Works in Germany

For the first time the Asian hornet Vespa velutina has been found in Hamburg (Northern Germany). So far this is the northernmost occurrence of this originally SE-Asian species in …

Boletina kowarzi Stackelberg, 1943 (Diptera: Mycetophilidae) is recorded from Central Europe for the first time in nearly 150 years. The species was originally described based on …

Überprüfte Sammlungsexemplare und aktuelle Funde des besonders selten gefundenen und nur äusserst lokal vorkommenden Adosomus roridus aus der Schweiz führten zur Entdeckung von Ei…

Samples of the tree fungus Antrodia xantha were collected on Pinus strobus in the therapy garden of the UPK campus (University Psychiatric Clinics) in Basel in summer 2021. The sa…

Analysis of wing pattern, genital morphology and results of DNA barcoding indicates that the name Dichrorampha montanana sensu auct. actually comprises two species. D. alpestrana …

Evidence for selective disadvantages of large body size remains scarce in general. Previous studies of the yellow dung fly Scathophaga stercoraria have demonstrated strong positiv…

Osmia (Melanosmia) uncinata Gerstäcker is a Palaearctic megachilid bee distributed from temperate and northern Europe eastwards to the Russian Far East. The discovery of over 80 n…

Understanding why and how multiple species manage to coexist represents a primary goal of ecological and evolutionary research. This is of particular relevance for communities tha…

Here, we investigate about 5500 previously unidentified specimens from the collection of Gerhard Bächli. A total of 108 agromyzid species were added to the fauna of Switzerland. C…

Both molecular and morphologic characters support the reinstatement of Leuctra biellensis Festa, 1942 as a valid species distinct from Leuctra nigra (Olivier, 1811). Genetic dista…

Floodplains and coastal wetlands provide essential ecosystem services such as flood protection, water quality enhancement, carbon sequestration, and the production of raw material…

Soil fauna act as regulators of decomposition processes via their feeding activity, thereby playing an important role in regulating carbon cycling and sequestration. Hardwood floo…

The genus Osmoderma is a flagship taxon of invertebrate conservation in Europe and encompasses a complex of four accepted species. While species limits amongst Osmoderma have been…

The “anomaly P” was described in Palearctic water frogs of the genus Pelophylax by Jean Rostand as complex morphological anomalies of water frogs, including polydactyly, brachymel…

Molecular analyses of soil and water commonly reveal large proportions of fungal taxa that cannot be assigned to any taxonomic or functional groups. Some of these so-called dark t…

Species of Verrucaria, characterised by large spores (at least some spores exceeding 25 µm in length), perithecia leaving pits in the rock and a pale thin thallus, form a taxonomi…

The first taxonomic treatment of the smut fungi in Greenland is provided. A total of 43 species in 11 genera are treated and illustrated by photographs of sori, microphotographs o…

During a survey on fungi associated with wood necroses of Prunus trees in Germany, strains belonging to the Leotiomycetes and Eurotiomycetes were detected by preliminary analyses …

Six new Micarea species are described from Europe. Phylogenetic analyses, based on three loci, i.e. mtSSU rDNA, Mcm7 and ITS rDNA and ancestral state reconstructions, were used to…

There are 63 known species of Thecaphora (Glomosporiaceae, Ustilaginomycotina), a third of which occur on Asteraceae. These smut fungi produce yellowish-brown to reddish-brown mas…

Diversity of corticioid fungi (resupinate Basidiomycota), especially outside the northern temperate climatic zone, remains poorly explored. Furthermore, most of the known species …

Orbilia beltraniae is a new succulenticolous species from the Canary Islands associated with Euphorbia scrubs. Phylogenetic analyses based on rDNA sequences of ITS and partial LSU…

Molecular analyses have revealed a clade which equates with the genus name Mycetinis Earle. An overall survey of this genus, however, has not been forthcoming. The current study s…

Freshwater fungi are a poorly studied ecological group that includes a high taxonomic diversity. Most studies on aquatic fungal diversity have focused on single habitats, thus the…

Phylogeographic data indicate that DNA differences consistently exist between the North American and European allopatric populations of Gymnopus confluens. Conversely, pairing exp…

While microbiome associations are known to impact species survival, the extent to which microbiome variation aids in invasion dynamics is largely unknown. Here, we studied the mic…

Two popular hypotheses in invasion biology are the “inherent superiority hypothesis”, stating that non-native species generally perform better than native species, and the “biotic…

Introductions of non-native species (NNS) are major drivers of biodiversity loss. Gammarids (Crustacea, Gammaroidea) have been particularly successful in establishing and spreadin…

The spread of non-native species is one of the outcomes of global change, threatening many native communities through predation and competition. Freshwater ecosystems are particul…

The three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus was introduced into Lake Constance in the 1940s and occupied a limited range until late 2012. Since then the species has expand…

Spinycheek crayfish (Faxonius limosus) and signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) are successful North American invasive crayfish species distributed throughout Europe. Both s…

Biological invasions by alien species have substantial economic impacts and are a major driver of the ongoing decline and loss of biodiversity. Through humans, the North American …

Plant phenology, i. e. the timing of life cycle events, is related to individual fitness and species distribution ranges. Temperature is one of the most important drivers of plant…

Salinity is an influential abiotic environmental factor in aquatic species, specifically in freshwater, where salinization causes ecosystem degradation. Secondary salinization, th…

Organism dispersal is nowadays highly driven by human vectors. This also refers to the aquatic organisms that can often silently spread in and invade new waters, especially when h…

Cryptic biological invasions are largely unrecognised, leading to an underestimation of the number of invading taxa and their potential impacts. The Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir…

Alien plant invaders are often considered to be more competitive than natives, and species-rich plant communities are often considered to be more resistant to invaders than specie…

Competition is commonly thought to underlie the impact of plant invasions. However, competitive effects of aliens and competitive response of natives may also change over time. In…

In the new range, invasive species lack their specialist co-evolved natural enemies, which then might be used as biocontrol agents. Populations of both a plant invader in the intr…

In semi-natural grasslands, mowing leads to the dispersal of species that have viable seeds at the right time. For invasive plant species in grasslands, dispersal by mowing should…

We combine multivariate ratio analysis (MRA) of body measurements and analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear data to examine the status of several species of European paper wasps (…

Phormia regina (the black fly) is a common Holarctic blow fly species which serves as a primary indicator taxon to estimate minimal post mortem intervals. It is also a major resea…

The mitochondrial cytochrome c-oxidase subunit I (COI) can serve as a fast and accurate marker for the identification of animal species, and has been applied in a number of studie…

The adult instar of the oribatid mite, Galumna obvia (Berlese, 1914), is redescribed in detail, on the basis of specimens from Finland. The morphology of juvenile instars of G. ob…

The distribution of Acomopterella species in the Palaearctic region has been re-examined in this study, using recently collected material. The European species was found to be dis…

Atyaephyra de Brito Capello, 1867 was described from the Mediterranean region almost 200 years ago. Since then, the genus has been recorded from various freshwater habitats in Eur…

With Baryshnyala occulta gen. et sp. n. (Baryshnyalidae fam. n.) we report a new small species from early Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) deposits in Hagen-Vorhalle. It differs…

Besides Erasipteroides valentini (Brauckmann in Brauckmann, Koch & Kemper, 1985), Zessinella siope Brauckmann, 1988, and Namurotypus sippeli Brauckmann & Zessin, 1989, Rasnitsynal…

In urban river systems, fragmentation of habitats and in-stream dispersal barriers play a major role in shaping the population genetic structure of freshwater macroinvertebrate sp…