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Book Reference 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 2,077 extant species globally (Stöhr et al. 2018), 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 wellknown. The last published review of the southern African Ophiuroidea however was by Clark & 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 includes a taxonomic key to all 136 species, and gives key references, istribution 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 & Courtman-Stock (1976) and which have undergone taxonomic revisions since that time (28).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference Revision of the morphology, phylogenetic relationships, behaviour and diversity of the Iberian and Italian ant-like Tachydromia Meigen, 1803 (Diptera: Hybotidae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Four new genera and five new species of “Heterocypris” from Western Australia (Crustacea, Ostracoda, Cyprinotinae).
Five new species in four new genera from Western Australia are described. All species have valve characters that are reminiscent of the genus Heterocypris Claus, 1892 and also have similar valve outlines, with highly arched valves. However, all species have a hemipenis morphology that is totally different from the typical form in Heterocypris. In Patcypris gen. nov. (with type species P. outback gen. et sp. nov.), the lateral lobe is large and shaped as a pickaxe, while the medial lobe is divided into two distal lobes. Trilocypris gen. nov. (with type species T. horwitzi gen. et sp. nov.) is characterised by a hemipenis that has three, instead of two, distal lobes. In Bilocypris gen. nov. (with type species B. fortescuensis gen. et sp. nov. and a second species, B. mandoraensis gen. et sp. nov.), the lateral lobe of the hemipenis is spatulate, rather than boot-shaped, and the medial lobe is bilobed. Billcypris gen. nov. (with type species B. davisae gen. et sp. nov.) has a large and sub-rectangular lateral lobe and a pointed medial lobe. We discuss the taxonomic value of the traditional and new morphological characters and speculate that the diversity of this cluster of genera and species may be greater than currently known.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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 Novel Cardinium strains from non-marine ostracod (Crustacea) hosts
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference On a new species of the genus Cyprinotus (Crustacea, Ostracoda) from a temporary wetland in New Caledonia (Pacific Ocean), with a reappraisal of the genus
The New Caledonia archipelago is known for its high level of endemism in both faunal and floral groups. Thus far, only 12 species of non-marine ostracods have been reported. After three expeditions to the main island of the archipelago (Grande Terre), about four times as many species were found, about half of which are probably new. Here, we describe a new species, Cyprinotus drubea sp. nov., which is characterised mainly by the hyper-developed dorsal hump on the right valve, much larger than in any other known Recent species in this genus. After a literature study of the other presumed species in Cyprinotus Brady, 1886, we retain seven Recent species in the genus, including the present new species. Cyprinotus crenatus (Turner, 1893), C. dentatus (Sharpe, 1910), C. flavescens Brady, 1898, C. inconstans Furtos, 1936, C. newmexicoensis Ferguson, 1967, C. ohanopecoshensis Ferguson, 1966, C. pellucidus (Sharpe, 1897), C. scytodus (Dobbin, 1941) and C. sulphurous Blake, 1931 are here all referred to the genus Heterocypris s. lat. Claus, 1892. Cyprinotus unispinifera Furtos, 1936 is assigned to the genus Cypricercus Sars, 1895. Cyprinotus tenuis Henry, 1923, C. fuscus Henry, 1919 and C. carinatus (King, 1855) are here classified as doubtful species. A checklist of the 14 non-marine ostracods, now including Cyprinotus drubea sp. nov. and Cypris granulata (Daday, 1910), thus far reported from New Caledonia, is provided. Herpetocypris caledonica Méhes, 1939 and H. caledonica var. minor Méhes, 1939 are synonymised with Candonocypris novaezelandiae (Baird, 1843).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference EJT editorial standard for the semantic enhancement of specimen data in taxonomy literature
This paper describes a set of guidelines for the citation of zoological and botanical specimens in the European Journal of Taxonomy. The guidelines stipulate controlled vocabularies and precise formats for presenting the specimens examined within a taxonomic publication, which allow for the rich data associated with the primary research material to be harvested, distributed and interlinked online via international biodiversity data aggregators. Herein we explain how the EJT editorial standard was defined and how this initiative fits into the journal’s project to semantically enhance its publications using the Plazi TaxPub DTD extension. By establishing a standardised format for the citation of taxonomic specimens, the journal intends to widen the distribution of and improve accessibility to the data it publishes. Authors who conform to these guidelines will benefit from higher visibility and new ways of visualising their work. In a wider context, we hope that other taxonomy journals will adopt this approach to their publications, adapting their working methods to enable domain-specific text mining to take place. If specimen data can be efficiently cited, harvested and linked to wider resources, we propose that there is also the potential to develop alternative metrics for assessing impact and productivity within the natural sciences.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference The new Southeast Asian genus Cambonilla gen. nov.(Zodariidae, Araneae):‘bis repetita placent’
The new genus Cambonilla Jocqué gen. nov. is described on the base of two species, each known from both sexes. A cladistic analysis based on morphology, showed that the new genus is the sister-group of Heliconilla Dankittipakul, Jocqué & Singtripop, 2012 with which it shares the granulated carapace with branched setae and the marbled ventral abdominal pattern, but differs by the abdominal, tubular sclerotized protrusion around the pedicel in males and the absence of posterior ventral abdominal spines in the female. The type species Cambonilla securicula Jocqué gen. et sp. nov. was found in rainforest along the Mekong River in Cambodia and Laos. The second species Cambonilla symphonia Jocqué & Henrard gen. et sp. nov., provided with conspicuous femoral stridulating organs, was recorded from the same localities but in Cambodia only. An illustrated key to the genera of tropical Asia is presented.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Book Reference Abeilles de Belgique et des régions limitrophes (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Apoidea) Famille Halictidae
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Automated water surface temperature retrieval from Landsat 8/TIRS
Satellite remote sensing of Land and Water Surface Temperature (L/WST) has many applications in studies of terrestrial and aquatic ecology. Retrieval of L/WST requires a well calibrated radiometer and an accurate atmospheric correction. In the present study, the performance of the Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS) on board Landsat 8 is evaluated for the retrieval of L/WST. libRadtran is used to retrieve atmospheric correction parameters based on atmospheric profiles of relative humidity and temperature from three global atmospheric models. Performance of single band retrievals is compared to typical MODTRAN results from the Atmospheric Correction Parameter Calculator (ACPC) and a split-window approach. A multi-temporal land masking method using imagery from the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on board Landsat 8 is demonstrated, and is used to automatically classify imagery in the matchup dataset in three classes of cloud cover. Two sources of in situ data covering the Belgian Coastal Zone (BCZ) are used for validation of the L/WST product: (1) fixed locations in the Flemish Banks measurement network and (2) underway data from regular RV Belgica campaigns. In the present study the single band methods outperformed the split-window approach, and consistent retrievals are found for the MODTRAN and libRadtran simulations. Typical single band surface temperature retrievals in quasi cloud-free conditions have Root Mean Squared Differences (RMSD) of 0.7 K and 1 K for Bands 10 and 11 with low bias, depending on the method and atmospheric profile source. For imagery with scattered clouds, RMSD values increase to 1 K and 2 K respectively with an approximately 0.5 K cold bias, likely caused by cloud proximity. The calibration efforts combined into Collection 1 allows for accurate absolute surface temperature retrievals from B10 on Landsat 8/TIRS for homogeneous targets with known emissivity, such as liquid water. The method is adapted to global processing and can be used for Land Surface Temperature retrieval with a suitable source of emissivity data.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020