurantia;

*Holothuria viridiaurantia* is a new sea cucumber from the Pacific. Credits to Borrero-Pérez & Vanegas-González (2019).*

Actinopterygians

4 new anguilliforms: Muraenichthys longirostris; Ophichthus semilunatus, Ophichthus brevidorsalis; Gymnothorax pharaonis;
4 new aulopiforms: Lestrolepis nigroventralis, Lestidium orientale; Stemonosudis multifasciatus, Stemonosudis retrodorsalis;
1 new characiform: Hyphessobrycon rheophilus;
1 new clupeiform: Sardinella alcyone;
4 new cypriniforms: Homatula anteridorsalis, Homatula cryptoclathrata, Homatula nigra; Phoxinus krkae;
1 new gadiiform: Pterophycis spatium;
1 new gobiiform: Lebetus patzneri;
3 new lophiiforms: Oneirodes formosanus, Gigantactis cheni; Malthopsis formosa;
1 new ophidiiform: Onuxodon albometeori;
1 new perciform: Ichthyscopus pollicaris;
2 new scorpaeniforms: Pterygotrigla (Otohime) madagascarensis; Scorpaena regina;
6 new siluriforms: Imparfinis munduruku; Sturisomatichthys reinae, Sturisomatichthys guaitipan, Sturisomatichthys varii; Spinipterus moijiri; Cambeva horacioi;
4 new stomiiforms: Eustomias (Dinematochirus) dendrobium, Eustomias (Haploclonus) stamen, Eustomias (Nominostomias) tritentaculatus; Diplophos vicinia;

Amphibians

5 new anurans: Ischnocnema bocaina; Zhangixalus pachyproctus; Ameerega panguana, Ameerega imasmari; Sarcohyla toyota;
1 new caudate: Aneides caryaensis;

Reptiles

5 new squamates: Sibon ayerbeorum; Panaspis tsavoensis; Amphisbaena spp.; Liolaemus tajzara;

*Liolaemus tajzara* is a new lizard from Bolivia. Credits to Abdala et al. (2019).*

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

The first fellow of 2020 is found in the forests, gardens and plantations of Southeast and East Asia. A member of the small insects commonly known as leafhoppers, its scientific name is Bothrogonia ferruginea and its common name is black-tipped leafhopper.

Leafhoppers belong to the order Hemiptera and feed on the sap of several plant species. The black-tipped leafhopper measures a little more than 1 cm as an adult. The dorsal color is yellow, a little greener on the wings than on the head and the thorax, and there is a group of black spots on the head and thorax, as well as a black margin at the posterior end of the forewings. The eyes are black an the legs are also yellow, with black areas at the joints. Some specimens may have a more orange tinge, from which the name ferruginea (rust-colored) must have come from. The ventral side is black with a yellow border in each segment.

*Bothrogonia ferruginea* in Japan. Photo by Wikimedia user Keisotyo.*

Eggs are elongate, greenish and small are laid in small clutches in the spring. The first-instar nymphs, which are small and white, hatch from the eggs after about 8.5 days. They develop into adults after about 2 months, passing through 4 more nymph instars. Adults are at first immature and live for 10 months. They slowly develop their sexual organs during summer and autumn, hibernate during four month in winter, and wake up from hibernation in spring, ready to mate.

Nymph of the black-tipped leafhopper in Taiwan. Photo by iNaturalist user nicolle10.**

Male black-tipped leafhoppers attach their sperm to a rope-like transparent material and transfer it to the females inside a large spermatophore, which is placed in their bursa copulatrix. Part of the material inside the spermatophore seems to be transferred into the eggs, as if it was some sort of nutritional gift of the father to his future kids.

It has been suggested that the peculiar color pattern of the black-tipped leafhopper is a form of mimetism. Their yellow background with black spots resembles the color pattern of ladybug pupae. Since ladybugs contain some toxins that makes them an unpleasant meal, imitating them helps the black-tipped leafhopper to be avoided as a food by many predators.

Two black-tipped leafhoppers in Taiwan. Photo by iNaturalist user nicolle10.**

As the black-tipped leafhopper feeds on several plant species, it can be a threat to some crops, especially grapes and tea. More than only feeding on the plants sap, the black-tipped leafhopper can be a vector to transmit the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa between plants. This bacterium is responsible for many plant diseases, including the Pierce’s disease of grapes, which leads to shriveled fruits and premature death of leaves.

Fortunately, the black-tipped leafhopper is not (yet) a major threat to any crop so there is no urge in studying their life history in details.

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More Hemipterans:

Friday Fellow: Pea Aphid (on 12 June 2015)

Friday Fellow: Southern Green Stink Bug (on 10 May 2019)

Friday Fellow: Wattle Horned Treehopper (on 23 August 2019)

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References:

Hayashi F, Kamimura Y (2002) The potential for incorporation of male derived proteins into developing eggs in the leafhopper Bothrogonia ferruginea. Journal of Insect Physiology, 48(2), 153–159. doi: 10.1016/s0022-1910(01)00159-7

Tuan SJ, Hu FT, Chang HY, Chang PW, Chen YS, Huang TP (2016) Xylella fastidiosa transmission and life history of two cicaellinae sharpshooters, Kolla paulula and Bothrogonia ferruginea (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), in Taiwan. Journal of Economic Entomology 109(3): 1034-1040. doi: 10.1093/jee/tow016

Yamazaki K (2010) Leafhopper’s face mimics the ladybird pupae. Current Science 98(4): 487–488.

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

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Mayflies make up the order Ephemeroptera, one of the oldest ones among insects. Closely related to dragonflies and damselflies (order Odonata), mayflies have an aquatic nymph and a terrestrial imago (i.e., adult). One considerably well-known species is Heptagenia sulphurea, commonly known as the yellow mayfly or yellow may dun.

Native from Europe, the yellow mayfly lives most of its life as a nymph. It prefers running and clean waters, where it lives under stones and feeds on decaying plant matter and associated bacterial biofilms. The nymph has a flattenned body of a dark color with several yellowish marks. The legs are short and white and have a series of alternating yellow and black sinuous transversal stripes. Like in all mayfly nymphs, the abdomen has visible gills on both sides and three longe cerci (tails) at the tip. During its final stage as a nymph, the yellow mayfly is about 1 cm long.

Nymph of the yellow mayfly. Credits to European Fly Angler.

Most mayflies are very sensitive to pollution and the yellow mayfly is one of the most sensitive of all, at least in Europe. Whenever the water of a streams starts to get polluted, the yellow mayfly is the first mayfly species to disappear. Thus, its presence indicates water of very good quality.

Female subimago in Russia. Photo by Robin Bad.*

Different from all other insects, mayflies have an intermediate stage between the nymph and the imago stages, the so-called subimago. This stage is already terrestrial like the imago and already has wings, although they are often less developed, making them poor fliers. This subimago stage is commonly known as dun and, in the yellow mayfly, it has a typical yellow color, hence the common name yellow may dun. Females have black and poorly developed eyes, while in males the eyes are larger and vary from dark gray to whitish. Nymphs molt into subimagos beginning in May, when the peak occurs, but may appear as late as July.

Male imago of the yellow mayfly in Russia. Photo by Vladimir Bryukhov.*

When the subimago molts into the adult, usually after only a few days, the body becomes light brown and the eyes whitish in both sexes, but the eyes are still smaller in females than in males. Adults have the sole purpose of reproducing and so they do. After mating, the male dies in a few hours, and so does the female after laying her eggs in a stream.

The yellow mayfly is often used as a fishing bait. Once a common species across Europe, its populations have decreased considerably in the last century due to the increase of water pollution. Some recent efforts to despolute streams may, fortunately, help this and other mayfly species to find again more room to thrive.

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References:

Beketov MA (2004) Different sensitivity of mayflies (Insecta, Ephemeroptera) to ammonia, nitrite and nitrate between experimental and observational data. Hydrobiologia 528:209–216.

Macan TT (1958) Descriptions of the nymphs of the British species of Heptagenia and Rhithrogena (Ephem.). Entomologist’s Gazette 9:83–92.

Madsen BL (1968) A comparative ecological investigation of two related mayfly nymphs. Hydrobiologia 31:3–4.

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

No other species in the world eats such a great diversity of food types as humans do. And among all the things we eat, some are much more valuable than others, and one of those precious foods is the meat of Panulirus versicolor, the painted spiny lobster.

Painted spiny lobster in Fiji. Photo by Mark Rosenstein.*

Also known as the painted rock lobster or blue spiny lobster, this crustacean can measure up to 40 cm in length and, like all spiny lobsters, has a pair of very large and spiny antennae and lacks the large chelae (claws) on the first pair of walking legs, which are typical of the true lobsters. Its color pattern is very complex and includes a lot of black and white marks on the legs, the cephalothorax and the posterior border of each abdominal segment. The large antennae have a pinkish color at the thicker base and are whitish after that.

Another one from Fiji. Photo by Mark Rosenstein.*

The painted spiny lobster is found in coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific region, from South Africa to Polynesia. It is a voracious carnivore, feeding on carcasses but also actively hunting other crustaceans and eventually fish. They are nocturnal, remaining during the day hidden in rock shelters called dens and leaving at night to capture other benthos (i.e., species that move across the sea floor). Although they do not have a complex social structure, painted spiny lobsters can share the same den if there is room enough and they apparently prefer to do so, even though the groups do not remain together as most individuals move to a new den every few days. The way they share the dens is not random, though. Female painted spiny lobsters share dens more often than would happen by chance but two males are never found together in the same den. Thus, even large dens which can house seven or more spiny lobsters will have at maximum one male.

This one is from Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo by Albertini maridom.**

Males and females are about the same size and become sexually mature when their carapace measures about 8 to 9 cm in length, which occurs when they are about 4 years old. After mating, a female can produce hundreds of thousands of eggs in a single brood. As they live in tropical waters, they can mate more than once a year.

Throughout its range, the painted spiny lobster is considered a valuable food in many countries, especially Kenya, India, Palau, New Guinea and Australia. It is, indeed, one of the most consumed spiny lobsters in the Indo-Pacific region. However, there are few studies on the impact that harvesting it can have on the ecosystems, although it is expected that most spiny-lobster fishers should know that immature individuals should not be captured in order to ensure the species’ survival.

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References:

Frisch AJ (2007) Growth and reproduction of the painted spiny lobster (Panulirus versicolor) on the Great Barrier Reef (Australia). Fisheries Research 85:61–67. doi: 10.1016/j.fishres.2006.12.001

Frisch AJ (2007) Short- and long-term movements of painted lobster (Panulirus versicolor) on a coral reef at Northwest Island, Australia. Coral Reefs 26:311–317. doi: 10.1007/s00338-006-0194-6

Frisch AJ (2008) Social organisation and den utilisation of painted spiny lobster (Panulirus versicolor) on a coral reef at Northwest Island, Australia. Marine and Freshater Research 59:521–528. doi: 10.1071/MF06110

Vijayakumaran M, Maharajan A, Rajalakshmi S, Jayagopal P, Subramanian MS, Remani MC (2012) Fecundity and viability of eggs in wild breeders of spiny lobsters, Panulirus homarus (Linnaeus, 1758), Panulirus versicolor (Latreille, 1804) and Panulirus ornatus (Fabricius, 1798). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India 54: 18–22.

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

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

And by “we all” I mean we, the eukaryotes, the organisms with complex cells with a nucleus, mitochondria and stuff.

The way organisms are classified changed hugely across the last two centuries but, during the past few decades, it became clear that we have three domains of life, namely Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya. Although the relationship between these three domains was problematic at first, it soon became clear that Eukarya and Archaea are more closely related to each other than they are to Bacteria.

Both Bacteria and Archaea are characterized by the so-called prokaryotic cell, in which there is no delimited nucleus and only a single circular chromosome (plus a lot of smaller gene rings called plasmids). Eukarya, on the other hand, has a nucleus surrounded by a membrane which includes many linear chromosomes. Both the structure of the cell membrane and several genes indicate that Archaea and Eukarya are closely related, but it was still a mystery whether both groups evolved from a common ancestor and were, therefore, sister-groups, or whether eukaryotes evolved directly from archaeans and were, therefore, highy complex archaeans.

Things started to point toward the second hypothesis after several proteins originally considered exclusive to eukaryotes (the so-called Eukaryotic Signature Proteins, ESPs) were found in representatives of the clade TACK of Archaea. However, different clades within the TACK clade had different ESPs, so things remained uncertain.

Then in 2015 a new group of archaeans was discovered in the Arctic Ocean between Norway an Greenland near a field of active hydrothermal vents named Loki’s Castle (Spang et al. 2015). Named Lokiarchaeoata, this new archaean group contained a larger number of ESPs, including many found in different TACK lineages. Lokiarchaeota appeared as a sister-group of eukaryotes in phylogenetic reconstructions and indicated that eukaryotes evolved, indeed, from archaeans, and apparently from more complex archaeans than the ones known at the time. This group was solely based on an incomplete genome found in the sediments, as the organism itself was not found and could not be cultivated to confirm the structure of its cell.

In 2016, another new archaean lineage was discovered through a genome found in the White Oak River estuary on the Atlantic coast of the USA (Seitz et al., 2016). Named Thorarchaeota, this clade revealed to be closely related to Lokiarchaeota and, therefore, to Eukaryotes.

Reconstruction of possible metabolic routes found in Thorarchaeota based on the genes (white boxes) found in the thorarchaeotan genome. Credits to Seitz et al. (2016).

Then in 2017 a lot of new genomes were found in the same environments in which Lokiarchaeaota and Thorarchaeota had been found and in many others (Zaremba-Niedzwiedzka et al., 2017). They included two new groups closely related to these two, which were named Odinarchaeota and Heimdallarchaeota. This whole group received the name “Asgard archaeans” and phylogenetic reconstructions put Eukarya within it, with Heimdallarchaeota being Eukarya’s sister group.

But questions and doubts soon arised. Still in 2017, a new paper (Da Cunha et al., 2017) questioned these findings and raised the hypothesis that the phylogenetic reconstructions putting Asgard and Eukarya together was an artifact caused by long branch attraction, a side-effect of phylogenetic reconstructions in which fast-evolving species force distantly related clades to collapse into a single clade. The removal of some fast-evolving archaeans from the analysis was enough to break the Asgard-Eukarya relationship apart. Since the genomes of Lokiarchaeota and other Asgards were reconstructed from environmental DNA and not from single cells, there was a possibility that the samples were contaminated with material from other organisms. The protein genes used in the analyses also seemed to have divergent origins and may have been acquired via horizontal gene transfer, when a gene is transferred from one organism to another by means other than reproduction, usually through viruses.

The original authors of the Asgard clade, who proposed its proximity to Eukarya, rejected Da Cunha et al.’s (2017) criticism and stated that they used inadequate methodology and that there was no evidence of contamination in their samples (Spang et al., 2018).

(OMG, this turned into an actual fight. Grab your popcorns!)

Da Cunha et al. (2018) responded again showing more evidence of contamination and saying that Spang et al. should show evidence of inadequate methodology if it was the case.

Later studies continued to find the eukaryote sequences in new samples of Asgard, which decrease the likelihood of contamination (Narrowe et al., 2018).

Fournier & Poole (2018) discussed the implications of the proximity of Eukarya to Asgard and proposed a classification in which Asgard was not a member of Archaea anymore, but formed a new domain, Eukaryomorpha, together with Eukarya. They made an analogy with the mammals evolving from synapsids and how synapsids used to be seen as reptiles, even though they are not nested inside the Reptilia (Sauropsida) clade. The same would be the case of Asgard. Despite being “Archaea-like”, they would not be true archaeans.

A hypothetical topology of “true archaeans”, Asgard and Eukarya according to Fournier & Poole (2018).

In a study published in December, Williams et al. (2019) reanalyzed the issue using more data and recovered again the proximity of Asgard to Eukarya. With this accumulation of evidence, the hypothesis of Eukarya originating from inside Archaea grew stronger.

Then now, a few days ago, we finally got what we were waiting for. A group of Japanese scientists (Imachi et al., 2020) finally isolated an Asgard organism and was able to culture it in the lab. It was a very hard task, though. The culture grew very slowly, with a lag phase (the phase in which cells adapt to the environment and grow without dividing) lasting up to 60 days!

The creatures were growing in a mixed culture with a bacterium of the genus Halodesulfovibrio and an archaeon of the genus Methanogenium. The Asgard cells were named Candidatus Prometheoarcheum syntrophicum. In prokaryote taxonomy, a new species receives the status of Candidatus when it was not possible to maintain it in a stable culture.

The cells of this Asgard species are coccoid, i.e., spherical, and often present vesicles on the surface or long membrane protrusions that may or not branch. These protrustions do not connect to each other nor to other cells, differently from similar structures in other archaeans. The cells do not seem to contain any organelle-like structures inside them, going against the expectations. Asgard is not yet the eukaryote-like cell we were waiting for!

Several electron microscope images of *Canidatus* Prometheoarcheum syntrophicum. Vesicles show in e, f and proturision in g, h. Credits to Imachi et al. (2020).

Thanks to the culture of this Asgard species, it was possible to extract its whole genome and confirm what was previously known from Asgard and based solely on environmental DNA. This confirmed the presence of 80 ESPs and, in a phylogenetic analysis, this new species appeared as the sister group of Eukarya.

Candidatus Prometheoarcheum syntrophicum revealed to be anaerobic and to feed on aminoacids, breaking them into fatty acids and hydrogen. Its association with the other two prokariotes in the mixed culture seems to be a sort of mutualism, with the three species helping each other by hydrogen transfer from one species to another. Many questions about how an organism like that turned into the complex eukaryotic cell still remain but at least we have some more hints about the acquisition of the mitochondria.

Hypothesis of eukaryotic cell evolution based on a mutualistic relationship between an Asgard-like archaean and an aerobic bacterium. Credits to Imachi et al. (2020).

The most widely accepted hypothesis was that primitive eukaryotic cells engulfed an aerobic bacteria through phagocytosis to eat it but ended up retaining it inside. However, seeing the cooperation of our Asgard archaean with other prokaryotes raises the hypothesis that maybe the mutualism between the pro-eukaryotic cell and the aerobic bacteria started when they were still separate organisms.

Are we ever going to find the “true” proto-eukaryote? Let’s wait for the next episodes.

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References:

Da Cunha V, Gaia M, Gadelle D, Nasir A, Forterre P (2017) Lokiarchaea are close relatives of Euryarchaeota, not bridging the gap between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. PLOS Genetics 13(6): e1006810. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006810

Da Cunha V, Gaia M, Nasir A, Forterre P (2018) Asgard archaea do not close the debate about the universal tree of life topology. PLOS Genetics 14(3): e1007215. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007215

Imachi H, Nobu MK, Nakahara N et al. (2020) Isolation of an archaeon at the prokaryote–eukaryote interface. Nature. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1916-6

Narrowe AB, Spang A, Stairs CW, Caceres EF, Baker BJ, Miller SC, Ettema TJG (2018) Complex Evolutionary History of Translation Elongation Factor 2 and Diphthamide Biosynthesis in Archaea and Parabasalids. Genome Biology and Evolution 10: 2380–2393. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evy154

Seitz KW, Lazar CS, Hinrichs KU, Teske AP, Baker BJ (2016) Genomic reconstruction of a novel, deeply branched sediment archaeal plylum with pathways for acetogenesis and sulfur reduction. ISME Journal 10: 1696–1705. doi: 10.1038/ismej.2015.233

Spang A, Saw JH, Jørgensen SL, et al. (2015) Complex archaea that bridge the gap between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Nature 521: 173–179. doi: 10.1038/nature14447

Spang A, Eme L, Saw JH, Caceres EF, Zaremba-Niedzwiedzka K, et al. (2018) Asgard archaea are the closest prokaryotic relatives of eukaryotes. PLOS Genetics 14(3): e1007080. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007080

Williams TA, Cox CJ, Foster PG, Szőllősi GJ, Embley TM (2019) Phylogenomics provides robust support for a two-domains tree of life. Nature Ecology & Evolution. doi: 10.1038/s41559-019-1040-x

Zaremba-Niedzwiedzka K, Caceres EF, Saw JH et al. (2017) Asgard archaea illuminate the origin of eukaryotic cellular complexity. Nature 541:353–358. doi: 10.1038/nature21031

by Piter Kehoma Boll

The sea is so full of different lifeforms that it is hard to leave it once we are there. Thus, we will continue in the sea this week, but moving to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, more precisely to the Hawaiian islands. There, on the shore, we can find today’s fellow.

An aggregate of *Nerita picea* in Kauai. Photo by Phil Liff-Grieff.*

Named Nerita picea, it is a small snail found on the rocky shores across most of Hawaii, often in aggregates. It is commonly called the Hawaiian black nerite in English but the native Hawaiians call it pipipi.

Empty shells of the Hawaiian black nerite. Photo by Donna Pomeroy.**

The Hawaiian black nerite measures about 1 cm in length and its shell is externally black with spiral ribs, sometimes with a thin lighter line running between them, and often with a whitish tone on the tip of the spiral. Its ribs are relatively little marked when compared to most nerite species. Internally, the shell is white. The soft parts of the body are also mostly dark in color and so is the operculum, the lid that closes the opening of the shell when the snail retracts. The foot, however, is lighter. When a live animal is picked, it quickly retracts into the shell, covering the opening with the operculum and letting a white margin around it.

A live specimen in Oahu with the soft parts visible. Photo by Isaac Lord.**

Like most intertidal snails, the Hawaiian black nerite is a herbivore and grazes on algae growing on the rocks. It prefers to live at the splash zone and slightly above it, differing from its closest relative, Nerita plicata, which lives in the upper zone, avoiding the splashes.

Due to its tropical distribution, the Hawaiian black nerite reproduces continuously throughout the year. There is no sexual dimorphism between males and females, which is, I guess, “the rule” for snails.

The Hawaiian black nerite was traditionally used as food by the native Hawaiians and its shells can be found in large numbers in archaeological sites of the archipelago dating back more than a thousand years. Empty shells of the Hawaiian black nerite are also commonly used by small hermit crabs of the genus Calcinus.

*Calcinus* hermit crabs using the shells of dead Hawaiian black nerites. Photo by CA Clark.***

Despite being a common species in Hawaii and having a historical importance as food, little seems to be known about the life history of the Hawaiian black nerite.

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References:

Dye T (1994) Apparent ages of marine shells: implications for archaeological dating in Hawai’i. Radiocarbon 36(1):51–57.

Frey MA (2010) The relative importance of geography and ecology in species diversification: evidence from a tropical marine intertidal snail (Nerita). Journal of Biogeography 37:1515–1528. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2010.02283.x

Pfeiffer CJ (1992) Intestinal Ultrastructure of Nerita picea (Mollusca: Gastropoda), an Intertidal Marine Snail of Hawaii. Acta Zoologic 73(1):39–47. doi: 10.1111/j.1463-6395.1992.tb00947.x

Reese ES (1969) Behavioral adaptations of intertidal hermit crabs. American Zoologist 9(2):343–355. doi: 10.1093/icb/9.2.343

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

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

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Lady beetles, also known as ladybirds or ladybugs, are popular beetles famous for their round bodies and spotted elytra. Not all species have spots, though, such as Cycloneda sanguinea, adequately known as the spotless lady beetle.

A male spotless lady beetle in Florida, USA. Photo by Judy Gallagher.*

Occurring from the United States to Argentina, the spotless lady beetle is the most widespread lady beetle in South America. Its elytra vary from orange to deep red, while its pronotum and head have the typical black color with white marks that most lady beetles have. There is a little difference between males and females. Males have a white stripe running through the middle of the anterior half of the pronotum and the head has a white square on the “forehead”. Females lack the white stripe on the pronotum and have the white square crossed by a black mark, which turns it into two white stripes.

A female in Uruguay. Photo by Joaquín D.*

After mating, the female lays small clusters of yellow eggs on the vegetation, which hatch into larvae after about 10 days. The larva has the typical look of lady bettle larvae and the body in later instars have dark gray and yellow marks. The time that it takes to go from egg to adult varies a lot depending on the temperature, with higher temperatures accelerating development. Thus, in warm climates, the spotless lady beetle can have more than one generation per year.

A larva in Mexico. Photo by Francisco Sarriols Sarabia.*

The spotless lady beetle feeds mainly on aphids and, as many other lady beetle species, is used as a biological control against these plant pests in many crops, such as cotton, pine, beans and citrus species. It is a voracious aphid predator both as a larva and as an adult and females prefer to lay their eggs on plants that are infested by aphids to assure their offspring will have plenty of food.

A male about to take flight in California, USA. Photo by iNaturalist user kstny.*

Currently, one of the main threats to the spotless lady beetle is the Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis, which was deliberately or accidentally introduced in many areas in the Americas. Larger and more more aggressive, the Asian lady beetle outcompetes the Spotless Lady Beetle especially by eating its eggs and larvae but also by consuming its food, as both species have aphids as their main prey.

This is one more example about how biological control can be a nice alternative to spread poison on pests but only if conducted without introducing a voracious predator into another ecosystem.

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References:

Cardoso JT, Lázzar SMN (2003) Comparative biology of Cycloneda sanguinea (Linnaeus, 1763) and Hippodamia convergens Guérin-Méneville, 1842 (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) focusing on the control of Cinara spp. (Hemiptera, Aphididae). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 47(3): 443–446. doi: 10.1590/S0085-56262003000300014

Işkıber AA (2005) Functional responses of two coccinellid predators, Scymnus levaillanti and Cycloneda sanguinea, to the cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii. Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry 29: 347–355.

Michaud JP (2002) Invasion of the Florida Citrus Ecosystem by Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and Asymmetric Competition with a Native Species, Cycloneda sanguinea. Environmental Entomology 31(5): 827–835. doi: 10.1603/0046-225X-31.5.827

Sarmento RA, Venzon M, Pallini A, Oliveira EE, Janssen A (2007) Use of odours by Cycloneda sanguinea to assess patch quality. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 124(3): 313–318. doi: 10.1111/j.1570-7458.2007.00587.x

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

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

18 new actinobacteria: Senegalimassilia faecalis; Ornithinimicrobium cerasi; Embleya hyalina; Streptomyces qinzhouensis; Segeticoccus rhizosphaerae; Ornithinicoccus soli; Streptomyces aquilus; Saccharothrix deserti; Nesterenkonia muleiensis; Corynebacterium suranareeae; Xylanimonas allomyrinae; Arthrobacter ulcerisalmonis; Lysinimonas yzui; Jiangella asiatica, Jiangella aurantiaca, Jiangella ureilytica; Gordonia insulae; Marmoricola caldifontis;
14 new bacteroids: Dokdonia sinensis; Kaistella daneshvariae, Epilithonimonas vandammei; Muricauda alvinocaridis; Leeuwenhoekiella aestuarii; Urechidicola croceus; Algoriphagus kandeliae; Chitinophaga vietnamensis; Hymenobacter sediminis; Puteibacter caeruleilacunae; Sphingobacterium olei; Mangrovimonas spongiae; Robertkochia solimangrovi; Formosa sediminum;
1 new chloroflex: Dictyobacter vulcani;
11 new firmicutes: Leuconostoc litchii; Weissella muntiaci; Hydrogeniiclostidium mannosilyticum; Bacillus miscanthi; Lactobacillus mulieris; Paenibacillus ottowii; Paenibacillus paridis; Paenibacillus tepidiphilus; Psychrobacillus glaciei; Calorimonas adulescens; Vagococcus silagei;
1 new hadobacterium: Thermus thermamylovorans;
26 new proteobacteria: Tepidimonas charontis; Vulcaniibacterium gelatinicum; Bradyrhizobium ivorense; Fluviispira multicolorata, Silvanigrella paludirubra; Skermanella pratensis; Sphingorhabdus soli; Aidingimonas lacisalsi; Paracoccus aeridis; Pseudomonas carnis; Alteromonas portus; Carideicomes alvinocaridis; Devosia ginsengisoli; Sphingomonas solaris; Hypericibacter terrae, Hypericibacter adhaerens; Halioglobus maricola; Methylobacterium crusticola; Acetobacter oryzoeni; Shewanella polaris; Gemmobacter caeruleus; Ferrovibrio terrae; Saezia sanguinis; Serratia nevei, Serratia bockelmannii; Campylobacter portucalensis;
1 new verrucomicrobe: Rariglobus hedericola;
1 new species from a new phylum: Candidatus Mcinerneyibacterium aminivorans;

*Campylobacter portucalensis* is a new proteobacterium isolated from the preputial mucosa of a bull in Portugal. Credits to Silva et al. (2020).*

Archaeans

1 new crenarchaeote: Sulfuracidifex tepidarius;
3 new euryarchaeotes: Salinigranum halophilum; Natrialba swarupiae; Halostella litorea;
The very first lokiarchaeote: Candidatus Prometheoarchaeum syntrophicum;

SARs

1 new ciliate: Paraurostyla wuhanensis;
1 new apicomplexan: Eimeria sp.;
4 new ochrophytes: Navicula gogorevii; Humidophila eldfjallii; Frankophila dalevittii; Nupela brevistriata;

*Alseodaphnopsis maguanensis* is a new lauracean tree from China. Credits to Li et al. (2020).*

*Colocasia kachinensis* is a new aroid from Myanmar. Credits to Zhou et al. (2020).*

Plants

*Bulbophyllum papuaense* is a new orchid from Papua. Credits to Lin et al. (2020).*

*Begonia chenii* is a new begonia from Myanmar. Credits to Maw et al. (2020).*

Fungi

Poriferans

4 new demosponges: Clathria (Axosuberites) retamalesi; Potamolepis bhangazi, Acanthotylotra xingu; Swartschewskia khanaevi;
1 new homoscleromorph: Plakina doudou;
1 new calcarean: Leucosolenia qingdaoensis;

Cnidarians

1 new myxozoan: Kudoa ajurutellus;

Rotiferans

2 new acanthocephalan: Tenuisoma tarapungi; Pseudoacanthocephalus goodmani;

Flatworms

4 new rhabdcoels: Proschizorhynchus algarvensis, P. arnautsae, P. troglodytus, Schizochilus coninxae;
8 new monogeneans: Cosmetocleithrum berecae, Cosmetocleithrum nunani, Demidospermus tocantinensis; Dactylogyrus pisolabrae; Pseudorhabdosynochus kasetsartensis; Pronotogrammella boegeri, Pr. scholzi, Pr. multifasciatus;
1 new trematode: Ithyoclinostomum yamagutii;
1 new cestode: Armadolepis genovi;

Annelids

4 new polychaetes: Marphysa gaditana, Marphysa chirigota; Composetia kumensis, C. tokashikiensis;

Mollusks

7 new gastropods: Enigmaticolus inflatus; Diplommatina boessnecki; Cratena poshitraensis, Cratena pawarshindeorum; Berthella nebula, Berthella vialactea, Berthella andromeda;
1 new bivalvian: Trapezidens yeti;

Bryozoans

4 new species: Hippomonavella charrua; Setosella cyclopensis, S. rossanae, S. alfioi;

Nematodes

Tardigrades

1 new species: Diphascon wuyingensis;

Arachnids

Myriapods

10 new diplopodans: Dolistenus garciaparisi; Epanerchodus campus, Epanerchodus bishou; Nepalmatoiulus sichuanensis, N. chinensis, N. muli, N. tianbaoshanensis, N. pallidus, N. weixi, N. immaturus;

Crustaceans

3 new ostracods: Copytus cuspidata, C. wuerdigae; Semicytherura obitsuensis;
5 new copepods: Boholina laorsriae; Rhinergasilus digitus; Mastigodiaptomus alexei, M. ha, M. cihuatlan;
1 new cumacean: Marmacuma samimei;
3 new amphipods: Heterophoxus shoemakeri; Limnoporeia infirmichelata; Protodulichia scandens;
3 new decapods: Anisopagurus asteriscus, Pagurus alarius; Diogenes minimus;

*Deuteraphorura muranensis* is a new cave-dwelling springtail from Slovakia. Credits to Parimuchová et al. (2020).*

*Vates phenix* is a new mantis from Brazil. Credits to Rivera et al. (2020).*

Hexapods

*Pseudolebinthus lunipterus* is a new cricket from Malawi. Credits to Salazar et al. (2020).*

Actinopterygians

1 new anguilliform: Ophichthus kailashchandrai;
1 new characiform: Varicharax nigrolineatus;
2 new cichliforms: Palaeoplex palimpsest, Lufubuchromis relictus;
1 new clupeiform: Stolephorus babarani;
3 new cypriniforms: Osteobrama tikarpadaensis; Enteromius yardiensis; Psilorhynchus nahlongthai;
1 new siluriform: Microcambeva filamentosa;

*Enteromius yardiensis* is a new fish from Ethiopia. Credits to Englmaier et al. (2020).*

Amphibians

4 new anurans: Megophrys caobangensis; Megophrys xianjuensis; Walkerana muduga; Nidirana yeae;

*Nidirana yeae* is a new Music frog from China. Credits to Wei et al. (2020).*

Reptiles

21 new squamates: Cyrtodactylus dattkyaikensis, C. taungwineensis; Cyrtodactylus crustulus; Lepidodactylus sacrolineatus; Asthenodipsas borneensis; Gonatodes sp.; Gonatodes machelae; Hemiphyllodactylus nilgiriensis, H. peninsularis; Crotalus spp.; Gehyra gemina, G. arnhemica, G. lauta, G. lapistola, G. calcitectus, G. chimera; Riolama grandis, R. stellata; Alopoglossus avilapiresae, A. collii;

*Gehyra arnhemica* (left) and *Gehyra gemina* (right) are two new geckos from Australia. Credits to Oliver et al. (2020).*

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Some months ago I introduced a tiny wasp that causes galls in eucalyptus trees. Now I am going to present another tiny creature, even smaller than that wasp, that causes a very abnormal type of gall in species of the genus Aloe.

Called Aceria aloinis and commonly known as the aloe mite, this microscopic arachnid can be a nightmare to aloe species and to those that cultive them. They are so tiny that they are barely seen with the naked eye. Their body is elongate and cylindrical, vermiform, like a microscopic sausage, and the adults have only four legs instead of the typical eight of most arachnids. This is the typical appearance of most mites of the family Eriophyidae, known as gall mites.

Two aloe mites. Extracted from Deinhart (2011).

Feeding on the epidermal cells of aloe plants, the aloe mite leads to a huge problem in its host. Its effect leads to an abnormal and ugly growth forming a shapeless gall that is adequately known as aloe cancer. This cancer often has a sponge-like appearance and sometimes, more than only strange growths from the leaves, stems and inflorescences, it can appear as a cluster of malformed leaves.

An ugly gall formed by the aloe mite. Photo by Colin Ralston.*

This malformation most likely has some negative effects on the plant’s fitness but the main concern is because it makes ornamental aloe species aesthetically unappealing. The most simple way to get rid of the aloe mite is to cut off the infected parts and burn them.

But how did they get to the plant in the first place? Well, eriophyid mites in general use the wind to be carried from one place to another and the aloe mite is no exception. So you may be able to cure your plant with an amputation but if there are other infected plants in the region, the mites may soon be back.

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References:

Deinhart N (2011) Tiny Monsters: Aceria alionis. Cactus and Succulent Journal 83(3): 120–122. doi: 10.2985/0007-9367-83.3.120

Villavicencio LE, Bethke JA, Dahlke B, Vander Mey B, Corkidi L (2014) Curative and preventive control of Aceria aloinis (Acari: Eriophyidae) in Southern California. Journal of Economic Entomology 107(6):2088-2094.

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Since humans appeared on Earth and started to migrate, they carried other species with them to new localities. This made humans not the only species to become invasive and, in the past centuries, with human movement throughout the planet becoming more and more intense, invasive species became more and more common.

Among bivalvian mollusks, two very popular invasive species are the golden mussel and the zebra mussel, but they are not the only ones. There is one small bivalvian that is not that often a nuisance in human activities but is certainly a problem for native species, the so-called Asian clam, Corbicula fluminea.

An Asian clam in Hong Kong. Photo by Tommy Hui.*

The Asian clam is native from Eastern Asia where it lives burried in the sediment of rivers, prefering sandy sediments in oxygen-rich waters. Their small bivalvian shell measures up to 5 cm although most adult specimens are about 3 cm long. They have a brown to golden color, sometimes combined, but the colored layers sometimes flake off, causing white blotches.

The food of the Asian clam consists mainly of phytoplankton that it filters from the sediment. Human populations from Eastern Asia, such as the Chinese and Koreans, often use the Asian clam as a food source. During the 20th century, when many East Asian people migrated to other countries, the Asian clam was carried with them to be raised as food. As a result, this mollusk was introduced in North and South American river basins and started to spread quickly

The Asian clam is not as tolerant to environmental changes as other invasive bivalvians but its advantage is its rapid reproduction. Although there are both dioic and hermaphrodite lineages in this species, the invasive populations are all hermaphrodites. Fertilization occurs inside the body of the mother clam and the larvae develop inside, being released already as tiny shelled individuals.

The first records of this species in North America are from areas in the west coast of the United States in the 1920s. One century later the species is found throughout the whole country, having reached the east coast in less than four decades, and going north to Canada and south to Mexico and Central America.

Asian clam in Massachusetts, USA. Photo by iNaturalist user jfflyfisher.*

In South America, the species was introduced simultaneously in the La Plata River between Argentina and Uruguay and in the Jacuí river in southern Brazil in the 1970s. Currently, less than 50 years later, it is found as far north as Colombia as southward into Patagonia. The species was also introuced in Europe, Africa and Australia.

Shells collected in the La Plata River in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo by Diego Gutierrez Gregoric.*

The main impact caused by the invasion of the Asian clam is that it competes with native bivalvians, frequently leading to local extinctions, which is a major threat especially to many rare species that may disappear in a few decades. Although impacts on human activities are not that common, there are cases of large numbers of individuals clogging pipes and other structures.

A shell in Colombia. Credits to iNaturalist user gerardochs.*

Since there are fossil records of species of the genus Corbicula in North America, a hypothesis was raised suggesting that, instead of an invasion, the spread of the Asian clam in this continent is actually a recolonization following the last glaciation and that these individuals may be the result of small populations that remained hidden somewhere. However, it is very unlikely that the species would have remained hidden in very small populations for thousands of years to suddenly start to spread like hell in a few decades. Humans are to be blamed, as always.

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References:

Araujo R, Moreno D, Ramos MA (1993) The Asiatic clam Corbicula fluminea (Müller, 1774) (Bivalvia: Corbiculidae) in Europe. American Malacological Bulletin 10(1): 39–49.

Planeta Invertebrados. Corbícula. Available at < http://www.planetainvertebrados.com.br/index.asp?pagina=especies_ver&id_categoria=27&id_subcategoria=0&com=1&id=143 >. Access on 13 February 2020.

Sousa R, Antunes C, Guilhermino L (2008) Ecology of the invasive Asian clam Corbicula fluminea (Müller, 1774) in aquatic ecosystems: an overview. Annales de Limnologie 44(2): 85–94. doi: 10.1051/limn:2008017

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Among the species of the highly diverse insect order Hymenoptera, many are known to be parasites or parasitoids of a variety of animals and plants. Commonly known parasited species include spiders and caterpillars, but some hymenopterans parasitize other hymenopterans.

One of such species is Philanthus triangulum, known as the European beewolf. The name beewolf refers to the fact that this wasp species hunts bees, particularly the common honey bee Apis mellifera. This species occurs throughout Europe and Africa, having several subspecies.

A female European beewolf in Gran Canaria, Spain. Photo by Juan Emilio.**

The European beewolf has about the same length as its prey, the common honey bee, but its body has a more typical wasp look. The abdomen and the legs are predominantly yellow, while the head and the thorax are mainly black and brown. The yellow abdomen has black transversal stripes that are typical in many wasp species but their width can vary. Males are smaller than females and have a characteristic trident-shaped light mark between the eyes that is absent or very small in females.

In colder regions, where the winter is harsh, adult European beewolves emerge as adults in early summer. Both male and female adults feed on the nectar of several plants. Females create large and sometimes complex burrows in sandy soils in open sunny places. The burrows may have up to a meter in length and have between 3 and 34 short tunnels, the brood cells, at the end, each of which will be used to raise one larva. Once finishing the burrow, the female searches for honeybees to hunt. When attacking the bee, the beewolf stings it behind the front legs and paralyzes it, and then flies back to the nest carrying the paralyzed bee below her between her legs. Up to five honeybees can be provided for each larva and serve as their only food during their development.

Males tend to live near female burrows and use sex pheromones to attract them. Although they are territorial, they can sometimes tolerate other males nearby because the increased release of feromones increases the chances of them being detected by the females.

After the female has provided each egg with enough food, it closes the burrow and leaves. However, since the larvae will remain several months in that closed and humid environment, they can end up suffering from mold growth that can destroy themselves or their food. Females seem to have developed several strategies to reduce this problem. First, before laying the egg on the bee, the wasp licks most of the bee’s surface, applying a secretion from a postpharyngeal gland. Although this secretion has no antimycotic properties, it seems to delay water condensation on the bee’s surface, which also delays the development of fungi, and at the same time prevents water loss from the bee’s body, ensuring that the larvae will have the necessary amount of water to survive.

Female beewolves also live symbiotically with bacteria of the genus Streptomyces, which they cultivate in specialized glands in their antennae. They “secrete” the bacteria into the brood cells before leaving and later, when the larvae hatch, they collect the bacteria and apply them on the surface of a coccoon that they build to overwinter. These bacteria thus prevent fungi or other bacteria from growing on the coccoon, protecting the larvae from infections.

Nature never stops amusing us with its wonderful strategies so beautifully built by natural selection.

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References:

Herzner G, Schmitt T, Peschke K, Hilpert A, Strohm E (2007) Food Wrapping with the Postpharyngeal Gland Secretion by Females of the European beewolf Philanthus triangulum. Journal of Chemical Ecology 33:849–859. doi: 10.1007/s10886-007-9263-8

Herzner G, Strohm E (2008) Food wrapping by females of the European Beewolf, Philanthus triangulum, retards water loss of larval provisions. Physiological Entomology 33:101–109. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3032.2007.00603.x

Kaltenpoth M, Goettler W, Dale C, Stubblefield JW, Herzner G, Roeser-Mueller K, Strohm Erhard (2006) ‘Candidatus Streptomyces philanthi’, an endosymbiotic streptomycete in the antennae of Philanthus digger wasps. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 56: 1403–1411. doi: 10.1099/ijs.0.64117-0

Wikipedia. European beewolf. Available at < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_beewolf >. Access on 20 February 2020.

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** This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Besides the well-known internal and external parasites that feed on resources of the host, nature has other types of parasitism as well. One of those types is the so-called brood parasitism, in which an animal puts its eggs in the nest of another animal so that they will be raised by foster parents, usually from a different species. Cuckoos are certainly the most famous brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds.

But brood parasites exist among other animal groups as well, including, of course, the diverse order Hymenoptera. Wasps of the family Chrysididae are known as cuckoo wasps because they put their eggs in the nests of other wasps. One species of this family is Hedychrum rutilans, which I decided to call the reddish cuckoo wasp.

A reddish cuckoo was in the Netherlands. Photo by iNaturalist user v_s_*.

Adults of this species measure up to 1 cm in length and have a kind of ant-shaped body. Its most striking feature, however, is its metalic color, which is typical of cuckoo wasps. In the reddish cuckoo wasp, the abdomen and the front part of the thorax have a reddish tinge, while the rest of the body is somewhat green.

Living in Europe and the northermost regions of Africa, the reddish cuckoo wasp is a lovely nectar drinker as an adult. However, as a larva, it is a parasitoid. Females put their eggs inside another insect so that the larva feeds on the host from inside. However, as I mentioned, cuckoo wasps are brood parasites, hence the name cuckoo wasp. Thus, they do not hunt other insects to serve as hosts for their larvae. Instead, they invade the nests of another species, the European beewolf, which I presented last week, and lay their eggs on the bees that the European beewolf has hunted for its own offspring.

Reddish cuckoo wasp in France. Photo by iNaturalist user butor*.

When the egg of the reddish cuckoo wasp hatches, the larva starts to feed on the paralyzed bees and can even feed on the growing larvae of the beewolf. But how can the female cuckoo wasp manage to invade the beewolf’s nest without being noticed?

The surface of insects is covered by cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), which have several functions. They protect the body from water and have many functions for chemical communication, both intra- and interspecifically. Parasitoids, for example, rely on CHC cues to find their hosts, and many species, especially social insects such as bees and ants, use CHCs to recognize individuals of their own colony and to detect any invader, incluing parasitoids and brood parasites. Thus, a beewolf could easily locate a cuckoo wasp sneaking into its nest but natural selection made the necessary changes. The amount of CHCs on the surface of cuckoo wasps is way below the normal levels found in most insects. As a result, their smell is so weak that it cannot be perceived in a nest that reeks of beewolf CHCs.

A specimen in Russia. Photo by Shamal Murza.*

One strategy that beewolfs seem to have developed to reduce the levels of parasitism by the reddish cuckoo wasp is increasing their activity in the evening, when the cuckoo wasp activity is reduced. During this time, it is easier for beewolves to enter their nests without being detected by cuckoo wasps. When a beewolf detects a cuckoo wasp close to its nests, it attacks it ferociously. However, once a cuckoo wasp enters the nest, the beewolf is unable to recognize it even if running right into it due to its inability to chemically detect the invader.

Both parties, of course, will always try to find new ways to succeed. Nature is, afterall, a neverending arms race.

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References:

Kroiss J, Schmitt T, Strohm E (2009) Low level of cuticular hydrocarbons in a parasitoid of a solitary digger wasp and its potential for concealment. Entomological Science 12:9–16. doi: 10.1111/j.1479-8298.2009.00300.x

Kroiss J, Strohm E, Vandenbem C, Vigneron J-P (2009) An epicuticular multilayer reflector generates the iridescent coloration in chrysidid wasps (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae). Naturwissenschaften 983–986. doi: 10.1007/s00114-009-0553-6

Strohm E, Laurien-Kehnen C, Boron S (2001) Escape from parasitism: spatial and temporal strategies of a sphecid wasp against a specialised cuckoo wasp. Oecologia 129:50–57. doi: 10.1007/s004420100702

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

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

10 new actinobacteria: Cellulomonas shaoxiangyii; Brevilactibacter flavus; Microbacterium protaetiae; Bifidobacterium cebidarum, Bifidobacterium leontopitheci; Cutibacterium modestum; Cryobacterium ruanii, Cryobacterium breve; Agromyces badenianii; Micromonospora craterilacus;
11 new bacteroids: Flavobacterium sandaracinum, Flavobacterium caseinilyticum, Flavobacterium hiemivividum; Dyadobacter bucti; Niastella caeni; Sphingobacterium cavernae; Paramesonia marina; Ancylomarina longa; Filimonas effusa; Arthrospiribacter ruber; Tenacibaculum singaporense;
1 new chlamydia: Candidatus Chlamydia testudinis;
1 new cyanobacterium: Nostoc oromo;
16 new firmicutes: Exiguobacterium flavidum; Mycoplasma anserisalpingitidis; Blautia faecicola; Weissella sagaensis; Lactobacillus hegangensis, Lactobacillus suibinensis, Lactobacillus daqingensis , Lactobacillus yichunensis, Lactobacillus mulanensis, Lactobacillus achengensis, Lactobacillus wuchangensis, Lactobacillus gannanensis, Lactobacillus binensis, Lactobacillus angrenensis; Bacillus caeni; Planococcus lenghuensis;
28 new proteobacteria: Pseudolysobacter antarcticus; Paraburkholderia madseniana; Paraburkholderia flava; Elioraea rosea; Paracoccus alkanivorans; Paracoccus aurantiacus; Tabrizicola piscis; Halomonas urmiana; Pseudomonas haemolytica; Pseudomonas kirkiae; Rhabdaerophilum calidifontis; Aestuariirhabdus litorea; Sphingobium estronivorans, Sphingobium bisphenolivorans; Helicobacter labacensis, Helicobacter mehlei, Helicobacter vulpis; Methylicorpusculum oleiharenae; Massilia arenae; Pectobacterium parvum; Teredinibacter waterburyi; Seongchinamella unica; Methylobacterium terricola; Mumia zhuanghuii; Ochrobactrum teleogrylli; Bartonella kosoyi, Bartonella krasnovii; Erythrobacter insulae;
1 new verrucomicrobe: Phragmitibacter flavus;

*Teredinibacter waterburyi* is a new endosymbiotic bacterium from the gills of the mollusk *Bankia setacea*. Extracted from Altamia et al. (2020).

SARs

2 new ciliates: Uronema apomarinum, Homalogastra parasetosa;
1 new apicomplexan: Acroeimeria wiegmanni;
3 new ochrophytes: Neidium convolutum; Navicula watveae; Chaetoceros galeatus;
2 new oomycetes: Pythium subinflatum, P. xuzhouense;
1 new labyrinthulid: Labyrinthula diatomea;

*Dilochia deleoniae* is a new orchid from the Philippines. Credits to Tandang et al. (2020).*

Plants

Flower of *Solanum hydroides* a new solanum species from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Credits to Gouvêa et al. (2020).*

Fungi

*Curvularia nanningensis* is a new pathogenic fungus from the lemon grass in China. Credits to Zhang et al. (2020).*

Cnidarians

2 new anthozoans: Iridogorgia densispicula, Iridogorgia squarrosa;

Rotiferans

8 new monogononts: Colurella asymmetrica, Lepadella hanneloreae, L. jingruae, L. weijiai, L.wilungulai, L. yangambi, Squatinella curviseta, S. longipila;

Flatworms

1 new prolecithophoran: Enterostomula densissimabursa;
7 new monogeneans: Atopogyrodactylus praecipuus; Dactylogyrus pisolabrae; Narcinecotyle longifilamentus; Markewitschiana agdazensis; Gobioecetes longibasis; Trinigyrus anthus, Trinigyrus carvalhoi;
4 new trematodes: Glossidiella peruensis; Allobacciger polynesiensis, Allobacciger brevicirrus, Allobacciger annulatus;
8 new cestodes: Mathevotaenia chamicalensis, Mathevotaenia yepesi; Paraorygmatobothrium bullardi, Paraorygmatobothrium campbelli, Paraorygmatobothrium deburonae, Paraorygmatobothrium mattisi; Reimeriella varioacantha, R. mexicoensis;

Annelids

35 new polychaetes: Leitoscoloplos cliffordi, L. gordaensis, L. lunulus, L. sahlingi, L. williamsae, Berkeleyia lelievre, Scoloplos californiensis, S. sparsaciculus, Leodamas bathyalis, Orbiniella abyssalis, O. eugeneruffi, O. grasslei, O. longilobata, O. rugosa, O. tumida; Lamprophaea cornuta, L. ockeri, L. paulayi, L. pettiboneae, L. pleijeli, L. poupini, Leocrates ahlfeldae, L. harrisae, L. mooreae, L. reishi, L. rizzoae, L. rousei, L. seidae, Leocratides jimii, Paralamprophaea bemisae, P. crosnieri, P. leslieae, P. meyeri; Syllis qamhiyn; Streblospio eridani;

*Craspedotropis gretathunbergae* is a new snail from Brunei. Credits to Schilthuizen et al. (2020).*

Mollusks

*Haliella seisuimaruae* is a new snail that lives as a parasite on sea urchins in Japan. Credits to Takano et al. (2020).*

Bryozoans

3 new species: Amathia brevisilva, Amathia reptopinnata, Amathia fimbria;

Nematodes

3 new chromadoreans: Microlaimus capitatus; Pratylenchoides ojcowensis; Triumphalisnema zuuei;
2 new enopleans: Cephalanticoma rugatusa; Paracapillaria (Paracapillaria) gastrica;

Tardigrades

1 new species: Styraconyx robertoi;

Male (left) and female (right) of *Asianopis zhuanghaoyuni*, a new spider from China. Credits to Lin et al. (2020).*

Arachnids

*Eocuma orbiculatum* is a new cumacean from the South Sea of Korea. Credits to Kim et al. (2020).*

Crustaceans

10 new copepods: Bradyetes paramatthei; Lernanthropus alepicolus, L. elegans, L. gnathanodontus, L. paracruciatus, L. pemphericola, L. selenotoca; Phyllodiaptomus (Phyllodiaptomus) roietensis; Acusicola margulisae; Sarsamphiascus hawaiiensis;
3 new cumaceans: Bodotria paraspinifera; Iphinoe indenticulata; Eocuma orbiculatum;
5 new mysids: Parvimysis pricei, P. laminata, P. brattegardi, P. ornata, P. nuda;
6 new amphipods: Pseudocrangonyx joolaei; Talorchestia lakshadweepensis; Leucothoe oxumae, Stenothoe ogumi; Maera sagamiensis; Niphargus keeleri;
6 new isopods: Alboscia jotajota, Androdeloscia akuanduba, Amazoniscus spica, Metaprosekia igatuensis; Crinoniscus stroembergi; Macrostylis metallicola;
8 new decapods: Pachelpheus pachyacanthus; Unesconia coibensis; Alpheus gallicus; Guinope tiara; Macrobrachium veredensis; Pugnatrypaea emanata; Munida alba; Lebbeus sokhobio;

*Lebbeus sokhobio* is a new abyssal shrimp from the Sea of Okhotsk, between Russia and Japan. Credits to Marin (2020).*

*Phyllium nisus* (left) and *Phyllium gardabagusi* (right) are two new leaf insects from Indonesia. Credits to Cumming et al. (2020).*

Hexapods

*Sporades jaechi* is a new beetle from New Caledonia. Credits to Liebherr (2020).*

*Oenopia shirkuhensis* is a new lady beetle from Iran. Credits to Khormizi & Nedvěd (2020)*.

Echinoderms

1 new crinoid: Atopocrinus ojii;
3 new ophiuroids: Ophioderma zibrowii, O. hybrida, O. africana;

Actinopterygians

2 new anguiliforms: Atractodenchelys brevitrunca; Heteroconger guttatus;
1 new characiform: Hemigrammus xaveriellus;
1 new clupeiform: Stolephorus tamilensis;
1 new perciform: Novaculops compressus;
3 new siluriforms: Bunocephalus hertzi; Corydoras rikbaktsa; Ammoglanis obliquus;

*Ammoglanis obliquus* is a new catfish from northern Brazil. Credits to Henschel et al. (2020).*

Amphibians

4 new anurans: Sarcohyla floresi; Nidirana guangdongensis, Nidirana mangveni, Nidirana xiangica;

Female (left) and male (right) of *Nidirana guangdongensis*, a new frog from China. Credits to Lyu et al. (2020).*

Reptiles

5 new squamates: Cyrtodactylus urbanus; Hemidactylus nzingae, Hemidactylus paivae; Dendrelaphis vogeli; Opisthotropis hungtai;

*Opisthotropis hungtai* is a new snake from China. Credits to Wang et al. (2020).*

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

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Whenever one hears to word “willow”, the image that comes to mind is of a nice tree such as the weeping willow and the white willow . The genus Salix, however, includes hundreds of species, and some of them look very different from a weeping willow.

One of those peculiar species is Salix arctica, the arctic willow. As its name suggests, the arctic willow grows far north in the world, in the Arctic region. It is, in fact, the northernmost woody plant in the world, occuring in Eurasia and North America. Its distribution extends beyond the so-called tree line, which marks the northern limit in which trees can grow. As a result, despite being a willow, the arctic willow is not a tree. Actually it is so small that even calling it a shrub is weird.

Arctic willow growing in Canada. Photo by Zack Harris.*

The arctic willow lives as a creeping plant, growing very close to the ground and usually growing up to 15 cm in height, although it may reach 25 cm in warmer places or, in some exceptional cases, 50 cm. It as small hairy leaves and, like all willows, male and female flowers occur in separate plants, i.e., the arctic willow is a dioecious species.

Heavily hairy female catkins with the red pistils clearly visible. Photo by iNaturalist user mayoung.*

Flowers occur in the typical catkin inflorescence of willows and many other trees and are pollinated by insects. Female catkins are hairier than male ones and have somehow conic carpels with a dark-red pistil. Male catkins have very visible stamens with red anthers that turn yellow when they become covered by the released pollen.

Male catkin with the red anthers. Photo by iNaturalist user ivyevergreen.*

Despite its small size, the arctic willow is a very important plant in many aspects. It is an important, and sometimes the solely, food source of many arctic species. Among humans, it has a major role in Inuit and Gwich’in cultures, being used as fuel, medicine and sometimes even as food.

A specimen growing in Russia. Photo by Елена Шубницина.*

The arctic willow can live more than 80 years and, as it is a woody plant living in a very extreme environment, it produces growth rings like an ordinary tree and they have recently been proved to be a good source on climatic data of the Arctic.

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References:

Kevan PG (1990) Sexual differences in temperatures of blossoms on a dioecious plant, Salix arctica: Significance for life in the Arctic. Arctic and Alpine Research 22:283–289. doi: 10.1080/00040851.1990.12002792

Schmidt NM, Baittinger C, Forchhammer MC (2006) Reconstructing century-long snow regimes using estimates of High Arctic Salix arctica Radial Growth. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 38: 257–262. doi: 10.1657/1523-0430(2006)38[257:RCSRUE]2.0.CO;2

Schmidt NM, Baittinger C, Kollmann J, Forchhammer MC (2010) Consistent Dendrochronological Response of the Dioecious Salix arctica to Variation in Local Snow Precipitation across Gender and Vegetation Types. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 42: 471–476. doi: 10.1657/1938-4246-42.4.471

Woodcock H, Bradley RS (1994) Salix arctica (Pall.): its potential for dendroclimatological studies in the high Arctic. Dendrocronologia 12: 11–22.

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

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