Newly discovered / described species 2015

Tree cavity beetles in Haspengouw and Pays De Herve: Crepidophorus mutilatus (Elateridae) new for the Belgian fauna and rediscovery of Gnorimus variabilis (Cetoniidae) (Insecta: Coleoptera)

Abstract

We present the results of an exploratory research on the beetle diversity of cavity trees using pitfall traps, hand searching and pheromones. The 48 pitfalls resulted in 161 beetle species including 77 saproxylic beetles from which 23 species are listed on the German red list. Crepidophorus mutilatus was found as a new species for the Belgian fauna and Gnorimus variabilis was rediscovered for the first time in Belgium since 1932. Despite the use of the pheromones, Osmoderma eremita was not rediscovered. Possibly the species is still present as the number of suitable trees is not lower than in many European sites where the species is still present. Elater ferrugineus was found on 13 of 16 locations with pheromone traps and seems to be a good indicator of sites with important relics of a bocage landscape. Especially the high number of red listed species indicates that the studied relic bocage landscape has a high conservation value.

Source:

Thomaes, Arno, Crevecouer, Luc and Wijnants, Michael. (2015). Tree cavity beetles in Haspengouw and Pays De Herve: Crepidophorus mutilatus (Elateridae) new for the Belgian fauna and rediscovery of Gnorimus variabilis (Cetoniidae) (Insecta: Coleoptera). Bulletin de la Société royale belge d’Entomologie/Bulletin van de Koninklijke Belgische Vereniging voor Entomologie 151: 40-51.
 
On the island of Lemnos in Greece the Bush-cricket Isophya lemnotica has been rediscovered :).
Limnos Plump Bush-cricket rediscovered
02 June 2015

For the first time since its description in 1927, the Limnos Plump Bush-Cricket (Isoypha lemnotica) has been rediscovered on the Greek island Limnos.

During an excursion in May 2015, Luc Willemse, member of the IUCN SSC Grasshopper Specialist Group has rediscovered a rare bush-cricket species that was lost since 1927. The Limnos Plump Bush-Cricket is endemic to the Greek Aegean island Limnos (sometimes also called Lemnos). Since its description, the species has never been seen or collected again, but as with so many insect species, no-one had searched specifically for it. Luc was able to record the song and found that the species is even quite common on Lemnos. Bioacoustics helped to get a clearer picture of its distribution. By visually searching for the species, Luc found ten localities of this species, but on 15 further localities, he could here its specific song.
The species is currently listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The new information will be fed into the European Red List of Orthoptera project, which is currently in progress - aiming at completing the Red List assessments of 1088 grasshopper, cricket and bush-cricket species that occur in Europe.

Source: News - Limnos Plump Bush-cricket rediscovered
 
On the rediscovery of the vermetid “Siphonium” gaederopi Mörch, 1861 (Gastropoda Vermetidæ) with systematic and ecological observations on the early juveniles stages

Abstract

Some specimens of a not identified Dendropoma Mörch, 1862 were collected in the Mediterranean. Further taxonomical studies allowed to identify this material as “Siphonium” gaederopi (Mörch, 1861), a species never recorded again after its first description. It is here redescribed and figured on the basis of the mentioned collected material and after the study of the type material of Mörch’s collection, among which the syntype is here selected. This species is assigned to Dendropoma, according to the morphological characters of the shell, radula, external soft parts and operculum. The shell, the soft parts and the juvenile stage of D. gaederopi are here figured for the first time and compared to congeners and to Vermetus granulatus (Gravenhorst, 1831), similar only in shell morphology. The new findings of this species represent the first certain record, after the doubtful locality of the original description.

Source:

Scuderi, Danilo. (2015). On the rediscovery of the vermetid “Siphoniumgaederopi Mörch, 1861 (Gastropoda Vermetidæ) with systematic and ecological observations on the early juveniles stages. Biodiversity Journal 6(1): 365–370.
 
Rediscovery of a Fish Acanthocephalan, Acanthocephalus minor (Echinorhynchida: Echinorhynchidae), in the Lake Biwa Basin, Central Japan, with a Review of the Fish Acanthocephalan Fauna of the Basin

Abstract

Specimens of the echinorhynchid acanthocephalan Acanthocephalus minor Yamaguti, 1935 were collected from the rectum of a dark sleeper, Odontobutis obscura (Temminck and Schlegel, 1845), in an irrigation canal near Lake Biwa, Shiga Prefecture, west-central Japan. is represents a rediscovery of A. minor in the Lake Biwa basin aer a gap of nearly 80 years. It appears not to be distributed in Lake Biwa proper, but to occur rarely in rivers and irrigation canals of a limited coastal area around the lake. To date, 10 nominal species of acanthocephalan in four families and three orders have been reported from fish in the Lake Biwa basin. Among these, striking morphological similarities between Acanthocephalus aculeatus Van Cleave, 1931 and its congener A. opsariichthydis Yamaguti, 1935 are noted. It is furthermore suggested that A. gotoi
Van Cleave, 1925 could not maintain its population aer the basin’s wild population of its major host, Anguilla japonica Temminck and Schlegel, 1846, disappeared in the mid-1960s.

Source:

Nagasawa, Kazuya and Nitta, Masato. (2015). Rediscovery of a Fish Acanthocephalan, Acanthocephalus minor (Echinorhynchida: Echinorhynchidae), in the Lake Biwa Basin, Central Japan, with a Review of the Fish Acanthocephalan Fauna of the Basin. Species Diversity 20: 73-81. [Abstract]
 
"While carrying out a routine butterfly survey at the Radipole Lake Nature Reserve in Weymouth, Dorset, volunteers from Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) found an extinct species of spider called the Hypsosinga heri.

Volunteers have spotted a female spider. Researchers said that the spider is so rare that it has only been seen twice in the UK. Since 1912, the light brown or reddish yellow spider has not been seen. Allan Neilson, one of the three who identified the spider, said that it took them some time, but they were happy to know the spider was Hypsosinga heri.

Since then, two more females were seen in the Weymouth and a second group was identified nearby on the Lodmoor reserve. Experts said that it was very interesting to know that the spider, which they thought that has died in Britain over 100 years, has been found."

Read more: ?Extinct? Species of Spider makes come back after over 100 years | NYC Today
 
Cyanocyclas brasiliana (Bivalvia: Cyrenidae) rediscovered in the limnic part of Parnaíba River delta, Northeast Brazil

Abstract

Cyanocyclas brasiliana (Deshayes, 1854) known only from the original very short description and reported from Pará state was recently rediscovered. This is the first occurrence of a native species of Cyrenidae (formerly Corbiculidae) in the Northeast Region of Brazil. Due to a lack of previous data C. brasiliana was initially confused with Corbicula largillierti (Philippi, 1844), an invasive species of Asian origin, which was introduced in South America in the 1970s and already recorded from the North and Northeast regions of Brazil. Ecological aspects are described. To aid identification, type material was studied.

Source:

Brito, Carla Susy Freire de et al. (2015). Cyanocyclas brasiliana (Bivalvia: Cyrenidae) rediscovered in the limnic part of Parnaíba River delta, Northeast Brazil. Check List 11(4): 1685.
 
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