New Species Discovered

[Alex Linder]

New frog species discovered on tallest mountain in Indochina
By: Andrew Mann
January 22, 2014

A team of Australian and Vietnamese researchers recently discovered a new species of frog in the high elevations of Vietnam’s Mount Fansipan, according to a new paper in Zootaxa. The amphibian was named Botsford’s leaf-litter frog (Leptolalax botsfordi) as a tribute to Christopher Botsford for his role in amphibian biodiversity research in Asia.

“I had a pretty good idea that the species was undescribed the moment I heard its faint chirp,” Jodi Rowley of the Australian Museum Research Institute told mongabay.com.

One characteristic shared by other Asian leaf-litter frog species is that they make noises similar to insects, but the calls of this new species are unique. While Rowley’s colleagues found many frog species in the stream, Rowley spent hours in the fog filled night sifting through the leaves in one spot trying to find the unknown frog. The moment she finally located the frog, she was filled with a sense of triumph.


Leptolalax_botsfordi.

The genus Leptolalax is a group of small-bodied frogs whose true biodiversity has only started gaining appreciation in the last five years due to increased exploration and improvements in acoustic and molecular data analysis. Despite being scientifically classified as frogs, they are sometimes referred to as toads due to their bumpy skin. This particular species is more vigorous than other Asian leaf-litter frogs, and has a distinct brownish-pink belly and huge white glands on its thighs.


Team members at Mount Fansipan Basecamp.

Although Mount Fansipan hosts many overnight tourists attempting to summit “the roof of Indochina,” relatively little is known about its flora and fauna. Earlier in 2013, scientists in Fansipan described the Sterling’s toothed toad (Oreolalax sterlingae) which, similarly to the Botsford’s leaf-litter frog, is also technically a frog from the Megophryidae family.

Rowley says that she and her colleagues plan to continue working in Vietnam to gather as much information as possible about the amphibians and their conservation status.

“With the discovery of Botsford’s Asian leaf-litter toad, and Sterling’s toothed toad from the same high-elevation stream... it’s clear that the area is important for amphibian conservation,” said Rowley.

Clouds and fog fill Mount Fansipan. Despite being a heavily visited area by tourists, this rough environment has seen little biological research.

http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0122-m...indochina.html

[Alex Linder]

New sawshark species discovered in PHL
By MIKAEL ANGELO FRANCISCOJanuary 21, 2014

For people who have seen the Jaws movies – or anyone even vaguely aware of what a shark is, for that matter - it’s reasonable to expect that sightings of sharks would be sufficient reason for alarm or even panic.

However, this particular shark sighting might actually be welcome news: a new species of sawshark (Pristiophoridae) was recently discovered in Philippine waters.

The new species, named Pristiophorus lanae, was identified by scientists from the United States after examining seven specimens captured in Zamboanguita, Apo Island and in Southern Luzon’s Balayan Bay and Ragay Gulf.


Shark tale

Sawsharks have been found in western Atlantic (near Florida, the Bahamas, and Cuba), the southwestern Indian Ocean (off South Africa), and the western Pacific (Australia, Japan, China, Korea and the Philippines). Sawsharks are said to have lived as early as 90 million years ago, alongside the dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous period.

Characterized by their long, sword-like snouts, these bottom-dwelling sharks bear an uncanny resemblance to sawfish. However, a key difference between the two is the location of their gills; the sawfish’s gills are located underneath its head, while sawsharks’ gills are on the sides. Additionally, sawfishes tend to grow much larger than sawsharks; while the largest known sawshark clocks in at a length of 170 centimetres (about 5’ 7’), sawfish can grow to about as long as 7 meters (close to 23’).

Sawsharks possess two spineless dorsal fins, two pelvic fins, a caudal fin (tail fin) with a long upper lobe and no lower lobe. Sawsharks also lack an anal fin. A sawshark's short mouth is full of sharp teeth (usually alternating between small and large sizes).

They also have long mustache-like appendages called barbells, which extend from the middle of their snouts. Working in conjunction with electro-receptors located under their saws, sawsharks are able to use these barbells to detect and catch prey hiding under the sandy bottom of their habitats.

Welcome to the family

A five-gilled sawshark with a slender body that grows up to 80-85 cm long, Pristiophorus lanae is the second shark from the Pristiophorus genus identified from the western part of the North Pacific.

“The species name, lanae, is after shark enthusiast Lana Ebert on the occasion of her graduation from the University of San Francisco. The proposed common name is the Lana’s Sawshark,” revealed Dr David Ebert (from the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, California Academy of Sciences and the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity) and Dr Hana Wilms (from the University of California).

Details about the new species were published in the journal Zootaxa last December 24. — TJD, GMA News

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...covered-in-phl

[Alex Linder]

New Dolphin Discovered in Brazil
2014-01-22

In the Amazon Basin in central Brazil, local legends claim that it is bad luck to kill a river dolphin—just looking one in the eye may cause a lifetime of bad dreams. But there’s another reason to protect these large freshwater creatures: A new study finds that instead of two species in the basin, there are actually three. And each is rarer than anyone realized.

Amazon river dolphins, which can be pink or gray and have a longer beak than marine dolphins, are under pressure. Despite the taboo against killing them, in some areas fishermen cut them up for bait to catch bottom-feeding catfish. Hydroelectric dams fragment their habitat, and overfishing depletes their food supply. Population data on the animals is incomplete, so their true conservation status is unknown, but their numbers are far smaller than many common marine species of dolphins, whose populations are composed of hundreds of thousands of individuals. As scientists collect more genetic data, they are beginning to realize that there is not one river dolphin, but multiple species living in isolated basins in the Amazon.

Researchers officially announced the discovery of a third river dolphin in a study published online today in PLOS ONE. The new species is named Inia araguaiaensis, after the Araguaia River Basin that it calls home. Scientists knew that river dolphins inhabited the region. But they suspected that the group might be its own distinct species because it is isolated from other groups of river dolphins in the Amazon River system by a series of rapids.

Researchers compared sections of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from the three species to show that they each have evolved separately and are not interbreeding. They also compared two male and two female I. araguaiaensis skulls with skull measurements from the other species and found small differences in the number and shape of certain teeth, and a slightly wider skull. They examined so few specimens because finding dead animals is difficult. “These are occasional finds, so you cannot do a proper sampling design,” says lead researcher Tomas Hrbek, an evolutionary biologist at the Federal University of Amazonas in Manaus, Brazil.

Hrbek and his team estimate that I. araguaiaensis has been isolated from the species in the main Amazon River Basin, called I. geoffrensis, for more than 2 million years. The two likely split when the mouth of the Araguaia River shifted to the east to empty into the Atlantic Ocean instead of the Amazon River. The habitat ranges of the two species potentially overlap in a small area downstream of the rapids where a narrow canal connects the mouth of the Araguaia River with the Amazon River delta. The researchers plan to conduct surveys of the area to see if both species live there without interbreeding. “That would be conclusive evidence of biological species-level differences—a natural test,” says Scott Baker, a conservation geneticist at Oregon State University, Corvallis, who was not involved in the research.

Eric Archer, a cetacean geneticist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in San Diego, California, expects that the newly described species will be accepted by the research community. “The genetic lines of evidence are very strong,” says Archer, who was not associated with the study. He would like to see physical measurements of more animals, however, to catch the full range of variation. The species may even make different types of whistles to communicate, he says.

The discovery could have important conservation implications for the new species, Hrbek says. “Based on census data there are probably only a thousand individuals, which is a very small population size,” he says. “We looked at genetic diversity and it’s quite low compared to the other species,” he says. “It’s not a very rosy picture.”

Based on these findings, the researchers argue that I. araguaiaensis should be considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, an organization that assesses whether plants and animals are endangered. “By recognizing that these are each three unique diverging lineages, the loss of any one of them is not replaceable,” Baker says.

http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2...covered-brazil

[Alex Linder]

Scientists blown away by Tasmania's giant jellyfish

February 7, 2014

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Residents of a sleepy hamlet in Tasmania found a previously unknown kind of giant jellyfish washed up on a beach, prompting excitement among scientists in Australia as they work to formally name and classify the creature.

About 1.5 meters (five feet) across, the white jellyfish with a pink spot in the middle is believed to be a relative of the lion's mane species popularly known as a "snotty" as it resembles mucus.

"There's the excitement, that it's a new species and then there's the 'Oh my God factor' that it happens to be the size of a Smart car," Lisa-ann Gershwin, a scientist at the government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, told Reuters. "It's like Disneyland for marine biologists."

A family walking along the beach found the giant jellyfish in late January and sent a photo to the research organisation in Hobart, Australia's southernmost city. Scientists believe the jellyfish was later washed out to sea.

Gershwin and other scientists are also trying to discover why there has been an enormous rise in jellyfish populations in the waters around Tasmania this year.

"There's something going on that's causing a whole lot of species to bloom in staggering numbers and we don't know why yet," she said. "It's so thick with jellyfish that it's like swimming in bubble tea."

(Reporting by Pauline Askin; Editing by John O'Callaghan and Ron Popeski)

http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-blo...071610468.html

[Alex Linder]

Amazing New Species Discovered
By Laura Dattaro Published: Feb 10, 2014

Beaked whale, Mesoplodon hotaula


A male M. hotaula washed up on Desroches Island in the Indian Ocean in 2009, shown here with men from the island and its two discoverers, Wayne Thompson (far right) and Lisa Thompson.

When a booger bigger than your average middle schooler washed up on a beach in Tasmania in January, the family who walked by it while collecting shells inadvertently discovered a brand new species of jellyfish. The 5-foot jellyfish turned out to be a member of one of three new species of lion’s mane jellyfish that have been appearing in unusually large numbers near Tasmania’s southern shores.

Not all species discoveries are so dramatic — and sometimes they’re closer to a reclassification than a true discovery. Nevertheless, here are four new creatures that have been deemed sufficiently distinct to warrant their own species.

This rare whale was not so much discovered as rediscovered, having been stripped of its title of “species” almost 50 years ago, only two years after first earning the distinction. When a lone female washed up on the shores of Sri Lanka in 1963, the director of the National Museums of Ceylon dubbed it Mesoplodon hotaula, another member of a group known as beaked whales, some of the most elusive mammals not only in the waters, but on the planet. In 1965, scientists decided it was actually a member of a known beaked whale species, and it would remain classified as such until now, when, after exchanges involving some dried meat, bone and teeth, the decision was reversed again and M. hotaula had its species distinction restored. “Literally nothing is known about most species of beaked whales,” Robin Baird, a biologist at Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia told Science. “They are probably the least known family of large mammals. So it’s exciting to have this study.”


Cedar sculpin, Cottus schitsuumsh


A male cedar sculpin, a few inches long.

A little fish with a big head made a splash in January when researchers discovered it was in fact a new species, given the name Cottus schitsuumsh, or the cedar sculpin. It gets its names from the locations where its found and the people who live there: Schitsu’umsh means “those who were found here” in the language of the local Coeur d’Alene tribe, which chose the new name, and cedar means, well, cedar, specifically the western red cedar, a stream-side tree common in the fish’s range.

Sculpins provide food for larger fish, like trout, and also serve as indicators of water quality. The various species are quite similar to each other, but distinguishable by subtle differences — in the case of C. schitsuumsh, the differences lie in its spine and tooth patterns, National Geographic reports. Genetic testing confirmed the species distinction.


Psammogorgia hookeri


A new species of coral found in Peru.

When it comes to coral, the Great Barrier Reef tends to get most of the attention. But in fact, coral are found all over the world — even in Greenland — and it was in Peru’s little-studied reefs that researchers found a bright new species of coral, dubbed Psammagogia hookeri after Yuri Hooker, a biologist at Lima’s Cayetna Heredia University. “This new species may be an endemic: found nowhere else in the world,” Hector M. Guzman, marine biologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, said in a release. “But coral reefs and coral communities in Peru have never been systematically studied. We expect more surprises as we look at new collections.”


Araguaian boto, Inia araguaiaensis


A close genetic relative of the new species of river dolphin.

In late January, news abounded of a new species of rare river dolphin, the first discovered since Lipotes vexillifer, the Yangtze river dolphin, in 1918. But like most discoveries of new species, the story of the new dolphin, Inia araguaiaensis, is a bit more complicated than that. The new species is not “a discovery in the sense of finding animals that were not previously known to be there,” Randall Reeves, chair of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Cetacean Specialist Group, told weather.com. Rather, the new species is a result of data analysis that shows that this population of dolphins is distinct enough from others to be considered a new species.

The Yangtze river dolphin, also known as the Baiji — listed as critically endangered by the IUCN, and possibly extinct, Reeves said — had been known about for years and was merely described in 1918. And playing by those rules, it was not the last new species of river dolphin. The Bolivian bufeo, named Inia boliviensis in 1834, was finally given recognition as a species just a few years ago.

Murky definitions aside, river dolphins face threats from humans worldwide, including fishing, dams and pollution, enough that the IUCN includes five species of river dolphin on its Red List.

http://www.weather.com/news/science/...vered-20140210

[Alex Linder]

New Species of Ancient "Swamp Monster" Discovered; Lived in Once-Tropical Texas
Skulls of a 17-foot-long, crocodile-like creature have been discovered.


The skull of the phytosaur Machaeroprosopus lottorum.

Christine Dell'Amore
National Geographic
PUBLISHED JANUARY 31, 2014

Scientists say the fossils of an ancient "swamp monster" that roamed the wilds of West Texas are those of a new species.

Two crocodile-like reptiles called phytosaurs died about 205 million years ago in an oxbow lake, where they were entombed for centuries.

According to a recent study, the roughly 17-foot-long (5.2-meter-long) beast lurked in swamps during the Triassic period, when West Texas was a tropical rain forest lush with tall ferns and conifers. (Also see "Biggest Crocodile Found—Fossil Species Ate Humans Whole?")

With its 2-foot-long (0.6-meter-long) snout, Machaeroprosopus lottorum would have resembled—and acted like—a modern-day gharial, ambushing prey such as fish and amphibians from beneath the water.

Paleontologists dubbed the ancient creature M. lottorum after the Lott family, which owns the Texas Panhandle ranch where the two skulls were discovered in the summer of 2001. The first skull the scientists found wasn't well preserved, but a few weeks later, when Doug Cunningham, a field research assistant at the Museum of Texas Tech University and co-author of the study, dug up the second skull, they were shocked.

"We were all kind of in awe of it," Cunningham said in a statement. "It had this long, skinny snout. It was quite a bit different" from the skulls of known phytosaurs.

The odd-looking skull prompted the researchers to launch a lengthy effort to formally describe it as a new species. Now that it has been, scientists suspect there may be more species of Triassic phytosaurs than was previously thought.

Swamp Thing

When other paleontologists began studying the skulls, says study co-author Bill Mueller, assistant curator of paleontology at the museum, they noticed something that suggested these phytosaurs were a new species: An opening at the top of the skull, called the supratemporal fenestra, was located in a different place than on known phytosaurs.

The scientists think the two skulls represent a male and a female. One of the skulls sports a bony crest that stretches from nostril to beak tip. Many paleontologists believe these were female-attracting features found only on male animals. The other skull did not have such a crest, according to the scientists, whose study was published in the journal Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Andy Heckert, a phytosaur expert and geologist at Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, who wasn't involved in the study, agreed with the theory that males had a bony crest, and that the skulls represent different sexes.

However, much of what's assumed about phytosaurs is speculation, as only a few skeletons have ever been found. If paleontologists could find an intact one, they could confirm if it really was a swamp-dweller by measuring its legs: Short, squat limbs would mean it lived in water. (Learn about sea monsters in National Geographic.)

Their wish may be granted: Study co-author Mueller said his team just found a huge phytosaur skull that's now being excavated.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...cient-science/

[Alex Linder]

New Fiery-Red Coral Species Discovered in Peruvian Pacific
By Agata Blaszczak-Boxe, Staff Writer | February 07, 2014

In the clear waters off the coast of Peru, researchers have found a stunning new red coral species that was not previously described by scientists.

The corals' hand-size colonies were discovered at water depths of about 82 feet (25 meters), near Isla San Gallán in Peru's Paracas National Reserve. Small pieces of the coral were also found attached to mussels from Independence Bay, at a fish market nearby. [In Images: Fiery-Red Coral Species Discovered in Peruvian Pacific]

The new species' small size and intensely red color — along with other attributes, such as the shape of the coral polyps — distinguish this coral species from its relatives, according to the study.

"I think I am privileged to work with something so pretty," study researcher Odalisca Breedy, a researcher and professor at the University of Costa Rica, told Live Science.

The researchers named the new species Psammogorgia hookeri, after Yuri Hooker, a biologist and naturalist from the Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University in Lima. [Colorful Creations: Incredible Coral]

To determine whether the samples they found were, indeed, a new species, the researchers examined the corals with microscopes, and compared them with specimens at Peru's Ocean Institute (IMARPE) and the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.

"This new species may be found nowhere else in the world," study co-author Héctor Guzmán, a researcher at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, said in a statement. "But coral reefs and coral communities in Peru have never been systematically studied. We expect more surprises as we look at new collections."

Breedy and Guzmán both specialize in soft-coral research, and so far, they have discovered 25 new species of soft coral in the Pacific.

The discovery of new coral species can help bolster conservation efforts, Breedy said. "If you have the knowledge of the species, you can plea for conservation if it is a species endemic to the site," she said.

"My goal is to find more species before they are gone because of all the contamination," Breedy added. Ocean contamination can be caused by several factors, including the build-up of sediments, increasing acidity and natural disturbances such as El Niño, she said. "At the current rate, it is very possible that many species will be extinct before scientists are able to describe them," she said.

The study detailing the new species was published in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

http://www.livescience.com/43203-red...iscovered.html

[Alex Linder]

New beaked whale species discovered

A new species of deep-diving, beaked whale has been discovered during a study of seven animals stranded on tropical islands over the past 50 years.

Beaked whales are a widespread yet little-known species of toothed whale (distantly related to sperm whales) that are found in deep ocean waters beyond the edge of the continental shelf.

The first specimen of the new species, Mesoplodon hotaula, was a female found on the coast of Sri Lanka on 26 January, 1963. The 4.5 metre-long whale was found on the beach of Ratmalana, near Colombo.

http://theconversation.com/new-beake...scovered-23001

[Alex Linder]

New big-headed fish species discovered in Idaho and Montana rivers
BY LAURA ZUCKERMAN

SALMON, Idaho Thu Jan 30, 2014

(Reuters) - A tiny fish characterized by a disproportionately large head and previously unknown to scientists has been found in mountain rivers of Idaho and Montana in what biologists said on Thursday marked a rare discovery.

The new aquatic species is a type of freshwater sculpin, a class of fish that dwell at the bottom of cold, swiftly flowing streams throughout North America and are known for their oversized head and shoulder structure.

"The discovery of a new fish is something I never thought would happen in my career because it's very rare in the United States," said Michael Young, co-author of a scientific description of the find published in the latest edition of the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa.

Scientists with the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in Montana first encountered the new species while conducting a genetic inventory of fish found in the upper Columbia River basin, said Young, also an agency fisheries biologist.

At first, researchers were not sure they had stumbled on a never-before-seen fish.

But genetic testing and examination of key physical differences proved that the specimens in question found in the Coeur d'Alene and St. Joe rivers in northern Idaho and in a stretch of the Clark Fork River in neighboring Montana were distinct from known varieties of the bottom-feeding fishes.

The fish has been named the cedar sculpin, after Western red cedars that line streams in the Idaho panhandle where it was first discovered.

Cedar sculpin differ from more common species by variations in spiny structures that sprout from their heads, which may protect them from predators, and the configuration of a line of tiny pores along each side of the body which fish use to detect movements and compounds in their environment, biologists said.

The big-headed fish, which eat aquatic insects and are typically no larger than six inches, are known for their ill-favored looks, but Young said the fish's merits are more than fin deep.

Sculpin are the preferred prey of prized sport fish like cutthroat trout and rare fish like bull trout, and anglers for nearly a century have lured trout with a fly-fishing pattern that imitates sculpin.

Don Johnson, professor emeritus in fishery biology at Idaho State University, said the discovery of a new species shows Mother Nature still has a few tricks up her sleeve.

"It tells you how much we still don't know about our environment and the interactions of its diverse components," he said.

(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman; Editing by Steve Gorman)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...A0T1QW20140130

[Alex Linder]

New species of 12-million-year-old whale discovered in a high school: Fossilised skull is spotted in gardens by a science teacher

- Odd rock was spotted in school grounds
- found to contain a fossilized sperm whale skull estimated to be 12-15 million years old

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...e-teacher.html

[Alex Linder]

New Crocodile Species Discovered in West Africa
By John R. Platt | February 6, 2014 |


slender-snouted crocodile

Studying crocodiles in some of the world’s most remote and inaccessible places isn’t easy, but it’s all in a day’s work for researcher Matthew Shirley. It is also, as he says, a “crazy amount of fun”—even on the days when catching and studying crocodiles leaves him covered in his own blood. “I love cruising through these often very remote waterways at night with a hundred billion stars overhead and seeing these ecosystems through a new light—or really just my spotlight!” white spirit - curiosity and love of adventures intellectual and physical

Shirley, who recently completed his doctorate at the University of Florida’s Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, has spent the past few years studying crocodiles in several African countries. His research has resulted in a major new discovery: a new species of crocodile that has been hiding in plain sight for thousands of years.

Until now the slender-snouted crocodile has been considered a single species, with a range stretching from Africa’s Atlantic coast in the Republic of the Gambia through central Africa and into the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But according to new genetic and morphological research by Shirley and others from the University of Florida, the slender-snouted crocodile is actually two species, one in central Africa and another, which is likely critically endangered, in west Africa. The discovery was published this past December in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Perhaps just as notable as the discovery of the new species, the paper confirms earlier research that indicates these slender-snouted crocodiles are not “true” crocodiles of the genus Crocodylus but rather belong to their own genus, Mecistops. The central African slender-snouted crocodiles are now known as M. cataphractus. The west African species is still awaiting a new taxonomic species name. Genetic tests indicate the two crocs have been separate for at least seven million years.

The paper—along with an early conservation assessment of all slender-snouted crocodiles that Shirley completed for the IUCN Crocodile Specialist Group in 2010 (pdf)—also indicates just how critically endangered the west African species has become due to decades of hunting and habitat degradation. ”If our surveys are truly representative of this species status in the wild,” Shirley says, “west African Mecistops is easily one of the two or three most endangered crocodilians and, without question, one of the most endangered vertebrates in Africa.”


Distribution of slender-snouted crocodiles, from the 2010 assessment

In fact, Shirley and his colleagues were not able to find many of the west African species. “Locating crocs in west Africa for sampling has always been a challenge,” he says. “The reality is that these species are heavily depleted in this region from a combination of hunting, conflict with largely artisanal fisheries, habitat degradation and alteration. To make matters worse, those crocs that are still present are alive largely due to their timidity making them highly unapproachable.”

The next step in this research—fully ascribing the new taxonomy for the two Mecistops species—also won’t be easy. The original sample from when the species was first described back in 1844 is long gone—”we believe it was destroyed during the London bombings in World War II,” Shirley says—so the researchers are almost starting fresh.

Meanwhile Shirley and his colleagues are preparing to publish another paper that genetically analyzes the slender-snouted crocodiles currently in zoos. “Our results show that for Mecistops only the west African species is present in the United States,” he says. “This is already a positive—not that this is the only species present but that we already have nearly 50 individuals of this species that can serve as a genetic repository.” He says he hopes zoos will establish a species survival plan for the new species and control breeding pairs to maintain genetic diversity. He also recommends institutions begin dedicated conservation efforts, which have proved incredibly effective for other crocodilian species that tend to breed well in captivity.

On top of that, the IUCN is currently reevaluating the slender-snouted crocodile, and the researchers hope the West African species will be formally assessed as critically endangered. The central African species would then likely maintain its current assessment of “vulnerable.”

The discovery of the West African slender-snouted crocodile brings the total number of known crocodile species in Africa to seven, up from three species just five years ago. The dwarf crocodile was divided into three species in 2009 and a 2011 study revealed that there are two species of Nile crocodile. Who knows what else is out there, hiding in plain sight?

Main photo: A central African slender-snouted crocodile photographed in Gabon. Courtesy of Matthew Shirley, University of Florida

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...es-discovered/

[Alex Linder]

New species of pepper plant discovered
Press Trust of India | London February 9, 2014

Scientists have discovered a new plant species - a wild relative of black pepper - in the Andes mountains of Ecuador.

The new species, Piper kelleyi, is the sole home of an estimated 40-50 insect species wow, most of which are entirely dependent on this plant species for survival. but whites couldn't have 40-50 species existing SOLELY on them? or 1-2? humans are part of nature, contrary to the lies of the jebusites, and they are subordinate to nature's rules

The chemical compounds produced by plants are the source of plants' unique flavours, aromas, and colours. These compounds often have important medicinal or toxic properties, and are the plant's natural way to resist pesky herbivores.

Black pepper and its wild relatives produce a wide diversity of chemical compounds, many of which are known to be biologically active.

These compounds are known to deter most herbivores, but a certain group of caterpillars has been able to overcome their toxicity and, as a result, most species of the genus feed only on a single species of wild black pepper, researchers said.

Each of these caterpillars typically has one to several predatory wasp and/or fly species that attack only that caterpillar species. parasites on parasites on parasites or predators on predators on prey

The new plant species, described in the journal PhytoKeys, supports the largest number of specialised caterpillar and predator species recorded for species in the black pepper family to date.

Many of these insect species are new to science as many remain unnamed.

Piper kelleyi supports an estimated 40-50 species of specialised herbivores and predators, which makes this newly described plant species, in itself, a veritable biodiversity hotspot, researchers said.

http://www.business-standard.com/art...0900565_1.html


Biologists Discover New Species of Wild Pepper in Ecuador
Feb 9, 2014 by Sci-News.com

U.S. biologists led by Dr Lee Dyer from the University of Nevada Reno have described a new plant species from the Andes Mountains of Ecuador.


Left: Piper kelleyi. Right upper: close-up of leaves showing characteristic red color of younger leaves; Right middle: close-up of inflorescence; Right bottom: close-up of infructescence.

The chemical compounds produced by plants are source of plants’ unique flavors, aromas, and colors. What’s less appreciated is that these compounds often have important medicinal or toxic properties, and are the plant’s natural way to resist pesky herbivores.

Black pepper and its wild relatives produce a wide diversity of chemical compounds, many of which are known to be biologically active. In fact, several compounds from the new species are currently under evaluation, and show promise as possible anti-cancer drugs.

These compounds are known to deter most herbivores, but a certain group of caterpillars has been able to overcome their toxicity and, as a result, most species of the genus feed only on a single species of wild black pepper.

To make matters more complex, each of these caterpillars typically has one to several predatory wasp and/or fly species that attack only that caterpillar species.

The newly discovered wild pepper species, named Piper kelleyi, is the sole home for about 40-50 species of insects, most of which are entirely dependent on this plant for survival.

“Our team of scientists has made nearly 30,000 observations of over 100 black pepper relatives over 20+ years, and the new plant species supports the largest number of specialized caterpillar and predator species recorded for species in the black pepper family to date,” said Dr Dyer and his colleagues, who reported the discovery in the journal PhytoKeys.

“Many of these insects were discovered as a result of our investigations and are new to science – many remain unnamed.”

Evidence suggests that the unique compounds produced by a plant species, or the unique combination of these compounds, help drive the evolution of biological diversity, not only among the herbivores that feed directly on the plants, but among higher trophic levels as well.

“The discovery of our new species, along with its large cohort of dependent insects, lends considerable support to the hypothesis that a suite of new species of herbivores and predators of those herbivores evolves in response to the evolution of novel plant-produced chemical compounds,” the biologists said.

http://www.sci-news.com/biology/scie...dor-01751.html

[Alex Linder]

New fish species found by Eilat diver
Snorkeler makes remarkable skinny cutlassfish discovery in Red Sea
BY STUART WINER February 4, 2014, 9:58 am 2


A new species of fish, discovered in the Red Sea off the coast of Eilat, 2013.

A new species of fish was discovered by a man snorkeling in the Red Sea off the coast of Eilat, famous for its aquatic and coral life.

The remarkable find was made several months ago when local resident Mori Chen was swimming around and noticed something shiny on the sea bed, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Tuesday.

Chen dived down to retrieve the item, imagining it to be a piece of metal, and instead discovered that it was a curious, skinny fish, about 38 centimeters long, lying dead at the bottom of the sea. He took the fish out of the water and asked Israel Nature and Parks Authority wardens if they knew what it was. The baffled wardens packed the fish in ice and sent it on to Dani Golani, director of the fish department at the National Collections of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

After consulting with experts abroad Golani was able to confirm that the fish was indeed a new species of cutlassfish. These fish, which grow to be about a meter in length, are usually found deep at the bottom of the ocean.

“It shows we don’t know everything,” Golani told The Times of Israel.

Golani explained that the fish found in Eilat had been bitten on its back, a possibly fatal wound that may have caused the creature to move in closer to the shore where it was eventually found.

The new species is to be officially named in a scientific journal scheduled for publication in March. Whether or not it will become commonly known as a “Mori fish,” after its discoverer, remains to be seen.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/new-fis...y-eilat-diver/

[Alex Linder]

Found: Rare Beetle Collected by Darwin 180 Years Ago

LiveScience.com By by Megan Gannon, News Editor


A close up of the colorful beetle species Darwinilus sedarisi.

A brightly colored beetle collected by Charles Darwin more than 180 years ago has been identified as a new species after hiding in museum storage for decades.

The discovery of Darwinilus sedarisi — whose scientific epithet honors both Charles Darwin and the writer David Sedaris — was announced Wednesday (Feb. 12) to coincide with the 205th anniversary of Darwin's birthday.

The South American beetle specimen had been considered lost for decades in a collection at the Natural History of Museum in London. It only resurfaced a few years ago when a scientist studying tropical beetles from the New World stumbled upon the insect. [StarStruck: Species Named After Celebrities]

"I received on loan several insects from the Museum in London, and to my surprise I realized that one of them was collected by Darwin," Stylianos Chatzimanolis, an entomologist at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said in a statement. "Finding a new species is always exciting, finding one collected by Darwin is truly amazing."

This rediscovered male insect was among the specimens that Darwin — an avid beetle collector — picked up in 1832 at Bahía Blanca in Argentina, a city about 400 miles (640 km) southwest of Buenos Aires, early into his five-year journey aboard the HMS Beagle. Darwin's observations during that fateful trip led to his theory of evolution by natural selection.

Only one other specimen of Darwinilus sedarisi has ever been collected in the wild — another male found in Río Cuarto, a city in Argentina's province of Córdoba, sometime before 1935. Chatzimanolis did not find any other members of the species after scouring the insect stockpiles at European and North American museums, but hopes that additional members might come to light either in the wild or museum collections.


Charles Darwin collected the beetle specimen during his historic trip aboard the HMS Beagle more tha …

"Much of the area between Bahía Blanca and Río Cuarto has been converted into agricultural fields, and it is questionable if that is a suitable habitat for the species," Chatzimanolis wrote in his description of the species. "One of course hopes that a newly described species is not already extinct."

The beetle has sawtoothed antennas and a hexagonal-shaped head that's metallic green in color. Darwinilus represents a new genus of rove beetles, the largest family of beetles that includes more than 57,000 known species.

As for the species name, sedarisi, Chatzimanolis decided to honor author and humorist David Sedaris, "as an appreciation for his fascination with the natural world."

"I spent many hours listening to Mr. Sedaris' audiobooks while preparing the specimens and the figures for this and other manuscripts," Chatzimanolis wrote. Among Sedaris' many titles is "Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary" (Little, Brown and Company, 2010), a book of fables starring anthropomorphized animals.

A full description of Darwinilus sedarisi is in the journal ZooKeys.

http://news.yahoo.com/found-rare-bee...180401591.html

[Jae Manzel]

Three new species of spiders have been spotted at the site of the proposed Aranmula airport project.

A research team, led by A.V. Sudhikumar, an arachnologist with the Zoology Department of Christ College, Irinjalakuda, has also found eight other rare species of spiders from the project site.

During the study, which has been on for the past month, the team spotted 45 varieties of spiders in the area. “The spider Cybaeus belongs to the Cybaeidae family and makes its net among dry leaves. The nocturnal spider has been spotted for the first time in India,” Mr. Sudhikumar said. Another spider Micrommata spotted here belongs to the Sparassidae family, and it hides between green leaves to catch its prey.
European counterparts

So far, seven types of spiders in the genus have been spotted in the world, but all in the European countries, Mr. Sudhikumar said. The Othobula species of spider from the Corinnidae family, which is found in dry leaves, mainly eats ants, he said.

Eight other varieties of spiders found at the site were also rare in the State, he said. Research students Sudhin and Nafin were the other members of the research team.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...cle5701732.ece

[Jae Manzel]

KASKI, FEB 16 - Nine new animal species have been found in the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) in the past 15 years.

The new species found in ACAP include Tibetan Sandgrouse (Syrrhaptes tibetanus ), Tibetan Argali, Eurasian Eagle-Owl, a rare species of Pallas’ cat and two new species of butterfly.

A joint team of Priya Joshi and ACAP Conservation Officer Parash Bikram Singh spotted a new animal species called ‘Kulu Farm’ in Manang and Mustang area some years ago.

The nearly threatened small wild cat species, Otocolobus manul, a native to the grassland and steep regions of Central Asia was also spotted inside the ACAP for the first time in Nepal just one and half month ago. Likewise, the Pallas’ cat species and a new species of musk deer were spotted inside the area two years ago.

“There could be many more animal and plant species in the area and for that, we need to carry out an extensive study,” said ACAP Chief Lal Prasad Gurung.

The hill districts of Manang and Mustang are said to be habitat of many rare animal species , among them are snow leopard and musk deer that are listed in the conservation list.

Spreading in 57 VDCs of Myagdi, Mustang, Manang, Lamjung and Kaski, the ACAP occupies 7,629 sq km area. Twelve hundred and thirty three plant species are found in the area.

Posted on: 2014-02-16 09:07

http://www.ekantipur.com/2014/02/16/...rs/385406.html

[Jae Manzel]

This has been a very joyous day for us. First, we hear that two of our most-beloved tween stars are maybe getting married. Then, our friends at The Dodo tell us that a surprising and adorable feline has been found in the Himalayan mountains. What's next, Chipotle signs up for Seamless delivery? (Cough, cough).

Anywho, this creature — discovered by one Bikram Shrestha, who was sneakily watching snow leopards with night vision cameras — appears to be the already-discovered Pallas's Cat. So, not an entirely new species to humankind, but still a new species in Nepal, according to The Snow Leopard Conservancy. As told on the Conservancy's website, "until these images were taken, presence of the Pallas’s cat in Nepal was never suspected or even thought about. In fact, there isn’t even a Nepali word for this species of cat." The Pallas's Cat is also a threatened species, and should therefore be treasured all the more, not that we will have any problem treasuring it given the fluffiness of its personage.

Clearly, this matter will require further examination. We would like to take this time to formally volunteer ourselves to inspect this feline's susceptibility to petting, cuddling, and snacks. Don't thank us. 'Tis but for the love of science.

http://www.refinery29.com/2014/02/62...s-snow-leopard

[Jae Manzel]

http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/e...article/372381

Scientists in the Australian state of Queensland have discovered three new species of a rodent-like marsupial. With the species, the males fornicate until they collapse.

The new species belong to the genus Antechinus. One characteristic that the new species share is that the males die off in high numbers at the conclusion of the mating season. This is an event called "semelparity" (a single reproductive episode before death).
The most abundant of the three new species is one of the new species, the black-tailed antechinus (Antechinus arktos). To show that the rodent was indeed a new species, researchers used mitochondrial DNA sequencing to confirm that the black-tailed antechinus, which can be found in the mountains of southwest Queensland, was in fact a distinct species and not a mainland form of the dusky antechinus (A. swainsonii mimetes).

Commenting on the discovery, Andrew Baker, head of the Queensland University of Technology team that made the discoveries, told The Guardian: "It’s a very exciting time to be a mammalogist. Typically there’s only a couple of new species of mammals found worldwide each year. So to find three new species of this marsupial, all in South East Queensland is really exciting."
The new species has been described in the journal Zootaxa ("The Black-tailed Antechinus, Antechinus arktos sp. nov.: a new species of carnivorous marsupial from montane regions of the Tweed Volcano caldera, eastern Australia").

[Jae Manzel]

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-s...00002&cid=1104



The newly discovered Puyuma smallflower longhorn beetle. (Photo courtesy of Chou Wen-yi)

A local entomologist has discovered a new species of longhorn beetle in the Ligavon Forest Way in Beinan township in southeastern Taiwan's Taitung county.

The beetle's discoverer, Chou Wen-yi, has named it the Puyuma smallflower longhorn beetle, as the location in which it was found traditionally belongs to the Puyuma, one of Taiwan's indigenous people groups.

Chou said he has collected more than 800 species of longhorn beetles from various areas of Taiwan, including 100 varieties from southernmost Pingtung county and in the Lalashan area on the border of Taoyuan and New Taipei in northern Taiwan, before settling down in Taitung several years ago.

Chou said he first discovered the beetle two years ago and later confirmed it as a new species.

Ordinarily, flower longhorn beetles have the habit of visiting flowers, Chou said. However, he went on, while the new species often appears near flowering plants, it is not easy to find, and he had to visit mountainous parts of the area up to three times a week for a number of years before he was able to discover its habitat.

The beetle is a species endemic to Taiwan. It is 1.6-1.8 centimeters in length, with a black stripe running down the middle of its body and four black stripes on its wing cases, Chou said, adding that his discovery has been published in the Japanese Journal of Systematic Entomology.

More:5 most incredible discoveries of the week

[Alyss]

Scientists in the Australian state of Queensland have discovered three new species of a rodent-like marsupial. With the species, the males fornicate until they collapse.

The new species belong to the genus Antechinus. One characteristic that the new species share is that the males die off in high numbers at the conclusion of the mating season. This is an event called "semelparity" (a single reproductive episode before death).

^
Seen this animal on animal planet 1/2 years ago. Amazing how they've been genetically wired to just mate and mate until they die of exhaustion. Talk about high sex drives. Amazing to watch.

All other animals/ humans at least take a break.