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Article Reference A subjective global checklist (submitted)of the Recent non-marine Ostracoda (Crustacea).
We present an updated, subjective list of the extant, non-marine ostracod genera and species of the world, with their distributions in the major zoogeographical regions, as well as a list of the genera in their present hierarchical taxonomic positions. The list includes all taxa described and taxonomic alterations made up to 1 July 2018. Taxonomic changes include 17 new combinations, 5 new names, 1 emended specific name and 11 new synonymies (1 tribe, 4 genera, 6 species). Taking into account the recognized synonymies, there are presently 2330 subjective species of non-marine ostracods in 270 genera. The most diverse family in non-marine habitats is the Cyprididae, comprising 43.2% of all species, followed by the Candonidae (29.0%), Entocytheridae (9.1%) and the Limnocytheridae (7.0%). An additional 13 families comprise the remaining 11.8% of described species. The Palaearctic zoogeographical region has the greatest number of described species (799), followed by the Afrotropical region with 453 species and the Nearctic region with 439 species. The Australasian and Neotropical regions each have 328 and 333 recorded species, respectively, while the Oriental region has 271. The vast majority of non-marine ostracods (89.8%) are endemic to one zoogeographical region, while only six species are found in six or more regions. We also present an additional list with ‘uncertain species’, which have neither been redescribed nor re-assessed since 1912, and which are excluded from the main list; a list of taxonomic changes presented in the present paper; a table with the number of species and % per family; and a table with numbers of new species described in the 20-year period between 1998 and 2017 per zoogeographical region. Two figures visualize the total number of species and endemic species per zoogeographical region, and the numbers of new species descriptions per decade for all families and the three largest families since 1770, respectively.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference A survey of the bushmeat trade of the straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum Kerr, 1792) at Maele Island (Kisangani city, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Article Reference A survey of transposon landscapes in the putative ancient asexual ostracod Darwinula stevensoni
How asexual reproduction shapes transposable element (TE) content and diversity in eukaryotic genomes remains debated. We performed an initial survey of TE load and diversity in the putative ancient asexual ostracod Darwinula stevensoni. We examined long contiguous stretches of DNA in clones from a genomic fosmid library, totaling about 2.5 Mb, and supplemented these data with results on TE abundance and diversity from an Illumina draft genome. In contrast to other TE studies in putatively ancient asexuals, which revealed relatively low TE content, we found that at least 19% of the fosmid dataset and 26% of the genome assembly corresponded to known transposons. We observed a high diversity of transposon families, including LINE, gypsy, PLE, mariner/Tc, hAT, CMC, Sola2, Ginger, Merlin, Harbinger, MITEs and helitrons, with the prevalence of DNA transposons. The predominantly low levels of sequence diversity indicate that many TEs are or have recently been active. In the fosmid data, no correlation was found between telomeric repeats and non-LTR retrotransposons, which are present near telomeres in other taxa. Most TEs in the fosmid data were located outside of introns and almost none were found in exons. We also report an N-terminal Myb/SANT-like DNA-binding domain in site-specific R4/Dong non-LTR retrotransposons. Although initial results on transposable loads need to be verified with high quality draft genomes, this study provides important first insights into TE dynamics in putative ancient asexual ostracods.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Book Reference A Systematic Revision of the Land Snails of the Western Ghats of India
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference A Tale of Three Oceans — Taxonomy of the Holothuria (Thymiosycia) arenicola Semper, 1868 complex (Echinodermata: Holoturoidea: Holothuriidae)
The ubiquitous sea cucumber Holothuria (Thymiosycia) arenicola Semper, 1868, externally characterized by a double row of dark blotches of various sizes on its dorsal body wall and a cryptic behaviour, is generally assumed to have a wide tropical distribution, although it has not been reported from the Eastern tlantic. Careful morphological examination, with emphasis on the ossicle assemblage, of type and non-type H. arenicola specimens sampled in the Indian, Pacific and tlantic Ocean, its subjective synonyms and species with a similar colouration and habit, revealed that H. arenicola is often confused with other species. This paper formally separates the different species in the H. arenicola complex, one of them being a species new to science: Holothuria (Thymiosycia) kerriensis sp. nov. dditionally, we describe two other species that are often confused with H. arenicola: Holothuria (Lessonothuria) gracilis Semper, 1868 and H. (Thymiosycia) strigosa Selenka, 1867. The H. arenicola complex per se is keyed-out, with the ossicle assemblage of the musculature being recognised as an important, previously largely neglected, guide. This contribution highlights the importance of building and curating well-maintaned natural history collections to understand biodiversity through time and space.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference A techno-economic approach for capacity assessment and ranking of potential options for geological storage of CO2 in Austria
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Inproceedings Reference A tool for feeding and mating: the Swiss Army stylet of Gyratrix hermaphroditus (Rhabdocoela, Platyhelminthes)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Article Reference A vertebra of a small species of Pachycetus from the North Sea and its inner structure and vascularity compared with other basilosaurid vertebrae from the same site
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference A wind of change for soft-sediment infauna within operational offshore windfarms
In this study, “ artificial reef ” (AR) impacts of offshore windfarms (OWFs) on the surrounding soft-sediments were investigated. Benthic grab samples were collected at nearby (37.5 m) and distant (500 or 350 m) positions from turbines of two Belgian OWFs (Belwind: monopiles and C-Power: jackets). Higher macrobenthos abundance and species richness were found nearby jacket foundations of C-Power compared to distant positions and differences were most pronounced within deeper sediments (i.e., gullies between sandbanks) at intermediate levels of fine sand fractions (10 – 20%) and total organic matter (0.5 – 0.9%). Strong benthic enrichment ( > 1000 ind. m 2, > 20 spp. sample 1) was also linked with higher fine sand fractions ( > 20%) near the jackets. Moreover, nearby sediments showed higher occurrences of coastal species and habitat diversification was promoted by Mytilus edulis shell debris and alive organisms ( “ biofouling drop-offs ” ). The lack of similar results around monopiles (Belwind) confirms that the extent of detectable AR-effects depends on site- and turbine specific factors.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Inproceedings Reference Abc Taxa, Field guide to the brittle and basket stars (Echinodermata: ophiuroidea) of South Africa.
Brittle and basket stars (ophiuroids) are one of five extant classes of the phylum Echinodermata and have a fossil record dating back almost 500 million years to the Early Ordovician. Today they remain diverse and widespread, with over 260 described genera and over 2 000 extant species globally, more than any other class of echinoderm. Ophiuroid species are found across all marine habitats from the intertidal shore to the abyss. In southern Africa, the ophiuroid fauna has been studied extensively by a number of authors and is relatively well-known. The last published review of the southern African Ophiuroidea however was by Clark and Courtman-Stock in 1976. It included 101 species reported from within the boundaries of South Africa. In the 40 years since that publication the number of species has risen to 136. This identification guide, which is the nineteenth volume of the series Abc Taxa includes a taxonomic key to all 136 species, and gives key references, distribution maps, diagnoses, scaled photographs (where possible), and a synthesis of known ecological and depth information for each. The guide is designed to be comprehensive, well-illustrated and easy to use for both naturalists and professional biologists. Taxonomic terms, morphological characteristics and technical expressions are defined and described in detail, with illustrations to clarify some aspects of the terminology. A checklist of all species in the region is also included, and indicates which species are endemic (33), for which we report significant range extensions (23), which have been recorded as new to the South African fauna (28) since the previous monograph of Clark and Courtman-Stock (1976) and which have undergone taxonomic revisions since that time (28). This contribution delivers a copiously illustrated overview of the volume and details how it has been diffused in South Africa and beyond.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021