Two new turrid species (Gastropoda: Pseudomelatomidae) from the Palawan region, the Philippines

Stahlschmidt, Peter, Fraussen, Koen (2014): Two new turrid species (Gastropoda: Pseudomelatomidae) from the Palawan region, the Philippines. Zootaxa 3784 (1): 89-93, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3784.1.

The extensive Indo-Pacific radiation of Phaenomenella Fraussen & Hadorn, 2006 (Gastropoda: Buccinidae) with description of a new species

Volume: 14Start Page: 81End Page: 8

Nassaria vermeiji (Gastropoda: Buccinidae), a new species from Guam

Volume: 16Start Page: 25End Page: 2

Revision of the Clivipollia group (Gastropoda: Buccinidae: Pisaniinae) with description of two new genera and three new species

Volume: 17Start Page: 29End Page: 4

The South American radiation of Jerrybuccinum (Gastropoda, Buccinidae), with a new deep-water species from Chile

A new deep water species from off the Chilean coast, Jerrybuccinum kantori sp. n., is described. The animal is equipped with a large statocyst. Kryptos explorator Fraussen & Sellanes, 2008 from off Concepción is found to be congeneric and transferred to the genus Jerrybuccinum. Differences in size and sculpture serve to distinguish the new species from J. explorator. Both Chilean species are associated with methane seep or low oxygen environments. They are compared with J. malvinense Kantor & Pastorino, 2009 and two still unnamed species from the Falkland Plateau

Nocturnal Risks-High Bat Activity in the Agricultural Landscape Indicates Potential Pesticide Exposure

Although agriculture dominates much of Europe's landscape, there is virtually no information on foraging activity of bats in different crops. Additionally little is known about pesticide exposure of bats and related effects and there are currently no specific regulatory requirements to include bats in European Union pesticide risk assessments for the registration of these chemicals although other mammals are considered. To evaluate the potential pesticide exposure of bats, we studied bat diversity and activity as well as the availability of aerial prey insects in different crops and semi-natural habitats in south-western Germany in a landscape dominated by agriculture. In 300 accumulated sampling nights more than 24,000 bat call sequences were acoustically recorded and, in parallel, almost 110,000 insects of suitable prey sizes were sampled by light traps. A total of 14 bat species were recorded, among them the locally rare and for Germany critically endangered northern bat (Eptesicus nilssonii) and the barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellum), all of them also occurring over agricultural fields. In comparison to agricultural habitats, higher activity levels in forest sites were only found for Myotis species but not for species of the genera Pipistrellus, Eptesicus and Nyctalus. There were no significant differences in the availability of aerial nocturnal insects between forest, meadow and agricultural habitats. Comparing the different agricultural crops, significantly fewer bat call sequences and lower numbers of nocturnal insects were collected above the vineyards compared to orchards, cereal and vegetable fields. Highest activity levels of all bat species were recorded above agricultural fields situated next to forests. Given the high bat activity levels recorded at several agricultural sites, among them orchard and vegetable fields both known for their high pesticide inputs, and the availability of suitable prey insects, we conclude that pesticide exposure via ingestion of contaminated insect prey is possible. This potential risk is currently not considered in the European pesticide risk assessment scheme

Too familiar to be questioned? Revisiting the Crassispira cerithina species complex (Gastropoda: Conoidea: Pseudomelatomidae)

Crassispira cerithina (Anton, 1838) is a common shallow water conoidean gastropod species, broadly distributed throughout the Indo-West Pacific. It has a distinctive shell morphology and has been referred to in many publications. It is also the first species of its family to have been studied from the viewpoint of toxinology. However, our molecular phylogenetic analysis based on fragments of the COI and 28 S rRNA genes reveals the existence of two closely related distinct species, one of which is described as new (C. scala n. sp.). These two species are sympatric in several regions of the Indo-Pacific-in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. They can be reliably distinguished by shell morphology and thus cannot be considered truly cryptic species. The radula is very similar in both species and does not permit species delimitation. A conchological reappraisal of further material similar to C. cerithina allows us to recognize two additional species, which are described as new (C. procera n. sp. from the Coral Sea and Philippines, and C. aurea n. sp. from Tahiti). These results demonstrate that even 'well-known' and seemingly well defined species may be species complexes and that molecular techniques should be routinely applied to confirm specimen identification, especially as part of resource-consuming studies, such as toxinology