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Publications
Publications (42)
Male abdomen appendages are a novel trait found within Sepsidae (Diptera). Here we demonstrate that they are likely to have evolved once, were lost three times, and then secondarily gained in one lineage. The developmental basis of these appendages was investigated by counting the number of histoblast cells in each abdominal segment in four species...
Many species descriptions, especially older ones, consist mostly of text and have few illustrations. Only the most conspicuous morphological features needed for species diagnosis and delimitation at the time of description are illustrated. Such descriptions can quickly become inadequate when new species or characters are discovered. We propose that...
Abstract The males of almost all sepsid species have strongly modified forelegs that are used to clamp the female’s wingbase during mounting. Here, we describe a new species in the genus Perochaeta whose males have unmodified forelegs. We use DNA sequence data for ten genes to reconstruct the position of Perochaeta on the phylogenetic tree for Seps...
In land-scarce Singapore where fresh water is a critical resource, Trichoptera communities can serve as a biomonitoring tool yet are poorly known. This study seeks to address this gap by establishing a preliminary understanding of trichopteran diversity and distribution in Singapore’s freshwater streams. From October 2023–January 2024, 11 stream si...
We demonstrate the power of integrative taxonomy by carrying out a revision of the fungus gnats (Diptera: Mycetophilidae) of Singapore. The specimens material of 496 Malaise trap samples was caught by 71 traps placed at 107 collecting sites in different habitats of Singapore: mangroves, swamp forests, freshwater swamps, primary rainforests, and dif...
We are entering the 6th mass extinction event on the planet with scarcely any data for "dark taxa" that comprise most animal species. These taxa have been neglected, because conventional taxonomic methods are not well-equipped to process tens of thousands of specimens belonging to thousands of species. We here test a new protocol for tackling the d...
Most of arthropod biodiversity is unknown to science. Consequently, it has been unclear whether insect communities around the world are dominated by the same or different taxa. This question can be answered through standardized sampling of biodiversity followed by estimation of species diversity and community composition with DNA barcodes. Here thi...
Male sexual ornaments often evolve rapidly and are thought to be costly, thus contributing to sexual size dimorphism. However, little is known about their developmental costs, and even less about costs associated with structural complexity. Here, we quantified the size and complexity of three morphologically elaborate sexually dimorphic male orname...
Abstract Vertebrate communities can be surveyed by metabarcoding DNA obtained from invertebrates (iDNA). However, little attention has been paid to the interaction between the invertebrate and vertebrate species. We here test for specialization by sampling the dung and carrion fly community of a swamp forest remnant along a disturbance gradient (10...
Metabarcoding of vertebrate DNA obtained from invertebrates (iDNA) has been used to survey vertebrate communities, but we here show that it can also be used to study species interactions between invertebrates and vertebrates in a spatial context. We sampled the dung and carrion fly community of a swamp forest remnant along a disturbance gradient (1...
Most of arthropod biodiversity is unknown to science. For this reason, it has been unclear whether insect communities around the world are dominated by the same or different taxa. This question can be answered through standardized sampling of biodiversity followed by estimation of species diversity and community composition with DNA sequences. This...
The collection of the National University of Singapore as well as material collected in 2018 were checked for Sciomyzidae, resulting in the uncovering of two species previously unknown to Singapore: Sepedon senex Wiedemann, 1830, and Sepedon plumbella Wiedemann, 1830. These records are the first observations of the family Sciomyzidae in Singapore.
Many phoretic relationships between arthropods are understudied because of taxonomic impediments. We here illustrate for avian lice riding on hippoboscid flies how new natural history data on phoretic relationships can be acquired quickly with modern and cost‐effective barcoding techniques. Most avian lice are host‐specific, but some can arrive on...
Many phoretic relationships between insects are understudied because of taxonomic impediments. We here illustrate for avian lice riding on hippoboscid flies how new natural history data on phoretic relationships can be acquired quickly with NGS barcoding. Most avian lice are host-specific, but some can arrive on new hosts by riding hippoboscid flie...
Background
The world’s fast disappearing mangrove forests have low plant diversity and are often assumed to also have a species-poor insect fauna. We here compare the tropical arthropod fauna across a freshwater swamp and six different forest types (rain-, swamp, dry-coastal, urban, freshwater swamp, mangroves) based on 140,000 barcoded specimens b...
We here compare the tropical arthropod fauna across a freshwater swamp and six different forest types (rain-, swamp, dry-coastal, urban, freshwater swamp, mangroves) based on 140,000 specimens belonging to ca. 8,500 species. Surprisingly, we find that mangroves, a globally imperiled habitat that had been expected to be species-poor for insects, are...
Background:
Metamorphosis remains one of the most complicated and poorly understood processes in insects. This is particularly so for the very dynamic transformations that take place within the pupal sheath of holometabolous insects. Only few studies address these transformations especially with regard to cranial structures of those holometabolous...
We here show an example of how a supposed 'wide-spread' species can actually be revealed as a 'long-distance' cryptic species complex. During a recent survey of the insect fauna of the mangroves of the San Vicente Mangrove Forest Association (SAVIMA) in Bohol, Philippines, many specimens of Dolichopodidae were collected. They were pre-sorted into p...
Background The metamorphosis is a complicated but very interesting process because of the highly dynamic transformation in sheath. Very few studies had coverage on the head muscles of larvae, pupae, and adults. Most of these studies were focusing on the model organisms about the rough changes of the external and internal tissues or the time of meta...
Background:Metamorphosis remains one of the most complicated and poorly understood processes in insects. This is particularly so for the very dynamic transformations that take place within the pupal sheath of holometabolous insects. Only few studies address these transformations especially with regard to cranial structures of those holometabolous s...
A new genus (Stenope gen. nov.; type species: Allophrys falcatus) is described for the aberrant type species from the Philippines accidently described as an ichneumonid species.
New species from well-studied taxa such as Sepsidae (Diptera) are rarely described from localities that have been extensively explored and one may think that New York City belongs to this category. Yet, a new species of Themira (Diptera: Sepsidae) was recently discovered which is currently only known to reside in two of New York City’s largest urba...
Aligned COI sequences for Themira
putris, T.
biloba, and Themira 'biloba-like' (i.e., T.
lohmanus n. sp.) specimens
Two species of Allophrys Förster are described from the Oriental region, A. cantonensis Reshchikov& Yue, sp. nov., collected from Guangdong, China and A. falcatus Reshchikov, sp. nov. from Davao, Philippines. This is first record of the genus from China. A key to the Oriental species of the genus is provided.
Specimens of the enigmatic, monotypic European genus Zuskamira Pont, 1987 (Sepsidae) were initially collected only from the lower central Swedish provinces of Darlana, Uppland and Västmanland. However, the same species was subsequently found much more south in Lower-Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein although Germany is overall well sampled for sepsid f...
Due to their interesting biology, conspicuous sexual dimorphism and the ability to conduct experiments on species that breed under laboratory condition, sepsid flies (Diptera : Sepsidae) are becoming increasingly important model organisms in evolutionary biology. Accurate species boundaries and well supported phylogenetic hypotheses are thus of int...
Scan of precedent descriptions of Perochaeta orientalis (doi: 10.3897/zookeys.355.6013.app). File format: Adobe PDF file (pdf).
The two species of chironomid midges that are known to be involved in mass swarming on the shores of Singapore's Pandan and Bedok reservoirs are described or redescribed. All life stages are illustrated to allow identification. Polypedilum nubifer (Skuse), the predominant nuisance midge of Pandan reservoir, is globally known as a coloniser of new a...
A recent collecting trip to Vietnam yielded three new species and two new records of Sepsidae (Diptera) for the country. Here we describe two new species in the species-poor genus Perochaeta (Perochaeta cuirassasp. n. andPerochaeta lobosp. n.) and one to the largest sepsid genus Sepsis (Sepsis spurasp. n.) which is also found in Sumatra and Sulawes...
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 s...
Even for the most cosmopolitan of species, climate frequently presents effective barriers for dispersal. For example, many eurytopic and synanthropic species go extinct when introduced into a new climatic zone, and translocated ants remain in sheltered environments reminiscent of their home climate (McGlynn, 1999). Here we report the occurrence of...