The meiofauna is an important part of the marine ecosystem, but its composition and distribution patterns are relatively unexplored. Here we assessed the biodiversity and community structure of meiofauna from five locations on the Swedish western and southern coasts using a high-throughput DNA sequencing (metabarcoding) approach. The mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 (COI) mini-barcode and nuclear 18S small ribosomal subunit (18S) V1-V2 region were amplified and sequenced using Illumina MiSeq technology. Our analyses revealed a higher number of species than previously found in other areas: thirteen samples comprising 6.5 dm3 sediment revealed 708 COI and 1,639 18S metazoan OTUs. Across all sites, the majority of the metazoan biodiversity was assigned to Arthropoda, Nematoda and Platyhelminthes. Alpha and beta diversity measurements showed that community composition differed significantly amongst sites. OTUs initially assigned to Acoela, Gastrotricha and the two Platyhelminthes sub-groups Macrostomorpha and Rhabdocoela were further investigated and assigned to species using a phylogeny-based taxonomy approach. Our results demonstrate that there is great potential for discovery of new meiofauna species even in some of the most extensively studied locations.
Reliable taxonomy underpins communication in all of biology, not least nature conservation and sustainable use of ecosystem resources. The flexibility of taxonomic interpretations, however, presents a serious challenge for end-users of taxonomic concepts. Users need standardised and continuously harmonised taxonomic reference systems, as well as high-quality and complete taxonomic data sets, but these are generally lacking for non-specialists. The solution is in dynamic, expertly curated web-based taxonomic tools.
The Pan-European Species-directories Infrastructure (PESI) worked to solve this key issue by providing a taxonomic e-infrastructure for Europe. It strengthened the relevant social (expertise) and information (standards, data and technical) capacities of five major community networks on taxonomic indexing in Europe, which is essential for proper biodiversity assessment and monitoring activities. The key objectives of PESI were: 1) standardisation in taxonomic reference systems, 2) enhancement of the quality and completeness of taxonomic data sets and 3) creation of integrated access to taxonomic information.
This paper describes the results of PESI and its future prospects, including the involvement in major European biodiversity informatics initiatives and programs.
We present an updated list of terrestrial and freshwater nematodes from all regions of the Arctic, for which records of properly identified nematode species are available: Svalbard, Jan Mayen, Iceland, Greenland, Nunavut, Northwest territories, Alaska, Lena River estuary, Taymyr and Severnaya Zemlya and Novaya Zemlya. The list includes 391 species belonging to 146 genera, 54 families and 10 orders of the phylum Nematoda.
The present paper contains new distributional records for 61 species of ichneumon wasps (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) previously unknown for Norway, six of them are reported from Scandinavia for the first time.
The Swedish Malaise Trap Project (SMTP) is one of the most ambitious insect inventories ever attempted. The project was designed to target poorly known insect groups across a diverse range of habitats in Sweden. The field campaign involved the deployment of 73 Malaise traps at 55 localities across the country for three years (2003-2006). Over the past 15 years, the collected material has been hand sorted by trained technicians into over 300 taxonomic fractions suitable for expert attention. The resulting collection is a tremendous asset for entomologists around the world, especially as we now face a desperate need for baseline data to evaluate phenomena like insect decline and climate change. Here, we describe the history, organisation, methodology and logistics of the SMTP, focusing on the rationale for the decisions taken and the lessons learned along the way. The SMTP represents one of the early instances of community science applied to large-scale inventory work, with a heavy reliance on volunteers in both the field and the laboratory. We give estimates of both staff effort and volunteer effort involved. The project has been funded by the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative; in total, the inventory has cost less than 30 million SEK (approximately 3.1 million USD). Based on a subset of the samples, we characterise the size and taxonomic composition of the SMTP material. Several different extrapolation methods suggest that the material comprises around 20 million specimens in total. The material is dominated by Diptera (75% of the specimens) and Hymenoptera (15% of specimens). Amongst the Diptera, the dominant groups are Chironomidae (37% of specimens), Sciaridae (15%), Phoridae (13%), Cecidomyiidae (9.5%) and Mycetophilidae (9.4%). Within Hymenoptera, the major groups are Ichneumonidae (44% of specimens), Diaprioidea (19%), Braconidae (9.6%), Platygastroidea (8.5%) and Chalcidoidea (7.9%). The taxonomic composition varies with latitude and season. Several Diptera and Hymenoptera groups are more common in non-summer samples (collected from September to April) and in the North, while others show the opposite pattern. About 1% of the total material has been processed and identified by experts so far. This material represents over 4,000 species. One third of these had not been recorded from Sweden before and almost 700 of them are new to science. These results reveal the large amounts of taxonomic work still needed on Palaearctic insect faunas. Based on the SMTP experiences, we discuss aspects of planning and conducting future large-scale insect inventory projects using mainly traditional approaches in relation to more recent approaches that rely on molecular techniques.
Lathrolestesivoriensis sp. n. is described from Côte d'Ivoire. This is the second record of the genus from the Afrotropical region and the first record of the genus and the subfamily for the country. Illustrated re-description of Lathrolestesruwenzoricus (Benoit, 1955) is also provided.
A new species of the genus Metopheltes Uchida (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae, Ctenopelmatinae), Metopheltesclypeoarmatus sp. n. is described from Vietnam. Metopheltespetiolaris Uchida, 1932 is recorded for the first time from the Russian Far East. The other previously described species are also illustrated and discussed.
The knowledge of terrestrial Parasitengona in Fennoscandia lies far behind that of their aquatic counterparts, the water mites (Hydrachnidia). Based on new inventories, we provide primary data and an annotated checklist of terrestrial Parasitengona in Fennoscandia including 107 species. Out of these, nineteen species are new findings for the region and five are species potentially new for science. Twenty-three species are new for Norway, fourteen for Finland and eleven for Sweden. The known recorded fauna today of terrestrial Parasitengona is 80 species for Norway, 54 for Sweden and 48 for Finland. Primary data include georeferenced locality data as well as collecting techniques and microhabitat to increase the knowledge on species' habitat requirements.