Towards a Canary Islands barcode database for soil biodiversity: revealing cryptic and unrecorded mite species diversity within insular soils

Soil arthropod diversity contributes to a high proportion of the total biodiversity on Earth. However, most soil arthropods are still undescribed, hindering our understanding of soil functioning and global biodiversity estimations. Inventorying soil arthropods using conventional taxonomical approaches is particularly difficult and costly due to the great species richness, abundance and local-scale heterogeneity of mesofauna communities and the poor taxonomic background knowledge of most lineages. To alleviate this situation, we have designed and implemented a molecular barcoding framework adapted to soil fauna. This pipeline includes different steps, starting with a morphology-based selection of specimens which are imaged. Then, DNA is extracted non-destructively. Both images and voucher specimens are used to assign a taxonomic identification, based on morphology that is further checked for consistency with molecular information. Using this procedure, we studied 239 specimens of mites from the Canary Islands including representatives of Mesostigmata, Sarcoptiformes and Trombidiformes, of which we recovered barcode sequences for 168 specimens that were morphologically identified to 49 species, with nine specimens that could only be identified at the genus or family levels. Multiple species delimitation analyses were run to compare molecular delimitations with morphological identifications, including ASAP, mlPTP, BINs and 3% and 8% genetic distance thresholds. Additionally, a species-level search was carried out at the Biodiversity Databank of the Canary Islands (BIOTA) to evaluate the number of species in our dataset that were not previously recorded in the archipelago. In parallel, a sequence-level search of our sequences was performed against BOLD Systems. Our results reveal that multiple morphologically identified species correspond to different molecular lineages, which points to significant levels of unknown cryptic diversity within the archipelago. In addition, we evidenced that multiple species in our dataset constituted new records for the Canary Islands fauna and that the information for these lineages within online genetic repositories is very incomplete. Our study represents the first systematic effort to catalogue the soil arthropod mesofauna of the Canary Islands and establishes the basis for the Canary Islands Soil Biodiversity barcode database. This resource will constitute a step forward in the knowledge of these arthropods in a region of special interest

Description of a new Asian Leaf Litter Toad of the genus Leptobrachella Smith, 1925 (Anura, Megophryidae) from southern Guizhou Province, China

The Asian leaf litter toads of the genus Leptobrachella Smith, 1925 (Anura, Megophryidae) inhabit the forest floor and rocky streams in hilly evergreen forests and are widely distributed from southern China, west to north-eastern India and Myanmar, through mainland Indochina to Peninsular Malaysia and the Island of Borneo.A new species of the Asian leaf litter toad genus Leptobrachella from Guizhou Province, China is described. Molecular phylogenetic analyses, based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA and COI genes and nuclear RAG1 gene sequences indicated that the new species is genetically divergent from its congeners. The new species could be distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following characters: (1) body of medium size in males (SVL 31.9 – 32.9 mm); (2) distinct black spots present on flanks; (3) toes rudimentarily webbed, with wide lateral fringes; (4) skin on dorsum shagreened with fine tiny granules and short ridges; (5) heels overlapped when thighs are positioned at right angles to the body; (6) tibia-tarsal articulation reaching interior corner of the eye.A new species of the Asian leaf litter toad genus Leptobrachella from Guizhou Province, China is described. Molecular phylogenetic analyses, based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA and COI genes and nuclear RAG1 gene sequences indicated that the new species is genetically divergent from its congeners. The new species could be distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following characters: (1) body of medium size in males (SVL 31.9 – 32.9 mm); (2) distinct black spots present on flanks; (3) toes rudimentarily webbed, with wide lateral fringes; (4) skin on dorsum shagreened with fine tiny granules and short ridges; (5) heels overlapped when thighs are positioned at right angles to the body; (6) tibia-tarsal articulation reaching interior corner of the eye

Environmental and hormonal control of body-color polyphenism in Patanga japonica (Orthoptera, Acrididae): Effects of substrate color, crowding, temperature and [His7]-corazonin injection

Patanga japonica (Bolívar) shows various body colors in the field. Most nymphs are green in the summer, but some develop non-green colors, such as yellow, white, brown, reddish, and black, in the fall. Nymphs individually reared in white, yellow-green, and black containers showed green, light-green, white, and reddish body colors, and the substrate color significantly influenced the proportions of green nymphs. A few individuals developed black spots and patterns, and such individuals were most frequently observed in the black containers. Nymphs with distinct black patterns were observed when reared in a group of five individuals per container, and the proportion of such individuals varied slightly depending on the brightness of the substrate color. Singly kept nymphs that were allowed to see five other nymphs in another container turned darker than those that were only allowed to see an empty container, suggesting that visual stimuli without mechanical stimulation induced black patterns. In outdoor cages, nymphs tended to develop more pronounced black patterns during their last instar when the hatching date was delayed and the temperature during the later stages of development was decreased. The effect of temperature during the late stadia was tested by transferring a group of third-stadium nymphs from outdoor cool conditions to a high temperature, while other nymphs were continuously maintained outdoors. Markedly melanized individuals were observed in the outdoor cage, whereas the appearance of such individuals was strongly suppressed at a high temperature. Green nymphs injected with synthetic [His7]-corazonin developed black patterns after ecdysis to the following instars and to the adult stage, and some looked indistinguishable in body color from group-reared nymphs. Nymphs injected with this hormone developed black patterns even at a high temperature. Adults looked similar in body coloration with some variation. Their hindwings turned reddish after overwintering. These results demonstrate that P. japonica exhibits body-color pholyphenism

Two new genera and four new species of Neotropical Eccritotarsini (Heteroptera, Miridae, Bryocorinae)

In this study two new genera and four new species of Eccritotarsini (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Bryocorinae) are described. Thomasomiris gen. nov. is established to accommodate Thomasomiris setosus sp. nov. (from Panama) and Egerocoris gen. nov., is described for E. ecuatorianus sp. nov. (the type species), E. dimorphus sp. nov. (both from Ecuador) and E. chaparensis sp. nov. (from Bolivia). Adult habitus and male genitalia photographs are provided for each species. A key to species is also provided and the affinities of the new genera are discussed

First record of Bombina variegata (Linnaeus, 1758) at the southern part of Euboea Island, Greece

The herpetofauna of Greek islands is fairly well known. However, new records enhance our knowledge of the insular distribution of reptiles and amphibians. Here, we report a new addition to the herpetofauna of Euboea Island: a dense population of the yellow-bellied toad (Bombina variegata) was found in Ochi Mountain, at the south part of the Island

Benchmarking the discrimination power of commonly used markers and amplicons in marine fish (e)DNA (meta)barcoding

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is revolutionizing the study of aquatic ecosystems, enabling high-throughput analysis of biodiversity with minimal disturbance. Despite its potential to support fisheries management, species identification and downstream analysis reliability are hindered by the lack of standardization in DNA fragment choice. This study compares the species discrimination power of three markers used in marine fish eDNA metabarcoding —12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI)— as well as two amplicons for each. We analyzed sequences from NCBI GenBank for 10 orders of Actinopterygii, including mitochondrial genomes. We assessed species discrimination by determining the percentage of monophyletic species in Neighbor-Joining trees and calculating average congeneric divergences for two data sets: one with genomic regions extracted from mitochondrial genomes (771 species) and another with independent sequences for each region (3879 species). Among (meta)barcoding amplicons, for the mitochondrial genomes’ dataset, the Folmer and Leray-Lobo regions had the highest discriminatory power, with 89.2% and 87% monophyletic species, respectively, while the 12S Teleo region had the lowest at 71.6%. Conversely, using independent sequences, the Folmer and Leray-Lobo regions had the lowest percentages of monophyletic species, at 64.8% and 63.5%, respectively, while Ac16S had the highest at 83.0%. Species discrimination is influenced by the marker’s substitution rate, fragment length, target fish order, and the quality of reference sequence data. We recommend considering species discriminatory power differences for amplicon selection, especially for species-level identifications. We advise a standard multi-marker approach under certain scenarios, namely when the presence of close congeneric species is expected

First natural occurrence of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Bals. Criv.) Vuill. on Cosmopolites sordidus (Germar, 1824) (Curculionidae, Coleoptera) in an agroforestry system in the Brazilian Cerrado

The natural occurrence of the fungus Beauveria bassiana is an indicator of environmental balance. When the agroforestry system naturally presents this entomopathogenic fungus on the banana weevil Cosmopolites sordidus, a pest insect in the banana crops, it reinforces the beneficial effects of this agroecosystem. Thus, this work reports the first natural occurrence of B. bassiana on C. sordidus for the agroforestry system and the Cerrado biome. The natural occurrence of this parasitic relationship indicates that the agroforestry system may favor the fungal occurrence and spread

Root hemiparasites suppress invasive alien clonal plants: evidence from a cultivation experiment

Alien invasive plants threaten biodiversity by rapid spread and competitive exclusion of native plant species. Especially, tall clonal invasives can rapidly attain strong dominance in vegetation. Root-hemiparasitic plants are known to suppress the growth of clonal plants by the uptake of resources from their below-ground organs and reduce their abundance. However, root-hemiparasites’ ability to interact with alien clonal plants has not yet been tested. We explored the interactions between native root-hemiparasitic species, Melampyrum arvense and Rhinanthus alectorolophus and invasive aliens, Solidago gigantea and Symphyotrichum lanceolatum. We investigated the haustorial connections and conducted a pot experiment. We used seeds from wild hemiparasite populations and those cultivated in monostands of the invasive plants to identify a possible selection of lineages with increased compatibility with these alien hosts. The hemiparasitic species significantly suppressed the growth of the invasive plants. Melampyrum inflicted the most substantial growth reduction on Solidago (78%), followed by Rhinanthus (49%). Both hemiparasitic species reduced Symphyotrichum biomass by one-third. Additionally, Melampyrum reduced the shoot density of both host species. We also observed some transgenerational effects possibly facilitating the growth of hemiparasites sourced from subpopulations experienced with the host. Native root hemiparasites can effectively decrease alien clonal plants’ biomass production and shoot density. The outcomes of these interactions are species-specific and may be associated with the level of clonal integration of the hosts. The putative selection of lineages with higher performance when attached to the invasive novel hosts may increase hemiparasites’ efficiency in future biocontrol applications

Data mobilisation at the Fund of invertebrates of the State Museum of Natural History of the NAS of Ukraine

The described dataset contains occurrence records of invertebrate specimens deposited at the State Museum of Natural History of the NAS of Ukraine, Lviv, Ukraine (SMNH NASU). It combines diverse taxonomic groups, mostly belonging to the class Insecta of the phylum Arthropoda, that were selected as prioritized for digitisation in war conditions. Selected specimens were ascertained as those being the most vulnerable to hostilities and requiring virtual preservation. Such virtual preservation is essential in the war realities as collection can be lost or damaged at any moment, resulting in a significant retrospective biodiversity data gap. At the same time, collection virtualization and its deposition on the internet grant remote access to scientists who cannot visit it in person due to war. Moreover, we believe that the mobilisation of the data from the Ukrainian collections and their publication online are essential for the integration of Ukrainian research facilities into a global scientific biodiversity pool.3,660 occurrence records mobilized in 2023-2024 from the collection of invertebrates of the SMNH NASU, were published. This dynamic dataset will continually be supplied by new records during further digitisation work

A new species of the spider genus Khorata Huber, 2005 (Araneae, Pholcidae), with a list of Khorata species from Vietnam

The genus Khorata Huber, 2005 contains 51 species. It is distributed in the Indo-Malayan Region. Nine species have been recorded from Vietnam.Khorata ninhbinh sp. nov. is described as a new species from Vietnam. In addition, a list of all Khorata species from Vietnam is also provided