Following up with some previous topics

I have not been able to post anything here in a while, mostly because lack of time due to some research projects that needed to be finished. Most of those projects relate to what this blog is all about, and thus today I will be writing about three of them that are, somehow, related.

Two weeks ago I had a paper published in the Biodiversity Data Journal about potential conservation of Canadian parasitoid wasps by COSEWIC (The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada). This, of course, is a long shot, and there is no guarantee whatsoever that COSEWIC would list any of the species discussed there as candidates for some protection status. Still, that is one of my dearest dreams (perhaps naively?); as a researcher on parasitoid wasps I would LOVE to see someday that our small and often overlooked "friends" are given some attention -and hopefully some protection!

While I was preparing the information for that paper (which included distribution maps in Canada and illustrations for all 16 species included there, see examples below), I had the great opportunity of exchanging emails with Gergely Varkonyi (Finland) and Mark Shaw (Scotland). They both have great experience with the pioneering efforts of (trying to) protecting parasitoid wasps. Gergely was one of the lead authors of the Hymenoptera chapter of the 2010 Red List of Finnish Species, and as such he became (unknown to him) a source of inspiration for me. As for Mark, he has been one of my  mentors for the past few years, and I read his papers routinely. Mark has written some seminal papers on the topic of conservation of parasitoid wasps, and I strongly recommend the reading of his 2001 paper "The Neglect of Parasitic Hymenoptera in Insect Conservation Strategies: The British Fauna as a Prime Example" and his 2006 paper "Habitat considerations for parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera)". While I cannot blame Gergely and Mark if my efforts to emulate them fail here in Canada, I do hope that following into their footsteps would some day bring certain degree of recognition and protection to parasitoid wasps in this side of the Atlantic. At least I will keep pushing! [I have written about these topics in this blog a couple of times before].

Distribution of Pseudapanteles gouleti, a Canadian endemic, in Ontario.

Pseudapanteles gouleti, one of the species with great potential to be considered by COSEWIC.

Lathrapanteles heleios, another species with great potential to be considered by COSEWIC.

Another paper I had published recently in ZooKeys was about a great team-work study of parasitoid wasps of Costa Rica. This manuscript is not for the faint of heart: it deals with 205 species (186 of them new), with more than 300 illustrations and spread over 565 pages. But is yet another example of "Turbotaxonomy". Hopefully soon I will have time to write more about the challenges that such kind of work presents for a taxonomist, but also -and most importantly- about the possibilities that those efforts provide to describe and better comprehend the amazing diversity of species worldwide...

In the meantime, I was very pleased to discover that this paper became some sort of news in many places, including being featured by the National Geographic Daily News, the smart blog "Strange Behaviors" (which used the suggestive title of "The Biological Warfare of Very Small Wasps" to refer to our paper), and even the main newspaper of Costa Rica (link in Spanish).

Curiously enough, last year National Geographic (NG) actually covered the story of a very amazing parasitoid wasp named after Tinkerbell, which was described by John Huber, a good friend and colleague of mine here in the Canadian National Collection of Insects (CNC). [I would like to think that there must be some kind of "secret link" between the NG and the CNC... it could even be used for a nice title of a new TV show, something like "NG-CNC, the CSI of insect discovery!" One can only dream :) But, in all seriousness, I hope that NG will continue to value the work on parasitoid wasps -and other incredible and amazing creatures of our planet].

My last surprise of the month was to find (at last!) some mention to our new species described from New Zealand, the ones that we affectionately call "The Hobbit Wasps". I had hoped that the news of these "cool wasps" would go viral and become a world phenomenon (and, who knows? perhaps even Peter Jackson would ask me to sign him an autograph!). But, disappointingly enough, the news on those wasps never became as big of an issue as I had expected (and, seriously now, my main hope was simpler and less pompous: gaining some support for more research on the New Zealand fauna of parasitoid wasps).

But then, when everything seemed lost (pretty much as in many moments of The Lord of the Rings movies) I found that our paper was actually covered by some media. Admittedly, CryptoVille is a blog that defines itself as dealing with "Bigfoot, Aliens, Mysterious Creatures, and more!", not the traditional outlet than an entomologist would look for his research to be featured and discussed. Still, I was surprised that the author presented the result of our research in a mostly accurate and fair way -and, in fact, I wrote to thank him for his post. And you know what? There are many followers of CryptoVille, MANY MORE than those following this blog that I write. So, of anything, I felt humbled and schooled.

Sometimes the results of our work can reach the most unexpected audiences in the most unexpected ways. As a scientist, I deeply respect this, and I tip my cap to anyone that is willing to promote the appreciation (and protection) of our natural world.

The potential of the Biodiversity Data Journal

For the past few months a new and promising journal has been part of the family of journals under the umbrella of Pensoft Publishers. In the meantime other journals have been added to Pensoft portfolio and, beyond of this publisher, there are dozens of new journals being added every year. So what is news here?

Well, the Biodiversity Data Journal (BDJ) is not exactly your regular biodiversity/taxonomic journal. For one, it does not have upper or lower limit on the size of papers to be published there (more on that below). Another novelty is the online review system, the consolidation of all reviews in one single document (online), and other technical tricks that allow for a faster process of publication. When I write fast I mean much FASTER than a regular journal. There are other interesting features and capabilities (some already functional, others to be added in the near future) that make this journal very attractive. The reader is strongly recommended to check the Editorial that introduced the journal four months ago.
 

Personally, there are three things that specially attract me. First, the fact that there is no lower limit on the data to be published allows for new distribution records, new biological information, and similar data (stored in many natural history collections) to be published now in a much expedite way. Usually taxonomist would wait for a big monograph or review to add that kind of information. But, as it is well known, such big papers may take years (if not decades) to be prepared. And, in the meantime, the data is seating in the collections, unused, loosing value, and even risking to be lost (if, heaven forbids, the taxonomist dies before finishing his/her review). The BDJ can now help to solve at least part of this bottleneck.

The second thing that I like is the possibility of post-publication review of the papers (although I still have not seen any paper being reviewed that way, but hopefully it will happen soon). This will allow for the community to weight into the published papers, which will certainly help to improve the accuracy and quality of what has been published. We are still in the infancy of this kind of approach, but I can see the merits of this, and I am a strong supporter of the idea.

Concerning Hobbits... and Microgastrinae wasps

Today the journal Zootaxa publishes a paper about a new genus of parasitoid wasps only found in New Zealand. The article is open access and can be freely accessed here. It is the second paper of a series on the New Zealand fauna of Microgastrinae wasps, as result of collaborations started in 2011 by Darren Ward and me. Darren is an expert on wasps and ants (among other topics) but, most importantly, he is a scientist with Landcare Research, Auckland, where the largest collection of insects of New Zealand is housed. Thanks to his work, and the work done by other researchers before him, we can now study the fascinating world of parasitoid wasps inhabiting that extraordinary country.

The new genus was named "Shireplitis". The ending "plitis" refers to the superficial similarity of its species with another genus of parasitoid waps, Paroplitis, which is found in Europe, North America, and northern areas of Vietnam and Philippines. The first part of the name "Shire" refers to The Shire, the region exclusively inhabited by Hobbits in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional universe setting of Middle-earth. And then, five of the new species found in the genus, which are also described in the paper, are named after the hobbits Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin. A sixth new species is named after Tolkien himself.

Meet the new six species of Shireplitis parasitoid wasps, from New Zealand. The black line in the middle represents 1 millimiter, every wasp species is roughly 2 mm long.

It is not uncommon for scientist to name new species using funny, famous, and/or interesting names. For example, there are species named after Darth Vader, Tinkerbell, Greek Gods, Lady Gaga, and anything in between. Several websites have compiled many of those names, my favourite site being the one maintained by Doug Yanega (University of California, Riverside). His list even includes a section exclusively devoted to names used for characters and creatures from Tolkien!

In our case, we used Tolkien-related names for two main reasons. First, which goes without saying, is because we are fans of Tolkien works. In my personal case, I consider myself a die hard fan of The Lord of the Ring movies, which I usually watch 2-3 times per year (in the way real fans do it: watching the three movies one right after the other, in a 12 hours or so marathon). [By the way: I cannot wait until the three DVDs of The Hobbit movies become available at some point in 2015... at that time I will try an "Iron Man Tolkien Movies Marathon"!].

The second reason is more related to the scientific content of the paper itself, although still carries a strong metaphorical meaning. The new genus is endemic (i.e., exclusive) of New Zealand (where a replicate of the Shire exists); and its six new species are rather short and stout (as text-book hobbits are supposed to be!). All the species have been found in different mountain ranges in New Zealand (mostly on the South Island), meaning that they are truly unique. Last but not least, the species of Shireplitis are morphologically rather similar to Paroplitis, in spite of the huge separation in the geographical distribution of both genera. We think that is due to the similar ecological conditions those wasps species find when looking for its prey (caterpillars), which have made them to look alike in spite they are not closely related. This is a nice example of convergent evolution, and a fascinating testimony of how life evolves under similarly yet slightly different conditions!

So, what is next? Darren and I still have 80-100 new species of microgastrine wasps from New Zealand to describe, which we hope to do within the next few years... We will likely name some species in more conventional ways. But we will certainly have plenty of room to link more names of the Tollkien universe with the scientific universe!

I can surely think of having a few more new wasp species named after the remaining members of the Fellowship of the Ring. And beyond that the new characters of the new Hobbit movies. The sky is the limit... Well, not really, the actual limit is the biodiversity richness -i.e. the number of species- of New Zealand that remains undescribed. But, fortunately, there are still plenty of new species waiting to be discovered.

Next time you watch one of The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings movies, when you look at the beautiful scenery shown as background, think that those mountains hold much more than elf or orcs... they are harbouring an amazing diversity of life, including our new friends, the Shireplitis parasitoid wasps!

About Scratchpads and related websites

Since I started this blog, my main motivation has been to share information about braconid wasps parasitizing caterpillars (mainly the subfamily Microgastrinae). At the time, it seemed to be the easiest and simplest way to post new photos, host data, and other comments on the group of wasps I work with.  

But I never anticipated to continue blogging for too long... To start with, I do not consider myself a blogger, much less an expert in social media. And there are clear limitations to what can be accomplished with a blog. Furthermore, I do not have a mental disposition to keep writing periodically, but instead I post things whenever I have time -and that is the same to say on an irregular basis...

Then, a few months ago a colleague and friend in Belgium, Yves Braet, contacted me to start a collaboration studying microgastrines from French Guiana. And he mentioned Scratchpads, a free tool to create, publish and contribute to biodiversity knowledge online. I strongly recommend anyone interested in sharing info on species (biodiversity, taxonomy, ecology, etc) to visit Scratchpads and see what it has to offer. It is a nice (and free!) resource to get one started on one's personal group. You will find really neat sites created on various groups -and it is amazing how much can be done.

The only problem is that you have to spend time learning how to create your own website devoted to a taxonomic group. There is a learning curve that requires some effort and time from the interested researcher... and time is the most precious commodity these days.

However, I keep thinking on that, and in the future I may just migrate all contents from this blog to a site within Scratchpads. The main motivation being that information would be presented in a much better and useful way than in this blog. So, the days of this blog may be counted...

Actually, I already went and started a site called New World Microgastrinae. I just uploaded a few photos and wrote three paragrpahs, kind of a test of what could be done. But, since doing that, I have not been able to work more on that site, and it may take awhile before something useful comes from that. Or not, one never knows how things may develop.

Either way, I still hope to find a solution that would allow me to share the information in the easiest and most practical way (Am I dreaming in colors?). Perhaps the reader knows of other possibilities like Scratchpads. If so, please let me know. I am still open to explore different avenues to present the data that I have. Thanks!

The genus Iconella in the New World

Yesterday I was happy to see a paper I co-authored to come out in Zookeys. It is a review of the genus Iconella in the New World. The paper can be freely downloaded here.

Iconella canadensis, a new species described from North America (Canada).

The main reason I am happy to see that paper out is not for the paper per se -nor I am writing this post "to promote" the reading of that manuscript. What I am interested to mention here is the integrative approach that we used in that work:

1- Extensive use of illustrations to show morphological characters.

2- Extensive use of parasitoid biology (host data).

3- Extensive use of molecular data (DNA barcoding).

4- Morphological study of species -i.e. "traditional taxonomy".

5- Use (and illustration) of geographic distribution of species.

6- Generation of descriptions via an automated system (Lucid software). 

Speeding-up the description of species

Yesterday I was reading two different but related papers dealing with accelerating the pace of species description by taxonomists. Both were published as open access, thus the interested reader can freely download them here and here. The paper from Zookeys dealt with the description of 101 new species of weevils (Coleptera, Curculionidae) from Papua New Guinea, while the one from Frontiers in Zoology is more about how to embark oneself in this thrilling fast-pace description of species.

Those two papers, published this week, are not the first ones to propose such a fast pace. Six months ago a paper in Zootaxa described 179 new species from Thailand belonging to the braconid genus Aleiodes and proposed the term "turbo-taxonomy" for such fast and quick descriptions. I am also aware of other papers in Hymenoptera following similar approaches (for example, a series of papers from the Platygastroidea Planetary Biodiversity Inventory, and two soon-to-be-submitted papers on the braconid genera Heterospilus and Apanteles). And without doubts, there are more papers published (or being written) which describe lots of species in a relatively fast way.

This topic, very fascinating and also controversial, has interested me for the past few years. Actually, any taxonomist dealing with hyperdiverse groups should be interested in considering and evaluating any help to speed-up the pace at which species descriptions are made! 

What characterizes such efforts? Are they done by "super-humans" taxonomists? Or "super-smart" ones? Is there a magic wand that allows to generate such impressive (and massive) papers?

There are a few common things shared between those papers. The three most conspicuous are:

1) Using DNA barcodes as one of the main tools to separate species. In some cases, barcoding is THE ONLY mean used to separate species, and is even added to taxonomic keys (for example, see some couplets of the Aleiodes paper mentioned above). Barcoding is not only used to tell species apart, but also to reconstruct phylogenies and to characterize individual species (in many cases the actual barcode is included as part of the description process).

2) Relying on high resolution pictures to depict characters and illustrate species.

3) Providing only short descriptions of the species (at least relatively short compared to more "traditional" taxonomic papers). Obviously this is a result of the previous point (and a confirmation of the old adage that "One picture is worth a thousand words").