Most researchers in the department of Invertebrate Zoology work collaboratively with other researchers around the world. One of our prime scientific endeavors is to document biodiversity. Two new collaborative papers have been published with IZ curators as co-authors.
1. Liu, H., R. Hershler, B. Lang, and J. Davies. 2013. Molecular evidence for cryptic species in a narrowly endemic western North American springsnail (Pyrgulopsis gilae). Conserv.Genet. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10592-013-0483-x
2. Martínez, A., M. Di Domenico, K. Jörger, J. Norenburg, and K. Worsaae. 2013. Description of three new species of Protodrilus (Annelida, Protodrilidae) from Central America. Marine Biology Research 9(7): 676-91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17451000.2013.765574
Both of these papers uncover new species, but they contrast in that one paper documents what are becoming known as "dark taxa". In the paper by Liu and colleagues, two new species of springsnail are revealed and documented through genetic sequencing. These two species are very similar looking to a third, known as Pyrgulopsis gilae, but they live in different forks of the same river system and are genetically distinct. The diagram to the left, known as a haplotype network, graphically shows the differences in one genetic marker derived from a bunch of different samples. This result has conservation implications because what was thought to be one more widespread species is actually three more narrowly distributed species. However, the species need to be formally named and described and that work is in progress. Until then, they are "dark taxa", species we know exist through some sort of documentation, but for which we have no formal name, a phrase popularized by Rod Page and IZ's own Chris Meyer.
The other paper by Martínez et al. describes and names 3 new species of worm from Central America. These species were discovered, at least in part, during a training workshop on marine meiofauna (minute critters living in and on mud, sand and other sediments), sponsored by the Encyclopedia of Life. Just about three years after the workshop, these authors have completed the long process of bringing these species "to light" by giving them formal names and descriptions, including their morphology and genetics.
Protodrilus smithsoni, one of three new species described by Martínez and colleagues, named in honor of the Smithsonian Institution and its founder, James Smithson.
So many species, so little time. . . .
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