EcoLincNZ

Category: taxonomy

  • The odd-shaped claw… is alone no more

    The odd-shaped claw… is alone no more

    I think most of us at some point in our lives experience loneliness. Even we as a species are alone, having separated from our closest relatives, chimps, several million years ago. We are also alone in our genus with the last of our Homo siblings species having gone extinct roughly 10 – 40 thousand years ago. Now, there is only us, Homo sapiens.

    For the Gradungulidae family of New Zealand’s spiders shared the same story until recently.

    Gradungulidae, the large clawed or odd-clawed spiders, is a family of spiders endemic to New Zealand and Australia. Gradungulids are identified by their asymmetrically large claws on the 1st and 2nd legs that they use to capture prey(giving rise to their ‘odd-clawed’ name).

    Until recently there were only three species of Gradungulidae found in New Zealand; Gradungula sorenseni, Pianoa isolata, and Spelungula cavernicola.

    Granungula sorenseni, Forster, 1955. Photo: Sebastian Doak.
    Photo taken 18 August 2021, sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Cc-by-4.0 license.
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gradungula_sorenseni_-_Sebastian_Doak_-_151718791.jpeg

    Gradungula sorenseni has the widest distribution across NZ, in forests stretching from Nelson and Marlborough in the north, to western Southland and across the Foveaux Strait into Stewart Island in the south.

    Pianoa isolata is found only within the native beech (Nothofagaceae) forest of Waikaia Forest in central north Southland, where it gets its common name Piano Flat spider, named for a series of flats along the Waikaia River.

    Piano Flat spider, Pianoa isolata, Forster, 1987. Photo: Steve Kerr.
    Photo taken 11 February 2014, sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Cc-by-4.0 license.
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Piano-flat-spider-steve-kerr-cc-by-01.jpg

    Spelungula cavernicola, has a more limited distribution, and is one of only two legally protected spiders, the other being the Katipo spider (Latrodectus katipo). Spelungula cavernicola is found, as its name implies, primarily in caverns or cave systems. It is present in the Oparara cave system north of Karamea on the upper west coast of the South Island, caves along the Heaphy River, and in the Motupipi cave region of Golden Bay.

    One of New Zealand’s two legally protected spiders, the Nelson Cave Spider, Spelungula cavernicola, Forster, 1987. Photo: Mark Anderson.
    Photo taken 15 July 2017, sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Cc-by-4.0 license.
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P1150023-001.jpg

    All of these species of New Zealand’s Gradungulids were described by New Zealand’s most accomplished arachnologist, Dr Ray Forster. While describing these species Dr Forster suspected that the actual diversity of the Gradungulids was much greater but he could not gather sufficient samples to captures this within his lifetime.

    This extra diversity has continued amongst New Zealand’s subsequent arachnologists. Over the last 20 years Gradungulids specimens have been diligently collected across their distributions to fill this gap within Grandungulid taxonomy (including The following people collected specimens over 20 years: Peter Michalik , Cor Vink , Martin Ramírez , Danilo Harms and Stephen Pawson).

    In 2015 a photo was uploaded by Andy MacDonald to iNaturalist of an unidentified species of Pianoa found in Mount Richmond Forest Park, Marlborough. This site is 600 km away from the known population of Pianoa isolata in Waikaia Forest! This find led to the discovery of another population of a different Pianoa species near Rarangi, Marlborough by Patrick Miller. Both of these discoveries were made by amateur naturalists, making this an amazing win for citizen science!

    .

    Unidentified Pianoa sp. (sp. means an unidentified species in the Pianoa genus) in Mount Richmond Forest Park. Photo: Andy MacDonald.
    Photo taken 17 October 2015, sourced from INaturalist. Creative Commons copyright. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2148126

    All of this research and specimen collection over the last 20 years has resulted in the discovery of two new species of Gradungulidae, with there likely being more!

    Specimens from Spelungula, Pianoa, and Gradungula were analysed using both DNA and traditional taxonomic methods and confirmed that there was enough difference in populations of Pianoa, and Gradungula to constitute different species!

    These two new species have been named Gradungula kahurangi sp. nov. (sp. nov. means new species) and Pianoa civis sp. nov. There are also likely to be another species of Pianoa and another two species of Gradungula, but these were unable to be confirmed due to a lack of adult specimens (where species differences are most obvious).

    The populations of Spelungula cavernicola found in the Oparara and Takaka cave systems were not found to be different enough to be two separate species, despite these two cave systems not being connected and roughly 70 km apart!

    Piano civis, sp. nov. male raised from a subadult by Cor Vink for taxonomic description.
    Photo: John Marris. Obtained with permission from John Marris and Cor Vink for use in this blog.

    This suggests that historically, and even currently, there may be travel of Spelungula cavernicola between cave systems, likely using the isolated caves of the Heaphy Valley. This is a rather impressive feat for a cave spider!

    This lines up with present research on Spelungula cavernicola being troglophiles (species that can live both in cave, but also on the surface) rather than troglobites (species that live exclusively in the permanent darkness of underground habitats, such as caves).

    Pianoa isolata, and Gradungula sorenseni now have new siblings, likely with more on the way! However, Spelungula cavernicola is still alone, an impressive testament to their ability to travel outside their cave systems which they depend on!

    Diversity of New Zealand Gradungulids appears to be concentrated in the northern part of the South Island. Research is ongoing, with potentially three more species to be described. Citizen science has played a crucial part in the discovery of these new species! So, get out there and get involved.

    Who knows there may be a new species out there waiting for you to find it!

    This blog was created by BSc (honours) student Max Singers as part of an assignment for ECOL608 and was based on the 2025 paper “Alone no more—Integrative taxonomy of New Zealand odd‐clawed spiders challenges the monotypy of Pianoa and Gradungula ( Araneae: Gradungulidae )” published in Systematic Ecology.

  • New beetle reveals New Zealand origin story

    New beetle reveals New Zealand origin story

    Beginning the journey

    Just before Christmas in 1999, Dr. Eric Scott collected an unusual ground beetle from the Wangapeka Track, in Kahurangi National Park. His wife also suffered a broken arm after a bad fall along the track and Eric safely supported her through the tough walk out for medical care. You will also be pleased to know that the beetle specimen was safely delivered to the Entomology Research Museum at Lincoln University. All in a day’s work for an entomologist!

    At that time, no one knew that this tiny beetle would become crucial evidence in a controversial biogeographical debate years later.

    Classification work

    The scientific name of this newly discovered ground beetle species was Orthoglymma wangapeka (there is no common name). This species belongs to the ground beetle family (Carabidae, Coleoptera). It is quite small, with a body length about the size of a fingernail. The beetle is elongated and narrowed at the ‘neck’ position. Its entire body is covered in a dark brown, polished exoskeleton.

    It looks like a normal brown beetle at first glance. However, careful examination of both its external structure and internal reproductive organs, led an international research team, including John Marris and Rowan Emberson from Lincoln University, to discover that this was a new species, different from any other known Orthoglymma species.

    Dorsal View of Orthoglymma wangapeka, Scale bar: 1 mm.
    Photo Citation: Lincoln University Living Heritage: Tikaka Tuku Iho (6th Mar 2023). Coleoptera Orthoglymma wangapeka Holotype. In Website Lincoln University Living Heritage: Tikaka Tuku Iho. Retrieved 17th Apr 2026 12:00, from https://livingheritage.lincoln.ac.nz/nodes/view/36272, used under CC BY 3.0 NZ

    The research team placed the newly named Orthoglymma (from Ancient Greek for straight carved lines – referring to the lined on the abdomen) wangapeka (from the locality of collection) in a tribe called Broscini.

    They obtained data on 73 physical traits and compared with closely related beetles. The closest relatives of this species are all found only in New Zealand, Australia, and southern South America. This suggests that the ancestor of these Orthoglymma species was found in these areas. Fossil evidence of Broscini ground beetles in other research suggests that this group originated before the Gondwana breakup.

    Ancient biota debate

    What is the Gondwana breakup? Based on earth science research, Gondwana was a supercontinent that formed around 600 million years ago. It included many of the current continents, such as South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, and our homeland, New Zealand. The supercontinent Gondwana began to break apart around 180 million years ago.

    The continent of Zealandia started separating from Gondwana about 85 million years ago, becoming isolated around 70 million years ago, leading to the formation of the Tasman Sea.

    The long process of the fragmentation is known as the Gondwana breakup. This history explains why New Zealand’s biology shares high similarities with other southern landmasses, like Australia, South America, and Southern Africa, which were also part of the original landmass and neighbours to New Zealand.

    A map of the supercontinent Gondwana. At this stage in the earth’s history, Zealandia had not formed a distinct continent yet.
    Photo Citation: Mikocheung, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    A second critical event occurred in New Zealand after the Gondwana breakup. New Zealand experienced a significant rise in sea level due to the sinking of the Zealandia continent around 25 million years ago. This is known as the ‘Oligocene Drowning’ theory.

    There has been a heated debate about the extent of this drowning in the academic world. Some experts argue that New Zealand was completely submerged under the ocean during the Oligocene Drowning, which would cause all local terrestrial organisms to go extinct. From this perspective, our current animals and plants would have had to colonise New Zealand by crossing the sea after the drowning. On the other hand, the opposing experts claim that parts of New Zealand must have remained above the ocean, providing a refuge for ancient species to survive.

    Beetles and land

    Orthoglymma wangapeka is a tiny ground beetle that belongs to an ancient branch that evolved before the Gondwana breakup began. These beetles are flightless, lacking the obvious ability to disperse long distances across oceans. Their ancestors almost certainly were present in the pre-break up New Zealand region of the supercontinent Gondwana. Their presence is a powerful piece of evidence suggesting that New Zealand was not completely submerged in the ocean during the Oligocene Drowning.

    The area where Orthoglymma wangapeka was collected belongs to the Buller Terrane, which is one of the oldest rock formations in New Zealand and originated on the eastern margin of Gondwana. The species may be a Gondwanan relict, a survivor of extreme environmental change in this area.

    Other ‘living fossil’ are also found in this area suggesting that the Nelson area might have been an island that provided insects, including ground beetles, wētā, and micropterigid moths, with dry land to avoid extinction during the Oligocene Drowning.

    View of Wangapeka Track, where Orthoglymma wangapeka was collected.
    Photo Citation: Michal Klajban, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Summary

    As an ecology student, I am deeply drawn to this story because it is remarkable that a newly discovered species could play a vital role in a long-standing unsolved debate in earth science.

    It fascinates me how a tiny organism can carry such a wealth of information about our country’s ancient past. This case demonstrates how biodiversity research connects with other subjects and provides a priceless value in broadening knowledge and highlights the importance of environmental conservation.

    Without conservation of the habitat, this new species could have gone extinct before it was collected, and we would have missed a critical piece to the puzzle to understand the ancient geographical secrets of our country.

    Next time you walk a trail in New Zealand (first watch where you are walking – don’t break and arm!), keep in mind that everything that exists in the environment might carry some undiscovered secrets of the earth’s history, even a tiny ground beetle.

    This article was prepared by Master’s of Bioprotection student, Ethan Harland, as part of the ECOL608 Research Methods in Ecology course.

    References

    Liebherr, J. K., Marris, J. W. M., Emberson, R. M., Syrett, P., & ROIG‐JUÑENT, S. (2011). Orthoglymma wangapeka gen.n., sp.n. (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Broscini): a newly discovered relict from the Buller Terrane, north‐western South Island, New Zealand, corroborates a general pattern of Gondwanan endemism. Systematic Entomology, 36, 395-414. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.2011.00569.x

    Matt McGlone, Evolution of plants and animals, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/evolution-of-plants-and-animals (accessed 23 April 2026). Story by Matt McGlone, published 1 March 2009.

    Mildenhall, D. C., Mortimer, N., Bassett, K. N., & Kennedy, E. M. (2014). Oligocene paleogeography of New Zealand: maximum marine transgression. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 57(2), 107-109. https://doi.org/10.1080/00288306.2014.904387

  • More than teeth: mouth microbiomes of stoats and possums

    More than teeth: mouth microbiomes of stoats and possums

    Like most people, I hate going to the dentist. Every time I have a check-up, they poke and prod around my mouth, trying to find something wrong. Most of the time, they end up telling me the same thing: I don’t floss enough.

    Despite all those check-ups and the money that went into braces, I rarely find myself thinking about what actually goes on inside our mouths. They are the first point of contact for everything, from breaths of fresh air to the good (and bad) choices about what we eat. But our mouths have a lot more going on than we credit them with.

    Our mouths are home to over 700 different species of microbes – tiny microscopic organisms that can be anything from bacteria to fungi to viruses. While that might sound like a bad thing, these microbial communities contain both helpful and harmful organisms. Many beneficial microbes assist with digestion and help regulate harmful microbes, even in food!

    Our mouths are home to hundreds of different microorganisms. Image from Tjandrawinata et al., (2025) licensed under CC BY 4.0

    These diverse oral communities exist in almost all animals, and their roles go far beyond digestion. They can also influence immune responses and even host behaviour. In turn, oral microbiomes themselves are shaped by a host’s genetics, physiology, environment, and diet. As microbiomes co-evolve with their hosts, we can potentially understand genetic variation and evolutionary processes in host species by looking at these small passengers.

    Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) – JJ Harrison (CC-BY-SA-2.5)

    These interesting, yet poorly understood, communities were studied by a group of nine scientists, including researchers from Lincoln University. They wanted to understand the oral microbiomes of two invasive to New Zealand mammals: the stoat and the common brushtail possum. Stoats and possums are both notorious pests in Aotearoa. They disrupt our vulnerable ecosystems, killing native plants and animals. While extensive research has examined the species themselves, little attention has been given to their microbiomes, let alone their oral microbiomes.

    Stoat (Mustela erminea) – James Lindsey (CC BY-SA 3.0)

    Led by Arsalan Emami-Khoyi, the researchers aimed to characterise the diversity, content, and variation of oral microbiota in the animals. With ethics approval from the Lincoln University Animal Ethics Committee, they live-captured five stoats and five possums from Banks Peninsula. Unlike a typical trip to the dentist, the animals were sedated before researchers swabbed their mouths. The researchers then used a DNA technique called 16S rRNA metabarcoding to discover and record microbial communities. This complex technique identifies the abundance of different groups of microbes.

    All of the animals captured were healthy apart from gum inflammation – my dentist would be horrified by how little they brush their teeth. As published in the journal Diversity, the researchers identified 19 different major microbial groups (phyla), and 51 known species in the animals’ mouths. Despite this high diversity, a small number of microbes dominated each mouth fauna in both animals. These same groups are abundant across other mammal species, representing a ‘core’ set of microbes across mammals. Some of these core groups are Proteobacteria and Firmicutes.

    The researchers also found clear differences in microbial composition between stoats and possums. This suggested a link between diet and microbes, with omnivorous possums having plant-metabolising bacteria, such as Treponema sp., which were completely absent in the carnivorous stoat. At the same time, the high diversity in both species suggests that other factors, such as genetics, environment and physiology, also play an important role in shaping oral microbiomes.

    The variation of the five core oral bacteria in stoats and possums found in the study (CC BY 4.0).

    This high variation in the oral microbiome could help us understand evolutionary responses of introduced species to new environments. Because of their short lifespan and fast reproduction, microbial communities can change more rapidly than their host genetics. So focusing on them could teach us about how much these invasive species have adapted to New Zealand’s environment.

    Understanding the oral microbiomes of these invasive mammals could also have practical applications in pest control. Microbes can influence how animals process toxins and other chemicals, which may influence how well poisons work. In New Zealand, we often rely on poisons, such as 1080 and brodifacoum, to control our mammalian populations. Future research on this could help us improve the effectiveness of control tools.

    Work has already been done beyond this study. The lead author and colleagues have developed a device that collects DNA from possums in the field, allowing us to sample DNA without capturing the animal directly. Alongside collecting host DNA, this approach can also provide insights into possum health by analysing oral microbial DNA.

    The device developed by Arsalan Emami-Khoyi and colleagues for capturing DNA in the field (Arsalan Emami-Khoyi et al., 2021)(CC BY 4.0).

    Personally, I think this study could help us understand population connectivity. Comparing microbial samples from different locations could provide a new way to understand population connectivity and how invasive species spread.

    There is a wide range of potential applications from this research, and microbiomes will likely play an increasingly important role in future pest management.

    It turns out we can learn a lot from what’s happening inside an animal’s mouth. So maybe my dentist is right to look so closely after all.

    This article was prepared by Master of Bioprotection student  Sam Bonney as part of the ECOL608 Research Methods in Ecology course

    Emami-Khoyi, A., Benmazouz, I., Paterson, A. M., Ross, J. G., Murphy, E. C., Bothwell, J., Alizadeh, H., van Vuuren, B. J., & Teske, P. R. (2020). Oral Microbiome Metabarcoding in Two Invasive Small Mammals from New Zealand. Diversity, 12(7), 278. https://doi.org/10.3390/d12070278

  • Jumping to the top of the world: new salticid spider species in the Southern Alps

    Spiders.

    Your reaction to that word might determine whether or not you finish reading this post, but try to bear with me — at least for a little while. While I can accept that most people aren’t nearly as fond of spiders as I am, I think all but the truly arachnophobic (it’s okay; I understand that you can’t help it) can agree that the jumping spiders are among the “cutest” and most acceptable spider groups. These active little hunters can often be found in or around the house, and their big binocular eyes and expressive “face” make them a lot more relatable than your average creepy-crawly. Well, most of them!

    A newly-described female Ourea petroides from the Ōtira River valley, Arthur’s Pass. © own work, 2022. CC-BY-NC.

    Jumping spiders, in the family Salticidae, are among the most well-researched spiders in the world, with over 6,500 species described. Meanwhile, the jumping spiders found in Aotearoa New Zealand – apart from the most commonly-encountered species – are very poorly known to science. There are thought to be around 200 species in NZ, with about 50 known well enough to be named. However, we can only reliably identify fewer than a dozen of them. Compare this with Australia, where hundreds of species are known already, and work to describe the rest is well under way.

    Not to be outdone by the Aussies, Lincoln University’s Robin Long, along with her supervisor Dr Cor Vink, decided to do something about that. For her Master’s project, Robin set out to catalogue and describe the jumping spiders found in some of NZ’s most remote and extreme environments: the rocky heights of the South Island’s alpine zone.

    Robin visited 21 different sites all over the Southern Alps, from Paparoa to Fiordland, collecting 170 jumping spider specimens (all by hand!) from up to 1,800 m above sea level — and logging some impressive hiking mileage in the process!

    Looking across the Ōtira River at a scree slope where Ourea petroides can be found, Arthur’s Pass. © own work, 2022. CC-BY-NC.

    Through DNA analysis and careful examination of microscopic features on each spider, Robin separated those 170 specimens into 12 new species, and determined that the group was so unlike others known to science that it represented a brand new genus (a group of closely-related species with a common ancestor). She named this genus Ourea because, like the ancient Greek mountain gods, many of the species were found to be associated with a specific mountain range.

    Many of NZ’s indigenous species are only found across quite small areas, often because of the (relatively) recent and rapid growth of our mountains — which even today continue to grow taller by around 7 mm per year. Formerly widespread species were split into separate populations by the tectonic uplift, and over the last few million years these now-isolated populations have diverged into new species. Robin’s jumping spiders, much like many other NZ alpine species, took advantage of the ample prey and new habitats created by the growth of these mountain ranges. Over time these spiders even developed cryptic colours and patterns that help to camouflage them against the particular rock types they live amongst.

    Magnificent moustache: a female(!) Ourea saffroclypeus from the Remarkables Range. © Robin Long, 2022. CC-BY-NC.

    Not content with merely describing a whole genus and a dozen new species, Robin also set about studying and describing the spiders’ behaviours when interacting with other members of the same species. Jumping spiders have exceptional eyesight, and are known for communicating with each other through visual displays that range from the bronze hopper’s simple leg-waving, all the way to the flamboyant, colourful dances (which often incorporate vibration as well) performed by the aptly-named peacock spiders.

    The four Ourea species that Robin observed in the lab each exhibited a unique set of behaviours when they met another spider, and these behaviours differed depending upon whether they met a member of the same or the opposite sex. Males postured fiercely at each other, squaring up in a face-to-face grappling contest with legs and fangs outstretched.

    When attempting to impress a female, males gestured with their legs and “zigzag-danced” their way closer, before attempting to reach out and gently stroke the female’s head. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this final move had quite mixed success! Females meeting each other were a bit more sensible, and usually made a few simple (though probably quite impolite) leg gestures at each other, before one or both turned away and went in the opposite direction.

    Despite the enormous amount of work that went into researching these spiders, Robin acknowledges that her almost 150-page thesis has only scratched the surface of the topic. Little is known of the spiders’ life histories or the individual species’ spatial distributions, and it’s “very likely” that there are additional species in the genus waiting to be discovered on other mountain ranges.

    Exquisite camouflage: Ourea petroides, Ōtira River valley, Arthur’s Pass. © own work, 2022. CC-BY-NC.

    Robin also suggests a similar study would likely uncover another distantly-related group of undescribed jumping spiders living quietly in the Southern Alps. This is a common problem with New Zealand’s invertebrate fauna: while we have a good general understanding of what’s around us, there are still huge gaps in our knowledge — and usually the studies that attempt to address this just end up revealing more unanswered questions!

    We have a rich history of brilliant people, like Robin, studying, documenting, and describing New Zealand’s unique invertebrate biodiversity, and there are still many new discoveries to be made in every corner of our little country. But, despite huge technological advances, research has dwindled in recent decades due to funding redirections and the restructuring of government services.

    Under the looming threats of climate change and habitat loss, we need to pay closer attention to the smallest and most enigmatic (if not always particularly cute) creatures that live alongside us, lest they disappear before we even have a chance to study them. Australia is well ahead of NZ in this regard, with funding and support for taxonomic studies provided through their world-leading ABRS scheme. I’m not much of a sports enjoyer, but beating the Aussies at this game is one trans-Tasman rivalry I could definitely get behind.

    This article was prepared by Bachelor of Science (Honours) student Dustin la Mont as part of the ECOL608 Research Methods in Ecology course.