Dragonflies of Cusuco National Park, Honduras; checklist, new country records and the description of a new species of Palaemnema Selys, 1860 (Odonata: Platystictidae).

The odonate fauna of Honduras is poorly documented. Based on 10 years of observations and collections we present an overview of dragonflies from cloud forests in Cusuco National Park, northwestern Honduras. A total of 44 species were reported including at least seven new country records for Honduras we include ecological observations for most species.

New or rare Madagascar tiger beetles26. A new species of the genus Pogonostoma Klug from northwestern Madagascar and a revised key to the Pogonostoma (P.) srnkai species-group (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae).

A new species of the genus Pogonostoma Klug, 1835, P. (Pogonostoma) mahimborondrense Moravec Wiesner sp. nov.

A new Cangoderces (Araneae, Telemidae) from DR Congo, the first telemid from Central Africa.

Spiders collected as part of a rapid biodiversity survey in lowland forest in Democratic Republic Congo contained a new species of Cangoderces Harington, 1951 (Telemidae). The male of the new Cangoderces wewef sp. n.

Untangling the waterfall damsels: a review of the Mesoamerican genus Paraphlebia Selys in Hagen, 1861 (Odonata: Thaumatoneuridae) with descriptions of 11 new species.

A review of the Mesoamerican genus Paraphlebia Selys in Hagen, 1861 is presented, including diagnoses, illustrations of diagnostic characters, and distribution maps for all species. A key to the known males and females is provided. Eleven new species are described: P.

Genetic Analysis Reveals a Distinct Lineage of Hog Deer (Axis porcinus) in Kratie Province, Cambodia.

The hog deer (Axis porcinus) is an endangered cervid with drastic population declines. There are 2 recognized subspecies of hog deer: A. p.

Notes on a small collection of Prioninae from North-East Madagascar with the description of a new Schizodontus/ Quentin amp; Villiers, 1974 (Cerambycidae, Closterini).

We present observations from a small collection of longhorns belonging to the subfamily Prioninae and collected during an expedition in the rainy season to a newly designated protected area, Mahimborondro, in North-East Madagascar. The material includes a new species (S. mahimborondroensis sp.

A new species of Derobrachus Audinet-Serville, 1832 (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae) from a cloud forest in Honduras.

A yearly biodiversity monitoring of longhorned beetles (Cerambycidae) in a Honduran cloud forest revealed a new species of prionine. Derobrachus cusucoensis sp. nov.

Host niche may determine disease-driven extinction risk.

The fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) drives declines and extinctions in amphibian communities. However, not all regions and species are equally affected. Here, we show that association with amphibian aquatic habitat types (bromeliad phytotelmata versus stream) across Central America results in the odds of being threatened by Bd being five times higher in stream microhabitats.

Nearly 400 million people are at higher risk of schistosomiasis because dams block the migration of snail-eating river prawns.

Dams have long been associated with elevated burdens of human schistosomiasis, but how dams increase disease is not always clear, in part because dams have many ecological and socio-economic effects. A recent hypothesis argues that dams block reproduction of the migratory river prawns that eat the snail hosts of schistosomiasis. In the Senegal River Basin, there is evidence that prawn populations declined and schistosomiasis increased after completion of the Diama Dam.

A new biogeographically disjunct giant gecko (: Gekkonidae: Reptilia) from the East Melanesian Islands.

The East Melanesian Islands have been a focal area for research into island biogeography and community ecology. However, previously undescribed and biogeographically significant new species endemic to this region continue to be discovered. Here we describe a phylogenetically distinct (~20% divergence at the mitochondrial ND2 gene) and biogeographically disjunct new species of gecko in the genus Gehyra, from the Admiralty and St Matthias Islands.

Newly discovered populations of the Ethiopian endemic and endangered Afrixalus clarkei Largen, implications for conservation.

Knowledge of the Ethiopian amphibian fauna is limited and Southwest Ethiopia remains understudied. This part of Ethiopia, where most of the country's remaining natural forest is situated, is known to harbour the only populations of Afrixalus clarkei (Largen), an endemic banana frog, worldwide. This species is under great threat of extinction and is therefore classified as endangered on the IUCN red list.

Evolution of endemism on a young tropical mountain.

Tropical mountains are hot spots of biodiversity and endemism, but the evolutionary origins of their unique biotas are poorly understood. In varying degrees, local and regional extinction, long-distance colonization, and local recruitment may all contribute to the exceptional character of these communities. Also, it is debated whether mountain endemics mostly originate from local lowland taxa, or from lineages that reach the mountain by long-range dispersal from cool localities elsewhere.

Dominant predators mediate the impact of habitat size on trophic structure in bromeliad invertebrate communities.

Local habitat size has been shown to influence colonization and extinction processes of species in patchy environments. However, species differ in body size, mobility, and trophic level, and may not respond in the same way to habitat size. Thus far, we have a limited understanding of how habitat size influences the structure of multitrophic communities and to what extent the effects may be generalizable over a broad geographic range.

Microdrile Oligochaeta in bromeliad pools of a Honduran cloud forest.

Phytotelmata, or plant-held water bodies, often house complex aquatic invertebrate communities. Microdrile oligochaetes (Clitellata, Annelida) are known to be part of that community, but specimens are rarely identified to species level. Here we report three species of Enchytraeidae and three species of Naididae from a collection sampled in phytotelms of bromeliads in Cusuco National Park, Honduras.

Terrestrial Dispersal and Potential Environmental Transmission of the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis).

Dispersal and exposure to amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, Bd) is not confined to the aquatic habitat, but little is known about pathways that facilitate exposure to wild terrestrial amphibians that do not typically enter bodies of water. We explored the possible spread of Bd from an aquatic reservoir to terrestrial substrates by the emergence of recently metamorphosed infected amphibians and potential deposition of Bd-positive residue on riparian vegetation in Cusuco National Park, Honduras (CNP). Amphibians and their respective leaf perches were both sampled for Bd presence and the pathogen was detected on 76.

A new genus of Psychodinae (Diptera, Psychodidae) from phytotelmata in a Honduran cloud forest.

Larvae of a new species of Psychodinae, Moruseodina cusucoensis gen. et sp. nov.

A new species in the genus Amphipteryx Selys, 1853 (Odonata, Amphipterygidae) from Pico Bonito National Park, Honduras.

The Mesoamerican damselfly genus Amphipteryx includes four species: Amphipteryx agrioides (Mexico), A. chiapensis (Mexico), A. meridionalis (Honduras) and A.

Dispatch from the field: ecology of ground-web-building spiders with description of a new species (Araneae, Symphytognathidae).

Crassignathadanaugirangensis sp. n. (Araneae: Symphytognathidae) was discovered during a tropical ecology field course held at the Danau Girang Field Centre in Sabah, Malaysia.

Modelling hurricane exposure and wind speed on a mesoclimate scale: a case study from Cusuco NP, Honduras.

High energy weather events are often expected to play a substantial role in biotic community dynamics and large scale diversity patterns but their contribution is hard to prove. Currently, observations are limited to the documentation of accidental records after the passing of such events. A more comprehensive approach is synthesising weather events in a location over a long time period, ideally at a high spatial resolution and on a large geographic scale.

A new species of Elpidium (Crustacea, Ostracoda) from bromeliads in Cusuco National Park, Honduras.

Passively dispersing aquatic invertebrates such as Ostracoda in restricted aquatic habitats such as bromeliads remain an intriguing observation considering the highly specialised dispersal vectors needed for efficient colonisation. Here we describe a new species of Elpidium, Elpidium merendonense sp. n.

Leaf litter copepods from a cloud forest mountain top in Honduras (Copepoda: Cyclopidae, Canthocamptidae).

Five different species of Copepoda were extracted from a leaf litter sample collected on the top (at 2000 m a.s.l.

Toward a global phylogeny of the "living fossil" crustacean order of the Notostraca.

Tadpole shrimp (Crustacea, Notostraca) are iconic inhabitants of temporary aquatic habitats worldwide. Often cited as prime examples of evolutionary stasis, surviving representatives closely resemble fossils older than 200 mya, suggestive of an ancient origin. Despite significant interest in the group as 'living fossils' the taxonomy of surviving taxa is still under debate and both the phylogenetic relationships among different lineages and the timing of diversification remain unclear.

Freshwater Rhabdocoela (Platyhelminthes) from ephemeral rock pools from Botswana, with the description of four new species and one new genus.

Four new species of freshwater rhabdocoel flatworms from ephemeral rock pools in southeastern Botswana are described and discussed. Two of them, Syringoplana kolasai n. gen.