Liberating host-virus knowledge from biological dark data.

Connecting basic data about bats and other potential hosts of SARS-CoV-2 with their ecological context is crucial to the understanding of the emergence and spread of the virus. However, when lockdowns in many countries started in March, 2020, the world's bat experts were locked out of their research laboratories, which in turn impeded access to large volumes of offline ecological and taxonomic data. Pandemic lockdowns have brought to attention the long-standing problem of so-called biological dark data: data that are published, but disconnected from digital knowledge resources and thus unavailable for high-throughput analysis. Knowledge of host-to-virus ecological interactions will be biased until this challenge is addressed. In this Viewpoint, we outline two viable solutions: first, in the short term, to interconnect published data about host organisms, viruses, and other pathogens; and second, to shift the publishing framework beyond unstructured text (the so-called PDF prison) to labelled networks of digital knowledge. As the indexing system for biodiversity data, biological taxonomy is foundational to both solutions. Building digitally connected knowledge graphs of host-pathogen interactions will establish the agility needed to quickly identify reservoir hosts of novel zoonoses, allow for more robust predictions of emergence, and thereby strengthen human and planetary health systems.

Using taxonomic treatments to assess an author's career: the impactful Jocélia Grazia.

Here we present a descriptive analysis of the bibliographic production of the world-renowned heteropterist Dr. Jocélia Grazia and comments on her taxonomic reach based on extracted taxonomic treatments. We analyzed a total of 219 published documents, including scientific papers, scientific notes, and book chapters. Additionally, we applied the Plazi workflow to extract taxonomic treatments, images, tables, treatment citations and materials citations, and references from 75 different documents in accordance with the FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse) principles and made them available on the Biodiversity Literature Repository (BLR), hosted on Zenodo, and on TreatmentBank. We found that Dr. Grazia published 200 new names, including species (183) and genera (17), and 1,444 taxonomic treatments in total. From these, 104 and 581, respectively, were extracted after applying the Plazi Workflow. A total of 544 figures, 50 tables, 2,242 references, 2,107 materials citations, and 1,101 treatment citations were also extracted. In order to make her publications properly citable and accessible, we assigned DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) for all publications that lacked this persistent identifier, including those that were not processed (88 in total), therefore enhancing the open-access share of her publications.

A new species of Zetekella Drake from Ecuador with comments on Zetekella and Minitingis Barber (Heteroptera, Tingidae).

Zetekella and Minitingis (Heteroptera, Tingidae) are morphologically similar genera, each comprising two species. The latter was already considered a junior synonym of the former, but was revalidated on the basis of the number of cephalic spines, projections on the paranotal edge, length of the rostrum, presence of an abdominal groove and distributional pattern. Here, a new species of Zetekella is described from Ecuador, the diagnoses for both genera reassessed, new records for Z.pulla and Z.zeteki reported, and a key to the species of both genera provided.

New species and new records of Tingidae (Hemiptera. Heteroptera) from Thailand.

Eight species new to science are described from Thailand and 35 species new to Thailand are recorded. The fauna of Thailand, represented formerly by 12 species is increased to 52 species here. Comments on their distribution are added. Most of the species recorded come from material collected in the mid XXth century and deposited in Museums and from recent collecting surveys.

A new macropterous species of a rarely collected subfamily (Heteroptera, Tingidae, Vianaidinae).

Pterovianaida duckensis n. sp., a new macropterous species of the rarely collected subfamily Vianaidinae is here described. The group currently comprises nine species, two of them fossils. Pterovianaida Montemayor and Carpintero is a recent monotypic genus described for a macropterous species collected in Peru. Here, a new macropterous species of Pterovianaida is described, and characters of the head, pronotum and hemelytra distinguish this species from the type species. This is the first record of a macropterous Vianaidinae for Brazil. A key to all extant species of this subfamily is provided.

Description of Tingis americana nymphs (Hemiptera: Tingidae), with emphasis on integumentary structures.

The five instars of Tingis (Tingis) americana Drake are described and illustrated, with emphasis on the ontogenetic changes of integumentary structures. The study was performed using scanning electron microscopy.

The Hemiptera type-material housed in the "Museu de Ciências Naturais, Fundação Zoobotânica do Rio Grande do Sul" of Porto Alegre, Brazil.

We provide a commented and referenced list on the type material deposited in the "Museu de Ciencias Naturais, Fundação Zoobotânica do Rio Grande do Sul", Porto Alegre, Brazil. Geographic coordinates are available on a digital repository for free access. High-resolution images of the specimens are available under request.

On the nymphs of lantana lace bug Teleonemia scrupulosa Stål (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Tingidae: Tinginae): ontogenetic features of integumentary structures highlighted.

The five instars of Teleonemia scrupulosa Stål are described. The postembryonic ontogenetic development of integumentary structures is emphasized, with a discussion on its potential use in cladistic studies within Tingidae.

Adenosine deaminase-related genes: molecular identification, tissue expression pattern and truncated alternative splice isoform in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) is responsible for cleaving the neuromodulator adenosine to inosine. Two members of ADA subfamilies, known as ADA1 and ADA2, were described and evidence demonstrated another similar protein group named ADAL (adenosine deaminase "like"). Although the identification of ADA members seems to be consistent, the expression profile of ADA1, ADA2 and ADAL genes in zebrafish has not yet been reported. The aim of the present study was to map the expression pattern of ADA-related genes in various tissues of adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). An extensive search on zebrafish genome followed by a phylogenetic analysis confirmed the presence of distinct ADA-related genes (ADA1, ADAL and two orthologous genes of ADA2). Specific primers for each ADA member were designed, optimized semi-quantitative RT-PCR experiments were conducted and the relative amount of transcripts was determined. The tissue samples (brain, gills, heart, liver, skeletal muscle and kidney) were collected and the expression of ADA1, ADAL and ADA2 genes was characterized. ADA1 had a similar expression pattern, whereas ADAL was less expressed in the heart. The highest relative amount of ADA2-1 transcripts was observed in the brain, liver and gills and it was less expressed in the heart. RT-PCR assays revealed that the other ADA2 form (ADA2-2) was expressed ubiquitously and at comparable levels in zebrafish tissues. The strategy adopted also allowed the identification of an ADA2-1 truncated alternative splice isoform (ADA2-1/T), which was expressed at different intensities. These findings demonstrated the existence of different ADA-related genes, their distinct expression pattern and a truncated ADA2-1 isoform, which suggest a high degree of complexity in zebrafish adenosinergic system.