Larval aquatic and terrestrial mites infesting parthenogenetic Ischnura hastata (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) from the Azores islands.

We report here the prevalence of parasitism by water mites (Arrenurus sp.) and terrestrial mites (Leptus killingtoni) on parthenogenetic Ischnura hastata (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) from the Azores islands. Leptus killingtoni was only found on the island of Pico, and the prevalence of infestation was highly variable among the different ponds studied, ranging from 0 to 41%. Leptus killingtoni was observed on three of the four odonate species from the archipelago: I. hastata, I. pumilio, and Sympetrum fonscolombii, all of them new hosts for this species. Aquatic mites have been found parasitizing I. hastata females on the island of São Miguel. The prevalence of mite parasitism by Arrenurus sp. on I. hastata was very low, ranging from 12% (2003) to 1% (2008), and in most of the studied ponds, no mites were found attached to females. Although I. hastata coexists with a sexual congener species in the Azores (I. pumilio), they are syntopic in only a small fraction of ponds. Therefore, a comparison between I. hastata and I. pumilio was insufficient to test the predictions of the Red Queen Hypothesis, and further research on parasitism rates in both species needs to be done. In any case, the low prevalence of mite parasitism found in the Azores, coupled with the fact that most of the populations in the archipelago are almost free from competitors and predators, could explain the persistence of these I. hastata parthenogenetic populations, despite their low levels of genetic variation.

A template for the future: digitizing and databasing a taxonomic illustration collection.

This is the first iconographic taxonomic database intended as an everyday tool for the practising taxonomist, that allows access to the original drawings used to describe species. We demonstrate the system with water mites (Acari, Parasitengona, Hydrachnidia) but it may be used with any other plant or animal group. Query by genus or species leads to the original drawings and any additional images associated to that particular name. At present, the database includes images from more than 4,000 species (around 38,000 illustrations) and is easily expandable. Copyright does not allow the database to be used in an open WWW context, but it can be an extremely useful tool in private taxonomic applications.

Do small animals have a biogeography?

It has been stated that small organisms do not have barriers for distribution and will not show biogeographic discreteness. General models for size-mediated biogeographies establish a transition region between ubiquitous dispersal and restricted biogeography at about 1-10 mm. We tested patterns of distribution versus size with water mites, a group of freshwater organisms with sizes between 300 microm and 10 mm. We compiled a list of all known water mite species for Sierra del Guadarrama (a mountain range in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula) from different authors and our own studies in the area. Recorded habitats include lotic, lentic and interstitial environments. Species body size and world distribution were drawn from our work and published specialized taxonomic literature. The null hypothesis was that distribution is size-independent. The relationship between distribution and size was approached via analysis of variance and between size and habitat via logistic regression. Contrary to expectations, there is no special relationship between water mite size and area size distribution. On the other hand, water mite size is differentially distributed among habitats, although this ecological sorting is very weak. Larger water mites are more common in lentic habitats and smaller water mites in lotic habitats. Size-dependent distribution in which small organisms tend to be cosmopolitan breaks down when the particular biology comes into play. Water mites do not fit a previously proposed size-dependent biogeographical distribution, and are in accordance with similar data published on Tardigrada, Rotifera, Gastrotricha and the like.

On the extended depth of focus algorithms for bright field microscopy.

Microscopes offer a limited depth of focus which precludes the observation of a complete image of a three-dimensional (3D) object in a single view. Investigations, by a variety of researchers, have led to the development of extended depth of focus algorithms for serial optical slices of microscopic 3D objects in recent years. However, to date, no quantitative comparison of the different algorithms has been performed, generally leaving the evaluation to the subjective qualitative appreciation of the observer. In this paper we use three different tests for extended depth of focus algorithm evaluation and test 10 different algorithms, some of them have been adapted (by us) for a series of optical slices. However, the main contribution of the paper is a new improved algorithm for computing the extended depth of focus.