Zootaxa 20th Anniversary Celebration: Odonata section.

During the two decades (20012020) of the journal's existence, 346 papers on Odonata were published in Zootaxa. These papers contributed 317 new extant taxa, 26 new fossil taxa, and 106 new larval descriptions. By the end of the period, papers in Zootaxa were contributing slightly more than half of all descriptions of new extant taxa. Research was published from all over the world but predominantly from the American and Asian tropics, and authors from 42 countries contributed papers.

Timeless standards for species delimitation.

Recently a new species of bombyliid fly, Marleyimyia xylocopae, was described by Marshall & Evenhuis (2015) based on two photographs taken during fieldwork in the Republic of South Africa. This species has no preserved holotype. The paper generated some buzz, especially among dipterists, because in most cases photographs taken in the field provide insufficient information for properly diagnosing and documenting species of Diptera.

FOREWORD: EDITORS' INTRODUCTION.

Since its establishment ZOOTAXA has become not only a rapid journal for zoological systematics but also a respected forum for discussions of all taxonomic matters, and it has gradually attained a distinguished position among other zoological journals by its special issues. These collections of papers treat varied themes such as the Carl Linnaeus legacy (Zhang & Shear 2007, Minelli et al. 2008), cataloguing metazoan life (Zhang 2011, 2013), and promoting and discussing the future of taxonomic sciences, for example modification of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 2008). For these reasons we offer this special issue to celebrate the fruitful career of the eminent Brazilian researcher Dr. Angelo Barbosa Monteiro Machado ("Professor Angelo" to his friends and colleagues).

Effects of propionyl-carnitine on mitochondrial respiration and post-ischaemic cardiac function in the ischaemic underperfused diabetic rat heart.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Carnitine and its derivatives, namely propionyl-carnitine (PC), have been shown to protect cardiac metabolism and function in diabetes mellitus and ischaemic heart disease. Since diabetes is associated with abnormalities in mitochondrial metabolism of fuels, we examined the effects of PC on mitochondrial respiration in ischaemic hearts from streptozotocin-diabetic rats. METHODS: Diabetes was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats by an intravenous injection of streptozotocin. Following the diagnosis of diabetes, oral PC treatment was initiated for a period of 6 weeks. After treatment, cardiac function was determined from working hearts perfused under aerobic conditions and in a separate group of hearts subjected to ischaemia and reperfusion. Mitochondrial respiration was determined under aerobic conditions and following low-flow ischaemia. RESULTS: Rates of state 3 mitochondria respiration with pyruvate were significantly lower in diabetic (n = 4) hearts compared with control (n = 6) hearts (80 +/- 5 vs 112 +/- 5 nanoatoms O2/mg protein/min, respectively), but those with palmitoylcarnitine were similar (101 +/- 11 vs 106 +/- 6 nanoatoms O2/mg protein/min). Diabetic rat heart (n = 8) function, expressed as rate pressure product, was also significantly decreased compared with control (n = 8) hearts (21.5 +/- 1.0 vs 29.5 +/- 0.9 beats x mm Hg x 10(-3)/min, respectively). In PC-treated diabetic (n = 6) hearts, state 3 respiration with pyruvate was increased, and a marked improvement in left ventricular function from 21.5 +/- 1.0 to 26.0 +/- 0.6 beats x mm Hg x 10(-3)/min was observed. During low-flow ischaemia, state 3 respiration with pyruvate remained lower in diabetic (n = 5) hearts compared with control (n = 5) hearts (64 +/- 3 vs 46 +/- 5 nanoatoms O2/mg protein/min, respectively). Following treatment with PC (n = 4), however, respiration with this substrate was significantly increased to 57 +/- 4 nanoatoms O2/mg protein/min. PC was also associated with a significant improvement in cardiac function in reperfused diabetic rat (n = 4) hearts (18.4 +/- 0.2 beats x mm Hg x 10(-3)/min). CONCLUSION: Our results showed that PC has a beneficial effect on cardiac function and increases ischaemic tolerance of the diabetic rat heart. This beneficial effect of PC can be explained, in part, as an improvement in mitochondrial metabolism of pyruvate during the actual ischaemic period.