François Génier

Abstract Ninetinae are a group of poorly known spiders that do not fit the image of ‘daddy long-legs spiders’ (Pholcidae), the family to which they belong. They are mostly short-legged, tiny and live in arid environments. The previously monotypic Andean genus Nerudia exemplifies our poor knowledge of Ninetinae: only seven adult specimens from two localities in Chile and Argentina have been reported in the literature. We found representatives of Nerudia at 24 of 52 localities visited in 2019, mostly under rocks in arid habitats, up to 4450 m a.s.l., the highest known record for Pholcidae. With now more than 400 adult specimens, we revise the genus, describing ten new species based on morphology (including SEM) and COI barcodes. We present the first karyotype data for Nerudia and for its putative sister-genus Gertschiola. These two southern South American genera share a X1X2X3Y sex chromosome system. We model the distribution of Nerudia, showing that the genus is expected to occur in the Atacama biogeographic province (no record so far) and that its environmental niche is phylogenetically conserved. This is the first comprehensive revision of any Ninetinae genus. It suggests that focused collecting may uncover a considerable diversity of these enigmatic spiders.

To understand the evolutionary history of species, it is necessary to know the mechanisms for reproductive isolation, divergence-time between populations, and the relative action of the evolutionary forces (e.g., mutation, genetic drift, gene flow) within and between populations of the same, or closely related species. Although Canthon is one of the more diverse genera of neotropical beetles, insufficient research has been done to comprehend the divergent patterns that explain its speciation process. The absence of diagnostic morphological characters and the wide geographic variation of qualitative traits in Scarabaeinae obscures species delimitation, genealogical limits between populations, and its taxonomy. Canthon cyanellus is one of the best-known species in ecological and evolutionary aspects. It is a widely distributed species in the tropical forests of America. Also, the current deforestation has facilitated its incursion into open areas. Individuals from different populations have similar morphological characters but show wide variation in body color throughout their distribution, which makes it difficult to delimit the subspecies that comprise it. Recently, studies have been carried out to elucidate the pre-and postzygotic isolation mechanisms between populations and the historical biogeographical processes favoring cladogenesis events during the Pleistocene. Morphological variation of the male genitalia does not correspond to the phylogeographic structure. However, the morphological differences in one of the pieces of the endophallic sclerites have allowed a preliminary delimitation of some genetically differentiated clades. Finally, we consider that the joint analysis of traditional morphological taxonomy and phylogeography is important to understand the speciation process in the C. cyanellus complex.

One of the best ways to share and disseminate biodiversity information is through the digitization of data and making it available via online databases. The rapid growth of publicly available biodiversity data is not without problems which may decrease the utility of online databases. In this study we analyze taxonomic, geographic and temporal data gaps, and bias related to existing data on selected marine invertebrate occurrences along the coastline of two African countries, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe. The final marine invertebrate dataset comprises of 19.910 occurrences, but 32% of the original dataset occurrences were excluded due to data gaps. Most marine invertebrates in Mozambique were collected in seagrasses, whereas in São Tomé and Príncipe they were mostly collected offshore. The dataset has a temporal coverage from 1816 to 2019, with most occurrences collected in the last two decades. This study provides baseline information relevant to a better understanding of marine invertebrate biodiversity data gaps and bias in these habitats along the coasts of these countries. The information can be further applied to complete marine invertebrate data gaps contributing to design informed sampling strategies and advancing refined datasets that can be used in management and conservation plans in both countries.

The genus Phanaeus is a well-known group whose taxonomy has been described multiple times. Its distribution was previously classified into 11 ecogeographic groups that are equivalent to areas of endemism. Here we use Species Distribution Models to describe species richness patterns. We measured beta-diversity and regionalized its distribution into one region and one transition zone, both with three dominions: Mexican Transition Zone (North American, Mexican, and Mesoamerican dominions) and Neotropical region (Pacific, Brazilian, and Atlantic Forest dominions). We also present a species checklist and updated the distribution maps for 73 of 81 species described so far that reflects all the taxonomical updates. We include a list of all the recorded locations (by country, state, and province), list the recorded habitats and biomes, and describe the modelled environmental conditions for each species.

Aim Aggregated species occurrence data are increasingly accessible through public databases for the analysis of temporal trends in the geographic distributions of species. However, biases in these data present challenges for statistical inference. We assessed potential biases in data available through GBIF on the occurrences of four flower-visiting taxa: bees (Anthophila), hoverflies (Syrphidae), leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) and hummingbirds (Trochilidae). We also assessed whether and to what extent data mobilization efforts improved our ability to estimate trends in species' distributions. Location The Neotropics. Methods We used five data-driven heuristics to screen the data for potential geographic, temporal and taxonomic biases. We began with a continental-scale assessment of the data for all four taxa. We then identified two recent data mobilization efforts (2021) that drastically increased the quantity of records of bees collected in Chile available through GBIF. We compared the dataset before and after the addition of these new records in terms of their biases and estimated trends in species' distributions. Results We found evidence of potential sampling biases for all taxa. The addition of newly-mobilized records of bees in Chile decreased some biases but introduced others. Despite increasing the quantity of data for bees in Chile sixfold, estimates of trends in species' distributions derived using the postmobilization dataset were broadly similar to what would have been estimated before their introduction, albeit more precise. Main conclusions Our results highlight the challenges associated with drawing robust inferences about trends in species' distributions using publicly available data. Mobilizing historic records will not always enable trend estimation because more data do not necessarily equal less bias. Analysts should carefully assess their data before conducting analyses: this might enable the estimation of more robust trends and help to identify strategies for effective data mobilization. Our study also reinforces the need for targeted monitoring of pollinators worldwide.

Climate change will cause drastic fluctuations in agricultural ecosystems, which in turn may affect global food security. We used ecological niche modeling to predict the potential distribution for four cereal aphids (i.e., Sitobion avenae, Rhopalosiphum padi, Schizaphis graminum, and Diurphis noxia…

Six years after the expedition “Our Planet Reviewed – French Guiana 2015” in the Mitaraka massif, we present a synthesis of the taxonomic and faunistic results obtained from the analysis of the 108 published articles and the 10 600 observations that were databased and disseminated. In this relativel…

The amount of biological data available in online repositories is increasing at an exponential rate. However, data on marine invertebrate biodiversity resources from Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe are still sparse and scattered. Online repositories are useful instruments for biodiversity resea…

Deltochilum burmeisteri Harold, 1867 has been considered as a junior subjective synonym of D. mexicanum Burmeister, 1848 for almost 8 decades. Nevertheless, D. burmeisteri is resurrected herein from previous synonymy based on the revision of the external and genital morphology. The lectotype for D. …

Although vanilla is one of the most popular flavours in the world, there is still uncertainty concerning the native distribution of the species that produces it, Vanilla planifolia. To circumscribe the native geographical extent of this economically important species more precisely, we propose a new…