Debugging diversity - a pan-continental exploration of the potential of terrestrial blood-feeding leeches as a vertebrate monitoring tool.

The use of environmental DNA (eDNA) has become an applicable noninvasive tool with which to obtain information about biodiversity. A subdiscipline of eDNA is iDNA (invertebrate-derived DNA), where genetic material ingested by invertebrates is used to characterize the biodiversity of the species that served as hosts. While promising, these techniques are still in their infancy, as they have only been explored on limited numbers of samples from only a single or a few different locations. In this study, we investigate the suitability of iDNA extracted from more than 3,000 haematophagous terrestrial leeches as a tool for detecting a wide range of terrestrial vertebrates across five different geographical regions on three different continents. These regions cover almost the full geographical range of haematophagous terrestrial leeches, thus representing all parts of the world where this method might apply. We identify host taxa through metabarcoding coupled with high-throughput sequencing on Illumina and IonTorrent sequencing platforms to decrease economic costs and workload and thereby make the approach attractive for practitioners in conservation management. We identified hosts in four different taxonomic vertebrate classes: mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, belonging to at least 42 different taxonomic families. We find that vertebrate blood ingested by haematophagous terrestrial leeches throughout their distribution is a viable source of DNA with which to examine a wide range of vertebrates. Thus, this study provides encouraging support for the potential of haematophagous terrestrial leeches as a tool for detecting and monitoring terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity.

Beautiful bright belly: A distinctive new microhylid frog (Amphibia: Stumpffia) from eastern Madagascar.

We describe a new red-bellied species of the microhylid frog genus Stumpffia from the Andasibe region (18°56' S, 48°25' E, ca. 900 m elevation) in central-eastern Madagascar. Stumpffia kibomena sp. nov. differs from all other described Stumpffia species in coloration, morphology, and by genetic differentiation in the mitochondrial 16S  rRNA gene (≥8.6% uncorrected p-distance to all other nominal species of the genus). It is furthermore distinguished from most other Stumpffia species by its advertisement calls. The new species is reliably known only from a few specimens collected in the Andasibe region and based on the limited knowledge we suggest its IUCN Red List classification as "Data Deficient".

New distributional records and conservation implications for the critically endangered greater bamboo lemur Prolemur simus.

To improve our knowledge of the distribution of the critically endangered greater bamboo lemur Prolemur simus, we surveyed 6 sites in eastern Madagascar. We found its characteristic feeding signs at 5 sites and made a direct sighting at one of these. One site represents a northern extension of 45 km of the known extant range of the species. Two sites are located in a forest corridor approximately halfway between the previously known southern and northern populations, therefore suggesting a broadly continuous distribution of the species within its range rather than the previously suspected distribution of two distinct populations separated by a distance of over 200 km. Our results illustrate the benefit of species-focussed surveys in determining the true distribution of endangered species, a realistic measure which is necessary in order to assess their current status and to prioritise long-term conservation interventions.

Defoliation of alders (Alnus glutinosa) affects herbivory by leaf beetles on undamaged neighbours.

The effects of defoliation of alder (Alnus glutinosa) on subsequent herbivory by alder leaf beetle (Agelastica alni) were studied in ten alder stands in northern Germany. At each site, one tree was manually defoliated (c. 20% of total foliage) to simulate herbivory. Subsequent damage by A. alni was assessed on ten alders at each site on six different dates from May to September 1994. After defoliation, herbivory by A. alni increased with distance from the defoliated tree. Laboratory experiments supported the field results. Not only leaf damage in the field, but also the extent of leaf consumption in laboratory feeding-preference tests and the number of eggs oviposited per leaf in another laboratory test were positively correlated with distance from the defoliated tree. Resistance was therefore induced not only in defoliated alders, but also in their undamaged neighbours. Consequently, defoliation of alders may trigger interplant resistance transfer, and therefore reduce herbivory in whole alder stands.