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The genus Ulmeritoides includes 20 species, of which nine are known only from the adult forms, with the nymphal stage yet to be described. Moreover, over half of the species are known from very few records, often limited to their type-localities and nearby areas. This situation reflects the current state of knowledge gaps in Neotropical leptophlebiids, particularly the Linnean, Wallacean, and Haeckelian shortfalls, which are the most significant challenges in understanding biodiversity. This study aims to address some of these gaps by describing a new species, Ulmeritoides rebousas sp. nov. based on stage association of nymph, male and female imagos. Additionally, the nymphal stage of U. spinulipenis is described for the first time. Both species were collected in the Iguaçu National Park, Paraná state, Brazil. These findings represent the first record of Ulmeritoides spinulipenis in Brazil and, together with Ulmeritoides rebousas sp. nov., they mark the first occurrence of the genus Ulmeritoides in Paraná State. Furthermore, this study provides an updated identification key for the genus Ulmeritoides based on nymphs and male imagos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite recent efforts to make large‐scale biodiversity datasets available, several data shortfalls still exist that preclude our progress in achieving global conservation and sustainability goals. In this study, we present a comprehensive native tree dataset (1689 species) from the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR)—home to two global biodiversity hotspots—assembled from an extensive data synthesis. Based on this database, we investigate the geographic patterns and drivers of α‐ and β‐taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of the native trees among 13 different provinces of IHR. Our results revealed a considerable variation in the α‐ and β‐taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity among the provinces of IHR, with the highest values in eastern provinces. We found phylogenetic clustering mostly in the western provinces, and phylogenetic dispersion in the eastern provinces. We found a positive correlation between the taxonomic and phylogenetic dissimilarity across the IHR. Also, the different sets of explanatory variables explained the variation of tree species richness, standardized effect size of phylogenetic diversity, net relatedness index, and nearest taxon index, with maximum contribution by temperature seasonality (Bio4). Furthermore, temperature‐related climatic distance individually explained most of the variation in the taxonomic and phylogenetic dissimilarity between the provinces of IHR. Overall, our findings unveil the patterns of taxonomic, biogeographic, and phylogenetic dimensions of tree flora in the IHR, which in turn can help in formulating scientific data‐based regional policy and conservation strategies. Looking forward, we presented a model study for bridging the Linnean, Wallacean, and Darwinian shortfalls in the globally data‐deficient biodiversity‐rich regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on species spatial distribution is challenging, mainly because knowledge of species occurrences is biased. Survey efforts are unevenly distributed causing spatial sampling biases that are normally neglected. Assessing sampling bias is particularly urgent for threatened ecoregions, such as the Atlantic Forest, a global biodiversity hotspot. Here, we assess spatial sampling biases of small rodents in the Atlantic Forest, using an integrative approach with accessibility and landscape metrics. We built a robust dataset of 11,495 primary records of the Atlantic Forest’s small rodent species, based on information from digitally accessible repositories. We expect that well-sampled sites are spatially aggregated and nearer roads, urban centers, on landscapes with larger forest fragments, and with higher percentage of forest cover. We also expect gaps of small rodents sampling in rare landscape conditions. Our results indicated that only less than 1% of the Atlantic Forest (at 1 km2 cell-size resolution) are well sampled. Following our expectations, the well-sampled sites were spatially aggregated biased toward roads, urban centers, larger forest fragments, and landscapes with higher percentage of forest cover. We also found a survey gap on common landscape conditions. Our findings suggest that the spatial distribution of small rodents at landscape level (1 km2) remains unknown across most of the Atlantic Forest spatial extension. Our findings also point to new priority sites for small mammals sampling on common landscape conditions, in smaller fragments and on remote areas improving spatial distribution knowledge and contributing to conservation policies at landscape level.

ABSTRACT Canopy mammals constitute a diverse and widely distributed group. However, these species have not been widely studied, and there are currently many gaps in our knowledge of their ecology, behaviour, distribution, and conservation status. We identified crucial trends and omissions in terms of research effort on research themes, taxonomic groups, countries, and protected areas (PAs) and geographic information biases. A systematic review was conducted by consulting two electronic databases (Web of Science and Scopus), including research conducted within neotropical countries (from central Mexico to northern Argentina) until the end of the first half of 2021. All the references obtained were reviewed and categorised, and the geographical location of each study was extracted to evaluate geographical gaps. We found that two orders (Carnivora and Didelphimorphia) and three families (Didelphidae, Felidae, and Cricetidae) were the most studied taxa, and were featured in more than 50% of cases. Brazil had the highest number of studies. Topics concerning diseases (19% of cases), distribution (14%), and ecology (14%) were the most frequently addressed; only 4.6% of the studies focused on anthropogenic disturbances, and less than 30% of the studies were conducted within PAs. We found that one of the largest and most important geographical biases in knowledge was in the northern Amazon region, where the number of studies was low or null. This study lays the groundwork for future research on these understudied mammals, to develop better research that can allow us to design more appropriate conservation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The Northeastern Mata Atlântica Freshwater ecoregion (NMAF) is part of the 25 worlds biodiversity hotspots. It comprises the Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor and Chapada Diamantina Complex (in part), including high rates of endemism in coastal freshwater ecosystems. However, estimates indicate a high population decline in Freshwater ecosystems. Trichoptera are the most affected insect order, with average extinction rates of ~9% and many unknown species (e.g., estimates are around 50% in Brazil and Ecuador). This crisis can be aggravated by gaps in the knowledge of species (Linnean shortfall) and their distribution (Wallacean shortfall), caused mainly by a lack of investment in extensive fauna inventories and human resources related to systematics. Thus, to face these shortfalls in NMAF, we describe four new species of. H. (Feropsyche) and provide new distribution records. In addition, we perform niche modeling based on the species distributions of the group to identify areas with high environmental suitability to direct biodiversity research efforts on NMAF, a highly endemic and underexplored ecoregion. We increased the number of known species of NMAF from seven to 16 species. The niche modeling pointed to two areas as priorities to guide the strategies to reduce shortfalls in the NMAF.

Biodiversity shortfalls and taxonomic bias can lead to inaccurate assessment of conservation priorities. Previous literature has begun to explore practical reasons why some species are discovered sooner or are better researched than others. However, the deeper socio-cultural causes for undiscovered and neglected biodiversity, and the value of collectively analysing species at risk of unrecorded, or “dark”, extinction, are yet to be fully examined. Here, we argue that a new label (we propose “shadow diversity”) is needed to shift our perspective from biodiversity shortfalls to living, albeit unknown, species. We suggest this linguistic shift imparts intrinsic value to these species, beyond scientific gaze and cultural systems. We review research on undiscovered, undetected and hidden biodiversity in the fields of conservation biology, macroecology and genetics. Drawing on philosophy, geography, history and sociology, we demonstrate that a range of socio-cultural factors (funding, education and historical bias) combine with traditional, practical impediments to limit species discovery and detection. We propose using a spectrum of shadow diversity which enables a complex, non-binary and comprehensive approach to biodiversity unknowns. Shadow diversity holds exciting potential as a tool to increase awareness, appreciation and support for the conservation of traditionally less studied wildlife species and sites, from soil microbes to less charismatic habitat fragments. We advocate for a shift in how the conservation community and wider public see biodiversity and an increase in popular support for conserving a wider range of life forms. Most importantly, shadow diversity provides appropriate language and conceptual frameworks to discuss species absent from conservation assessment and at potential risk of dark extinction.

Although spiders constitute a highly diversified group of animals, the knowledge regarding their geographic distribution (i.e., the so-called Wallacean shortfall) and diversity patterns is incipient on a global scale; while attempts to explore such patterns have been made for the highly diversified Neotropical fauna, several Old World regions are historically neglected. Aiming to close this gap, the present study provides the most comprehensive review of spatial variation in the diversity patterns of the spider fauna of Iran. We also examined the effects of sampling biases on the results. We gathered a database with 4434 non-duplicate records of 935 species of spiders from Iran, 215 of which are currently considered endemic to the country. We showed that, despite a significant improvement in state-of-the-art taxonomic research regarding this fauna in the past 20 years, the Iranian spider fauna suffers from a highly uneven distribution of records throughout the country and its ecoregions. Additionally, highly sampled areas are typically near large cities. We also found a high correlation between the number of records and species of spiders and the number of records of plants and other animals in Iran, suggesting that the biodiversity shortfalls herein described for spiders are corroborated by other taxa. The biases reported herein are likely to be observed for other countries, as the area alone explained only 33.24% of the spider species richness among 171 compared countries. We hope that the present study stimulates further sampling and research aiming to explore this fauna and the underlying biological processes related to its patterns of diversity and distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molluscs are among the most diverse and widespread animal groups in freshwater habitats. Unfortunately, like most freshwater taxa, they are decreasing dramatically and are now among the most threatened animals on Earth, with many species already extinct or on the brink of extinction. Here, we review our current knowledge on the biodiversity and conservation of freshwater molluscs using the concept of knowledge shortfalls. We focus on seven previously proposed key shortfalls to review and analyse existing knowledge gaps relating to (1) taxonomy, the Linnean Shortfall; (2) distribution, the Wallacean Shortfall; (3) abundance and population dynamics, the Prestonian Shortfall: (4) evolution, the Darwinian Shortfall; (5) abiotic tolerances, the Hutchinsonian Shortfall; (6) traits, the Raunkiaeran Shortfall; and (7) biotic interactions, the Eltonian Shortfall. In addition, we address a new shortfall, which relates to the application and effectiveness of conservation measures, including assessments, methods, funding, and policies, the Ostromian Shortfall. Based on our review, we provide recommendations and suggest pathways to overcome these existing shortfalls. This work also introduces the articles in this special issue of Hydrobiologia, which represent key contributions to the First International Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society Meeting held in Verbania, Italy, in 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncertainties from sampling biases present challenges to ecologists and evolutionary biologists in understanding species sensitivity to anthropogenic climate change. Here, we synthesize possible impediments that can constrain research to assess present and future seagrass response from climate change. First, our knowledge of seagrass occurrence information is prevalent with biases, gaps and uncertainties that can influence inferences on species response to global change. Second, research on seagrass diversity has been focused on species-level metrics that can be measured with data from the present – but rarely accounting for the shared phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary distinctiveness of species despite species evolved and diversified from shared ancestors. Third, compared to the mass production of species occurrence records, computational tools that can analyze these datasets in a reasonable amount of time are almost non-existent or do not scale well in terms of computer time and memory. These impediments mean that scientists must work with incomplete information and often unrepresentative data to predict how seagrass diversity might change in the future. We discuss these shortfalls and provide a framework for overcoming the impediments and diminishing the knowledge gaps they generate.

Species of the genus Coelostoma Brullé, 1935 belonging to the subgenera Coelostoma s. str. and Holocoelostoma Mouchamps, 1958 from the Indian subcontinent are revised. Six species of Coelostoma s. str. and two species of Holocoelostoma are recognized, of which two are described as new: C. (Coelostoma) lyratum sp. nov. (India: Maharashtra) and C. (Coelostoma) nostocinum sp. nov. (India: Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala). Coelostoma (Coelostoma) fallaciosum Orchymont, 1936 and C. (Coelostoma) vividum Orchymont, 1936 were recorded for the first time from India and Bangladesh, respectively. Lectotypes are designated for C. aeneolum Régimbart, 1903 and Hydrobius stultus Walker, 1858. The previously confusing situation with Coelostoma (Holocoelostoma) stultum (Walker, 1858) and C. (Holocoelostoma) bhutanicum Jayaswal, 1972 is clarified based on new material of both species from India. Coelostoma sulcatum Pu, 1963 from China is removed from the synonymy of C. stultum and considered as a likely synonym of C. bhutanicum, a status which needs to be confirmed by a detailed study of type specimens. All species are (re)described and illustrated. Diagnosis of the subgenera of Coelostoma are modified in order to accommodate the species of the Indian subcontinent, resulting in narrowing down the concept of Coelostoma s. str. and widening the concept of Lachnocoelostoma Mouchamps, 1958.

Digital accessible knowledge of biodiversity data is an increasingly important source of information in studies of biogeography and conservation. These databases can also reveal temporal, spatial and taxonomical gaps in biodiversity documentation, even in areas that have been intensively studied and from where accurate species lists are available. Therefore, revealing these gaps may help allocating collecting efforts, conservation priorities and strategies for improving database curation. Here, we evaluate potential shortfalls for flowering plants in a tropical hotspot, the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, by cross‐referencing two online repositories of biodiversity data (the Global Biodiversity Information Facility – GBIF – and the Brazilian Flora 2020 floristic database – BFG). We aimed to evaluate the congruence between those repositories, highlighting tendencies in current documentation for this area. We found that from the 7220 reported flowering plant species endemics to the Atlantic Forest, 1573 (22%) have no valid spatial data in GBIF, and 75% of all of the 605,951 records do not present valid spatial information. Most of the missing information is related to species known only from few and old collections with absent or inaccurately georeferenced data. This lack of information may cause a large impact in spatial studies, especially for rare and threatened species. Nevertheless, our analysis also shows that spatial information for the filtered data is highly congruent between GBIF and BFG data, indicating relatively high availability of quality data in large repositories after standard and automatized cleaning procedures. Still, good practices to decrease the impact of losing data are recommended, including more investment in field collections, targeting poorly known species and returning cleaned spatial datasets to online repositories after taxonomic revisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote islands harbour many endemic species and unique ecosystems. They are also some of the world's most human-impacted systems. It is essential to understand how island species and ecosystems behaved prior to major anthropogenic disruption as a basis for their conservation. This research aims to reconstruct the original, pre-colonial biodiversity of a remote oceanic island to understand the scale of past extinctions, vegetation changes and biodiversity knowledge gaps. We studied fossil remains from the North Atlantic island of Corvo (Azores), including pollen, charcoal, plant macrofossils, diatoms and geochemistry of wetland sediments from the central crater of the island, Caldeirão. A comprehensive list of current vascular plant species was compiled, along with a translation table comparing fossilized pollen to plant species and a framework for identifying extinctions and misclassifications. Pollen and macrofossils provide evidence for eight local extinctions from the island's flora and show that four species listed as 'introduced' are native. Up to 23 % of the pollen taxa represent extinct/misclassified species. Corvo's past environment was dynamic, shifting from glacial-era open vegetation to various Holocene forest communities, then almost completely deforested by fires, erosion and grazing following Portuguese colonisation. Historical human impacts explain high ecological turnover, several unrecorded extinctions and the present-day abundance of vegetation types like Sphagnum blanket mire. We use Corvo as a case study on how fossil inventories can address the Wallacean and Hookerian biodiversity knowledge gaps on remote islands. Accurate baselines allow stakeholders to make informed conservation decisions using limited financial and human resources, particularly on islands where profound anthropogenic disruption occurred before comprehensive ecological research. [Display omitted] • Human impacts transformed island vegetation and soils • Evidence for unrecorded extinctions and almost complete forest loss • Framework for determining native/introduced status from fossils • Key baseline information for habitat restoration [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New data that seeks to fill knowledge gaps about distribution and natural history may improve our knowledge of the status of threatened species. Herein, new distributional record of the endangered species Allobates goianus is reported and information on daily activities of a population are provided using an automatic acoustic monitoring recorder. Despite the new distributional record, A. goianus has not been recorded in locations where it was previously found, we then discuss the possible causes of decline and how future efforts may help to better understand the species status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DnB (Database of nymphalids in Brazil) centralizes the state of the art of all Nymphalidae species lists ever reported in Brazil. Butterflies are diverse, ecologically relevant, charismatic, and are effective flagships and bioindicators for conservation. With about 850 described species in Brazil, Nymphalidae is the group with the most stable taxonomy among the three richest Neotropical butterfly families and are frequently used in several biological disciplines as a model system. This study was developed from the need of an up-to-date, curated, and throughout database of species occurrences, the first of its kind in this continental, heterogeneous, and highly diverse country. The data can be used as a starting point for several purposes, such as mapping the distribution of Brazilian nymphalids, producing regional species lists with information of their richness, estimating priority regions (due to species occurrence or lack of sampling) and niche modeling – see DnB tutorials. Using both coarse-grained and exhaustive search strategies, we compiled 489 studies (peer-reviewed or not), from which 357 had species lists and were thus catalogued in a user-friendly software. We provide a separate worksheet with 34 columns of additional information, to filter DnB by e.g. biome, urban sampling, collection method; or to assess the quality of studies. Descriptive analyses revealed, as commonly reported, sampling bias towards large urban centers and proximity to research institutions (Wallacean shortfall), as well as taxonomic (Linnaean) shortfall of biodiversity. Aiming to standardize the publication and peer-review of species lists, we suggest a protocol, or checklist, of all steps required to ensure the comparability and minimum quality of such publications. DnB is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2561408, with a translated version in Portuguese available at http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2561417 and we aim to update and re-publish it every 10 years so we encourage authors to send corrections and new species lists, published in any media, to 2018dnb@gmail.com. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Although habitat destruction and the introduction of exotic species are causing the extinction of many native species, the number of extinct species that are then rediscovered is surprising. However, before searching for meaning of rediscoveries, we should distinguish between a false and a true rediscovery to avoid the interpretation of changes in biodiversity knowledge as changes in the efforts to conserve biodiversity. Here, we proposed the hypothesis of the biodiversity knowledge gap and a conceptual scheme to test this hypothesis, discussing how to deal with the rediscovery of a putatively extinct species. In this paper, we dealt with the local rediscovery of the plant Neptunia pubescens Benth. (Fabaceae), hypothesizing that if its local rediscovery is a case of the biodiversity knowledge gap (false rediscovery), its conservation status will change. Furthermore, we provided taxonomic data, geographic coordinates and figures as support for its local rediscovery, as well as some considerations about the implications for the conservation of N. pubescens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]