Insects

New midge species named after Paul Hebert

In an article recently published in the journal Insect Systematics and Evolution, Xiaolong Lin describes eight species of non-biting midges new to science.

“It is particularly rewarding to find and describe new species from a well investigated area such as Norway” says Lin, “but also exciting to find new species from my home country China”.

Non-biting midges, or chironomids, are small insects, and a compound microscope must be used to see the subtle differences between closely related species. However, they are easily separated by DNA barcodes.

“Because several of the new species first were detected using DNA barcoding, it was a natural thing to name one of them after the father of DNA barcoding Paul Hebert”, Lin explains. “The fact that this species is found in Arctic Canada, an area where Hebert have worked intensively, was particularly nice”, he says.

Tanytarsus heberti, the small midge of 2,5 mm from Churchill and Wapusk National Park in Manitoba, can be separated from its closest relatives by its lighter body colour, small details in the male genitalia and a characteristic DNA barcode.

Co-authors and supervisors Elisabeth Stur and Torbjørn Ekrem at the NTNU University Museum elaborates:

“Xiaolong has done a very thorough and good investigation of this group of non-biting midges. Not only does he describe new species in his thesis, but he analyse their evolutionary relationship and geographical distribution. This is a great contribution to our knowledge of a species rich and important group of insects”.

Xiaolong LinDr. Xiaolong Lin post defence of his PhD-thesis at NTNU. Photo: Torbjørn Ekrem CC-BY.

Lin, X., Stur, E. og Ekrem, T. 2017. DNA barcodes and morphology support new species in Chironomidae (Diptera). Insect Systematics and Evolution XX:00-00.

Students map insect diversity in the Botanical Garden in Oslo

NorBOL and the Natural History Museum in Oslo have this winter worked together with a biology-class at Hersleb upper secondary school in doing an invetory of the insect diversity in the Botanical Garden.

Malaisefelle bot hageThe Malaise trap in the Botanical Garden in Oslo. Photo Gunnhild Marthinsen (CC-BY).

Last August, the students deployed a Malaise-trap in the garden and helped collecting the samples. They then sorted the insects to what they thought were different species based on appearance. One hundred and fifty animals were sampled and sent to the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics in Guelph for sequencing.

The students will now compare the sequencing results with their own identifications.

sortering-labEager students sort the Malaise Trap samples. Photo Gunnhild Marthinsen (c).

Through this project the students learn about species diversity and DNA analyses. They experience how difficult it is to determine species based on appearance, especially when not being an expert, and that DNA barcoding works well both for identification of species and for getting an overview of the species diversity.

The project revealed a high diversity of Diptera and Hymenoptera in the Botanical Garden; ca 80 species were found among the 150 that were submitted for analyses. Among the collected species were also a few rarities that are only known from a few localities in Norway; one of the species can even turn out to be new to Norway.

Gunnhild Marthinsen, Natural History Museum, Oslo