Can parasites halt the invader? Mermithid nematodes parasitizing the yellow-legged Asian hornet in France

Since its introduction in France 10 years ago, the yellow-legged Asian bee-hawking hornet Vespa velutina has rapidly spread to neighboring countries (Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, and Germany), becoming a new threat to beekeeping activities. While introduced species often leave behind natural enemies from their original home, which benefits them in their new environment, they can also suffer local recruitment of natural enemies. Three mermithid parasitic subadults were obtained from V. velutina adults in 2012, from two French localities. However, these were the only parasitic nematodes reported up to now in Europe, in spite of the huge numbers of nests destroyed each year and the recent examination of 33,000 adult hornets. This suggests that the infection of V. velutina by these nematodes is exceptional. Morphological criteria assigned the specimens to the genus Pheromermis and molecular data (18S sequences) to the Mermithidae, due to the lack of Pheromermis spp. sequences in GenBank. The species is probably Pheromermis vesparum, a parasite of social wasps in Europe. This nematode is the second native enemy of Vespa velutina recorded in France, after a conopid fly whose larvae develop as internal parasitoids of adult wasps and bumblebees. In this paper, we provide arguments for the local origin of the nematode parasite and its limited impact on hornet colony survival. We also clarify why these parasites (mermithids and conopids) most likely could not hamper the hornet invasion nor be used in biological control programs against this invasive species.Keywords: France, Invasive species, Asian hornet, Nematodes, Biological control, Hymenopter

Gamma-Ray Burst observations by the high-energy charged particle detector on board the CSES-01 satellite between 2019 and 2021

In this paper we report the detection of five strong Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) by the High-Energy Particle Detector (HEPD-01) mounted on board the China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES-01), operational since 2018 on a Sun-synchronous polar orbit at a $\sim$ 507 km altitude and 97$^\circ$ inclination. HEPD-01 was designed to detect high-energy electrons in the energy range 3 - 100 MeV, protons in the range 30 - 300 MeV, and light nuclei in the range 30 - 300 MeV/n. Nonetheless, Monte Carlo simulations have shown HEPD-01 is sensitive to gamma-ray photons in the energy range 300 keV - 50 MeV, even if with a moderate effective area above $\sim$ 5 MeV. A dedicated time correlation analysis between GRBs reported in literature and signals from a set of HEPD-01 trigger configuration masks has confirmed the anticipated detector sensitivity to high-energy photons. A comparison between the simultaneous time profiles of HEPD-01 electron fluxes and photons from GRB190114C, GRB190305A, GRB190928A, GRB200826B and GRB211211A has shown a remarkable similarity, in spite of the different energy ranges. The high-energy response, with peak sensitivity at about 2 MeV, and moderate effective area of the detector in the actual flight configuration explain why these five GRBs, characterised by a fluence above $\sim$ 3 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ in the energy interval 300 keV - 50 MeV, have been detected.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ

A new name for the Montserrat Forest Thrush

Volume: 131Start Page: 199End Page: 20

Correction to: On the genetic distinctiveness of tailorbirds (Cisticolidae: Orthotomus) from the South-east Asian mainland with the description of a new subspecies

Unfortunately, the original article (Fuchs and Zuccon 2018) contained some errors. The Tables 1, 2 and Additional file 1: Table S2 were displayed incorrectly. The correct tables can be found below

On the genetic distinctiveness of tailorbirds (Cisticolidae: Orthotomus) from the South-east Asian mainland with the description of a new subspecies

Abstract Background The Cambodian Tailorbird (Orthotomus chaktomuk) was one of the most recent major ornithological discoveries in South-east Asia as it originated from lowland seasonally flooded scrub within the densely inhabited floodplain around the Tonle Sap, Mekong and Bassac rivers (Cambodia). The Cambodian Tailorbird is sister to the Dark-necked Tailorbird (O. atrogularis) with very limited genetics and biometric differentiation. Between 2004 and 2012, evidences of a new population of Ashy Tailorbird (O. ruficeps) in SE Cambodia/Vietnam accumulated but no museum specimens were ever reported. The Ashy Tailorbird currently consists of eight subspecies among which the closest geographical populations, O. r. cineraceus (SE Burma to Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Bangka and Belitung) and O. r. borneoensis (Borneo), are allopatric. Subspecific identification of the Cambodian Ashy Tailorbirds individuals was not possible because of the limited differences in plumage among subspecies. Methods We inspected the Orthotomus ruficeps specimens housed at the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris) and discovered five specimens of O. ruficeps collected by Louis Rodolphe Germain in ‘Cochinchina’ (corresponding to southern Vietnam) during the nineteenth century. We sequenced one mitochondrial locus and gathered biometric data from these specimens and compared them with other Orthotomus lineages. Results The Ashy Tailord population from SE Cambodia and Vietnam is distinct from the two geographically close subspecies O. r. borneoensis (1.7%) and O. r. cineraceus (1.3%). O. chaktomuk is nested within O. atrogularis in the mitochondrial gene tree. The SE Cambodia/Vietnam population of O. ruficeps is distinct from the two other subspecies in bill shape. Conclusion Our study described the biometric and molecular distinctiveness of a recently re-discovered population of Ashy Tailord in SE Cambodia and Vietnam and suggests that this population constitutes an independent evolutionary lineage that we describe here as a new subspecies. The newly described Cambodian Tailorbird is nested within the Dark-necked Tailorbird and the genetic divergence is much lower than initially described (0.4‒0.7% vs 1.1‒1.4%)

Author's personal copy The Monticola rock-thrushes: Phylogeny and biogeography revisited

a b s t r a c t We investigated the phylogenetic relationships within the Monticola rock-thrushes, an open-habitat genus inhabiting a large part of the Old World. Our results support one Oriental clade and one clade including African, Malagasy and Eurasian taxa. The biogeographic reconstruction obtained with the dispersal-vicariance analysis suggested Southern Africa plus Palearctic as the Monticola ancestral area. Our phylogenetic hypothesis suggests also some taxonomic changes. The polytypic Monticola solitarius includes two reciprocally monophyletic clades that should be recognized as full species, M. solitarius s.s. and M. philippensis. With the exclusion of the south-western population, M. imerinus, all other Malagasy rock-thrush populations should be merged in the monotypic, albeit polymorphic, M. sharpei. The genus Thamnolaea is shown to be non-monophyletic, with T. semirufa being part of the Monticola radiation, while T. cinnamomeiventris is related to other chat species inhabiting open-habitats. We demonstrate that a previous phylogenetic hypothesis for the rock-thrushes was flawed by the inclusion of contaminated sequences obtained from study-skins and we suggest some working guidelines to improve the reliability of the sequences obtained from old or degraded DNA