CSI Tromsø: Where Forensics meets Vikings Posted August 22, 2018 by post-info Insect remains have their own tale to tell in the mystery that surrounds the Øsknes Viking burial boat, as Eva Pangiotakopulu Category Archives: entomology
CSI Tromsø: Where Forensics meets Vikings
CSI Tromsø: Where Forensics meets Vikings Posted August 22, 2018 by post-info Insect remains have their own tale to tell in the mystery that surrounds the Øsknes Viking burial boat, as Eva Pangiotakopulu Posted by in archaeology, beetles, burial, entomology, featured, fleas, flies, forensic science, forensics, funerary, history, insects, norway, vikings, Worth A Thousand Words
That new beetle? Actually, it’s really an old beetle
A team of entomologists in India had to put their new species celebration on hold last year, when they found out their discovery had already been discovered. The Journal of Insect Science paper, initially published in December 2012, was retracted in October 2013, after several entomologists confirmed that the beetle was actually a previously identified species called Acanthophorus serraticornis. (The […]
The post That new beetle? Actually, it’s really an old beetle appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Who moved my ants? Species confusion sinks paper on invasive species
“How many and which ant species are being accidentally moved around the world?,” published in 2013, has been retracted because the authors “used a wrong list of species and omitted to include a reference.” The authors claim that this affected the magnitude of the issue, but not the overall conclusion. The paper was written up by […]
Posted by in biology letters, entomology, freely available, investigator error, rsc publishing, spain
Bee researcher in the Congo blames “injustice, segregation and colonialism” for retractions, Science correction
A bee researcher based in Congo has had two papers retracted, and a paper in Science corrected, for various reasons including unreliable data. The researcher, however, blames colonialism. M. B. Théodore Munyuli is at the National Center for Research in Natural Sciences, CRSN-Lwiro, D.S. Bukavu, Kivu, and studies the distribution and diversity of bees. Here’s the notice from […]
Ants in the past: Journal pulls insect-global warming paper after questions arise over results
A group of ecologists in Germany who published a paper on the potential impact of global warming on ants in the Harz Mountains — Germany’s highest range — have retracted the paper after becoming, well, a bit antsy about the validity of their findings. The article, “Diversity of ants across an altitudinal gradient in and […]
Ants in the past: Journal pulls insect-global warming paper after questions arise over results
A group of ecologists in Germany who published a paper on the potential impact of global warming on ants in the Harz Mountains — northern Germany’s highest range — have retracted the paper after becoming, well, a bit antsy about the validity of their findings. The article, “Diversity of ants across an altitudinal gradient in […]
The Art of Science: Insectopia in Paris
A pied-a-terre for the six-legged
A pair of Parisian designers has one-upped Brandon Ballengée’s Love Motel for Insects (featured here last year) by building snazzy condos for some lucky French bugs. The Insectopia installation, by Quentin Vaulot and Goliath Dyèvre, consists of tightly-packed wooden “houses” for insects, mounted on poles in parks in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. From a distance, they resemble trees; closer up, they look a bit like Laputa, the flying island from Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky. Vaulot and Dyèvre say that their intention was both to foster urban biodiversity and to “provoke an emotion” in people who interact with the art, by drawing attention to a world that is largely invisible but in constant motion. No word yet on which lucky insects have moved into Insectopia, or if the quiet, hardworking ants are complaining about the noisy cicadas upstairs. If any of our readers are in Paris, please go look and report back with photos.
Photo: Vaulot & Dyèvre, HT to Inhabitat
Posted by in Brandon Ballengee, entomology, Insect Art, Insectopia, science art, The Art of Science, Vaulot dyevre
Dispute over data forces retraction of wasp paper
An article published in the Bulletin of the Italian Society of Entomology has been retracted in the wake of a squabble over the ownership of the data.
The 2012 paper, “A contribution to the Ichneumoninae fauna of Sicily (Hymenoptera Ichneumonidae,” was written by Matthias Riedel and Salvatore Tomarchio, and deals with the so-called ichneumon wasps (or flies), a family with some 60,000 member species worldwide and one that, as this Wikipedia entry notes, caught the particular attention of Charles Darwin:
I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice.
The ichneumonidae had Darwin questioning his faith in a benevolent higher power, and this case might leave you scratching your head about the order of things in general. As the retraction notice states:
We herein joint refer to the publication: Matthias Riedel, Salvatore Tomarchio (2012) A contribution to the Ichneumoninae fauna of Sicily (Hymenoptera Ichneumonidae), Bollettino della Società Entomologica Italiana, 144 (3): 125-135, for properly retract the article according to the “Guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics” (COPE, 2009). The reasons for invoking the retraction of the subject paper are based on an unethical approach for the use of the primary scientific data sources. in fact, the data taken from Turrisi G.F. collection (full property of Turrisi G.F. and only temporarily stored at Zsm-Zoologische Staatssammlung Munchen, Germany) have been used without the previous permission of the rightful owner and without taking into account the ongoing researches on the same material by G.F. Turrisi, belonging to a well raised project in cooperation with the staff at Zsm, namely with Prof. Klaus Schoenitzer and dr Erich Diller, as stated by official published publication and documented stages attended by Turrisi G.F. at Zsm. Both the Authors, according with Turrisi G.F., agree to invalidate the publication by Riedel & Tomarchio (2012) according the ethic law, in order to establish the rightness for the use of the data and to release the two authors from any responsibility for improper use of the scientific data of Turrisi G.F. entomological collection.
We’re curious about several things in this passage, and have tried to reach some of the people involved for clarification. The first is the notion that the data were only “temporarily stored” at the Munich institute. How might that work? Who actually had ownership of the data?
Another thing is Turrisi’s claim that he had “official published publication” of his work. We think this might be the publication to which the notice refers: “Ichneumon flies from Sicily, with descriptions of new taxa.” It contains this line:
The material is stored in the collection of G.F. TURRISI, and partly (holotypes of the new taxa) in the collection of Zoologische Staatssammlung München, Germany (ZSM).
This document suggests that Turrisi indeed described Sicilian flies first (in pretty enthusiastic detail).
