Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Discoveries of the week

Species diversity of Brazilian cave fauna has been seriously underestimated. A karst area located in Felipe Guerra, northeastern Brazil, which is a hotspot of subterranean diversity in Brazil, has revealed more than 20 troglobitic species, most of them still undescribed. Based on recent samplings in this karst area, we document the occurrence of the suborder Cavernicola (Platyhelminthes) in South American hypogean environments for the first time and describe a new genus and species for this suborder. Hausera Leal-Zanchet & Souza, gen. n. has features concordant with those defined for the family Dimarcusidae. The new genus is characterized by two unique features, viz. an intestine extending dorsally to the brain and ovovitelline ducts located dorsally to the nerve cords, which is complemented by a combination of other characters. The type-specimens of Hausera hauseri Leal-Zanchet & Souza, sp. n. are typical stygobionts, unpigmented and eyeless, and they may constitute an oceanic relict as is the case of other stygobiotic invertebrates found in this karst area in northeastern Brazil.

This is a typical cave-dwelling organism, unpigmented and eyeless. It was discovered in a karst area located in northeastern Brazil. The animal constitutes a new genus and species of freshwater flatworm and may even be an oceanic relict. The species, named after the late Prof Dr Josef Hauser SJ as acknowledgement of his great enthusiasm for the study of freshwater flatworms, represents the first obligate cave-dwelling flatworm in South America.
no DNA barcode



Dendrobatid frogs are among the best known anurans in the world, mainly due to their toxicity and associated bright colors. A recently described dendrobatid genus, Andinobates, comprises frogs distributed among the Colombian Andes and Panama. During field work in the Distrito de Donoso, Colón province, Panama, we found a poison frog that we here describe as a new species. The new species belongs to the A. minutus species group and is described herein as Andinobates geminisae sp. nov. This new species differs from all other members of the group by having uniformly orange smooth skin over the entire body and a distinctive male advertisement call. The new species is smaller than other colorful dendrobatids present in the area, such as Oophaga pumilio and O. vicentei. We also provide molecular phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequences of dendrobatids and summarize genetic distances among Andinobates species. Andinobates geminisae occurs in Caribbean versant rainforest on the westernmost edge of the known distribution of A. minutus, and represents the fourth species within this genus in Panama. This is vulnerable to habitat loss and excessive harvesting and requires immediate conservation plans to preserve this species with a restricted geographic range.

This bright orange poison dart frog with a unique call has been discovered in Donoso, Panama. Because this new frog species appears to be found in only a very small area, habitat loss and collecting for the pet trade are major threats to its existence. 
DNA Barcodes available (although not public on BOLD)



Two new species of Fissocantharis Pic are described, F. bifoveatus sp. n. (CHINA: Yunnan) and F. acuticollis sp. n. (CHINA: Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan). F. pieli (Pic, 1937) is redescribed and F. kontumensis Wittmer, 1989 is provided with a supplementary description. F. shanensis (Wittmer, 1997) is synonymized with F. kontumensis. For the above four species, illustrations of male genitalia are provided, for the latter three also photos of female genitalia and abdominal sternites VIII, and for the new species photos of male habitus and antennae are presented. Additionally, the specific name of F. wittmeri (Y. Yang et X. Yang, 2009), preoccupied by F. wittmeri (Kazantsev, 2007), is replaced by F. walteri Y. Yang et X. Yang, nom. n. And F. wittmeri (Kazantsev, 2007) is found to be a junior objective synonym of F. denominata (Wittmer, 1997).

The specific name bifoveatus is derived from the Latin bi (two) and fovea (pit), referring to a structure on some of the beetles antennas. The name of the second new species is also derived from Latin, this time referring to the shape of the pronotum angles.
no DNA barcodes


Hisonotus acuen
A new species of Hisonotus is described from the headwaters of the rio Xingu. The new species is distinguished from its congeners by having a functional V-shaped spinelet, odontodes not forming longitudinal aligned rows on the head and trunk, lower counts of the lateral and median series of abdominal figs, presence of a single rostral fig at the tip of the snout, absence of the unpaired figlets at typical adipose fin position, yellowish-tipped teeth, absence of conspicuous dark saddles and stripe on the body and higher number of teeth on the premaxillary and dentary. The new species, Hisonotus acuen, is restricted to headwaters of the rio Xingu basin, and is the first species of the genus Hisonotus described from the rio Xingu basin. Hisonotus acuen is highly variable in aspects of external body proportions, including body depth, snout length, and abdomen length. This variation is partly distributed within and among populations, and is not strongly correlated with body size. PCA of 83 adult specimens from six allopatric populations indicates the presence of continuous variation. Therefore, the available morphological data suggest that the individuals inhabiting the six localities of rio Xingu represent different populations of a single species. Low intraspecific variation in mitochondrial Cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) provides corroborative evidence.

And another new Loricariid. I had presented one about two weeks ago. It is great to see that one by one they are described and get proper names, and they come with DNA Barcodes. The species is named for the Xavante indigenous peoples, who are also known as “acuen”. They are living in the margins of the rivers Culuene, Mortes, Araguaia, and Xingu. The type specimens were found in the latter.
DNA Barcodes available (but not yet released on Genbank)


Syzygium sahyadricum

A new species of the tree genus Syzygium (Myrtaceae), S. sahyadricum is described and illustrated from the Montane Shola forests of Anamalai and Palni Phytogeographical region of Western Ghats. Although phenotypically closely similar to S. spathulatum and S. malabaricum, the new species is easily recognizable by the pale yellow coloured tender leaves with horizontal secondary nerves and white flowers in reduced metabotryoid, pedunculate inflorescence, which are flattened towards the apex. Scanning the Syzygium collections in various herbaria revealed that similar specimens from various localities of this phyto-region are available and most of them with erroneous ascriptions. The report of S. spathulatum Thwaites, a Sri Lankan endemic species in India, was due to misinterpretation of Beddome’s collection. In this paper taxonomic peculiarities of the new species and allied taxa are discussed for better understanding.

A new species of myrtle found by scientists from the Kerala Forest Research Institute in the Western Ghats. It grows on hills above at an altitude of 1800 m. The species blooms in December and bears edible fruits from March to May.
no DNA barcodes


Verbascum duzgunbabadagensis
Verbascum duzgunbabadagensis (Scrophulariaceae) is described and illustrated as a new species endemic to eastern Anatolia, Turkey. In this study, diagnostic morphological characters of this and closely related species (V. luciliae and V. rupicola) are discussed. Pollen and seed morphology of the new species and of similar taxa are documented. The seeds of this group are brown in color and oblong in V. luciliae and V. rupicola, whereas they are dark brown in color and ovate in shape in V. duzgunbabadagensis. Furthermore, distribution maps for the three taxa are provided.

This new species is called after Düzgün Baba Mountain, the unique area where this species has

been recorded. It was found during a field exploration in Turkey in 2012. Also a higher altitude species as it was found in rock crevices at 1800−2050 m.
no DNA barcodes

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