The United Nations declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. It is one-year world-wide celebration of biological diversity and its importance for life on Earth. While biodiversity is frequently spoken about in the context of its conservation, no one would argue that protection of biodiversity relies strongly on knowledge of what we must conserve. Nonetheless, traditional taxonomy has often been marginalised among biological sciences by policy- and decision-makers, and left for old-fashioned museum eccentrics. Moreover, few high-profile scholarly journals these days accept long taxonomic revisions unless based on 'cutting edge' DNA sequencing or/and computer-generated phylogenetic trees. African Invertebrates, a journal of biodiversity research published by the Council of the Natal Museum, continues to contribute its mite to rejoice taxonomy and to celebrate the International Year of Biodiversity with a selection of research articles on molluscs, millipedes, spiders and insects. The highlight of the current issue is a major revision of southern African cannibal snails by D.G. Herbert and A. Moussalli. Their 132-page, generously illustrated and meticulously referenced article presents the most comrehensive account of morphology, biology and taxonomy of the rhytidid genera Natalina, Afrorhytida and Capitina. The assessment of conservation status of each species and a profound biogeographic analysis of their distribution enhance the theoretical and practical value of the paper, which should difinitely receive a close attention of ecologists and conservation specialists. The article offers a perfect example of how taxonomic papers should be written. A contribution by T. Wesener, I. Bespalova and P. Sierwald is focussed on the discovery of new species of giant pill-millipedes of the genus Zoosphaerium from Madagascar, a well-known biodiversity hotspot. Apart from being spectacular creatures, the giant pillmillipedes are often microendemics of undisturbed habitats and totally absent from anthropogenic landscapes. G.N. Azarkina and D.V. Logunov present new records of spartaeine jumping spiders from the Afrotropical region and describe hitherto unknown sexes of three species. A review of the robber fly genus Daspletis by J.G.H. Londt has been prompted by a re-discovery of a remarkable species from the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, but also provides new records of Daspletis from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, as well as an updated identification key to all eight species in the genus. A short contribution by C.K. Oppong and co-authors deals with behavioural aspects of the biology of the mopane psyllid Retroacizzia mopani studied in the Limpopo Province. The last research paper in the issue by I. Shamshev and P. Grootaert adds two new species to the dipteran genus Tachydromia (Hybotidae), one from Ethiopia and one from Uganda, and demonstrates a wider distribution of Tachydromia in the Afrotropics. The issue is finished off with very appropriate comments by K. Williams on the importance of museum collections, with a particular reference to the Durban Natural Science Museum. I sincerely hope that the global biodiversity will not be neglected after 2010, and African Invertebrates will continue to play its important role in publisizing results of taxonomic endeavours in the Afrotropics.

The United Nations declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity to celebrate biodiversity, increase understanding about how biodiversity is critical for sustaining life on Earth, and to highlight the ongoing and increasing loss of biodiversity. The emphasis of this campaign is on people and biodiversity, and the monetary value of biodiversity in terms of goods and services, rather than the traditional focus on saving iconic threatened species and ecosystems. The change in emphasis away from species conservation may seem misdirected; we monitor biodiversity by tracking the number of species that have gone extinct and by the number of threatened species, species make up ecosystems, which provide people with services, and species are directly used by people. However, if we reflect on the progress made in terms of the commitments by governments at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 "to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth", it is evident that the targets have not been met. Threatened species have become more threatened, natural habitats continue to decline, and the ecological footprint of humans exceeds that of the 2010 target. In addition, conservation and sustainable use are usually not integrated into national policies, and biodiversity is not considered when there are major plans for development. The driving factors of biodiversity loss have not been addressed. These were the main conclusions in The Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 document (Secretariat of the CBD 2010). The realisation in this report that "We can no longer see the continued loss of, and changes to, biodiversity as an issue separate from the core concerns of society: to tackle poverty, to improve the health, prosperity and security of our populations, and to deal with climate change" is a fundamental shift in the way that conservationists and scientists approach activities around biodiversity. Perhaps the International Year of Biodiversity also provides an opportunity for biologists, particularly taxonomists working on African invertebrates, to reflect on our contributions to biodiversity conservation and to consider real integration of the discipline into biodiversity conservation. Invertebrates comprise the bulk of biodiversity at both biomass and species levels (1,359,367 or 72 % of all described species), and they play critical roles in the functioning of all ecosystems, so there is no doubt that invertebrates are a major component of biodiversity. They also remain a neglected component relative to the far less diverse chordates (64,788 species) and plants (297,857 species), with 75% of the 18,000 new species described in 2007 being invertebrates and an estimated 5,396,465 invertebrate species still remaining to be described globally (Chapman 2009). In the IUCN Countdown 2010 scoping paper for the southern African subregion, the assessment of species diversity by taxon excludes estimates of species richness or threatened species for invertebrates, and this reflects the lack of awareness of the significance of invertebrates and also the paucity of accessible, co-ordinated information. One of the major arguments used in promoting surveys, inventories and taxonomy is the need to know what species are present in an area before they can be conserved or used. Invertebrate taxonomists in Africa and international scientists working on the fauna of the region have for decades explored and documented the diversity through revisions and descriptions. Scientific journals such as African Invertebrates (formerly Annals of the Natal Museum) have a long history of consistently publishing this research. African Invertebrates provides taxonomists with an opportunity to broadcast their research both nationally and internationally. Its current Impact Factor (1.216) brings the journal to amongst the three most highly cited scientific periodicals in South Africa, showing that material published in African Invertebrates is in high demand. Each issue of the journal gives life to dozens of new scientific names, traditionally supplementing species descriptions with much-needed identification keys and often with an assessment of the conservation status of invertebrate taxa.

We analyzed the role of the waterways of Belarus in the spread of aquatic exotic invertebrates through the central European invasion corridor. Present day Belarus became critically important when in the end of the 18th—beginning of the 19th century three interbasin canals connecting rivers from the Black and Baltic seas basins were constructed for international trade. These canals became important pathways facilitating the spread of aquatic alien species. For more than a hundred years, only Ponto-Caspian species colonized Belarus using ships and especially timber in rafts exported by Russia into Western Europe. In the second half of the 20th century, new vectors of spread appeared in Belarus, such as stocking of economically important invertebrates and accidental introductions. This paper is the first comprehensive review of aquatic exotic invertebrates in Belarus. Currently, 19 exotic aquatic invertebrates are known in Belarus, including 14 species of Ponto-Caspian origin. The rate of spread of aquatic invasive species in the second half of the 20th century increased 7-fold compared to the 19th—beginning of the 20th century. We found a significant positive correlation between the time since initial invasion and number of waterbodies colonized. We predict a further increase in the rate of colonization of Belarus by exotic invertebrates as well as an increase in the diversity of vectors of spread and donor areas of alien species, especially when the ongoing reconstruction of the interbasin canals will be completed and the hydrological connection between Black Sea and Baltic Sea basins will be reestablished after an interruption that has lasted for almost a century.
Biological Invasions (2008) Volume 10: 215–232

The assessment of risks associated with alien invasive organisms implies a detailed knowledge of their taxonomical composition and distribution within an assessment unit. In this paper we used both literature data and results from our field surveys of more than forty sites, conducted in 2006-2008, to compile a checklist of aquatic alien species (invertebrates and fish) established in the three large river basins of Belarus (Dnieper, Pripyat, Neman). Thirty six alien species have been revealed, most of which are of Ponto-Caspian origin. The discovery of several new species during our surveys indicates that the rate of introductions has substantially increased over the last two decades.
Aquatic Invasions (2009) Volume 4, Issue 2: 337-347

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