Trametes is a genus of wood-decaying fungi which is widely distributed across the planet and contains about fifty species. Some of those species have a long history as medicinal fungi in many cultures (e.g. in Namibia or India). This new species was found in Benin and its name refers to the small size of its spores.For the experts: Trametes is a globally distributed genus of white-rot polypores and well sampled in temperate and boreal areas. However, the…

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Centipeds are predatory arthropods that are often venomous and can inflict painful bites. Despite their name referring to the number 100, centipedes can have a varying number of legs, ranging from 30 to 354. Actually, they always have an odd number of pairs of legs which means they never can have 100 legs. Their size ranges from a few millimetres to 30 cm. This new species belongs to the smaller ones as it is only a…

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Add captionI am revitalizing an older tradition of this blog. A weekly (very subjective) collection of papers relating to DNA barcoding, metabarcoding and everything related:DNA barcoding reveals incorrect labelling of insects sold as food in the UKInsects form an established part of the diet in many parts of the world and insect food products are emerging into the European and North American marketplaces. Consumer confidence in product is key in developing this market, and accurate…

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Some years after the last run of our successful School Malaise Trap Program we started thinking about new ways to involve citizen scientists at schools in our research. We pitched an idea to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and were granted some funds to set it up and start with a few runs.The Bees@School project initially involved 100 school classrooms in discerning critical information on the changing geographic distributions of plant-pollinator…

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Promolotra shankhaungThe spider family Oonopidae, commonly known as goblin spiders, consists of over 1,800 described species. Most of them are tiny, measuring only about 1 to 3 millimeters. As a result they are seldom seen by people as they are too small to be noticed. They are generally found in leaf litter and under rocks, but they also make up a significant component of the spider fauna living in the canopy of tropical rainforests.Both spiders…

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The mata mata turtle is a large (45 cm, up to 15 kg) freshwater turtle found in South America, mostly in the in the Amazon and Orinoco basins.  They have a very distinct look and are therefore available in the exotic pet trade, quite expensive to obtain. These turtles are carnivorous and predominantly feed at night in muddy water with limited visibility. However, they have very good eyesight with eyes that reflect light, similar to other nocturnal reptiles. The…

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Our friends at Naturalis in Leiden, Netherlands released this piece of great news today: An organized overview of all multicellular flora and fauna in the Netherlands and the infrastructure to identify them semi-automatically. This is what the ARISE megaproject wants to achieve in five to ten years’ time. The Dutch Research Council (NWO), Naturalis Biodiversity Center, the University of Amsterdam, the University of Twente and the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute are investing a combined total of…

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Barracudinas (family Paralepididae) are long and slender fish with large eyes, and a pointed snout with fang-like teeth. They look a little like to barracudas but are not related to those. They lack a swim bladder and - rarely found in vertebrates - they are hermaphrodites. Barracudinas can be found at depths of 2000 m, but they are mostly found somewhere between 200 and 1000 m. Our new species is one of three that were found…

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Three of the world's most famous alpinists (Reinhold Messner, Peter Habeler and David Lama - all Austrians) have been honoured by naming some newly discovered alpine moth species after them. They were discovered and described by my Austrian colleague Peter Huemer. The species belong to the large moth family Gelechiidae (4500 species) which is a group of usually rather small animals with narrow, fringed wings. Gelechiidae caterpillars mostly feed on various parts of plants, sometimes causing galls or…

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These are the days for Harry Potter fans among taxonomists and naturalists. Another animal has been described using the name of a character in JK Rowling's famous books: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’s co-founder, Salazar Slytherin.Green pit vipers of the genus Trimeresurus are venomous serpents, with rather diverse looking species and varying life styles. They can be found  across east and Southeast Asia. This new species was found in Arunachal Pradesh, a state in India…

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