A quantitative analysis of Final Palaeolithic/earliest Mesolithic cultural taxonomy and evolution in Europe.

Archaeological systematics, together with spatial and chronological information, are commonly used to infer cultural evolutionary dynamics in the past. For the study of the Palaeolithic, and particularly the European Final Palaeolithic and earliest Mesolithic, proposed changes in material culture are often interpreted as reflecting historical processes, migration, or cultural adaptation to climate change and resource availability. Yet, cultural taxonomic practice is known to be variable across research history and academic traditions, and few large-scale replicable analyses across such traditions have been undertaken.

Population Genomics Reveals the Underlying Structure of the Small Pelagic European Sardine and Suggests Low Connectivity within Macaronesia.

The European sardine (, Walbaum 1792) is indisputably a commercially important species. Previous studies using uneven sampling or a limited number of makers have presented sometimes conflicting evidence of the genetic structure of populations. Here, we show that whole genome data from 108 individuals from 16 sampling areas across 5000 km of the species' distribution range (from the Eastern Mediterranean to the archipelago of Azores) support at least three genetic clusters.

Comparative analysis of osteoderms across the lizard body.

Osteoderms (ODs) are mineralized tissue embedded within the skin and are particularly common in reptiles. They are generally thought to form a protective layer between the soft tissues of the animal and potential external threats, although other functions have been proposed. The aim of this study was to characterize OD variation across the lizard body.

Ancient reindeer mitogenomes reveal island-hopping colonisation of the Arctic archipelagos.

Climate warming at the end of the last glacial period had profound effects on the distribution of cold-adapted species. As their range shifted towards northern latitudes, they were able to colonise previously glaciated areas, including remote Arctic islands. However, there is still uncertainty about the routes and timing of colonisation.

Late Pleistocene stickleback environmental genomes reveal the chronology of freshwater adaptation.

Directly observing the chronology and tempo of adaptation in response to ecological change is rarely possible in natural ecosystems. Sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) has been shown to be a tractable source of genome-scale data of long-dead organisms and to thereby potentially provide an understanding of the evolutionary histories of past populations. To date, time series of ecosystem biodiversity have been reconstructed from sedaDNA, typically using DNA metabarcoding or shotgun sequence data generated from less than 1 g of sediment.

The bii4africa dataset of faunal and floral population intactness estimates across Africa's major land uses.

Sub-Saharan Africa is under-represented in global biodiversity datasets, particularly regarding the impact of land use on species' population abundances. Drawing on recent advances in expert elicitation to ensure data consistency, 200 experts were convened using a modified-Delphi process to estimate 'intactness scores': the remaining proportion of an 'intact' reference population of a species group in a particular land use, on a scale from 0 (no remaining individuals) to 1 (same abundance as the reference) and, in rare cases, to 2 (populations that thrive in human-modified landscapes). The resulting bii4africa dataset contains intactness scores representing terrestrial vertebrates (tetrapods: ±5,400 amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals) and vascular plants (±45,000 forbs, graminoids, trees, shrubs) in sub-Saharan Africa across the region's major land uses (urban, cropland, rangeland, plantation, protected, etc.

Repeated upslope biome shifts in Saxifraga during late-Cenozoic climate cooling.

Mountains are among the most biodiverse places on Earth, and plant lineages that inhabit them have some of the highest speciation rates ever recorded. Plant diversity within the alpine zone - the elevation above which trees cannot grow-contributes significantly to overall diversity within mountain systems, but the origins of alpine plant diversity are poorly understood. Here, we quantify the processes that generate alpine plant diversity and their changing dynamics through time in Saxifraga (Saxifragaceae), an angiosperm genus that occurs predominantly in mountain systems.

Cave-adapted millipedes from Portugal: species conservation profiles.

Background: Amongst the cave-dwelling millipedes (Diplopoda), there are several endemic species in Portugal with a very small geographical distribution. These species play an important role in the decomposition of organic matter in subterranean ecosystems and are vulnerable to disturbance from human activities, such as habitat destruction, pollution infiltrating from the surface and cave tourism.

New Information: We present the IUCN Red List profiles for cave-adapted millipedes (Diplopoda) from Portugal and propose conservation measures to prevent extinction.

Host-gut microbiota interactions shape parasite infections in farmed Atlantic salmon.

Animals and their associated microbiota share long evolutionary histories. However, it is not always clear how host genotype and microbiota interact to affect phenotype. We applied a hologenomic approach to explore how host-microbiota interactions shape lifetime growth and parasite infection in farmed Atlantic salmon ().

Collecting whales: processes and biases in Nordic museum collections.

Whales are unique museum objects that have entered collections in many ways and for different reasons. This work studies three Nordic natural history museum collections in Norway and Denmark with more than 2,500 whale specimens in total, and gathers the available biological and collection data on the specimens, which include skeletal elements, foetuses and organs preserved in ethanol or formalin, and a few dry-preserved organs. It finds that influx of specimens, which were mainly locally common species that were hunted, to the collections, mainly happened in the latest 1800s and earliest 1900s, fuelled by research trends, nation building, local whaling, and colonial mechanisms.

Multi-decadal improvements in the ecological quality of European rivers are not consistently reflected in biodiversity metrics.

Humans impact terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems, yet many broad-scale studies have found no systematic, negative biodiversity changes (for example, decreasing abundance or taxon richness). Here we show that mixed biodiversity responses may arise because community metrics show variable responses to anthropogenic impacts across broad spatial scales. We first quantified temporal trends in anthropogenic impacts for 1,365 riverine invertebrate communities from 23 European countries, based on similarity to least-impacted reference communities.

Groundwater is a hidden global keystone ecosystem.

Groundwater is a vital ecosystem of the global water cycle, hosting unique biodiversity and providing essential services to societies. Despite being the largest unfrozen freshwater resource, in a period of depletion by extraction and pollution, groundwater environments have been repeatedly overlooked in global biodiversity conservation agendas. Disregarding the importance of groundwater as an ecosystem ignores its critical role in preserving surface biomes.

A new species of Cook, 1895 discovered among syntypes of Attems, 1909 (Diplopoda, Spirostreptida, Spirostreptidae).

A new species of the genus Cook, 1895 is described, based on specimens hidden for over a century among the syntypes of its congener Attems, 1909 housed in the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet Stockholm (NRMS) and the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NHMW). A lectotype is designated for Attems, 1909 in order to stabilize its taxonomy. Updates to the millipede fauna of Mt.

Monitoring of species' genetic diversity in Europe varies greatly and overlooks potential climate change impacts.

Genetic monitoring of populations currently attracts interest in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity but needs long-term planning and investments. However, genetic diversity has been largely neglected in biodiversity monitoring, and when addressed, it is treated separately, detached from other conservation issues, such as habitat alteration due to climate change. We report an accounting of efforts to monitor population genetic diversity in Europe (genetic monitoring effort, GME), the evaluation of which can help guide future capacity building and collaboration towards areas most in need of expanded monitoring.

Discovery of a new extinct spider wasp (Hymenoptera, Pompilidae) from Eocene Rovno amber.

Paleogenia waichertae Loktionov, Lelej et Perkovsky, sp. nov. is a new species of extinct spider wasps.

A new species of Ecitonides Wasmann, 1894 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Paederinae) from Peru and phylogenetic placement of the genus based on molecular data.

Ecitonides constanceae sp. nov., a new species of the myrmecophilous genus Ecitonides Wasmann, 1894, which is associated with army ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ecitoninae), is described from Peru.

New Limaiinae (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) from the early Eocene Fur Formation, Denmark, including an unexpected finding of a Mesozoic genus.

Two species of Limaiinae (Chrysopidae) are described from the early Eocene Fur Formation of Denmark: Mesypochrysa nielseni sp. nov. and Limaiinae gen.

A new amber representative of the genus Ectobius Stephens, 1835 (Blattodea: Ectobiidae) from Storeblt (Denmark).

A new fossil cockroach, Ectobius danekrae sp. nov., is described on the basis of a single male adult individual from late Eocene Danish amber.

Five new ocellus-bearing species of the cusk-eel genus Neobythites (Ophidiidae, Ophidiiformes) from the West Pacific, with establishment of three new species groups.

Five new West Pacific species of the cusk-eel genus Neobythites (Ophidiidae) from the lower shelf and upper slope of the Solomon Sea, off Okinawa, Japan, and off Fiji are described. The descriptions are based on nine specimens from three fish collections and unvouchered fresh colour photographs showing three specimens taken shortly after being caught. The new species all bear at least one ocellus on the dorsal fin, a conspicuous colour pattern consisting of a dark spot surrounded by a contrasting white or pale ring.

A reassessment of the Andean genus Myopella Malloch (Diptera: Anthomyiidae).

The small Andean genus Myopella Malloch with two included species, M. angustifrons Malloch and M. appendiculata (Stein), is re-examined with special attention to the morphology of the male and female abdomen and terminalia.