Bernice P. Bishop Museum

Monotremes arose in southern polar environments and were restricted to high latitudes for most of their evolutionary history, explaining their limited global distribution. They may be specialised dryolestids, primitive mammals with a near-global distribution in the Jurassic–Cretaceous. The oldest monotreme fossils are from the Early Cretaceous – 126 million-year-old (Ma) teeth and jaws from southern Victoria, representing a mouse-sized species (Teinolophos trusleri) which had an elongated snout that was used to probe for food. It lived at 76°S, enduring freezing temperatures and 3 months of total darkness each year. The next oldest monotremes, also from southern Victoria, date to 113–108 Ma. They were at least an order of magnitude larger than Teinolophos, around the size of modern Platypus Ornithorhynchus anatinus and echidnas. By the Late Cretaceous (ca. 100 Ma), an age of monotremes had opened in the Australian part of the Gondwanan continent, with six monotreme genera (but no other mammals) co-existing at 60°S at what is now Lightning Ridge, northern NSW. They included an ancestral platypus, another species that was structurally annectant to platypus and echidnas, and a variety of rat to small pig-sized types that appear to have occupied aquatic and terrestrial niches. There are no monotreme fossils yet known from Australia between 100 and 24 Ma, but ancestral platypus, dating to around 70–64 Ma, are known from southern South America. Fossils of toothed platypus (Obdurodon) from central Australia date to around 26 Ma. These are the earliest known non-polar monotremes, living at around 40°S. Rare toothed platypus fossils occur 24–13 Ma, but the oldest known toothless platypus (Ornithorhynchus) date to the Pleistocene (2.5 Ma – 10 ka). After having teeth for 100 million years, Platypus may have lost them because of competition with Water Rats Hydromys chrysogaster. The oldest well-dated echidna fossils are Pleistocene, but genetic studies suggest that the lineage dates back to ca. 50 Ma. Echidnas may have evolved from platypus-like relatives that became isolated on the margin of the paleo-continent Sahul such as on the Vogelkop Island 50–30 Ma. They may have then re-invaded mainland Sahul (i.e. Australia and New Guinea) in the Late Pliocene–Early Pleistocene.

ABSTRACT Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is rapidly becoming an effective tool for biodiversity assessments. However, for taxa such as mesophotic and deep‐sea octocorals, which are difficult to classify based on morphological and molecular grounds and are logistically challenging to sample using conventional SCUBA diving, accurately identified and curated specimens in biological repositories remain under‐represented. This limitation reduces the availability of reliable reference sequences for eDNA detection. Mesophotic and deep‐sea octocorals are key components of mesophotic and cold‐water coral ecosystems that occur at depths > 30 m. Because these habitats are highly vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances, the ability to monitor them effectively is imperative. This study aimed to expand the 28S rRNA reference database for mesophotic and deep‐sea octocorals in the western Pacific Ocean. A total of 269 samples were sequenced using either Sanger sequencing or low‐coverage genome skimming. Based on expert morphological identifications, the dataset comprised 52 genera spanning 24 families and two orders. Detailed metadata for all samples are provided, including DDBJ accession numbers, sampling locations, depths, collection dates, and repository information. These resources will strengthen biodiversity monitoring and support the conservation of mesophotic and cold‐water coral ecosystems. The detailed metadata and complete dataset are available in MetaCat in JaLTER at https://doi.org/10.20783/DIAS.JLE.91 .

Since the introduction of the Golden Pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus) to Haleakalā volcano, Maui, three decades ago, subsequent reports have hinted at an expansion of this nascent population. We draw from a variety of data sources to learn about this pheasant's present status on Maui. First, forest bird surveys conducted every five years revealed that the frequency of Golden Pheasant detections has greatly increased, and the bird has both maintained its former distribution and expanded eastward into Haleakalā National Park (NP). Second, reports to eBird from The Nature Conservancy's Waikamoi Preserve, where Golden Pheasants first appeared on Maui, demonstrate that the frequency of observations has increased and is strongly seasonal, predominantly in the spring. Third, autonomous recording units monitoring endangered forest birds recorded pheasants too, adding new locations. Finally, trail cameras set to monitor mammals picked up pheasants as well, showing males of two color morphs: original “wild-type” and “dark-throated.” Trail cameras also documented a small juvenile at Waikamoi Preserve and both females and males in Haleakalā NP. By “connecting the dots” of mapped occurrences, we traced the pheasant's progression through a narrow band of subalpine cloud forest with open understory, extending from Waikamoi Preserve eastward to upper Kīpahulu Valley, a distance of 14 km. In summary, this body of evidence supports the claim that the Golden Pheasant has established a self-sustaining population on Maui, and we propose that the species' success there may be attributed to the minimal influence of predators and the absence of competing gallinaceous birds in its preferred habitat.

The Strongylophthalmyia ustulata group (Diptera: Brachycera: Strongylophthalmyiidae) from China is revised. Five species are recognized, including three new species (S. elongata sp. nov., S. flavimarginata sp. nov., and S. sivelli sp. nov.) and one new record species [S. ustulata (Zetterstedt, 1847)]. Strongylophthalmyia yaoshana Yang & Wang, 1998, previously placed in the S. ustulata group, is herein transferred to the S. fascipennis group based on its bare antennal arista and patterned wing. A key to the Chinese species of the S. ustulata group is provided.

Abstract Classification of the biological diversity on Earth is foundational to all areas of research within the natural sciences. Reliable biological nomenclatural and taxonomic systems facilitate efficient access to information about organisms and their names over time. However, broadly sharing, accessing, delivering, and updating these resources remains a persistent problem. This barrier has been acknowledged by the biodiversity data sharing community, yet concrete efforts to standardize and continually update taxonomic names in a sustainable way remain limited. High diversity groups such as arthropods are especially challenging as available specimen data per number of species is substantially lower than vertebrate or plant groups. The Terrestrial Parasite Tracker Thematic Collections Network project developed a workflow for gathering expert-verified taxonomic names across all available sources, aligning those sources, and publishing a single resource that provides a model for future endeavors to standardize digital specimen identification data. The process involved gathering expert-verified nomenclature lists representing the full taxonomic scope of terrestrial arthropod parasites, documenting issues experienced, and finding potential solutions for reconciliation of taxonomic resources against large data publishers. Although discordance between our expert resources and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility are relatively low, the impact across all taxa affects thousands of names that correspond to hundreds of thousands of specimen records. Here, we demonstrate a mechanism for the delivery and continued maintenance of these taxonomic resources, while highlighting the current state of taxon name curation for biodiversity data sharing.