On the evolution of the tymbalian tymbal organ: Comment on “Planthopper bugs use a fast, cyclic elastic recoil mechanism for effective vibrational communication at small body size” by Davranoglou et al. 2019

In ihrer kürzlich erschienenen Arbeit (Davranoglou et al. 2019) untersuchten die Autoren an lebenden Exemplaren von Agalmatium bilobium (Issidae) mit modernsten Methoden (microCT) die Interaktionen zwischen Muskulatur und bestimmten Anteilen des Exoskeletts zur Vibrationserzeugung und beschreiben deren biomechanische Grundlage. Auf der Basis des morphologischen Vergleichs mit Museumsmaterial von Vertretern der meisten Taxa der Fulgoromorpha (Spitzkopfzikaden) im Familienrang postulieren Davranoglou et al. (2019), ein „neues und bisher übersehenes“ Organ entdeckt zu haben, das sie als „snapping organ“ bezeichnen und als charakteristisch für die Fulgoromorpha (mit Ausnahme der Delphacidae) interpretieren. Wir sehen diese Ergebnisse aus folgenden Gründen kritisch: 1. In ihrer umfassenden Übersicht zu den vibrationserzeugenden Organen der Hemiptera stellten Wessel et al. (2014) die Hypothese auf, dass sich alle bisher bekannten Strukturen zur Schall- und Vibrationserzeugung auf ein Organ zurückführen lassen, das mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit bei der Stammart aller Hemipteren oberhalb der Sternorrhyncha vorhanden war, und eine Synapomorphie dieses Taxons, der sog. Tymbalia (Wessel et al. 2014), darstellt. Da aufgrund der morphologischen Disparität des Organs in den einzelnen Taxa die Homologieverhältnisse schwierig zu beurteilen sind, stellten Wessel et al. (2014) Kriterien für das „Tymbal der Tymbalia“ auf. Das sogenannte „snapping organ“ erfüllt alle Kriterien dieses Tymbal-Organes. Die Einführung eines neuen Begriffes für eine bestimmte Struktur in einer langen und komplexen Kette evolutionärer Transformationen ist daher unnötig, wenn nicht sogar irreführend. Wir empfehlen daher dringend, in zukünftigen Arbeiten den Begriff „tymbalian tymbal organ with a snapping mechanism“ zu verwenden. 2. Die Grundannahme von Davranoglou et al. (2019), dass – im Gegensatz zum neu entdeckten „snapping organ“ der Fulgoromorpha – allen Cicadomorpha ein „tymbal-ähnliches Or-gan“ gemeinsam sei, ist zu stark vereinfacht und vernachlässigt die enorme Vielfalt der Ausprägungen des Tymbals bei Nicht-Singzikaden innerhalb der Cicadomorpha. In Anbetracht der verfügbaren Studien scheint es daher zweifelhaft, dass sich die vibrationserzeugenden Strukturen dreimal unabhängig voneinander entwickelt haben sollen, wie es die phylogenetische Interpretation bei Davranoglou et al. (2019: Abb. 3) suggeriert

New Species in the Old World: Europe as a Frontier in Biodiversity Exploration, a Test Bed for 21st Century Taxonomy

The number of described species on the planet is about 1.9 million, with ca. 17,000 new species described annually, mostly from the tropics. However, taxonomy is usually described as a science in crisis, lacking manpower and funding, a politically acknowledged problem known as the Taxonomic Impediment. Using data from the Fauna Europaea database and the Zoological Record, we show that contrary to general belief, developed and heavily-studied parts of the world are important reservoirs of unknown species. In Europe, new species of multicellular terrestrial and freshwater animals are being discovered and named at an unprecedented rate: since the 1950s, more than 770 new species are on average described each year from Europe, which add to the 125,000 terrestrial and freshwater multicellular species already known in this region. There is no sign of having reached a plateau that would allow for the assessment of the magnitude of European biodiversity. More remarkably, over 60% of these new species are described by non-professional taxonomists. Amateurs are recognized as an essential part of the workforce in ecology and astronomy, but the magnitude of non-professional taxonomist contributions to alpha-taxonomy has not been fully realized until now. Our results stress the importance of developing a system that better supports and guides this formidable workforce, as we seek to overcome the Taxonomic Impediment and speed up the process of describing the planetary biodiversity before it is too late

The European union’s 2010 target: Putting rare species in focus

P. 167-185The European Union has adopted the ambitious target of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010. Several indicators have been proposed to assess progress towards the 2010 target, two of them addressing directly the issue of species decline. In Europe, the Fauna Europaea database gives an insight into the patterns of distribution of a total dataset of 130,000 terrestrial and freshwater species without taxonomic bias, and provide a unique opportunity to assess the feasibility of the 2010 target. It shows that the vast majority of European species are rare, in the sense that they have a restricted range. Considering this, the paper discusses whether the 2010 target indicators really cover the species most at risk of extinction. The analysis of a list of 62 globally extinct European taxa shows that most contemporary extinctions have affected narrow-range taxa or taxa with strict ecological requirements. Indeed, most European species listed as threatened in the IUCN Red List are narrow-range species. Conversely, there are as many wide-range species as narrow-range endemics in the list of protected species in Europe (Bird and Habitat Directives). The subset of biodiversity captured by the 2010 target indicators should be representative of the whole biodiversity in terms of patterns of distribution and abundance. Indicators should not overlook a core characteristic of biodiversity, i.e. the large number of narrow-range species and their intrinsic vulnerability. With ill-selected indicator species, the extinction of narrowrange endemics would go unnoticedS

New State Records of Immigrant Planthoppers in Hawaii (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea)

Scientific note.Three planthopper species are recorded from the Hawaiian Islands for the first time: Syndelphax disonymus (Kirkaldy) of the family Delphacidae from Kauai, Oahu, Lanai, and Hawaii Island, Kallitaxila granulata (Stål) of the family Tropiduchidae from Oahu, and Cedusa sp. of the family Derbidae from Oahu, the latter yet to be identified to species level

Emoloana, a New Genus for the Endemic Grass-Feeding Hawaiian Delphacidae (Homoptera Fulgoroidea)

The endemic Hawaiian grass-feeding species of Delphacidae previously regarded as congeners of Kelisia Fieber are transferred to Emoloana n.gen. in the tribe Delphacini: E. emoloa (Muir) n. comb., E. eragrosticola (Muir) n. comb., E. swezeyi (Kirkaldy) n. comb., and E. sporobolicola (Kirkaldy) n. comb. with the subspecies E. sporobolicola immaculata (Muir) n. comb.; 2 new species are described: E. menehune n. sp. from Kauai, and E. pohakua n. sp. from Hawaii Island. The new genus is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and comprises 3 morphological groups: the E. emoloa-group with E. emoloa on Oahu, E. eragrosticola on Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii Island, and E. pohakua on Hawaii Island; the E. swezeyi-group with E. swezeyi on Oahu and E. menehune on Kauai; the E. sporobolicola s.l.-group distributed on all major Hawaiian Islands. The origin of Emoloana and relationships among species cannot be determined because of lack of knowledge about the morphology of potentially related taxa. A baseline for future genetic and biosystematic research on this group is discussed

Enigmatic distribution: first record of a hitherto New World planthopper taxon from Japan (Hemiptera, Fulgoroidea, Delphacidae, Plesiodelphacinae)

Burnilia japonica sp. n. of the delphacid subfamily Plesiodelphacinae from southern Japan (Kyushu, Yakushima, Okinawa) is described. The surprising discovery of a Burnilia-species in Japan is the first record of a member of this subfamily outside the New World. As the generic assignment is beyond any doubts, this finding reveals a puzzling geographic distribution of this group. A natural – indigenous – occurrence of B. japonica in Japan versus a recent introduction e.g., by human traffic, is discussed. A phylogenetic study of the whole Plesiodelphacinae including the Japanese species is desired

The genus Cixius Latreille, 1804 (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Cixiidae) in Lebanon with the description of two new species

Picciau, Luca, Hoch, Hannelore, Asche, Manfred, Tedeschi, Rosemarie, Alma, Alberto (2016): The genus Cixius Latreille, 1804 (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Cixiidae) in Lebanon with the description of two new species. Zootaxa 4093 (1): 85-102, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4093.1.