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Monstrosa Joined: 07 Feb 2007 Total posts: 506 |
 Posted: 16-08-2013 20:29 Post subject: |
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| The article says that they've been known for years, just misidentified as Olingos. |
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| amyasleigh Great Old One Joined: 03 Nov 2009 Total posts: 381 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 17-08-2013 11:06 Post subject: |
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| kamalktk wrote: |
About 10 years ago, researchers began suspecting that olinguitos did exist. While rooting through some museum drawers and cabinets at the National Museum, a mammal expert at the Smithsonian Zoo noticed that a collection of bones — labeled for a family of small, furry South American mammals called olingos — didn't completely match. These raccoon-like critters, which hail from the Andean forests, hadn't been too widely studied. So the scientist decided to have a closer look.
Indeed, some of the 16 skeletons in the olingo collection were smaller boned, had larger teeth and smaller skulls. On Thursday, Kristopher Helgen, Curator of Mammals at the Smithsonian National Museum of History, and his fellow scientists announced their discovery.
Helgen has a knack for spotting new finds in museum stashes. Previously, after sorting through museum specimens, he identified two new species of hog badger, and helped reveal that two of those species were threatened by human activity. |
I can see the above part of the olingo / olinguito story, being found encouraging by diehard proponents of the flesh-and-blood existence of the North American Bigfoot. A number of these folk contend that Bigfoot bones / skulls / teeth very probably exist, not on display, in the "back rooms" of various museums -- which have over the decades misidentified them, or set them aside in puzzlement, or forgotten that they have them. Hope springs eternal... |
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| Zilch5 Vogon Poet
Great Old One Joined: 08 Nov 2007 Total posts: 1527 Location: Western Sydney, Australia Gender: Male |
| Posted: 22-08-2013 05:20 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | New Slime-Spitting Velvet Worm Species Discovered in Vietnam
A new species of velvet worm has been discovered in the jungles of Vietnam. Unlike related velvet worms, however, this one has uniquely shaped hairs that cover its body, and it reaches a length of 2.5 inches long, said Ivo de Sena Oliveira, a researcher at the University of Leipzig, Germany, who described the species in Zoologischer Anzeiger.
The paper suggests that thousands of unknown species of velvet worms are just waiting to be found throughout the world's tropical rain forests. Oliveira's research suggests that in the Amazon rain forest alone, there may be a new species of velvet worm about every 15 miles.
Velvet worms are very difficult to find and are little known because they spend much of their lives hidden in moist areas in the soil, under rocks, or in rotting logs. They spend most of their time in this environments partially because their permeable skin makes them dry out quickly. The one time of the year that the Vietnamese species of velvet worm exits the soil is the rainy season.
The velvet worms' bodies are fluid-filled, covered in a thin skin and are kept rigid by pressurized liquid. This hydrostatic pressure is what allows them to walk, although very slowly, on fluid-filled, stubby legs that do not have any joints. The slowness, however, works to their advantage.
For hunting, the velvet worms sneak up on other insects or invertebrates. They hunt by spraying a net of glue onto their prey from two appendages on their backs. The "glue" material consists of a mix of proteins that impedes movement, so that the more the prey moves, the more it gets entangled. They usually choose to take down smaller creatures.
The new species of velvet work, Eoperipatus, totoros, is the first velvet worm to be described from Vietnam, noted study co-author Georg Mayer, who is also a researcher at the University of Leipzig.
The species was first found and listed in a 2010 report by Vietnamese researcher Thai Dran Bai, however this most current study is the first to describe the species in detail.[/b] |
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/21195 |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21363 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 22-08-2013 07:45 Post subject: |
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| Zilch5 wrote: | | Quote: | New Slime-Spitting Velvet Worm Species Discovered in Vietnam
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The paper suggests that thousands of unknown species of velvet worms are just waiting to be found throughout the world's tropical rain forests. |
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/21195 |
This echoes something I've been reading about in a thriller, set in Rome, and largely in the ancient underground parts of that city. There are several species of planarian worms that live in the damp parts of the underground, and when one is found in a recovered human corpse, the investigators are able to deduce that the man hadn't been killed where found (or indeed, in another crime scene they knew of) by identifying the exact species of Planarian worm, since the different species live in distinct areas.
(The book is "The Seventh Sacrament", by David Hewson.)
More disgusting info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planarian
You can even buy your very own planarian!
http://www.planarians.org/ |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 21-09-2013 14:55 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | New spiny rat discovered in 'birthplace of evolution'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24167219
By James Morgan
Science reporter, BBC News
Spiny rat found in Indonesia
The rat has unusually coarse, spikey fur on its back and a short tail with a distinctive white tip
Tufts of harsh, bristly hair and a white tail tip are among the defining features of a new rodent species discovered in Indonesia.
The Spiny Boki Mekot Rat was found in the mountain forests of Halmahera, in the Moluccas (Maluku) archipelago.
It was from these islands that Alfred Russel Wallace wrote to Charles Darwin, outlining his theory of evolution.
The region is rich in biodiversity but its wildlife is under threat from logging and mining firms.
Scientists hope the new mammal discovery will encourage greater exploration and conservation of the area.
Their findings are reported in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
Under threat
The new rat was found in a remote, hilly region of Halmahera by an expedition team from the University of Copenhagen and Indonesia's Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense.
They laid traps baited with roasted coconut and peanut butter, placed on tree trunks and at burrow openings.
Among their findings was a previously unknown rodent with coarse, brownish grey fur on its back, and a whitish grey belly.
By analysing the rat's DNA and physical features such as its skull and teeth, they determined it was not only a new species, but an entirely new genus.
They named it Halmaheramys bokimekot after nearby Boki Mekot, a mountainous area under ecological threat due to mining and deforestation.
Continue reading the main story
Other new species in 2013
Tailorbird
The olinguito, Bassaricyon neblina, a new mammal carnivore
Cambodian tailorbird, Orthotomus chaktomuk, found in Phnom Penh (above)
A new, smaller-skulled species of the Hero Shrew called Scutisorex thori
A dinosaur named Nasutoceratops titusi, which means big-nose, horn-face
"This new rodent highlights the large amount of unknown biodiversity in this region and the importance of its conservation," said lead researcher Pierre-Henri Fabre, from the Centre for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen.
"It's very important that zoologists visit these islands to explore further."
Only six of the new rodents have so far been captured: three adult males and three females.
Little is known about their behaviour, but they are thought to be omnivorous, as the scientists found both vegetable and insect remains in their stomachs.
"This discovery shows how much of the richness of life is left to discover - especially in the Indonesian archipelago," says co-author Kristofer Helgen, of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, US.
Prof Helgen was among the team that recently discovered a giant rat living in a volcano crater in Papua New Guinea, as well as a new mammal carnivore in Colombia - the Olinguito.
"There are likely to be more undiscovered species of mammals in Indonesia than in any other country in the world," he says.
"Finding and documenting them is a task made urgent by huge environmental threats, especially logging and mining."
Birthplace of evolution
The new rodent also provides clues to how mammals evolved and spread across the "stepping stones" of the Moluccas - known as one of the birthplaces of evolutionary theory.
It was here in 1858 that the British naturalist Sir Alfred Russel Wallace famously wrote to Charles Darwin, outlining his ideas on the development of new species.
The correspondence led to their eventual co-publishing of a theory of natural selection.
Spiny rat
The rat could be just one of many undiscovered mammal species in Indonesia's remote mountain forests
Wallace had been struck by the incredible diversity of animals and insects in the Moluccas - a transition zone between Asia and Australasia.
He also observed a clear border between species in western and eastern Indonesia, leading him to define a zoological boundary - the Wallace Line.
And the discovery of this new rodent on Halmahera actually supports Wallace's original drawing of the boundary, the researchers say.
Most fauna on the island display eastern, Australasian characteristics. But H. bokimekot is different - its DNA indicates that it first arrived on Halmahera from the west - from Asia.
"It's amazing that the spiny rat once again confirms Wallace's thoughts," says Dr Lionel Hautier, at the Museum of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK.
"And as chance would have it, the discovery comes exactly 100 years after his death." |
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| kamalktk Great Old One Joined: 05 Feb 2011 Total posts: 705 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 22-09-2013 23:50 Post subject: |
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A new species of legless lizard. What's unusual is that it was found at the end of the runway at the Los Angeles airport.
http://news.discovery.com/animals/new-species-of-legless-lizard-found-at-lax-130918.htm
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A bustling airport would hardly seem the place to find a new species of reclusive animal, but a team of California biologists recently found a shy new species of legless lizard living at the end of a runway at Los Angeles International Airport.
What’s more, the same team discovered three additional new species of these distinctive, snake-like lizards that are also living in some inhospitable-sounding places for wildlife: at a vacant lot in downtown Bakersfield, among oil derricks in the lower San Joaquin Valley and on the margins of the Mojave desert.
PHOTOS: Top 10 New Species Named
All are described in the latest issue of Breviora, a publication of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University.
“This shows that there is a lot of undocumented biodiversity within California,” Theodore Papenfuss, one of the scientists, was quoted as saying in a press release.
Papenfuss, an amphibian and reptile expert at Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, made the discoveries with James Parham of California State University, Fullerton.
“These are animals that have existed in the San Joaquin Valley, separate from any other species, for millions of years, completely unknown,” Parham said.
Legless lizards look a lot like snakes, but they’re different reptiles. The lizards are distinguishable from their slithery relatives based on one or more of the following: eyelids, external ear openings, lack of broad belly scales and/or a very long tail. Snakes, conversely, have a long body and a short tail.
NEWS: New Giant Monitor Lizard Discovered
Legless lizards, represented by more than 200 species worldwide, are well adapted to life in loose soil, Papenfuss said. Millions of years ago, lizards on five continents independently lost their limbs in order to burrow more quickly into sand or soil, wriggling like snakes. Some still have vestigial legs.
Though up to 8 inches in length, the creatures are seldom seen because they live mostly underground, eating insects and larvae, and may spend their lives within an area the size of a dining table. Most are discovered in moist areas when people overturn logs or rocks. It’s interesting to consider the LAX-based lizard’s life, considering all of that airplane rumbling overhead!
The researchers are now working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to determine whether the lizards need protected status. Currently, the common legless lizard is listed by the state as a species of special concern.
“These species definitely warrant attention, but we need to do a lot more surveys in California before we can know whether they need higher listing,” Parham said.
Papenfuss noted that two of the species are within the range of the blunt-nosed leopard lizard, which is listed as an endangered species by both the federal and state governments.
“On one hand, there are fewer legless lizards than leopard lizards, so maybe these two new species should be given special protection,” he said. “On the other hand, there may be ways to protect their habitat without establishing legal status. They didn’t need a lot of habitat, so as long as they have some protected sites, they are probably OK.”
Image: Theodore Papenfuss and James Parham/UC Berkeley |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 04-10-2013 23:41 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Owl recorded in Oman could be a new species
By Victoria Gill
Science reporter, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/24374313
The team says the owl belongs to a genus that also includes the Tawny owl, familiar in Britain and Europe
Ornithologists working in Oman say an owl discovered in a remote, mountainous region could be a new species.
Wildlife sound-recordist Magnus Robb told BBC News that he heard the bird's call whilst trying to record the call of another type of owl.
After repeated trips to the remote site, he and a colleague - naturalist and photographer Arnoud van den Berg - captured photographs of the bird.
They have published their observations in the journal Dutch Birding.
Mr Robb's first recordings of the bird's unfamiliar hoot were a serendipitous discovery in March of this year.
"I was listening through my headphones, when I suddenly heard something completely different [to the owl species I was there to record]," he told BBC News.
"I know the other Arabian owl sounds quite well, and this was clearly something that didn't fit."
The bird call expert said he had a "good inkling straight away that this could be something new".
"I even phoned a colleague a few minutes later and said, 'I think I've just discovered a new species of owl."
owl
The team have spotted only seven of the owls in a single wadi in northern Oman
Mr Robb, who is involved in an international project called the Sound Approach, which aims to catalogue and understand bird sound, analysed the owls' call in detail.
This revealed that the bird was most likely to belong to a genus, or group of species, known as Strix.
Dr Wesley Hochachka from Cornell University's lab of ornithology commented that, in the last few decades, it had become "more accepted by ornithologists, particularly in tropical areas, that new species are being discovered based on distinctively different vocalisations".
The team plans to gather DNA evidence from the owl's feathers in order to confirm their find genetically.
But Prof Ian Newton, a bird expert from the UK's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, said he found the evidence that the team had already provided convincing.
"Based on the recordings of songs and calls and on the good-quality photographs, I was also convinced that it should be placed within the genus Strix, which also contains the Tawny Owl of Britain and Europe," he told BBC News.
Mr Robb said he hoped eventually to name the new species the Omani owl, in honour of the Omani people.
"One of the reasons we've gone through this process of describing and confirming this as a new species so quickly is to get conservation for this owl as soon as possible," he explained to BBC News.
"Conservation can only start when this species is accepted and given some official status."
He hopes to return to Oman later this year in to learn more about the owl, its habitat and its behaviour.
So far, he and and his colleagues have found only seven of the birds in a single wadi in the remote, mountainous area of Oman.
"This suggests that it's a very rare creature indeed," he told BBC News. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 07-10-2013 14:46 Post subject: |
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Vid at link.
| Quote: | Exceptional fossil fish reveals new evolutionary mechanism for body elongation
October 7th, 2013 in Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
The 240-million-year-old fossil find from Switzerland also revealed that this primitive fish was not as flexible as today's eels, nor could it swim as fast or untiringly as a tuna. Credit: Picture: UZH
The 240-million-year-old fossil find from Switzerland also revealed that this primitive fish was not as flexible as today's eels, nor could it swim as fast or untiringly as a tuna. Credit: Picture: UZH
?he elongated body of some present-day fish evolved in different ways. Paleontologists from the University of Zurich have now discovered a new mode of body elongation based on a discovery in an exceptionally preserved fossilfish from Southern Ticino. In Saurichthys curionii, an early ray-finned fish, the vertebral arches of the axial skeleton doubled, resulting in the elongation of its body and giving it a needlefish-like appearance.
Snake and eel bodies are elongated, slender and flexible in all three dimensions. This striking body plan has evolved many times independently in the more than 500 million years of vertebrate animals history. Based on the current state of knowledge, the extreme elongation of the body axis occurred in one of two ways: either through the elongation of the individual vertebrae of the vertebral column, which thus became longer, or through the development of additional vertebrae and associated muscle segments.
Long body thanks to doubling of the vertebral arches
A team of paleontologists from the University of Zurich headed by Professor Marcelo Sánchez-Villagra now reveal that a third, previously unknown mechanism of axial skeleton elongation characterized the early evolution of fishes, as shown by an exceptionally preserved form. Unlike other known fish with elongate bodies, the vertebral column of Saurichthys curionii does not have one vertebral arch per myomeric segment, but two, which is unique. This resulted in an elongation of the body and gave it an overall elongate appearance. "This evolutionary pattern for body elongation is new," explains Erin Maxwell, a postdoc from Sánchez-Villagra's group.
"Previously, we only knew about an increase in the number of vertebrae and muscle segments or the elongation of the individual vertebrae."
This video shows how the number of skeletal elements in the vertebral column became doubled in Saurichthys without an increase in the number of vertebrae. Credit: UZH
The fossils studied come from the Monte San Giorgio find in Ticino, which was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 2003. The researchers owe their findings to the fortunate circumstance that not only skeletal parts but also the tendons and tendon attachments surrounding the muscles of the primitive predatory fish had survived intact. Due to the shape and arrangement of the preserved tendons, the scientists are also able to draw conclusions as to the flexibility and swimming ability of the fossilized fish genus. According to Maxwell, Saurichthys curionii was certainly not as flexible as today's eels and, unlike modern oceanic fishes such as tuna, was probably unable to swim for long distances at high speed. Based upon its appearance and lifestyle, the roughly half-meter-long fish is most comparable to the garfish or needlefish that exist today.
More information: Erin E. Maxwell, Heinz Furrer, Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra. Exceptional fossil preservation demonstrates a new mode of axial skeleton elongation in early ray-finned fishes. Nature Communications, October 7, 2013. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3570
Provided by University of Zurich
"Exceptional fossil fish reveals new evolutionary mechanism for body elongation." October 7th, 2013. http://phys.org/news/2013-10-exceptional-fossil-fish-reveals-evolutionary.html |
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| kamalktk Great Old One Joined: 05 Feb 2011 Total posts: 705 Gender: Unknown |
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