New And Notable

The latest and greatest in species introductions:

• Sudden oak death (Phytophthora ramorum) was discovered in Lithuania, in nursery stock imported from Poland. The plants are under quarantine so hopefully the pathogen won't be sticking around.
• The Asian hornet Vespa velutina has been discovered in France. This hornet species is not much of a direct nuisance to humans, but unfortunately they like to eat honeybees.
• They've found another Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) in New York, second one ever.
• There are a bunch of new discoveries in Puerto Rico, and as usual, they sound like the selection you'd find at your local aquarium store:
  • The sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna)
  • The blue gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus sumatranus)
  • The African jewelfish (Hemichromis letourneuxi, id tentative)
• Also new to Puerto Rico: water spangles (Salvinia minima)

Sources: The EPPO Reporting Service #10 and the USGS NAS Alert system.

New And Notable

Recent arrivals in the US and beyond:

• The Suriname toad (Pipa pipa) was discovered in Puerto Rico.
• The Quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) continues to be sighted in Southern California. Also, a Dreissena sp. was discovered in Arizona - the first record for the genus in that state.
• The Oriental weatherfish (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) has been discovered in a small pond in New Jersey.
• India has a new species of fruit fly (Bactrocera invadens), the same one that has been spreading across Africa.
• Pink meadowsweet (Spiraea alba 'rosea') has naturalized in Belgium (via the ALIENS-L listserver)

New And Notable

Recent new arrivals in the USA, courtesy of the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Alert System:

• The brittle naiad, Najas minor, has been reported for the first time in South Dakota, in a lake it has probably been hanging around in since 2003.
• A Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) was discovered in the Charles River in Massachusetts. Must have been checking out a free concert, as it was found near the Hatch Shell. The person who discovered it claims he saw more of them in 2006. Uh oh.
• Someone recorded the call of a Rio Grande chirping frog (Syrrhophus cystignathoides) in Louisiana. Normally this species is found only in Southern Texan and Northern Mexico. A range expansion perhaps?
• Puerto Rico has added yet another non-native aquatic plant to its flora: the white water lily (Nymphaea odorata).

New and Notable

Some interesting new arrivals in the USA, courtesy of the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Alert System:

• Congratulations to Georgia, the recipient of the Australian tubeworm Ficopomatus enigmaticus - only the second record of this species on the East Coast of the US (discovered May 2006).
• As of August 2006, Maine's got yellow floating heart (Nymphoides peltata) - a whole ton of it covering a pond in Rockport. I guess it's not that surprising since until this record, Maine was the only state in the Northeast US without this aquatic plant.
• Wyoming's got an established population of red-rim melania (Melanoides tuberculatus) in Grand Teton National Park (since June 2006). The mollusk was apparently introduced to the US via the aquarium industry.
• Finally, and as usual, Puerto Rico brings us some new country-level records from the aquarium world:
  • Leopard plecos (Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps) - pretty sure we used to have these in the family fish tank when I was growing up.
  • Chinese algae eaters (Gyrinocheilus aymonieri) - definitely had these, I remember they were jumpers too (used to find them dried up in the carpet - yech!)

New Arrivals

Sorry about the lack of posts, I've been really busy lately. Turns out invasive species have been busy lately too, in the US anyway:

• Gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum) in Arizona
• The Yellow anaconda has made an appearance in Florida (Eunectes notaeus) - Look out J.Lo!!!
• The bamboo worm (Clymenella torquata), a marine polychaete native to the east coast, has been found established in Washington state. It has previously been found in the UK as well.
• Washington also welcomed reed manna grass (Glyceria maxima). Well, not so much welcomed as targeted for attack later this year :-).
• The titan acorn barnacle (Megabalanus coccopoma) was discovered for the first time in North Carolina. It appears to be an established population. "Titan acorn"...isn't that an oxymoron?
• Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) was reported from a lake in Indiana where it has apparently been established for several years. I think that is by far the furthest inland we've seen that aquatic plant...yikes!

Puerto Rico has got it goin' on again too:

• Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)
• Giant apple snail (Pomacea maculata) - first record anywhere in the US or its territories - go PR! You can find more info on the giant apple snail here.

New Arrivals is brought to you courtesy of the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Alert System.

The Age Of Aquaria

From the looks of these USGS Non-indigenous Aquatic Species Alerts (new reports of discoveries from May 2006 and earlier), Puerto must be turning into one giant fish tank:

• Rosy barbs (Puntius conchonius) [so common, they are now being used as bait fish]
• Congo tetras (Phenacogrammus interruptus)
• Tiger barbs (Puntius tetrazona)
• Red devils (Cichlasoma labiatum)
• midas cichlids (Cichlasoma citrinellum) [also here]
• Rio Grande cichlid (Cichlasoma cyanoguttatum)
• Convict cichlids (Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum)
• Sailfin catfish (Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus)

For more information, check out this page from MongaBay - it's a list of known fish species in Puerto Rico, marked as native or non-native, with links to their FishBase species pages. Fifty-six percent introduced (30 species) - very impressive!

Flutter By

While we hear a lot about moths in the world of invasive species, we very rarely hear anything about butterflies. So it was with interest that I read this Pest Report from the Phytosanitary Alert System announcing that the Lime Swallowtail (Papilio demoleus) was discovered last June in Puerto Rico (.pdf). The Lime Swallowtail, native to Asia and Africa, is a pest of...you guessed it...citrus species, and it appears to be following citrus crops around the world. Puerto Rico is the second confirmed occurrence of this species in the New World, the first being in the Dominican Republic back in 2004 (.pdf). The main concern of the arrival of this butterfly in the New World is the potential threat to citrus crops (not surprisingly, Florida is concerned), but the 2004 article above does note that there are New World Papilio butterflies that could feel the heat of competition, and there is some concern that the caterpillars will feed on wild plants in the Rutaceae (citrus family).

When The World Is A Giant Heat Rock

Not sure why Canada has grabbed a hold of this news bit, but The Canoe Network, among other Canadian sources, is reporting that Puerto Rico's Department of Natural and Environmental Resources is considering drastic measures to deal with the green iguanas (Iguana iguana) at the island's airport. Seems the introduced iguanas love to lay out on the runways, soaking up all the nice heat the tarmac absorbs from the sun. Things have gotten bad enough that flights have been delayed, causing the government to consider several eradication measures, including shooting the lizards "with .22-calibre rifles." Not sure why they were so specific about that - sounds like it was one weird press conference.