Welcome to the New Journal: Arthropoda

As Editor-in-Chief, I am delighted to announce the launch of Arthropoda [1], a new international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal.

The journal has positioned itself as a sister journal to Insects [2] and will consider high-quality submissions on non-insects, stretching across modern groups, such as crustaceans, spiders and mites, as well as fossil groups, such as trilobites. Beyond this focal systematic scope, all aspects of biology will be considered, from alpha-taxonomic work to systematic revisions, molecular or environmental studies to autecology and species networks, and fishery to arthropod–human and societal interactions.

Spiders are familiar to most children, thanks to Marvel Universe’s hero Spider-Man. In real life, spiders are important predators in many agricultural landscapes, keeping insect pest populations in check. Numerous species, especially Tarantulas, are kept as pets, and a general fascination with venomous spiders has led to studies on toxicity and biological models.

Mites, despite being rather small, are equally important in ecosystems, and in many habitats, they play an important role as decomposers. Some are parasitic, such as Varroa destructor, a major honeybee pest, and Demodex, a tiny species which dwells in human hair follicles.

Crustaceans play a very important role in the biosphere and include the most abundant metazoan species on the planet, the Antarctic Krill, Euphausia superba, as well as one of the most widespread aquaculture species, the Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. Additionally, crustaceans are widely used as experimental animals in labs worldwide, such as amphipods of the genus Hyale for studying land invasion. Not surprisingly, many species of crustacean have also become human-mediated invasive species outside their native ranges, with the European Green crab, Carcinus maenas, now occurring almost globally.

Exclusively fossil groups also have several claims to fame. Trilobites were the first major animal group to develop composite eyes, whilst sea scorpions (eurypterids) were amongst the largest arthropod to ever live, reaching up to 2.5 m in length.

Of course, aside from the well-known non-insect arthropods, such as spiders, crustaceans, scorpions, millipedes and mites, there are several lesser-studied groups, that are usually less species-rich but equally fascinating (e.g., Pycnogonida—sea spiders, Thelyphonida—Whip scorpions, Xiphosura—Horseshoe crabs).

All subjects and taxa touched upon in this brief list fall within the scope of the new journal, Arthropoda.

A continuous publication model is employed, ensuring timely publication after acceptance; for indexing purposes, articles will be initially bundled in quarterly issues.

Members of the Editorial Board are actively involved in the journal, with oversight and editorial responsibilities for journal submissions within their respective fields of expertise. Currently, such expertise lies across the whole systematic spectrum of living arthropod taxa (e.g., Crustacea, Arachnida, Myriapoda), as well as the exclusively fossil Trilobita, and encompasses field as diverse as taxonomy, zoological nomenclature, systematics, ecology, morphology, symbiosis, fisheries, biogeography and so on.

I would encourage all those working on arthropods to consider using the journal as a potential outlet for your work. We look forward to your submissions.