When Citizen Science highlights alien invasive species in France: the case of Indochina mantis, Hierodula patellifera (Insecta, Mantodea, Mantidae)

A taxonomic review of the order Mantodea in Korea based on morphology and DNA barcodes

A taxonomic study of Korean Mantodea using morphological and molecular characters (COI) is presented. Eight species [Amantisnawai (Shiraki, 1908), Acromantisjaponica Westwood, 1889, Mantisreligiosasinica Bazyluk, 1960, Statiliamaculata (Thunberg, 1784), Tenoderaangustipennis Saussure, 1869, T.sinensis Saussure, 1871, Hierodulachinensis Werner, 1929, H.patellifera (Audinet-Serville, 1838)] belonging to six genera in three families are recognized. Interspecific genetic divergence of COI using uncorrected p-distance ranged from 6.7% to 22.4%, while intraspecific divergence ranged from 0% to 2.2% among eight Korean Mantodea species. All eight species were each strongly supported as a single lineage using COI on both neighbor-joining and parsimony trees. An illustrated key, redescriptions, habitus photographs, and illustrations of diagnostic characters of the species of Korean Mantodea are provided to facilitate identification.

Documenting Mantodea species in South African museum collections and an updated species list

Background

The previous species list of South African Mantodea, published in 1998, was largely compiled from the literature and did not incorporate data from the many insect museum collections available in the country. It is estimated that approximately 120 species of Mantodea occur in South Africa; however, since no historical museum records were previously incorporated, the current information is considered to be outdated and not a true reflection of the Mantodea fauna within this region. A checklist of species is an important benchmark for any insect group, especially in light of the worldwide declines of insect diversity reported over the last decade. Checklists that provide accurate information on insect diversity, especially for groups, such as the Mantodea which could be under threat and thus could provide important information that can be used in determining the threat status of species, as well as to aid in their conservation in general.

New information

This paper provides an updated checklist of the praying mantids (Insecta, Mantodea) species of South Africa. While 120 species were previously reported to occur in South Africa, this paper reports 157 species in 64 genera that represent eight different superfamilies, 14 families and 22 subfamilies. Additionally, five species are reported for the first time to occur in South Africa. This species list was generated from the approximately 4000 specimen records of which 3558 records reside within South Africa. The remaining 732 records represent 14 other African countries. Occurrence records from two citizen-science platforms (iNaturalist and Gbif.org), were also incorporated in this study, adding 1880 species records in South Africa. The low number of specimens in the national collections indicate that this group of insects is poorly collected and highlights the lack of knowledge about South Africa's mantid fauna, as well as a lack of taxonomic expertise as 1532 museum specimens remain unidentified to species level.

Utilizing Molecular Epidemiology and Citizen Science for the Surveillance of Lagoviruses in Australia

Australia has multiple lagoviruses with differing pathogenicity. The circulation of these viruses was traditionally determined through opportunistic sampling events. In the lead up to the nationwide release of RHDVa-K5 (GI.1aP-GI.1a) in 2017, an existing citizen science program, RabbitScan, was augmented to allow members of the public to submit samples collected from dead leporids for lagovirus testing. This study describes the information obtained from the increased number of leporid samples received between 2015 and 2022 and focuses on the recent epidemiological interactions and evolutionary trajectory of circulating lagoviruses in Australia between October 2020 and December 2022. A total of 2771 samples were tested from January 2015 to December 2022, of which 1643 were lagovirus-positive. Notable changes in the distribution of lagovirus variants were observed, predominantly in Western Australia, where RHDV2-4c (GI.4cP-GI.2) was detected again in 2021 after initially being reported to be present in 2018. Interestingly, we found evidence that the deliberately released RHDVa-K5 was able to establish and circulate in wild rabbit populations in WA. Overall, the incorporation of citizen science approaches proved to be a cost-efficient method to increase the sampling area and enable an in-depth analysis of lagovirus distribution, genetic diversity, and interactions. The maintenance of such programs is essential to enable continued investigations of the critical parameters affecting the biocontrol of feral rabbit populations in Australia, as well as to enable the detection of any potential future incursions.

Annotated catalogue of Orthoptera (Orthoptera, Insecta) of Latvia

We present a revised list of Latvian species of Orthoptera and provide notes on their occurrence and present knowledge. New information on orthopteran observations from online databases, local unpublished studies, entomological collections, and our direct observations is combined, and a dataset of more than 1500 recent observations is provided. All historical synonyms used in the reviewed information sources are presented. As a result, an annotated list of 52 Orthoptera species is compiled, from which five newly reported species in Latvia are presented here for the first time together with distribution maps. In conclusion, the presence of 43 species of Orthoptera is confirmed in Latvia.

Identifying, reducing, and communicating uncertainty in community science: a focus on alien species

Community science (also often referred to as citizen science) provides a unique opportunity to address questions beyond the scope of other research methods whilst simultaneously engaging communities in the scientific process. This leads to broad educational benefits, empowers people, and can increase public awareness of societally relevant issues such as the biodiversity crisis. As such, community science has become a favourable framework for researching alien species where data on the presence, absence, abundance, phenology, and impact of species is important in informing management decisions. However, uncertainties arising at different stages can limit the interpretation of data and lead to projects failing to achieve their intended outcomes. Focusing on alien species centered community science projects, we identified key research questions and the relevant uncertainties that arise during the process of developing the study design, for example, when collecting the data and during the statistical analyses. Additionally, we assessed uncertainties from a linguistic perspective, and how the communication stages among project coordinators, participants and other stakeholders can alter the way in which information may be interpreted. We discuss existing methods for reducing uncertainty and suggest further solutions to improve data reliability. Further, we make suggestions to reduce the uncertainties that emerge at each project step and provide guidance and recommendations that can be readily applied in practice. Reducing uncertainties is essential and necessary to strengthen the scientific and community outcomes of community science, which is of particular importance to ensure the success of projects aimed at detecting novel alien species and monitoring their dynamics across space and time.

Formerly considered rare, the ant species Cryptoponeochracea (Mayr, 1855) can be commonly detected using citizen-science tools

Citizen science is a valuable tool for monitoring different species, especially in cases concerning truly rare and difficult-to-detect species where time-consuming field studies are limited and long-term research projects are uncertain. To better understand the distribution of the rarely collected Cryptoponeochracea (Mayr, 1855) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Hungary, we obtained the occurrence data with photos uploaded by non-professionals to the page of the largest Hungarian Facebook group dealing with ants and a citizen-science website dealing with biological data collection. In this article, we expand the known distribution of C.ochracea to include 46 new records from Hungary and one from Serbia. With two historical records, this previously undersampled species has now been found 48 times in Hungary. Our results prove that social media platforms and other websites for citizen science projects offer new and useful opportunities for researchers to involve non-professionals in scientific work and, thus, obtain large amounts of valuable data, even for understudied arthropod species.

Citizen science reveals current distribution, predicted habitat suitability and resource requirements of the introduced African Carder Bee Pseudoanthidium (Immanthidium) repetitum in Australia

The introduction of non-native bee species is a major driver of ecosystem change resulting in the spread of non-native weeds, alterations to plant-pollinator interactions and competition with native species for food and nesting resources. Our lack of ecological information for many non-native organisms hinders our ability to understand the impacts of species introductions. This is often compounded by the Wallacean Shortfall—a lack of adequate knowledge of a species’ distribution in geographic space. In Australia, the African carder bee (Pseudoanthidium (Immanthidium) repetitum) was first observed in 2000 and has since become one of the most common bees in some regions. Despite its rapid population increase and range expansion, little is known about the ecology or distribution of P. repetitum. In this study, we determine the flower preferences, current distribution and predicted areas at risk of future invasion of P. repetitum using opportunistic data collected from citizen science websites, social media and museum records. We found that the current distribution of P. repetitum in Australia encompasses approximately 332,000 km2 concentrated along the eastern coast. We found considerable suitable habitat outside the current distribution including biodiversity hotspots and world heritage listed natural areas. Pseudoanthidium repetitum foraged on a wide range of plants from many families and can thus be classified as a generalist forager (polylectic). Our results suggest that P. repetitum is well suited for continued expansion in coastal Australia. Our results demonstrate the effective application of opportunistic data in overcoming knowledge gaps in species ecology and modelling of introduced species distribution.

Observing the Observers: How Participants Contribute Data to iNaturalist and Implications for Biodiversity Science

The availability of citizen science data has resulted in growing applications in biodiversity science. One widely used platform, iNaturalist, provides millions of digitally vouchered observations submitted by a global user base. These observation records include a date and a location but otherwise do not contain any information about the sampling process. As a result, sampling biases must be inferred from the data themselves. In the present article, we examine spatial and temporal biases in iNaturalist observations from the platform's launch in 2008 through the end of 2019. We also characterize user behavior on the platform in terms of individual activity level and taxonomic specialization. We found that, at the level of taxonomic class, the users typically specialized on a particular group, especially plants or insects, and rarely made observations of the same species twice. Biodiversity scientists should consider whether user behavior results in systematic biases in their analyses before using iNaturalist data.

How Do Young Community and Citizen Science Volunteers Support Scientific Research on Biodiversity? The Case of iNaturalist

Online community and citizen science (CCS) projects have broadened access to scientific research and enabled different forms of participation in biodiversity research; however, little is known about whether and how such opportunities are taken up by young people (aged 5-19). Furthermore, when they do participate, there is little research on whether their online activity makes a tangible contribution to scientific research. We addressed these knowledge gaps using quantitative analytical approaches and visualisations to investigate 249 youths' contributions to CCS on the iNaturalist platform, and the potential for the scientific use of their contributions. We found that nearly all the young volunteers' observations were 'verifiable' (included a photo, location, and date/time) and therefore potentially useful to biodiversity research. Furthermore, more than half were designated as 'Research Grade', with a community agreed-upon identification, making them more valuable and accessible to biodiversity science researchers. Our findings show that young volunteers with lasting participation on the platform and those aged 16-19 years are more likely to have a higher proportion of Research Grade observations than younger, or more ephemeral participants. This study enhances our understanding of young volunteers' contributions to biodiversity research, as well as the important role professional scientists and data users can play in helping verify youths' contributions to make them more accessible for biodiversity research.

The Myrmecofauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Hungary: Survey of Ant Species with an Annotated Synonymic Inventory

Simple Summary

Abundance is a hallmark of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). They are exceedingly common in both natural and artificial environments and they constitute a conspicuous part of the terrestrial ecosystem; every 3 to 4 out of 10 kg of insects are given by ants. Due to their key role in natural habitats, they are at the basis of any nature conservation and pest management policy. Thus, the first step in developing adequate management strategies is to build a precise faunistic inventory. More than 16,000 valid ant species are registered worldwide, of which 126 are known to occur in Hungary. Thanks to the last decade’s efforts in the Hungarian myrmecological research, and because of the constantly changing taxonomy of several problematic ant genera, a new checklist of the Hungarian ants is presented here. A comparison of the Hungarian myrmecofauna to other European countries’ ant fauna is also provided in this paper. The current dataset is a result of ongoing work on inventorying the Hungarian ant fauna, therefore it is expected to change over time and will be updated once the ongoing taxonomic projects are completed.

Abstract

Ants (Hymenoptera: Forimicidae) are exceedingly common in nature. They constitute a conspicuous part of the terrestrial animal biomass and are also considered common ecosystem engineers. Due to their key role in natural habitats, they are at the basis of any nature conservation policy. Thus, the first step in developing adequate conservation and management policies is to build a precise faunistic inventory. More than 16,000 valid ant species are registered worldwide, of which 126 are known to occur in Hungary. Thanks to the last decade’s efforts in the Hungarian myrmecological research, and because of the constantly changing taxonomy of several problematic ant genera, a new checklist of the Hungarian ants is presented here. The state of the Hungarian myrmecofauna is also discussed in the context of other European countries’ ant fauna. Six species (Formica lemani, Lasius nitidigaster, Tetramorium immigrans, T. staerckei, T. indocile and Temnothorax turcicus) have been reported for the first time in the Hungarian literature, nine taxon names were changed after systematic replacements, nomenclatorial act, or as a result of splitting formerly considered continuous populations into more taxa. Two species formerly believed to occur in Hungary are now excluded from the updated list. All names are nomenclaturally assessed, and complete synonymies applied in the Hungarian literature for a certain taxon are provided. Wherever it is not self-evident, comments are added, especially to explain replacements of taxon names. Finally, we present a brief descriptive comparison of the Hungarian myrmecofauna with the ant fauna of the surrounding countries. The current dataset is a result of ongoing work on inventorying the Hungarian ant fauna, therefore it is expected to change over time and will be updated once the ongoing taxonomic projects are completed.

A new alien mantis in Italy: is the Indochina mantis Hierodula patellifera chasing the train for Europe?

The presence of the Indochina mantis Hierodula patellifera (Mantidae, Mantinae) as a new alien species in Italy is reported, with the description of the first stable macro-population in Europe. This macro-population shows a wide distribution, comprising several fragmented and reproducing sub-populations in Northern Italy and one in Southern France. Specimens and individuals were collected or observed on trees and ornamentals in urban ecosystems with the help of citizen science. A spatial analysis (Average Nearest Neighbour) was undertaken to characterise the present distribution pattern, evidencing the hot spots of arrival and the local spreading process. The random pattern of presence in the local urban textures and the resistance of this species to the challenging North Italian climate, are here discussed in the perspective of a future expansion to central and Northern Europe, using probably the main railways to arrive at depots and cities, travelling with Asian goods. Identification characters are also presented to separate this alien species from the other species of the subfamily Mantinae, native or introduced, present in Europe.