On Sunday Nov. 8, Carl Schlichting, Rafael Medina and Bernard Goffinet drove to Branford, CT, to accept a donation of a large collection of books focused on plants, and complemented by many books on birds. This library was assembled over decades by Dr. Nickolas Nickou, an MD passionate about plants, as revealed further by the wonderful garden with many Rhododendrons and also a mature Metasequoia glyptostroboides. The botanical books (about 35 boxes!) will be sorted, those complementing our academic and research mission will be added to the Biodiversity Research Collection (BRC) library. Others will be donated to the LuEsther T. Mertz Library at the New York Botanical Garden.

We sincerely appreciate the kind donation and the support expressed by the family for what we aim to accomplish with the BRC.  THANK YOU.

A new study citing entomological specimens held in BRC was published (link):

Ferro, M. L. & A. J Flick. 2015. “Collection bias” and the importance of natural history collections in species habitat modeling: a case study using Thoracophorus costalis Erichson (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Osoriiinae), a critique of GBIF.org. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 69(3): 415–425.

Abstract: When attempting to understand a species’ distribution, knowing how many collections should be surveyed to achieve an adequate sample (exhaustiveness) is important. A test for exhaustiveness using species distribution models created with Diva-GIS was performed on county level locality information recorded from more than 4,900 specimens of Thoracophorus costalis Erichson (Staphylinidae: Osoriinae) borrowed from 38 collections. Size and location of distribution models based on specimens from single collections varied greatly, indicating “collection bias.” At least 15 collections needed to be combined before the resultant model averaged 90% of the area of a reference model created from all available specimens. By themselves, alternative distribution data from literature, Bugguide.net, and GBIF.org performed poorly, resulting in models with less than 15% the area of the reference model. Comments on the use of online data, the importance of maintaining and growing regional collections, and the future of natural history collections are included.

A new moss species of the genus Archidium described from Brazil:

Peralta D. F., A. M. Rios & B. Goffinet. 2015. Archidium oblongifolium (Archidiaceae, subg. Archidiella), a new species from Brazil. Cryptogamie-Bryologie 36: 211–215. pdf  Google Scholar

Abstract: Archidium oblongifolium (Archidiaceae, subg. Archidiella) is proposed, described and illustrated as a new species based on collections from central Brazil. It is characterized by oblong leaves and lax leaf cells. A. oblongifolium is currently known only from three specimens from a single area, and could thus be considered vulnerable or threatened.

From Dr. Les’ lab:

Les, D. H., E. Peredo, U. M. King, L. K. Benoit, N. P. Tippery, C. J. Ball and R. K. Shannon.  2015.  Through thick and thin: cryptic sympatric speciation in the submersed genus Najas (Hydrocharitaceae).  Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution 82: 15–30.

Les, D. H., E. L. Peredo, N. P. Tippery, L. K. Benoit, H. Razifard, U. M. King, H. R. Na, H.-K. Choi, L. Chen, R. K. Shannon and S. P. Sheldon.  2015.  Najas minor (Hydrocharitaceae) in North America: a reappraisal.  Aquatic Botany 126: 60–72.

From the Simon lab: Hill, K.B.R., D.C. Marshall, M.S. Moulds & C. Simon. 2015. Molecular phylogenetics, diversification, and systematics of Tibicen Latreille 1825 and allied cicadas of the tribe Cryptotympanini, with three new genera and emphasis on species from the USA and Canada (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadidae). Zootaxa 3985 (2): 219–251. 

Carl Rettenmeyer produced two videos on army ants and their guests, reflecting his authoritative knowledge on the biology of army ants. These video can now be enjoyed through the links on the ant-guest video page.

After 10 years of databasing and high resolution imaging by more than 50 students the entire collections of vascular plants is now entered in the database (http://bgbaseserver.eeb.uconn.edu/database.html). Congratulation to Don Les and Bob Capers for leading and overseeing this initiative.

The specimens used for this study are deposited in CONN:

Haber, W. A. and D. L. Wagner. 2015. A new species of Erythrodiplax breeding in bromeliads in Costa Rica (Odonata: Libellulidae). Zootaxa 6;3947(3):386–396. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.3947.3.5

Mitchell, N., T. E. Moore, H. Kilroy Mollmann, J. E. Carlson, K. Mocko, H. Martinez-Cabrera, C. Adams, J. A. Silander Jr., C. S. Jones, C. D. Schlichting, and K. E. Holsinger. 2015. Functional traits in parallel evolutionary radiations and trait-environment associations in the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa. The American Naturalist 185: 525–537.

Bernot, J., J. N. Caira, and M. Pickering. 2015. The dismantling of Calliobothrium (Cestoda: Tetraphyllidea) with erection of Symcallio n. gen. and description of two new species. Journal of Parasitology 101: 167–181.

Buck W. R. & B. Goffinet. 2015. Larrainia, a new genus of Amblystegiaceae from the Cape Horn region of Chile. Arctoa 24: 27–31. (doi: 10.15298/arctoa.24.05)

Dellapé, Pablo M., Maria C. Melo and Jane E. O’Donnell. 2015. Biodiversity and distribution of lethaeine seed bugs (Heteroptera, Rhyparochromidae, Lethaeini) from Argentina. Zoological Studies 54: 34. DOI 10.118615/s40555-015-0114-y

Ignatov, M.S., E.A. Ignatova, I.V. Czernyadjeva, B. Goffinet, O.I. Kuznetsova & V.E. Fedosov. 2015. Afoninia, a new moss genus of Funariaceae from Transbaikalia 
(East Siberia, Russia). Arctoa 24: 14–20. (doi: 10.15298/arctoa.24.02)

Medina, R., Y. Liu, L-S Wang, S. Guo, K. Hylander & B. Goffinet. DNA-based geographic circumscription of Physcomitrella s. lat. species (Funariaceae): P. patens new to Asia and P. magdalenae new to Ethiopia. The Bryologist 118: 22–31.