Wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae) on the parched slopes of Rokua, in central Finland

The Rokua area is an exceptional dune area in central Finland modified by waves and wind after the last ice age. In the summer of 2005 we inventoried the invertebrate fauna of the area. In this article we present the results on the part of wolf spiders (Araneae, Lycosidae). The spiderswere collected using 25 pitfall traps constructed from plastic jars (Ø 12 cm). As collection sites we selected five esker slopes facing directly south. Altogether 860 wolf spiders were caught. The total number of species was 14. There were three almost equally abundant species, Alopecosa aculeata (Clerck) (28.6%), Pardosa schenkeli Lessert (26.0%) and P. lugubris (Walkenaer) (25.3%). Another species that favours these parched slopes is Xerolycosa nemoralis (14.1%). Themost remarkable find was P. schenkeli, which occurred abundantly at sites 1, 2, 4 and 5, but was totally missing from site 3. The first mentioned sites are ornamented by patches of open sand and Thymus serpyllum, but site 3 has an almost continuous lichen cover. The find is several hundred kilometres north from the previous known records

Molecular evolution of a widely-adopted taxonomic marker (COI) across the animal tree of life

Peer reviewe

Kovakuoriaisten maakuntaluettelo 2015

201

Coleoptera of Canada

The beetle fauna of Canada was assessed, including estimates of yet unreported diversity using information from taxonomists and COI sequence clusters in a BOLD (Barcode of Life Datasystems) COI dataset comprising over 77,000 Canadian records. To date, 8302 species of Coleoptera have been recorded in Canada, a 23% increase from the first assessment in 1979. A total of 639 non-native beetle species have become established in Canada, with most species in the Staphylinidae (153 spp.), Curculionidae (107 spp.), Chrysomelidae (56 spp.) and Carabidae (55 spp.). Based on estimates from the taxonomic community and our BOLD dataset, we estimate that slightly more than 1000 beetle species remain to be reported from Canada, either as new records or undescribed species. Renewed enthusiasm toward and financial support for surveys, especially in the central and western provinces of Canada will be critical for detecting, documenting and describing these species. The Barcode of Life database is still far from comprehensive for Canadian Coleoptera but substantial progress has been made and the number of Barcode Index Numbers (BINs) (as candidate species) has reached nearly 70% of the number of species reported from Canada. Comparison of BINs to observed species in a group of Canadian Staphylinidae suggests that BINs may provide a good estimate of species diversity within the beetles. Histeridae is a diverse family in Canada that is notably underrepresented in BOLD. Families such as Mordellidae, Scraptiidae, Latridiidae, Ptiliidae and Scirtidae are poorly known taxonomically in Canada and are represented in our BOLD dataset by many more BINs than recorded species

A reference library for Canadian invertebrates with 1.5 million barcodes, voucher specimens, and DNA samples

The synthesis of this dataset was enabled by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, from Genome Canada through Ontario Genomics, from NSERC, and from the Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science in support of the International Barcode of Life project. It was also enabled by philanthropic support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and from Ann McCain Evans and Chris Evans. The release of the data on GGBN was supported by a GGBN – Global Genome Initiative Award and we thank G. Droege, L. Loo, K. Barker, and J. Coddington for their support. Our work depended heavily on the analytical capabilities of the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD, www.boldsystems.org). We also thank colleagues at the CBG for their support, including S. Adamowicz, S. Bateson, E. Berzitis, V. Breton, V. Campbell, A. Castillo, C. Christopoulos, J. Cossey, C. Gallant, J. Gleason, R. Gwiazdowski, M. Hajibabaei, R. Hanner, K. Hough, P. Janetta, A. Pawlowski, S. Pedersen, J. Robertson, D. Roes, K. Seidle, M. A. Smith, B. St. Jacques, A. Stoneham, J. Stahlhut, R. Tabone, J.Topan, S. Walker, and C. Wei. For bioblitz-related assistance, we are grateful to D. Ireland, D. Metsger, A. Guidotti, J. Quinn and other members of Bioblitz Canada and Ontario Bioblitz. For our work in Canada’s national parks, we thank S. Woodley and J. Waithaka for their lead role in organizing permits and for the many Parks Canada staff who facilitated specimen collections, including M. Allen, D. Amirault-Langlais, J. Bastick, C. Belanger, C. Bergman, J.-F. Bisaillon, S. Boyle, J. Bridgland, S. Butland, L. Cabrera, R. Chapman, J. Chisholm, B. Chruszcz, D. Crossland, H. Dempsey, N. Denommee, T. Dobbie, C. Drake, J. Feltham, A. Forshner, K. Forster, S. Frey, L. Gardiner, P. Giroux, T. Golumbia, D. Guedo, N. Guujaaw, S. Hairsine, E. Hansen, C. Harpur, S. Hayes, J. Hofman, S. Irwin, B. Johnston, V. Kafa, N. Kang, P. Langan, P. Lawn, M. Mahy, D. Masse, D. Mazerolle, C. McCarthy, I. McDonald, J. McIntosh, C. McKillop, V. Minelga, C. Ouimet, S. Parker, N. Perry, J. Piccin, A. Promaine, P. Roy, M. Savoie, D. Sigouin, P. Sinkins, R. Sissons, C. Smith, R. Smith, H. Stewart, G. Sundbo, D. Tate, R. Tompson, E. Tremblay, Y. Troutet, K. Tulk, J. Van Wieren, C. Vance, G. Walker, D. Whitaker, C. White, R. Wissink, C. Wong, and Y. Zharikov. For our work near Canada’s ports in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax, we thank R. Worcester, A. Chreston, M. Larrivee, and T. Zemlak, respectively. Many other organizations improved coverage in the reference library by providing access to specimens – they included the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, the Canadian Museum of Nature, the University of Guelph Insect Collection, the Royal British Columbia Museum, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Pacifc Forestry Centre, the Northern Forestry Centre, the Lyman Entomological Museum, the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, and rare Charitable Research Reserve. We also thank the many taxonomic specialists who identifed specimens, including A. Borkent, B. Brown, M. Buck, C. Carr, T. Ekrem, J. Fernandez Triana, C. Guppy, K. Heller, J. Huber, L. Jacobus, J. Kjaerandsen, J. Klimaszewski, D. Lafontaine, J-F. Landry, G. Martin, A. Nicolai, D. Porco, H. Proctor, D. Quicke, J. Savage, B. C. Schmidt, M. Sharkey, A. Smith, E. Stur, A. Tomas, J. Webb, N. Woodley, and X. Zhou. We also thank K. Kerr and T. Mason for facilitating collections at Toronto Zoo and D. Iles for servicing the trap at Wapusk National Park. This paper contributes to the University of Guelph’s Food from Thought research program supported by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. The Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD; www.boldsystems.org)8 was used as the primary workbench for creating, storing, analyzing, and validating the specimen and sequence records and the associated data resources48. The BOLD platform has a private, password-protected workbench for the steps from specimen data entry to data validation (see details in Data Records), and a public data portal for the release of data in various formats. The latter is accessible through an API (http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/resources/api?type=webservices) that can also be controlled through R75 with the package ‘bold’76.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A molecular-based identification resource for the arthropods of Finland

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Resources published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.To associate specimens identified by molecular characters to other biological knowledge, we need reference sequences annotated by Linnaean taxonomy. In this study, we (1) report the creation of a comprehensive reference library of DNA barcodes for the arthropods of an entire country (Finland), (2) publish this library, and (3) deliver a new identification tool for insects and spiders, as based on this resource. The reference library contains mtDNA COI barcodes for 11,275 (43%) of 26,437 arthropod species known from Finland, including 10,811 (45%) of 23,956 insect species. To quantify the improvement in identification accuracy enabled by the current reference library, we ran 1000 Finnish insect and spider species through the Barcode of Life Data system (BOLD) identification engine. Of these, 91% were correctly assigned to a unique species when compared to the new reference library alone, 85% were correctly identified when compared to BOLD with the new material included, and 75% with the new material excluded. To capitalize on this resource, we used the new reference material to train a probabilistic taxonomic assignment tool, FinPROTAX, scoring high success. For the full-length barcode region, the accuracy of taxonomic assignments at the level of classes, orders, families, subfamilies, tribes, genera, and species reached 99.9%, 99.9%, 99.8%, 99.7%, 99.4%, 96.8%, and 88.5%, respectively. The FinBOL arthropod reference library and FinPROTAX are available through the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (www.laji.fi) at https://laji.fi/en/theme/protax. Overall, the FinBOL investment represents a massive capacity-transfer from the taxonomic community of Finland to all sectors of society.Peer reviewe

Taivalkosken metsälaidunten lantakuoriaiset

Lantakuoriaisten esiintymistä ympärivuotisilla ja vain kesäkäytössä olevilla metsälaitumilla tutkittiin Taivalkoskella kesän 2004 aikana. Lannassa eläviä kuoriaisia löytyi yhteensä 6993 yksilöä, jotka kuuluivat 89 lajiin. Joukossa oli yksi silmälläpidettävä laji, Cercyon emarginatus. Lantakuoriaisyhteisöjen monimuotoisuudessa ei havaittu tilastollisesti merkitseviä eroja laiduntyyppien välillä. Shannonin-Wienerin diversiteetti-indeksin arvot olivat ympärivuotisilla laitumilla kuitenkin keskimäärin jonkin verran korkeampia. Myös lantakuoriaisyhteisöjen rakenne oli kaikilla laitumilla pääosin hyvin samanlainen.vokMyynti MTT Tietopalvelut 31600 Jokioine

Utility of DNA barcodes in identification and delimitation of beetle species, with insights into COI protein structure across the animal kingdom

Abstract Species are the fundamental units of biological diversity, but their identification and delimitation is often difficult. The difficulties are pronounced in diverse taxa such as insects. DNA barcodes, short standardized segments of the genome, have recently become a popular tool for identifying specimens to species, and are increasingly used as one of the sources of information for species delimitation. In this thesis, I studied the utility of DNA barcodes in species identification and delimitation in beetles (Coleoptera). Beetles are one of the most diverse animal groups, with nearly 400 000 known species. The Nordic beetle fauna is among the most thoroughly studied on the planet, providing excellent conditions for these studies. I also approached barcode sequences from a new angle, exploring amino acid variation and its connections to life history in a sample of the entire animal kingdom. I also studied variation and evolution at the amino acid level in large-scale samples of beetles and moths & butterflies (Lepidoptera). DNA barcodes proved to be a feasible tool for identifying species of Nordic beetles: depending on the criteria for successful identification, 95-98% of specimens could be identified to the species level based on DNA barcodes. Regardless of the delimitation method used, approximately 90% of the currently accepted species were perfectly recovered based on barcode data, and simple rules for forming consensus between delimitations improved the fit between species and barcode clusters even further. Several species that were split into two or more sequence clusters apparently include species new to science that have been previously overlooked. This conclusion is supported by preliminary morphological analysis. The study on amino acid variation revealed both a general pattern of structural conservation throughout the animal kingdom, and some interesting amino acid substitutions with potential to affect enzymatic function. Amino acid variation was more extensive in Coleoptera than in Lepidoptera, potentially due to differences in selection pressure and patterns of molecular evolution in the barcode region between the two orders.Tiivistelmä Laji on luonnon monimuotoisuuden perusyksikkö, mutta lajien tunnistaminen ja rajaaminen on usein vaikeaa. Vaikeudet korostuvat erityisesti hyvin monimuotoisissa eliöryhmissä kuten hyönteisissä. DNA-viivakoodit ovat lyhyitä standardoituja DNA-sekvenssejä, joiden käyttö lajien tunnistamisessa sekä yhtenä tiedon lähteenä lajien rajaamisessa on viime aikoina yleistynyt nopeasti. Tutkin väitöskirjatyössäni DNA-viivakoodien soveltuvuutta lajinmääritykseen ja lajien rajaamiseen kovakuoriaisilla. Kovakuoriaiset ovat yksi maailman lajirikkaimmista eliöryhmistä: lajeja on kuvattu lähes 400000. Pohjois-Euroopan lajisto tunnetaan koko maailman mittakaavassa poikkeuksellisen hyvin, mikä tarjoaa erinomaiset edellytykset tutkia DNA-viivakoodeihin liittyviä kysymyksiä kuoriaisilla. Tutkin DNA-viivakoodeja myös kokonaan uudesta näkökulmasta, selvittäen aminohappotason muuntelua koko eläinkunnan kattavassa otoksessa, sekä laajalla perhos- ja kuoriaisaineistolla. DNA-viivakoodit osoittautuivat erinomaiseksi työkaluksi lajinmääritykseen: riippuen onnistuneen määrityksen kriteereistä 95–98 % kuoriaislajeista voitiin tunnistaa luotettavasti viivakoodien perusteella. Käytetystä menetelmästä riippumatta noin 90 % nykykäsityksen mukaisista lajeista voitiin rajata viivakoodien perusteella oikein, ja soveltamalla yksinkertaisia konsensus-sääntöjä yhteensopivuus lajien ja viivakoodiklustereiden välillä kasvoi entisestään. Useat kuoriaislajit, jotka jakautuivat kahteen tai useampaan viivakoodiklusteriin, sisältävät alustavien morfologisten tutkimusten perusteella aiemmin huomaamatta jääneitä uusia lajeja. Aminohappo- ja proteiinitason tutkimus osoitti, että viivakoodijakson koodaaman proteiinin rakenne on yleisesti ottaen konservoitunut kautta eläinkunnan. Havaitsin kuitenkin myös useita kiinnostavia aminohappo-muutoksia, jotka saattavat vaikuttaa entsyymitoimintaan. Aminohapposekvenssi muuntelee kuoriaisilla paljon enemmän kuin perhosilla, mahdollisesti johtuen taksonien välisistä eroista molekyylievoluutiossa ja viivakoodisekvenssiin kohdistuvassa valintapaineessa

Integrative taxonomy of Nearctic and Palaearctic Aleocharinae: new species, synonymies, and records (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae)

A long tradition of separate Nearctic and Palaearctic taxonomic studies of the diverse aleocharine rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) has obscured the recognition of Holarctic species and detection of adventive species in both regions. Recently, integrated study of the two regions through detailed morphological comparisons and development of an authoritatively identified DNA barcode reference library has revealed the degree to which these two aleocharine faunas are interconnected, both naturally and through human activity. Here this approach is adopted to recognize new species, reveal Holarctic species, and recognize adventive species in both North America and Europe. The following new species are described: Isoglossa triangularis Klimaszewski, Brunke & Pentinsaari, sp. nov. from British Columbia; Gnypeta impressicollis Klimaszewski, Brunke & Pentinsaari, sp. nov., from Ontario, Maryland and North Carolina; Aloconota pseudogregaria Klimaszewski, Brunke & Pentinsaari, sp. nov., from Ontario and Virginia; and Philhygra pseudolaevicollis Klimaszewski, Brunke & Pentinsaari, sp. nov. from eastern Canada. Dasygnypeta velata and Philhygra angusticauda are revealed to be Holarctic species, resulting in the following synonymies: Dasygnypeta velata (Erichson, 1839) = Gnypeta minuta Klimaszewski & Webster, 2008, syn. nov. and Philhygra angusticauda (Bernhauer, 1909) = Atheta (Philhygra) pinegensis Muona, 1983, syn. nov. The Nearctic species Hylota ochracea (and genus Hylota), Thecturota tenuissima, and Trichiusa robustula are newly reported from the Palaearctic region as adventive, resulting in the following synonymies: Hylota ochracea Casey, 1906 = Stichoglossa (Dexiogyia) forticornis Strand, 1939, syn. nov.; Thecturota tenuissima Casey, 1893 = Atheta marchii Dodero, 1922, syn. nov.; and Trichiusa robustula Casey, 1893 = T. immigrata Lohse, 1984, syn. nov. The Palaearctic species Amarochara forticornis, Anomognathus cuspidatus, Oligota pumilio, and Parocyusa rubicunda are newly confirmed from the Nearctic region as adventive, resulting in the following synonymies: Parocyusa rubicunda (Erichson, 1837) = Chilopora americana Casey, 1906, syn. nov. and Anomognathus cuspidatus (Erichson, 1839) = Thectura americana Casey, 1893, syn. nov. The genus Dasygnypeta, sensu nov. is newly reported from North America, Paradilacra is newly reported from eastern North America, and Haploglossa is newly reported from Canada, resulting in the following synonymy: Paradilacra densissima (Bernhauer, 1909) = Gnypeta saccharina Klimaszewski & Webster, 2008, syn. nov. Native Cyphea wallisi is newly reported from across Canada and C. curtula is removed from the Nearctic fauna. The status of both Gyrophaena affinis and Homalota plana is uncertain but these species are no longer considered to be adventive in North America. Three new combinations are proposed: Dasygnypeta baranowskii (Klimaszewski, 2020) and D. nigrella (LeConte, 1863) (both from Gnypeta) and Mocyta scopula (Casey, 1893) (from Acrotona). Dolosota Casey, 1910, syn. nov. (type species Eurypronota scopula Casey), currently a subgenus of Acrotona, is therefore synonymized with Mocyta Mulsant & Rey, 1874. Additionally, four new Canadian records and 18 new provincial and state records are reported