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ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
 Posted: 15-02-2013 23:34 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | The discovery of a new genus of crustacean and 5 new species
February 15th, 2013 in Biology / Plants & Animals
One of the five new species found, Lauriea teresae. Credit: Enrique Marcpherson
Experts from the Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes and the University of Barcelona (UB) collected and studied different crustacean specimens during recent expeditions to Madagascar, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, the Philippines and French Polynesia.
Using morphological and molecular data they have discovered five new species of crustaceans in the waters of these regions. They are genetically different but morphologically very similar and they also found a new genus, named Triodonthea. The five new species documented in the study belong to the Lauriea genus of the Galatheidae family, which is differentiated easily from other species of the group as it has very long setae and their legs end in a double spine.
"The Triodonthea is a new genus that it genetically very different from the Lauriea species despite being very morphologically similar. The morphological differences are small to our eyes but reflect great inequalities on a species level," as explained to SINC by Enrique Macpherson, researcher at the Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes and co-author of the study along with Aymee Robainas-Barcia from the UB.
The description of any new genus is based on the fact that a certain species possesses characteristics that nearby species do not. The separation and ordering of species into genera and families consists of grouping species according to common characteristics using Linnaean Taxonomy, a modern-day biological classification system.
"These species (both from Lauriea as well as Sadayoshia) can be found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans but not in the American Pacific. They are generally in shallow water and mostly in areas of coral reef. Some are endemic, as they only live on an archipelago or in a very specific area, whereas others spread from Madagascar to the French Polynese," points out Macpherson.
This study forms part of previous work that began more than 20 years ago in 1976 with French and US expeditions across the entire Indian and Pacific Oceans. "We have explored the oceans to a depth of up to 5,000 m," ensures the researcher.
The expeditions collect samples from diving, nets, traps and dredges, etc. Animals are separated on board or in the laboratory and then sent to the experts of each taxonomic group. Macpherson specialises in this group of crustaceans: the squat lobsters.
Provided by Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT)
"The discovery of a new genus of crustacean and 5 new species." February 15th, 2013. http://phys.org/news/2013-02-discovery-genus-crustacean-species.html |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 19-02-2013 21:03 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | New Whale Species Unearthed in California Highway Dig
by Carolyn Gramling on 17 February 2013, 5:37 PM | 9 Comments
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/02/new-whale-species-unearthed-in-c.html?ref=hp
Long in the tooth. A newly described, as-yet-unnamed, species of early baleen whale (genus Morawanocetus) is one of several new species that suggests toothed baleen whales didn’t go extinct as long ago as thought.
Credit: Dr. John D. Cooper Archaeological and Paleontological Center, USA
BOSTON—Chalk yet another fossil find up to roadcut science. Thanks to a highway-widening project in California’s Laguna Canyon, scientists have identified several new species of early toothed baleen whales. Paleontologist Meredith Rivin of the John D. Cooper Archaeological and Paleontological Center in Fullerton, California, presented the finds here today at the annual meeting of AAAS (which publishes ScienceNOW).
“In California, you need a paleontologist and an archaeologist on-site” during such projects, Rivin says. That was fortuitous: The Laguna Canyon outcrop, excavated between 2000 and 2005, turned out to be a treasure trove containing hundreds of marine mammals that lived 17 million to 19 million years ago. It included 30 cetacean skulls as well as an abundance of other ocean dwellers such as sharks, says Rivin, who studies the fossil record of toothed baleen whales. Among those finds, she says, were four newly identified species of toothed baleen whale—a type of whale that scientists thought had gone extinct 5 million years earlier.
Whales, the general term for the order Cetacea, comprise two suborders: Odontoceti, or toothed whales, which includes echolocators like dolphins, porpoises, and killer whales; and Mysticeti, or baleen whales, the filter-feeding giants of the deep such as blue whales and humpback whales.The two suborders share a common ancestor.
Mysticeti comes from the Greek for mustache, a reference to the baleen that hangs down from their jaw. But the earliest baleen whales actually had teeth (although they’re still called mysticetes). Those toothy remnants still appear in modern fin whale fetuses, which start to develop teeth in the womb that are later reabsorbed before the enamel actually forms.
Breaking news, live video chats, and podcasts from the annual meeting
The four new toothed baleen whale species were also four huge surprises, Rivin says. The new fossils date to 17 to 19 million years ago, or the early-mid Miocene epoch, making them the youngest known toothed whales. Three of the fossils belong to the genus Morawanocetus, which is familiar to paleontologists studying whale fossils from Japan, but hadn’t been seen before in California. These three, along with the fourth new species, which is of a different genus, represent the last known occurrence of aetiocetes, a family of mysticetes that coexisted with early baleen whales. Thus, they aren’t ancestral to any of the living whales, but they could represent transitional steps on the way tothe toothless mysticetes.
The fourth new species—dubbed “Willy”—has its own surprises, Rivin says. Although modern baleen whales are giants, that’s a fairly recent development (in the last 10 million years). But Willy was considerably bigger than the three Morawanocetus fossils. Its teeth were also surprisingly worn—and based on the pattern of wear as well as the other fossils found in the Laguna Canyon deposit, Rivin says, that may be because Willy’s favorite diet may have been sharks. Modern offshore killer whales, who also enjoy a meal of sharks, tend to have similar patterns of wear in their teeth due to the sharks’ rough skin.
The new fossils are a potentially exciting find, says paleobiologist Nick Pyenson of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. Although it’s not yet clear what Rivin’s team has got and what the fossils will reveal about early baleen whale evolution, he says, “I’ll be excited to see what they come up with.” Pyenson himself is no stranger to roadcut science and the rush to preserve fossils on the brink of destruction: In 2011, he managed, within a week, to collect three-dimensional images of numerous whale fossils found by workers widening a highway running through Chile’s Atacama Desert.
Meanwhile, Rivin says her paper describing the fossils is still in preparation, and she hopes to have more data on the three Morawanocetus, at least, published by the end of the year. As for the fourth fossil, she says, it might take a bit longer: There’s still some more work to do to fully free Willy from the rock.
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| Zilch5 Vogon Poet
Great Old One Joined: 08 Nov 2007 Total posts: 1527 Location: Western Sydney, Australia Gender: Male |
| Posted: 09-03-2013 12:25 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Russia finds 'new bacteria' in Antarctic lake
Russian scientists believe they have found a wholly new type of bacteria in the mysterious subglacial Lake Vostok in Antarctica, the RIA Novosti news agency reported on Thursday.
The samples obtained from the underground lake in May 2012 contained a bacteria which bore no resemblance to existing types, said Sergei Bulat of the genetics laboratory at the Saint Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics.
"After putting aside all possible elements of contamination, DNA was found that did not coincide with any of the well-known types in the global database," he said.
"We are calling this life form unclassified and unidentified," he added.
The discovery comes from samples collected in an expedition in 2012 where a Russian team drilled down to the surface of Lake Vostok, which is believed to have been covered by ice for more than a million years but has kept its liquid state.
Lake Vostok is the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica and scientists have long wanted to study its eco-system. The Russian team last year drilled almost four kilometres (2.34 miles) to reach the lake and take the samples.
Bulat said that the interest surrounded one particular form of bacteria whose DNA was less than 86 percent similar to previously existing forms.
"In terms of work with DNA this is basically zero. A level of 90 percent usually means that the organism is unknown."
He said it was not even possible to find the genetic descendants of the bacteria.
"If this had been found on Mars everyone would have undoubtedly said there is life on Mars. But this is bacteria from Earth."
Bulat said that new samples of water would be taken from Lake Vostok during a new expedition in May.
"If we manage to find the same group of organisms in this water we can say for sure that we have found new life on Earth that exists in no database," Bulat said. |
http://phys.org/news/2013-03-russia-bacteria-antarctic-lake.html |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-03-2013 14:57 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Chester Zoo team on the hunt for new species in Nigeria
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21741911
Gashaka Gumti, known as a biodiversity hotspot, is the largest of Nigeria's seven national parks
A team from Chester Zoo is heading to a remote, mountainous region in Nigeria to assess what species live in an area where few surveys have been conducted.
They are set to carry out the first biodiversity assessment in the Gashaka Gumti National Park.
The area is said to be home to the last viable population of the endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti).
The 12-strong team will travel out to Nigeria in late March for two weeks.
"Obviously it would be great to find a big, sexy bug or frog but it is hard to tell you how likely that will be because we do not know what is there," explained Chester Zoo director general Mark Pilgrim.
"But there is a good chance that there are a lot of things there that we currently do not know about.
"Whether it is a brightly coloured big thing or not, we will have to wait and see."
Biodiversity hotspot
The park, located in eastern Nigerian on the border with Cameroon, is the country's largest national park and is considered to be one of the continent's most important biodiversity hotspots.
Continue reading the main story
Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee
Scientific name: Pan troglodytes ellioti
Global population: 6,500 (estimated)
One of four subspecies of chimpanzee
Found predominantly in moist and dry forests
Omnivores - fruit comprises about half of their diet, but leaves, bark, and stems are also important
Mammals comprise a small but significant component of the diet of many populations
Chimpanzees form social communities of 5 to 150 animals
(Source: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species)
Dr Pilgrim said that the zoo had been funding the core support facilities a research field camp in the park for more than a decade, but was now becoming directly involved.
"The field camp was mainly set up to look at and protect the Nigerian chimpanzee, which is a sub-population of chimpanzee," Dr Pilgrim added.
The Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee is under threat.
Conservationists say that high levels of exploitation, loss of habitat and habitat degradation has led to the species experiencing a "significant population reduction" over the past 20-30 years.
The total population is estimated to be in the region of 6,500, with up to 1,500 found in the Gashaka Gumti National Park.
It is one of four subspecies of the primate, although some recent research suggest that the differences between the subspecies are too small to warrant such classifications.
The camp allows about 20 students each year to work on projects researching the area's population of primates, led by Prof Volker Sommer from University College London.
Dr Pilgrim told BBC News that the presence of the research projects was "what helps protect the forests".
"By having these strange foreigners wandering around, looking for primates is what keeps the forest safe," he observed.
As the zoo would become more involved in the field project, Dr Pilgrim said that it was also an opportunity to widen the focus of the research carried out from the camp.
"Of course, the flagship research remains the Nigerian chimpanzee, which is what makes the area so special and important.
"But because the zoo has wider expertise than that, we are taking out a range of experts to also look at the frogs, birds, small mammals etc because those areas have had very little in the way of surveys in the past."
"This is really the first biodiversity assessment of this forest."
Dr Pilgrim said that he hoped the data gathered during the the field trips will allow partnerships to be forged with scientists working in Nigerian universities.
"For example, it may be that we turn up a number of strange beetles that we do not have the expertise to identify," he suggested.
"This will be an intense, short trip but there will be more follow-up trips to get some really strong scientific papers out of the project." |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13561 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-03-2013 17:17 Post subject: |
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| I'm sure I heard something on the radio the other day about a new species of rat found that's as big as a dog. Google isn't finding it, though, I think it was in New Guinea? Although dogs come in all shapes and sizes, so a rat as big as a Chihuahua wouldn't be that impressive, whereas one as big as an Alsatian is more worrying. |
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| Anome_ Faceless Man
Great Old One Joined: 23 May 2002 Total posts: 5377 Location: Left, and to the back. Age: 45 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-03-2013 17:34 Post subject: |
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| ROUSes? |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13561 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-03-2013 17:45 Post subject: |
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| I know it sounds inconceivable, but... |
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| oldrover Great Old One Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Total posts: 2146 Location: Wales Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-03-2013 21:56 Post subject: |
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| gncxx wrote: | | I'm sure I heard something on the radio the other day about a new species of rat found that's as big as a dog. Google isn't finding it, though, I think it was in New Guinea? Although dogs come in all shapes and sizes, so a rat as big as a Chihuahua wouldn't be that impressive, whereas one as big as an Alsatian is more worrying. |
Here's a photo of it;
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTbWwJOioGJlrNRyVu5mOPsEScZ6VWFEiLImGhbUhHcEMAasMpY
And that is the one in question, as I remember the scene from the documentary 'Lost land of the volcano'. |
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| Anome_ Faceless Man
Great Old One Joined: 23 May 2002 Total posts: 5377 Location: Left, and to the back. Age: 45 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 13-03-2013 08:20 Post subject: |
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| gncxx wrote: | | I know it sounds inconceivable, but... |
You keep using that word...
[EDIT] Just looked at the picture. Apart from the perspective, the lighting makes it look like a composite. (I don't think it is, I think it's just the flash and/or lights they used.)
It's clearly a rodent, but are we sure it's a rat? |
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| oldrover Great Old One Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Total posts: 2146 Location: Wales Gender: Male |
| Posted: 13-03-2013 14:46 Post subject: |
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It's funny but if anything it looks smaller in that shot than on the programme, but it's definitely genuine. Also the zoologists, one of whom is pictured, were sure that it was a rat rather than any other type of rodent.
There are loads of articles about this on the net just type in Lost Land of the volcano, which is the title of the documentary series that shows the animal being found, you can't say captured because it just wanders up to them and lets itself be handled.
In the episode I saw they also discovered a new cuscus species. |
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| PaulTaylor Yeti Joined: 27 Jan 2013 Total posts: 79 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 13-03-2013 18:26 Post subject: |
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I remember it was a fascinating programme. As to whether the creatures is really a rat, there are many species of rat, in the genus rattus, but I think similar species in other genera are also often called rats. Whether this was a true rat or the programme makers just thought "giant rat discovered" was a more attention grabbing headline, I don't know.
EDIT http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosavi_Woolly_Rat Seems the giant woolly rat is considered to be from a separate genus than true rats, so I suppose its pedantic description is as a rat-like rodent. |
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| oldrover Great Old One Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Total posts: 2146 Location: Wales Gender: Male |
| Posted: 13-03-2013 19:27 Post subject: |
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| Well I feel cheap and used now, I'll never trust another zoologist again. |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13561 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 13-03-2013 19:34 Post subject: |
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| Was that a recent documentary? Because it was odd it made the news on Monday, it might be a new species of rat after all. |
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| PaulTaylor Yeti Joined: 27 Jan 2013 Total posts: 79 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 13-03-2013 19:49 Post subject: |
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| gncxx wrote: | | Was that a recent documentary? Because it was odd it made the news on Monday, it might be a new species of rat after all. |
No, it was last year some time, and the rat made headlines then too. Although it looks as though it was news this week too. http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21746237
| oldrover wrote: | | Well I feel cheap and used now, I'll never trust another zoologist again. |
They're notorious cads! |
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| oldrover Great Old One Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Total posts: 2146 Location: Wales Gender: Male |
| Posted: 13-03-2013 19:51 Post subject: |
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| The expedition was about four or five years ago I think. Thing is though these stories tend to crop up again as if new. |
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