Current understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes underlying island biodiversity is heavily shaped by empirical data from plants and birds, although arthropods comprise the overwhelming majority of known animal species, and as such can provide key insights into processes governing biodiversity. Novel high throughput sequencing (HTS) approaches are now emerging as powerful tools to overcome limitations in the avail...

Synchronous multispecific coral spawning generally occurs annually and forms an integral part of the coral life cycle. Apart from spawning times and species participation, however, much else remains unknown. Here, we applied environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding to study two tropical reef sites of contrasting coral cover before, during and after coral spawning. Using coral‐ITS2 and vertebrate‐12S markers, we evaluated eDNA as...

DNA obtained from invertebrates (iDNA) can be metabarcoded in order to survey vertebrate communities. However, little attention has been paid to the interaction between the invertebrate and vertebrate species. Here, we tested for specialization by sampling the dung and carrion fly community of a swamp forest remnant along a disturbance gradient (10 sites: 80–310 m from a road). Approximately, 60% of the baited 407 flies yielde...

Here, we provide the first complete mitochondrial genomes for two higher taxa of Peracarida, Lophogastrida and Stygiomysida. We examined Lophogaster typicus as a representative of Lophogastrida and Spelaeomysis bottazzii as a representative of Stygiomysida. Both mitogenomes have all typical metazoan genes (13 protein‐coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and 22 transfer RNAs). The mitogenomes have a length of 15,076 bp in L. t...

Summary Metal‐sulfides are wide‐spread in marine benthic habitats. At deep‐sea hydrothermal vents, they occur as massive sulfide chimneys formed by mineral precipitation upon mixing of reduced vent fluids with cold oxygenated sea water. Although microorganisms inhabiting actively venting chimneys and utilizing compounds supplied by the venting fluids are well studied, only little is known about microorganisms inhabiting inacti...

Summary Deep‐sea hydrothermal vents are highly dynamic habitats characterized by steep temperature and chemical gradients. The oxidation of reduced compounds dissolved in the venting fluids fuels primary production providing the basis for extensive life. Until recently studies of microbial vent communities have focused primarily on chemolithoautotrophic organisms. In our study, we targeted the change of microbial community com...

Recent advances in scleractinian systematics and taxonomy have been achieved through the integration of molecular and morphological data, as well as rigorous analysis using phylogenetic methods. In this study, we continue in our pursuit of a phylogenetic classification by examining the evolutionary relationships between the closely related reef coral genera M erulina , G oniastrea , P araclavarina and S capophyllia (Merulinida...

Aim We investigate the biogeographical history of the species‐rich Sundaic freshwater crab genus Parathelphusa (family Gecarcinucidae). In particular, we ask to what extent eustatic sea‐level fluctuations influenced diversification and species distribution. We test the prediction that sea‐level fluctuations in the course of the Pleistocene glaciations increased speciation rates. Location Malay Peninsula, Greater Sunda Islands...

Tan, D. S. H., Ang, Y., Lim, G. S., Ismail, M. R. B. & Meier, R. (2010). From ‘cryptic species’ to integrative taxonomy: an iterative process involving DNA sequences, morphology, and behaviour leads to the resurrection of Sepsis pyrrhosoma (Sepsidae: Diptera). — Zoologica Scripta , 39 , 51–61. The increased availability of DNA sequences has led to a surge of ‘cryptic species’ in the literature. These units are usually proposed...

The phylogeny and biogeography of the Malayan freshwater crab genus Johora was studied using two mitochondrial genes, 16S rRNA (560 bp) and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) (616 bp), and one nuclear gene, histone 3 (H3) (328 bp). Johora is shown to be monophyletic and composed of three clades that correspond with the topography of the Malay Peninsula. The three clades were estimated to be of similar age ( c . 11 million year...

We argue that the millions of specimen‐label records published over the past decades in thousands of taxonomic revisions are a cost‐effective source of information of critical importance for incorporating invertebrates into biodiversity research and conservation decisions. More specifically, we demonstrate for a specimen database assembled during a revision of the robber‐fly genus Euscelidia (Asilidae, Diptera) how nonparametr...