Martin Husemann

Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe | SMNK

AimIn contrast to the attention given to southern Europe both as a centre of speciation and differentiation and as a Pleistocene refugium of Western Palaearctic taxa, North Africa has been relatively neglected. In this paper, we set out to address this shortfall.LocationNorth-West Africa and the Mediterranean.Methods We reviewed the existing litera...

Bees (Anthophila) represent a critical taxon for the ecosystem service of pollination and hence have received great scientific attention. The more than 20,000 known species of bees are grouped in seven families. Yet, the relationships between bee families are not entirely clear, and specifically, the position of Melittidae and their monophyly has b...

Population genetics is a field of research that predates the current generations of sequencing technology. Those approaches, that were established before massively parallel sequencing methods, have been adapted to these new marker systems (in some cases involving the development of new methods) that allow genome-wide estimates of the four major mic...

Orthoptera have some of the largest genomes of all insects. At the same time, the architecture of their genomes remains poorly understood. Comparative cytological data across a wide range of taxa, even for basic parameters such as chromosome number, may provide important insights into the evolution of these genomes and help answer the question of w...

The genus Thalpomena Saussure comprises nine species and four subspecies and is largely endemic to the Atlas Mountains (North Africa). Here, we used an evolutionary taxonomic approach to differentiate the species of the genus Thalpomena and to reconstruct their biogeographic history. Phylogenetic tree reconstruction based on five molecular markers...

Der Sand-Ohrwurm (Labidura riparia) ist eine bundesweit stark gefährdete Ohr-wurm-Art, die in Norddeutschland in Primärhabitaten wie Flussufern und Küsten sowie in Mittel- und Ostdeutschland in menschlich beeinflussten Sekundärlebens-räumen wie Braunkohle-, Kies- und Sandgruben und an Kalihalden lebt. In Hamburg war der Sand-Ohrwurm in der ersten H...

A revised checklist of the Orthoptera of Europe is provided. The list represents an updated version of earlier checklists published in 1998 and 2016. The new checklist includes 1229 Orthoptera species (147 more than the last checklist)-759 belongig to suborder Ensifera (Tettigonioidea: 569; Rhaphidophoroidea: 70; Grylloidea: 95; Gryllotalpoidea: 25...

The Grube Messel is an important Fossillagerstätte in Germany and has a high importance because of the excellently preserved specimens, especially in terms of insects. So far no Orthoptera from the Eocene of Grube Messel have been described. To change this, here we describe two new genera and species of Tetrigidae: Messeltettix cryptoantennatus gen...

The Afrotropical grasshopper genus Pteropera Karsch, 1891, is reviewed. Some species present in Cameroon are described, Pteropera augustini Donskoff, 1981, is recorded for the first time in the country, and three new species are described from Cameroon, Pteropera kennei Yetchom & Husemann, sp. nov., Pteropera matzkei Yetchom & Husemann, sp. nov. an...

Discotettiginae were recently synonymized with Scelimeninae, but the polyphyletic genus Hirrius Bolívar, 1887, with five species endemic to the Philippines and Sulawesi, remained an unsolved issue. Besides similarly widened subapical antennomeres, head and pronotum, other traits suggest that Hirrius members belong to different subfamilies. The genu...

With this publication we provide an updated catalogue of the type material of mantises (Mantodea) deposited in the Zoological Museum Hamburg (ZMH). We report 84 type specimens (51 holotypes, 25 paratypes and 8 syntypes) belonging to 64 species (45 valid names and 19 synonyms). Furthermore, we present high resolution illustrations for these type spe...

The taxonomic status of the Pyrgomorphid genera Parapetasia Bolívar, 1884, and Loveridgacris Rehn, 1954 is complex and challenging. Here, we use a combination of morphological, distributional, and genetic data to revise the two genera and provide new information on their diversity. We describe a new species, Loveridgacris tectiferussp. nov., from T...

Iran is a country characterized by high biodiversity and complex biogeographic patterns. Its diverse landscape and steep climatic gradients have resulted in significant faunal diversity and high level of endemism. To better understand these patterns, we investigated the historical environmental drivers that have shaped Iran's current geological and...

We here present an updated and annotated catalogue of the stick and leaf insect (Phasmatodea) types currently housed in the Zoological Museum Hamburg (ZMH), part of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB). We found a total of 305 type specimens, belonging to 130 species. This includes 110 primary types (45 holotypes, 13...

Article published in the Journal "Koenigiana" Vol 18: 21-40 in German. English Summary below. Die Kaukasus-Region macht dem Titel „Biodiversity-Hotspot“ alle Ehre. Es gibt noch sehr viele Arten, die erforscht oder gar erst noch entdeckt werden müssen – wie aus den Berichten zu den verschiedensten Tiergruppen hervorgeht. Während des BioBlitz 2022 u...

Nabholz et al. (2024) published an important comment on our study on the phylogeography of Oedipoda Latreille, 1829, reflecting some discussions we also had internally when writing the paper. While they agree with our conclusions of raising Oedipoda mauritanica Lucas, 1847, Oedipoda meridionalis Ramme, 1913 and Oedipoda pentagonalis Jannone, 1937 t...

Bees, as important pollinators, have received much attention in the recent past. Similarly, some of their associated invertebrates, such as Varroa Oudemans, 1904 mites, have been intensively studied. Especially in social bees, complex nests promote a large community of organisms associated with the bees, mites being one group commonly associated wi...

Amidst the era of rapid decline in insect diversity, the role of protected areas (PAs) in conserving current insect diversity is more significant than ever. Previous studies indicate that the species‐diverse regions in Iran fall within two global biodiversity hotspots (GBHs): the Irano‐Anatolian hotspot in the north and the Caucasus hotspot in the...

Types represent the most important specimens in natural history museums as they define a species and should usually be studied within the framework of revisions and new taxon descriptions, hence their documentation is of high importance. orthoptera is a medium-size order of insects, but its members are important in many food chains as herbivores an...

This study presents the mitogenomes of ten species of Oedipodinae grasshoppers belonging to seven different genera in Algeria; nine of these species were sequenced for the first time, providing the first mitochondrial genomic sequences for their respective genera. Mitogenomes obtained using next-generation sequencing and de-novo assembly techniques...

Lophotettiginae Hancock, 1909, endemic to the Neotropics, is one of the most ill-known subfamilies of Tetrigidae. Until now, there have not been any hypothesis on its relationship with other subfamilies. Lophotettiginae comprise only two genera, Lophotettix Hancock, 1909 and Phelene Bolívar, 1906, both with an arduous taxonomic history. Here, we de...

The new Red List and checklist of the Orthoptera and Mantodea considers all indigenous species of Germany. Currently, these are 83 taxa. An extensive set of grid cell data with more than 280,000 observations was available for the analysis. In addition, numerous recent re-surveys were used to evaluate the red list status of the species. Based on thi...

different climatic conditions has led to frequent range expansions and retractions of many species: while thermophilic species dispersed during warm periods, cold adapted species retracted to cold refugia and vice versa. After the last Pleistocene cycle many cold adapted taxa found refuges in relict habitats in mountain ranges. One example for such...

Two new mite species of Leptus Latreille, 1796 (Acari: Erythraeidae) are described and illustrated based on their larval stages. All mites were collected from grasshopper hosts (Orthoptera: Acrididae) during surveys in the Zagros Mountains of Iran. This study is part of a more extensive survey of the Parasitengona fauna and their grasshopper hosts...

Mongolia, a country in central Asia, with its vast grassland areas represents a hotspot for Orthoptera diversity, especially for the Acrididae. For Mongolia, 128 Acrididae species have been documented so far, of which 41 belong to the subfamily Oedipodinae (band-winged grasshoppers). Yet, few studies concerning the distribution and diversity of Oed...

Nachdem im Zusammenhang mit dem Insektensterben und dem Bienensterben bisher vor allem die Honigbiene im Fokus des öffentlichen Interesses stand, rücken jetzt zunehmend die Wildbienen, die im Gegensatz zur Honigbiene die wirklich gefährdeten Insekten sind, in den Mittelpunkt. Gründe dafür, dass ungefähr 50 % der Wildbienen-arten in ihrem Bestand ge...

Climate change has been suggested as an important human-induced driver for the ongoing sixth mass extinction. As a common response to climate change, and particularly global warming, species move toward higher latitudes or shift uphill. Furthermore, rapid climate change impacts the biotic interactions of species, particularly in the case of Zygaeni...

Habitat destruction and fragmentation are among the major current threats to global biodiversity. Fragmentation may also affect species with good dispersal abilities. We study the heath bushcricket Gampsocleis glabra, a specialist of steppe-like habitats across Europe that are highly fragmented, investigating if these isolated populations can be di...

Eutrombidium parishanensis Kiany, Seiedy and Hakimitabar sp. n. (Acari: Microtrombidiidae: Eutrombidiinae) is described and illustrated from ectoparasitic larvae found on Sphodromerus luteipes (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Calliptaminae) from Iran. This species belongs to the species group of Eutrombidium, in which lateral coxalae I and coxalae II and II...

Averting climate change‐induced forest diebacks increasingly relies on tree species planted outside of their natural range and on the addition of non‐native tree species to mixed‐species forests. However, the consequences of such changes for associated biodiversity remain poorly understood, especially for the forest canopy as a largely understudied...

Three new genera and species of Elcanidae (Insecta: Orthoptera) are described from middle Cretaceous Myanmar amber. Paraxelcana coronakanthodis gen. et sp. nov. differs from previously known elcanids from Myanmar amber by showing cross veins in the precostal field of the forewing, as well as a unique combination of morphological features. Letoelcan...

A new family of short horned grasshoppers, Burmecaelidae fam. nov., is described on the basis of a new species: Burmecaelinus armis fam., gen. et sp. nov. While any extant species can clearly be sorted into the Tridactylidea and Acrididea, the new fossil species presented here does not clearly match any of the two groups. The metafemora of the new...

Landscape changes, over time, lead to changes of floral resources available to pollinators, which in turn may result in the disappearance of ecologically specialized species. Here, we use pollen metabarcoding to infer historic and recent interactions between plants and bumblebees (Bombus). Bumblebees from Cuxhaven (Germany) were sampled from histor...

New records of species of Reduviidae from five Neotropical countries are provided: Notocyrtus gibbus (Fabricius) (Harpactorinae: Harpactorini) from Costa Rica; Kodormus bruneosus Barber (Stenopodainae), Ploeogaster gesana Kirkaldy (Harpactorinae: Harpactorini), Pseudopothea paulai Gil-Santana (Ectrichodiinae) from Ecuador; Leogorrus immaculatus Cha...

Changes in scientific names are common and expected in systematics and taxonomic science. Indeed, tracking those changes allows understanding of how research fields change over time, and how science itself works. But how do these changes impact the general perception of easily recognized insects? Here we address this issue for the European Peacock...

The evolutionary history and biogeography of species is strongly influenced by climatic conditions and geomorphology. Most thermophilic organisms in Europe have survived colder periods in Mediterranean refugia, which can be inferred from their genetic structure. The band-winged grasshopper genus Oedipoda occurs with nine species in the Mediterranea...

Climate change has been suggested as an important human-induced driver for the ongoing sixth mass extinction. As a common response to climate change, and particularly global warming, species move toward higher latitudes or shift uphill. Furthermore, rapid climate change impacts the biotic interactions of species. Especially, in Zygaenid moths which...

The COI gene is widely used as a DNA barcode in animals that can assist in the identification of species. One of the widely used aggregators of DNA barcodes is the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD Systems), which contains around 2500 sequences of Tetrigidae, an understudied orthopteran family with unresolved taxonomy and species that are difficult...

The Afrotropical species hitherto considered to belong to the genera Paratettix Bolivar, 1887, Leptacrydium Chopard, 1950 and Hedotettix Bolivar, 1887 are reviewed, and two new genera, Alienitettix nov. gen. and Rectitettix nov. gen., are established. Four new species are described: Alienitettix usambarensis nov. sp., Leptacrydium femurcrassum nov....

An annotated catalogue of the type specimens of the family Cerambycidae Latreille, 1802 (Coleoptera) housed at the Zoological Museum of Hamburg (ZMH), Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) is provided: one holotype and nine secondary types were found deposited at the ZHM. A list of the primary types lost during the bombard...

The African genus-group Metarbelodes Strand, 1909 of the family Metarbelidae comprises three genera: the monotypic Metarbelodes; Zambezia, gen. nov. with five new species (i.e., Zambezia diredaouaensis sp. nov.; Zambezia madambae sp. nov.; Zambezia jennyhuntae sp. nov.; Zambezia durrellbarnesi sp. nov.; Zambezia darrelplowesi sp. nov.); and Lukenia...

A new genus, Afrosystolederus, and a new species, Afrosystolederus garmsi, are described from Mount Gibi in Liberia. This African genus is most similar to Pseudosystolederus Günther, 1939 from Africa and Madagascar and to some members of Systolederus Bolivar, 1887 from Asia. The taxonomic difficulties of genera and species with a narrow fastigium a...

Lasioglossum is a large genus of halictid bees with high species diversity in morphologically rather cryptic species groups. With more than 1900 described species, the taxonomy of the genus is complex and largely unresolved in many regions. For practical reasons, systematic reviews are restricted in scope either geographically or to particular spec...

Animal genomes vary widely in size, and much of their architecture and content remains poorly understood. Even among related groups, such as orders of insects, genomes may vary in size by orders of magnitude–for reasons unknown. The largest known insect genomes were repeatedly found in Orthoptera, e.g., Podisma pedestris (1C = 16.93 pg), Stethophym...

Mitochondrial gene order has contributed to the elucidation of evolutionary relationships in several animal groups. It generally has found its application as a phylogenetic marker for deep nodes. Yet, in Orthoptera limited research has been performed on the gene order, although the group represents one of the oldest insect orders. We performed a co...

The availability of public genomic resources can greatly assist biodiversity assessment, conservation, and restoration efforts by providing evidence for scientifically informed management decisions. Here we survey the main approaches and applications in biodiversity and conservation genomics, considering practical factors, such as cost, time, prere...

This study reports new distributional records and DNA barcodes of rare ground beetles (Carabidae) resulting from a project on the block scree slope fauna of Germany. We provide and discuss first and new records of Patrobus assimilis, Leistus piceus, Leistus montanus and Pterostichus negligens for several federal states in Germany. Pterostichus negl...

New distribution data from Northern Germany for Pieris mannii

Larvae of Charletonia nazeleae Karimi Iravanlou, Kamali & Talebi were previously collected from Karaj, Alborz province, Iran, parasitizing two different acridid grasshopper species. Here, we present new morphological and meristic data based on collecting new mite specimens during surveys to Zagros Mountains, Fars province, Iran and a correction of...

Animal genomes vary widely in size, and much of their architecture and content remains poorly understood. Even among related groups, such as orders of insects, genomes may vary in size by orders of magnitude – for reasons unknown. The largest known insect genomes were repeatedly found in Orthoptera, e.g., Podisma pedestris (1C = 16.93 pg), Stethoph...

Rivers are known to act as biogeographic barriers in several strictly terrestrial taxa, while possibly serving as conduits of dispersal for freshwater-tolerant or -dependent species. However, the influence of river systems on genetic diversity depends on taxa-specific life history traits as well as other geographic factors. In amphibians, several s...

Helicoverpa armigera is one of the most destructive insect pests of economically valuable crops in the world. Despite its economic importance, the population genetic structure of this insect remains unexplored in Ethiopia. To investigate the genetic diversity and population structure of H. armigera, we sampled 170 individuals from 15 populations th...

The invasive pentatomid true bug Halyomorpha halys is reported for the first time from the German state of Hamburg, along with records from several other locations in Northern Germany. Specimens collected by scientists were evaluated along with records from citizen science platforms. DNA barcode sequences of several H. halys specimens from Hamburg...

Insekten sind die artenreichste Tiergruppe auf der Erde. Nahezu überall zu finden, überleben sie auch unter extremen Bedingungen. Für uns Menschen erbringen sie wertvolle Ökosystemdienstleistungen, wie zum Beispiel die Bestäubung, und haben dennoch oft einen schlechten Ruf. Insekten sind aber auch stark gefährdet: Ihre Populationen gehen so stark z...

Die invasive pentatomide Halyomorpha halys breitet sich in Deutschland weiter aus. Zuerst 2012 in Konstanz unter freiem Himmel nachgewiesen (HECKMANN 2012) und fast gleichzeitig in Bremer Hafen bei einer Zollkontrolle abgefangen (FREERS 2012), hat sie sich innerhalb von wenigen Jahren in Baden-Württemberg etabliert (HECKMANN 2016; HAYE & ZIMMERMAN...

The Sycamore lace bug Corythucha ciliata originating in North America, was found in Italy for the first time already 1964. Since then, it distributed across much of Europe and reached southwestern Germany in 1983. While it is commonly found in Southern Germany, it now also occurs in North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony. Here, we provide the first reco...

The genus Thalpomena Saussure, 1884 is distributed in North Africa, Somalia and Ethiopia. It currently contains nine species, including one species with four subspecies; Seven of them (including one with four subspecies) are distributed in the Atlas Mountains, one in Libya and one (originally described in the genus Vosseleria) in the Somali Highlan...

The phylogeny of many groups of Orthoptera remains poorly understood. Previous phylogenetic studies largely restricted to few mitochondrial markers found many species in the grasshopper subfamily Gomphocerinae to be para- or polyphyletic, presumably because of incomplete lineage sorting and ongoing hybridization between putatively young lineages. R...

Auteurs : European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) Consortium 3

Progress in genome sequencing now enables the large-scale generation of reference genomes. Various international initiatives aim to generate reference genomes representing global biodiversity. These genomes provide unique insights into genomic diversity and architecture, thereby enabling comprehensive analyses of population and functional genomics,...

Distribution of the wood cockroach Ectobius vittiventris (A. Costa, 1847) in Ger-many with a first record for Lower Saxony. A recent find of the amber wood cockroach Ectobius vittiventris from the city of Stelle northwest of Winsen (Luhe) in Lower Saxony led us to research the current distribution of this originally southern European species in nor...

The steppe regions of Mongolia have a rich grasshopper fauna. Especially, the short-horned (Caelifera) grasshopper family Acrididae with the subfamilies Gomphocerinae (slant-faced grasshoppers) and Oedipodinae (band-winged grasshoppers) show a high diversity and abundance. This study reviews the Mongolian fauna of band-winged grasshoppers based on...