Thierry Backeljau

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences · Taxonomy and Phylogeny

Despite their past importance as vectors of indigenous malaria, the species composition and spatial distribution of the members of the Anopheles maculipennis complex have been studied to a limited extent in the Netherlands. Therefore, this investigation focuses on the distribution of the members of this complex in the Netherlands, including Anophel...

The assassin snail genus Anentome is widespread in Southeast Asia, and is distributed all over the world via the aquarium trade. One species of genus Anentome , Anentome helena , is known to act as intermediate host of parasitic trematodes. This study investigates the taxonomic diversity of larval trematodes infecting A . helena and Anentome wykoff...

Ocean acidification and global climate change are predicted to negatively impact marine calcifiers, with species inhabiting the intertidal zone being especially vulnerable. Current predictions of organism responses to projected changes are largely based on relatively short to medium term experiments over periods of a few days to a few years. Here w...

A new genus of the millipede family Pachybolidae from Southeast Asia is described: Macrurobolus gen. nov. , with Spirobolus macrurus Pocock, 1893 as type species. This latter species is DNA barcoded (COI) and redescribed based on male morphological characters, which hitherto were unknown. The new genus differs from other pachybolid genera by having...

Hitherto, the millipede genus Apeuthes (family Pachybolidae, subfamily Trigoniulinae) was only known from three species described in Vietnam based on morphological characters. The present study uses two partial mitochondrial gene fragments (cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) and 16S ribosomal RNA) and morphology to define four new Apeuthes species from M...

This study provides the first data on the genital anatomy, jaw and radula of Guladentia subtussulcata (L. Pfeiffer, 1863). The auxiliary copulatory organ of this species is very peculiar, similar to that of Jeanneretia L. Pfeiffer, 1877, and different from that of other cepolids. It consists of an elongate, pedunculate mucus gland inserted apically...

Aedes japonicus has established in many European countries. Our study had two objectives: (1) investigate the origin of new introductions in eastern Belgium; and (2) verify the origin of specimens that were recently recorded at Natoye, while the species was declared eliminated after control campaigns. To this end, genotypic variation at 7 microsate...

This paper reports on the first record of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793), in the southern Black Sea, based on a sample of 235 specimens collected from rocky shores 23 km west of the city of Ordu, northern Turkey. Species identification was confirmed by nucleotide sequencing of two mitochondrial gene fragments, viz. COI and 1...

This paper reports on the first record of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793), in the southern Black Sea, based on a sample of 235 specimens collected from rocky shores 23 km west of the city of Ordu, northern Turkey. Species identification was confirmed by nucleotide sequencing of two mitochondrial gene fragments, viz. COI and 1...

Many nominal species of microscopic animals traditionally fitting the ‘everything is everywhere’ paradigm have been revealed to be complexes of cryptic species. Here, we explore species diversity within the micrometazoan flatworm Gyratrix hermaphroditus—unique among meiofauna because of its global occurrence in a wide variety of brackish, freshwate...

This study provides the first data on the genital anatomy, jaw, and radula of 4 Jeanneretia species (Helicoidea: Cepolidae). The auxiliary copulatory organ in this genus is highly peculiar and differs from that of other cepolids. It consists of an elongated, pedunculated mucus gland inserted apically on a muscular papilla (dart sac absent) and a st...

The present study aimed at identifying the members of the Anopheles maculipennis complex (Diptera: Culicidae) occurring in Belgium. Therefore, the second internal transcribed spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS2) and the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) loci were sequenced in 175 and 111 specimens, respectively, collected between 2...

The poor understanding of changes in mollusc ecology along rivers, especially in West Africa, hampers the implementation of management measures. We used a self-organizing map, indicator species analysis, linear discriminant analysis and a random forest model to distinguish mollusc assemblages, to determine the ecological preferences of individual m...

Background Aedes japonicus japonicus has expanded beyond its native range and has established in multiple European countries, including Belgium. In addition to the population located at Natoye, Belgium, locally established since 2002, specimens were recently collected along the Belgian border. The first objective of this study was therefore to inve...

The fragmented population of alpine salamanders from the Dinaric Alps belongs to a distinct evolutionary lineage known as Salamandra atra prenjensis. However, the phylogenetic relationships within this lineage are unknown since previous studies did not comprehensively include Dinaric population fragments. In this study, we use six microsatellite lo...

The fragmented population of alpine salamanders from the Dinaric Alps belongs to a distinct evolutionary line-age known as Salamandra atra prenjensis. However, the phylogenetic relationships within this lineage are unknown since previous studies did not comprehensively include Dinaric population fragments. In this study, we use six microsat ellite...

A thorough knowledge of the presence and spatio-temporal distribution patterns of vector species are pivotal to assess the risk of mosquito-borne diseases in Europe. In 2018, a Culex larva was collected during routine monitoring activities to intercept exotic Aedes mosquito species in the port of Antwerp (Kallo, Belgium). The larva, collected from...

The European Union prohibits the import of meat (products) unless specifically authorised and certified as being eligible for import. Nevertheless, various scientific papers report that passengers from west and central African countries illegally import large quantities of meat, including bushmeat, into Europe via its international airports. They a...

Accurate biological models are critical to predict biotic responses to climate change and human‐caused disturbances. Current understanding of organismal responses to change stems from studies over relatively short timescales. However, most projections lack long‐term observations incorporating the potential for transgenerational phenotypic plasticit...

Most molluscs possess shells, constructed from a vast array of microstructures and architectures. The fully formed shell is composed of calcite or aragonite. These CaCO3 crystals form complex biocomposites with proteins, which although typically less than 5% of total shell mass, play significant roles in determining shell microstructure. Despite mu...

Background: The metastrongyloid nematodes Aelurostrongylus abstrusus, Troglostrongylus brevior and Angiostrongylus chabaudi are cardiopulmonary parasites affecting domestic cats (Felis catus) and wildcats (Felis silvestris). Although knowledge on these nematodes has been improved in the past years, gaps in our knowledge of their distribution and r...

Currently no comprehensive checklist of fresh and brackish water gastropods from Bénin exists, and those for adjacent West African areas are outdated. Yet, such checklists provide essential biodiversity information and a consistent taxonomic and nomenclatural framework for that biodiversity. Here a first checklist of the fresh and brackish water ga...

Pseudospirobolellidae is a poorly known family of spirobolidan millipedes with only two genera and five described species. Yet, the descriptive taxonomy and molecular systematics of this group have been largely neglected. Therefore, the present work presents an integrative taxonomic study of new pseudospirobolellid taxa in Thailand. To this end, tw...

Lake Baikal is populated by an endemic genus of oligochaetes (Baikalodrilus), which currently comprises 24 morphospecies. The genus can be considered as a ‘species flock’. However, the validity of many species is questionable: the great similarity in their description and the lack of unequivocal diagnostic characters often lead species identificati...

The increasing urbanization process is hypothesized to drastically alter (semi‐)natural environments with a concomitant major decline in species abundance and diversity. Yet, studies on this effect of urbanization, and the spatial scale at which it acts, are at present inconclusive due to the large heterogeneity in taxonomic groups and spatial scal...

The taxonomy of the speciose genus Ganesella W.T. Blanford, 1863 and the endemic genus Globotrochus Haas, 1935 is unclear since the anatomical characters of the the type species of these two genera have never been reported before. Therefore, the present paper provides the first anatomical descriptions of the reproductive apparatus, pallial system a...

The hoverfly genus Eristalinus (Diptera, Syrphidae) contains many widespread pollinators. The majority of the species of Eristalinus occur in the Afrotropics and their molecular systematics still needs to be investigated. This study presents the first complete and annotated mitochondrial genomes for five species of Eristalinus. They were obtained b...

The Barcoding Facility for Organisms and Tissues of Policy Concern (BopCo) is jointly run by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) and the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), and is part of the Belgian federal contribution to the European Research Infrastructure Consortium LifeWatch. As such, BopCo is financed by the Belgian S...

Background: Notwithstanding the prohibition at national and European Union level to import individual consignments of meat (products), various publications report that large quantities of meat, including bushmeat, are entering Europe via its international airports, without authorization or certification. These studies suggest an organized market fo...

Background: Compared to other European countries, Belgian customers are moderate consumers of fish and seafood products. The Belgian fishery and aquaculture sectors, however, are relatively small and a large part (81% in 2016) of the fish and seafood consumed in Belgium is imported, half of which originates from outside Europe. Since the scale of t...

Semi-aquatic freshwater earthworms in the genus Glyphidrilus from Southeast Asia are characterized by both an extreme morphological crypsis among divergent phylogenetic lineages and a high morphological variability within the same phylogenetic lineages. The present study provides a new taxonomic framework for this problematic genus in SE Asia by in...

Background Hyperdiverse mtDNA with more than 5% of variable synonymous nucleotide sites can lead to erroneous interpretations of population genetic differentiation patterns and parameters (φST, DEST). We illustrate this by using hyperdiverse mtDNA markers to infer population genetic differentiation and connectivity in Melarhaphe neritoides, a NE At...

Native to the Indo-Pacific, the Manila clam has been introduced to North America and Europe, becoming the most economically-important cultured bivalve species worldwide. Research on this species is inconvenienced by the co-existence of several scientific synonyms; non-taxonomists do not necessarily understand why this is so, what names are valid, a...

Free access until November 28, 2018: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1XsSoACeXzgRM

Lake Baikal is populated by an endemic genus of oligochaetes (Baikalodrilus), which currently comprises 24 morphospecies. The genus can be considered as a 'species flock'. However, the validity of many species is questionable: the great similarity in their description and the lack of unequivocal diagnostic characters often lead species identificati...

Mitochondrial DNA hyperdiversity is primarily caused by high mutation rates (μ) and has potential implications for mitogenome architecture and evolution. In the hyperdiverse mtDNA of Melarhaphe neritoides (Gastropoda: Littorinidae), high mutational pressure generates unusually large amounts of synonymous variation, which is expected to (1) promote...

Supplementary Tables S1, S2, S4, S5, supplementary Fig. 2

.gb files of corrected mitogenome annotations

The European Union prohibits any personal consignment of meat (products) from entering the Union unless specifically authorized and certified as being eligible for import. Notwithstanding these regulations, various recent papers report that large quantities of meat, including bushmeat, are entering Europe via its international airports without such...

Based on the current spread of exotic mosquito species (EMS) in Europe, the number of interceptions in Belgium and suitability models developed for Aedes albopictus (Skuse) in Europe, EMS are likely to establish and spread in Belgium. A prerequisite for their control is their early detection. Therefore, the Belgian federal authorities and the feder...

The introduction and establishment of exotic mosquito species (EMS) and sporadic outbreaks of autochthonous Aedes-borne disease cases in South European countries emphasize the importance of EMS surveillance. The Belgian government set-up a nationwide inventory of mosquito biodiversity (MODIRISK project) between 2007 and 2010. This was an essential...

In July 2017, a three year monitoring project (MEMO) aiming at detecting and evaluating the occurrence and invasion phase of exotic mosquitoes (EMS) in Belgium started. Adult traps and ovitraps were placed and larval sampling was conducted at 23 locations. These locations were selected based on their high potential of introducing EMS. DNA-based tec...

The parallel sequencing of targeted amplicons is a scalable application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) that can advantageously replace Sanger sequencing in certain DNA barcoding studies. It can be used to sequence different PCR products simultaneously, including co-amplified products. Here, we explore this approach by simultaneously sequencing...

Body size is intrinsically linked to metabolic rate and life-history traits, and is a crucial determinant of food webs and community dynamics. The increased temperatures associated with the urban-heat-island effect result in increased metabolic costs and are expected to drive shifts to smaller body sizes. Urban environments are, however, also chara...

Metastrongyloid parasites represent sparsely studied parasites of dogs and cats in Germany. Recent European surveys indicate that these parasites are spreading in Europe. Actual data on prevalence of Angiostrongylus vasorum in dogs and foxes reveal several endemic foci in Germany. However, actual data on the prevalence of A. vasorum and other metas...

Mollusc aquaculture is advocated as a highly sustainable food source and may play an important role in future food security globally. With production increasing worldwide, it is timely to appraise all aspects of aquaculture when considering its expanding role as a food source. In this regard, one regularly overlooked aspect of mollusc aquaculture i...

Recently, metastrongyloid lungworms that infect canids, felids and humans, have gained special attention due to their increasing prevalence in domestic and wildlife populations. There is evidence that infections of Angiostrongylus vasorum, the notorious canid lungworm species that can cause severe symptoms such as systemic bleeding disorders in dom...

Species-level taxonomy and phylogeny of two genera of South-East (SE) Asian pachybolid millipedes are analysed with a combination of morphological characters and DNA sequences (two mitochondrial gene fragments: COI and 16S rRNA). Strong support is found for the genera Litostrophus Chamberlin, 1921 and Atopochetus Attems, 1953 and for a clade consis...

illustrated guide to Vietnamese snails and slugs

The purpose of this work is to investigate and evaluate the available molecular identification techniques for each IAS on European Commission issued Regulation 1143/2014, ‘in silico’

The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) currently registers all Pacific cupped oysters that were formerly members of the genus Crassostrea in a new genus, Magallana. Magallana gigas is designated as an ‘‘accepted name,’’ whereas a search for Crassostrea gigas results in the message ‘‘no matching results found.’’ This has caused dismay among ma...

Until now 50 ant species have been recorded from the Galapagos Archipelago. Yet, for more than half of them it is still unclear if they are native to the Galapagos or if they are alien introductions. This uncertainty is due to, amongst others, the fact that the ant fauna of mainland South America is far less studied, which renders it difficult to u...

Due to the scale of international fish and seafood trade there is a large potential for (un)intentional misidentification and/or deliberate fraud through species substitution. Several studies from all over the world indicate that this is common practice, especially for processed products (e.g. fish fillets, bivalves without shell) which lack charac...

Background: Due to the international importance of fish and seafood trade there is a large potential for (un)intentional misidentification and/or deliberate fraud through species substitution. Several studies worldwide indicate that this is common practice, especially for processed products which lack characterizing morphological features (e.g. fil...

This is a Short Note without an abstract.