Benjamin Wills Price

Benjamin Wills Price
  • PhD
  • Principal Curator at Natural History Museum, London

About

100
Publications
63,301
Reads
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2,312
Citations
Current institution
Natural History Museum, London
Current position
  • Principal Curator
Additional affiliations
March 2013 - present
Natural History Museum, London
Position
  • Senior Curator
June 2011 - February 2013
University of Connecticut
Position
  • PostDoc Position
January 2010 - May 2011
Rhodes University
Position
  • PostDoc Position

Publications

Publications (100)
Article
Full-text available
The genus Topiris Walker, 1863 is revised. This genus, previously neglected or deemed unrecognisable, comprised only Walker’s damaged and misrepaired type specimen of Topiris candidella Walker, 1863. Evidence is provided that this specimen was collected by Alfred Russel Wallace in 1855–56 in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. The mitogenome of this specime...
Article
Full-text available
Low coverage ‘genome‐skims’ are often used to assemble organelle genomes and ribosomal gene sequences for cost‐effective phylogenetic and barcoding studies. Natural history collections hold invaluable biological information, yet poor preservation resulting in degraded DNA often hinders polymerase chain reaction‐based analyses. However, it is possib...
Technical Report
Full-text available
Gaps in DNA reference libraries of UK species were identified by the Defra DNA Centre of Excellence Working Group as one of the main barriers preventing the further uptake of DNA based methods for environmental species monitoring. This report details the continuation of the UK Barcode of Life (UKBOL) project and progress in barcoding priority speci...
Article
Full-text available
We present a genome assembly from an individual male Brachyptera risi (the Common February Red Stonefly; Arthropoda; Insecta; Plecoptera; Taeniopterygidae). The genome sequence spans 680.20 megabases. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 14 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the X sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assemb...
Article
Full-text available
We present a genome assembly from an individual female Netelia fuscicornis (an ichneumonid wasp; Arthropoda; Insecta; Hymenoptera; Ichneumonidae). The genome sequence is 324.7 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into six chromosomal pseudomolecules. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 17.7 kilobases in length.
Article
Full-text available
Biodiversity genomics research requires reliable organismal identification, which can be difficult based on morphology alone. DNA-based identification using DNA barcoding can provide confirmation of species identity and resolve taxonomic issues but is rarely used in studies generating reference genomes. Here, we describe the development and impleme...
Article
Full-text available
A remarkable morphologically and genetically distinct species of the genus Ero C.L. Koch, 1836 is described based on both sexes from the cloud forest of the island of Saint Helena: Ero lizae sp. nov. Another new species, Ero natashae sp. nov., is also described on the basis of morphological differences in the male and female genitalia. Both species...
Article
We describe here a new species of oecophorid moth from specimens found in West London and Western Australia. This taxon is part of the Tachystola hemisema (Meyrick, 1885) DNA barcode complex, which consists of at least five different clusters, each with a distinct Barcode Index Number (BIN) on the Barcode Database of Life (BoLD). Illumina sequencin...
Article
We present a genome assembly from an individual female Cloeon dipterum (the Pond Olive; Arthropoda; Insecta; Ephemeroptera; Baetidae). The genome sequence is 190.1 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 5 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the X sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 29.66 ki...
Article
Full-text available
Freshwater organisms in the Okavango Delta and Lake Ngami (Botswana) provide direct and indirect benefits to people and the economy of the region. However, their existence could be potentially threatened by human activities (primarily, upstream water abstraction and planned hydropower structures) coupled with climate change. For their protection, i...
Article
We present a genome assembly from an individual male Athripsodes cinereus (the Brown Silverhorn; Arthropoda; Insecta; Trichoptera; Leptoceridae). The genome sequence is 716.2 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 25 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the Z sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and...
Article
We present a genome assembly from an individual female Sympetrum striolatum (the Common Darter; Arthropoda; Insecta; Odonata; Libellulidae). The genome sequence is 1349.6 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 12 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the X sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is...
Article
We present a genome assembly from an individual Agapetus fuscipes (the micro grey sedge; Arthropoda; Insecta; Trichoptera; Glossosomatidae). The genome sequence is 618.3 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 33 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the Z sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 2...
Article
Full-text available
We present a genome assembly from an individual female Tromatobia lineatoria (an ichneumonid wasp; Arthropoda; Insecta; Hymenoptera; Ichneumonidae). The genome sequence is 383.6 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 21 chromosomal pseudomolecules. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 23.25 kilobases in length...
Article
Full-text available
The shell morphology of limpets can be cryptic and highly variable, within and between species. Therefore, the visual identification of species can be troublesome even for experts. Here, we demonstrate the capability of computer vision models as a new method to assist with identifications. We investigate the ability of computers to distinguish betw...
Article
We present a genome assembly from an individual male Platycnemis pennipes (the White-legged damselfly; Arthropoda; Insecta; Odonata; Platycnemididae). The genome sequence is 1793.3 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 13 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the X sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembl...
Technical Report
Full-text available
DNA-based methods offer a significant opportunity to monitor individual species and species assemblages where appropriate, for example those that may be difficult to monitor using traditional methods. However, with the exception of some individual species such as the great crested newt, there is still much development of these techniques required b...
Article
Full-text available
We present a genome assembly from an individual male Limnephilus rhombicus (a caddisfly; Arthropoda; Insecta; Trichoptera; Limnephilidae). The genome sequence is 1,578.8 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 30 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the Z sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 2...
Article
Full-text available
The Darwin Tree of Life (DToL) project aims to sequence and assemble high-quality genomes from all eukaryote species in Britain and Ireland, with the first phase of the project concentrating on family-level coverage plus species of particular ecological, biomedical or evolutionary interest. We summarise the processes involved in (1) assessing the U...
Article
Full-text available
We present a genome assembly from an individual male Isoperla grammatica (the Common Yellow Sally; Arthropoda; Insecta; Plecoptera; Perlodidae). The genome sequence is 874.6 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 14 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the assembled X 1 and X 2 chromosomes. The mitochondrial genome has also be...
Article
Full-text available
We present a genome assembly from an individual male Glyphotaelius pellucidus (Mottled Sedge, Arthropoda; Insecta; Trichoptera; Limnephilidae). The genome sequence is 1,037.1 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 30 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the assembled Z sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been ass...
Article
Full-text available
We present a genome assembly from an individual male Leuctra nigra (black needle fly; Arthropoda; Insecta; Plecoptera; Leuctridae). The genome sequence is 536.3 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 13 chromosomal pseudomolecules , including the X sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 17.6 kilo...
Article
We present a genome assembly from an individual Limnephilus marmoratus (a caddisfly; Arthropoda; Insecta; Trichoptera; Limnephilidae). The genome sequence is 1,630 megabases in span. Most of the assembly (99.93%) is scaffolded into 30 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the assembled Z sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assem...
Article
We present a genome assembly from an individual Limnephilus lunatus (a caddisfly; Arthropoda; Insecta; Trichoptera; Limnephilidae). The genome sequence is 1,270 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 13 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the assembled Z chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 15.4...
Article
Full-text available
Background The phylogenetic ecology of the Afro-Asian dragonfly genus Trithemis has been investigated previously by Damm et al. (in Mol Phylogenet Evol 54:870–882, 2010) and wing ecomorphology by Outomuro et al. (in J Evol Biol 26:1866–1874, 2013). However, the latter investigation employed a somewhat coarse sampling of forewing and hindwing outlin...
Preprint
Full-text available
At times of drastic decrease in biodiversity and loss of species, sometimes referred to as the sixth mass extinction or Holocene extinction, there is a high demand on the development of effective tools for studying and monitoring biodiversity. In the past decade, new promising technologies, such as third generation sequencing (TGS), enabled massive...
Article
Full-text available
We describe the larva of Matronoides cyaneipennis Förster, 1897, based on an incomplete , dried F0 specimen collected at Mt Kinabalu, Sabah, in 1964, and held at the Natural History Museum, London. Since its collection nearly 60 years ago no other specimen has come to light despite considerable searching of its habitat. Identification is by supposi...
Article
The antlion genus Gatzara Navás, 1915 is one of the major lineages of the subfamily Dendroleontinae Banks, 1899 (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) from Asia, but has a complex systematic background. Here we present a comprehensive systematic revision and mitochondrial phylogenomic analysis to clarify the identity of this genus, and to unravel its evoluti...
Article
Full-text available
Natural history collections are invaluable resources for understanding biotic response to global change. Museums around the world are currently imaging specimens, capturing specimen data and making them freely available online. In parallel to the digitisation effort, there have been great advancements in computer vision: the computer trained automa...
Article
Full-text available
We present a genome assembly from an individual male Nemurella pictetii (Arthropoda; Insecta; Plecoptera; Nemouridae). The genome sequence is 257 megabases in span. The majority of the assembly (99.79%) is scaffolded into 12 chromosomal pseudomolecules, with the X sex chromosome assembled. The X chromosome was found at half coverage, but no Y chrom...
Article
Full-text available
We present a genome assembly from an individual female Ischnura elegans (the blue-tailed damselfly; Arthropoda; Insecta; Odonata; Coenagrionidae). The genome sequence is 1,723 megabases in span. The majority of the assembly (99.55%) is scaffolded into 14 chromosomal pseudomolecules, with the X sex chromosome assembled.
Article
Full-text available
We present a genome assembly from an individual male Nemurella pictetii (Arthropoda; Insecta; Plecoptera; Nemouridae). The genome sequence is 257 megabases in span. The majority of the assembly (99.79%) is scaffolded into 12 chromosomal pseudomolecules, with the X sex chromosome assembled. The X chromosome was found at half coverage, but no Y chrom...
Article
Collections assessments can inform strategic planning, project management, baseline assessment reports, project cost-benefit analyses, support funding requests and collections advocacy. In 2018, 77 staff at the Natural History Museum, London, took part in a successful collections assessment exercise on its 80 million item collection. 17 questions p...
Preprint
Full-text available
Natural history collections (NHCs) are invaluable resources for understanding biotic response to global change. Museums around the world are currently imaging specimens, capturing specimen data, and making them freely available online. In parallel to the digitisation effort, there have been great advancements in computer vision (CV): the computer t...
Article
The sequential breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea since the Middle Jurassic is one of the crucial factors that has driven the biogeographical patterns of terrestrial biotas. Despite decades of effort searching for concordant patterns between diversification and continental fragmentation among taxonomic groups, increasing evidence has revealed mo...
Preprint
Full-text available
The phylogenetic ecology and wing ecomorphology of the Afro-Asian dragonfly genus Trithemis have been investigated previously. Curiously, results reported for the forewing and hindwing shape variation in the latter were, in some ways, at odds with expectations given the mapping of landscape and water-body preferences over the Trithemis cladogram. T...
Article
Full-text available
The cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) related to tribe Cicadini exhibit some of the most remarkable phenotypes in the family, with many genera possessing striking colour patterns and unusual morphological features. This largely Asian group of 13 tribes has proven challenging for cicada taxonomists, in part because of likely convergent evolution or los...
Article
Full-text available
The twentieth anniversary of the first issue of Zootaxa (De Moraes & Freire, 2001) provides an appropriate opportunity to reflect on some trends in global Ephemeroptera taxonomy publishing over the last two decades, with a focus on the description of new species and the outsized role of the journals Zootaxa and ZooKeys, in particular. Detailed revi...
Article
Full-text available
Chironomids are a useful group for investigating body size responses to warming due to their high local abundance and sensitivity to environmental change. We collected specimens of six species of chironomids every 2 weeks over a 2-year period (2017–2018) from mesocosm experiments using five ponds at ambient temperature and five ponds at 4°C higher...
Article
The Natural History Museum, London, houses of one of the largest insect collections in the world including several hundred specimens of the small lacewing family Osmylidae. Herein we provide the complete label information, specimen condition, locality and habitus pictures of the Osmylidae primary types of the Natural History Museum, with some histo...
Article
Full-text available
As global biodiversity declines, there is an increasing need to create an educated and engaged society. Having people of all ages participate in measuring biodiversity where they live helps to create awareness. Recently, the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) for biodiversity surveys has gained momentum. Here, we explore whether sampling eDNA and sequ...
Article
Megalogomphus sumatranus (Krüger, 1899) and its allies in Sundaland are reviewed. The accessory genitalia of the males of this genus, hardly considered previously, are found to be taxonomically informative. The taxon from Borneo previously treated as M. sumatranus is described from both sexes as M. buddi sp. nov. (holotype ♂ Sungai Datai, Nanga Blo...
Article
Full-text available
While previous studies have highlighted the potential of DNA‐based methods for the biomonitoring of freshwater macroinvertebrates, a limited number have investigated homogenization of bulk samples that include debris, in order to reduce sample‐processing costs. This study explores the use of several DNA‐based survey methods for water quality and bi...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background: As global biodiversity declines, there is an increasing need to create an educated and engaged society. Having people from all ages participate in measuring biodiversity where they live helps to create awareness. Recently, the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) for biodiversity surveys has gained momentum. Here, we test whether sampling eD...
Article
Full-text available
There has been little research on novel approaches to digitising liquid-preserved natural history specimens stored in jars or vials. This paper discusses and analyses three different prototypes for high-throughput digitisation using cheap, readily available components. This paper has been written for other digitisation teams or curators who want to...
Article
Full-text available
Changes in insect biomass, abundance, and diversity are challenging to track at sufficient spatial, temporal, and taxonomic resolution. Camera traps can capture habitus images of ground‐dwelling insects. However, currently sampling involves manually detecting and identifying specimens. Here, we test whether a convolutional neural network (CNN) can...
Preprint
Full-text available
Many studies have highlighted the potential of DNA-based methods for the biomonitoring of freshwater macroinvertebrates, however only a few studies have investigated homogenisation of bulk samples that include debris to reduce sample-processing time. In order to explore the use of DNA-based methods in water quality assessment in South Africa, this...
Article
Full-text available
Over the last decade, steady advancements have been made in the use of DNA-based methods for detection of species in a wide range of ecosystems. This progress has culminated in molecular monitoring methods being employed for the detection of several species for enforceable management purposes of endangered, invasive, and illegally harvested species...
Article
Full-text available
The Natural History Museum, London (NHM) has embarked on an ambitious Digital Collections Programme to digitise its collections. One aim of the programme has been to improve the workflows and infrastructure needed to support high-throughput digitisation and create comprehensive digital inventories of large scientific collections. Pilot projects hav...
Article
Full-text available
The world’s natural history collections contain at least 2 billion specimens (Ariño 2010), representing a unique data source for answering fundamental scientific questions about ecological, evolutionary, and geological processes. Unlocking this treasure trove of data, stored in thousands of museum drawers and cabinets, is crucial to help map a sust...
Article
Full-text available
Effective identification of species using short DNA fragments (DNA barcoding and DNA metabarcoding)requires reliable sequence reference libraries of known taxa. Both taxonomically comprehensive coverage and content quality are important for sufficient accuracy. For aquatic ecosystems in Europe, reliable barcode reference libraries are particularly...
Preprint
Full-text available
Effective identification of species using short DNA fragments (DNA barcoding and DNA metabarcoding) requires reliable sequence reference libraries of known taxa. Both taxonomically comprehensive coverage and content quality are important for sufficient accuracy. For aquatic ecosystems in Europe, reliable barcode reference libraries are particularly...
Article
Full-text available
The Natural History Museum, London (NHM) has embarked on an ambitious programme to digitise its collections. One aim of the programme has been to improve the workflows and infrastructure needed to support high-throughput digitisation and create comprehensive digital inventories of large scientific collections. This paper presents the workflow devel...
Article
The Platypleurini is a large group of charismatic cicadas distributed from Cape Agulhas in South Africa, through tropical Africa, Madagascar, India and eastern Asia to Japan, with generic diversity concentrated in equatorial and southern Africa. This distribution suggests the possibility of a Gondwanan origin and dispersal to eastern Asia from Afri...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
One day symposium on Biological Refugia held at Natural History Museum London.
Preprint
Full-text available
For specimen level imaging of microscope slides automated digital microscopy systems are widely used, however, these systems are not always suitable for non-standard slides such as those found in natural history collections. For these types of slides imaging will require the use of non-automated alternatives. This paper presents a low cost option f...
Preprint
Full-text available
The world’s natural history collections contain at least 2 billion specimens, representing a unique data source for answering fundamental scientific questions about ecological, evolutionary, and geological processes. Unlocking this treasure trove of data, stored in thousands of museum drawers and cabinets, is crucial to help map a sustainable futur...
Article
Full-text available
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) commits its 196 nation parties to conserve biological diversity, use its components sustainably, and share fairly and equitably the benefits from the utilization of genetic resources. The last of these objectives was further codified in the Convention's Nagoya Protocol (NP), which came into effect in 201...
Article
Full-text available
Collection needs are a challenge to communicate. Collection staff know the attributes of their collections, but other museum colleagues may not. In collections management, decisions of resource allocation may be made locally, rather than within the context of a larger organisational and strategic framework. The Natural History Museum (NHM), like an...
Article
Full-text available
A molecular phylogeny and a review of family-group classification are presented for 137 species (ca. 125 genera) of the insect family Cicadidae, the true cicadas, plus two species of hairy cicadas (Tettigarctidae) and two outgroup species from Cercopidae. Five genes, two of them mitochondrial, comprise the 4992 base-pair molecular dataset. Maximum-...
Article
Full-text available
Background The cicadas of the Indian subcontinent, like many other insects in the region, have remained understudied since the early part of the 20th Century, and await modern taxonomic, systematic and phylogenetic treatment. This paper presents an updated systematic catalogue of cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanma...
Article
Full-text available
Background There are approximately one hundred thousand aquatic insect species currently known to science and this figure is likely a significant underestimation. The ecology of aquatic insect groups has been studied due to their role as bioindicators of water quality and in the case of Diptera, their role as vectors of disease. Light trapping targ...
Article
Full-text available
The Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx sp/endens) has sexually dimorphic wing pigmentation : males have a wing spot which is lacking in females. We investigated_the relationship between wing size, wing asymmetry and, in males, the size of the pigmented area , against latitude, longitude, mean winter and summer temperatures and the time of year the speci...
Article
Full-text available
The world’s natural history collections constitute an enormous evidence base for scientific research on the natural world. To facilitate these studies and improve access to collections, many organisations are embarking on major programmes of digitization. This requires automated approaches to mass-digitization that support rapid imaging of specimen...
Article
Full-text available
Background Sound collections for singing insects provide important repositories that underpin existing research (e.g. Price et al. 2007 at http://bio.acousti.ca/node/11801; Price et al. 2010) and make bioacoustic collections available for future work, including insect communication (Ordish 1992), systematics (e.g. David et al. 2003), and automated...
Article
Full-text available
We describe an online open repository and analysis platform, BioAcoustica (http://bio.acousti.ca), for recordings of wildlife sounds. Recordings can be annotated using a crowdsourced approach, allowing voice introductions and sections with extraneous noise to be removed from analyses. This system is based on the Scratchpads virtual research environ...
Article
Full-text available
Historically serving as repositories for morphologically-based taxonomic research, natural history collections are now increasingly being targeted in studies utilizing DNA data. The development of advanced molecular techniques has facilitated extraction of useable DNA from old specimens, including type material. Sequencing diagnostic molecular mark...
Article
Full-text available
We present a pinned insect manipulator (IMp) constructed of LEGO® building bricks with two axes of movement and two axes of rotation. In addition we present three variants of the IMp to emphasise the modular design, which facilitates resizing to meet the full range of pinned insect specimens, is fully customizable, collapsible, affordable and does...
Article
Full-text available
The Megaloptera fauna of Madagascar comprise two endemic genera: Haplosialis Navás, 1927 (Sialidae) and Madachauliodes Paulian, 1951 (Corydalidae: Chauliodinae). Here the two genera are revised, with detailed descriptions and illustrations. A new species, Madachauliodes bicuspidatus Liu, Price & Hayashi, sp. nov., is described. Furthermore the phyl...
Article
Full-text available
Much attention has been paid to the effects of climate change on species' range reductions and extinctions. There is however surprisingly little information on how climate change driven threat may impact the tree of life and result in loss of phylogenetic diversity (PD). Some plant families and mammalian orders reveal nonrandom extinction pat-terns...
Article
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Taeniochauliodes is the most common and widely distributed fishfly genus in South Africa, with one historically recognized valid species Taeniochauliodes ochraceopennis Esben‐Petersen. The present systematic revision of Taeniochauliodes has found that this genus consists of at least eight species: T. angustus sp.n., T. attenuatus sp.n., T. barnardi...
Article
Full-text available
The monotypic South African alderfly genus Leptosialis Esben-Petersen, 1920 is reviewed and Leptosialis africana Esben-Petersen, 1920 is redescribed. In the process a new species of alderfly Leptosialis necopinata sp. n. from the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa is recognised and described. Within Sialidae the new species mo...
Article
Full-text available
Background Baetis harrisoni Barnard is a mayfly frequently encountered in river studies across Africa, but the external morphological features used for identifying nymphs have been observed to vary subtly between different geographic locations. It has been associated with a wide range of ecological conditions, including pH extremes of pH 2.9–10.0 i...
Article
Full-text available
The genus Platychauliodes Esben-Petersen is a group of fishflies endemic to South Africa. The group has not received attention in over 40 years. All three species of Platychauliodes are redescribed in detail and a key to the adults presented. Chauliodes tenuis McLachlan, 1869 and Platychauliodes woodi Barnard, 1931 are treated as junior synonyms of...
Article
The first empirically supported phylogenetic hypothesis of relationships for the southern African endemic butterfly tribe Dirini is presented. Data derived from the morphology and ecology of the adults and immature stages (33 characters), and portions of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and the nuclear genes elongation factor 1 (EF...
Article
Historical biogeography studies have at their disposal a small suite of vicariance models to explain genetic differentiation within and between species. One of these processes involves the role of river catchments and their associated watersheds, in driving diversification and is applicable to both aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Although the id...
Article
A variety of temperature thresholds for larvae, pupae, and adults of seven African species of carrion-feeding blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) was measured and compared to understand their basic thermal biology and the influence of temperature on their behaviour. Calliphora croceipalpis (Jaennicke) had consistently lower temperature thresholds th...
Article
Cicadas have been shown to be useful organisms for examining the effects of distribution, plant association and geographical barriers on gene flow between populations. The cicadas of the Platypleura stridula species complex are restricted to the biologically diverse Cape Floristic Region (CFR) of South Africa. They are thus an excellent study group...

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