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Author Topic: Newly Discoved Species  (Read 1129 times)

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AGelbert

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Newly Discoved Species
« on: January 01, 2015, 09:09:51 pm »
New Species Galore

A look back at the latest microbes, plants, and animals to have secured a spot in science’s known tree of life in 2014

By Jef Akst | December 27, 2014

This new species of elephant shrew (Macroscelides micus) blends in with the Namib Desert's red soil.


Researchers discovered a new species of louse-like crustacean on the bones of a dead whale at the ocean bottom near Antarctica.


The black-tailed antechinus (Antechinus arktos) is one of the three new marsupial species discovered in 2014.



Relicanthus daphneae

This year researchers reclassified what was thought to be one of the world’s largest sea anemones, to a new order. The species is now called Relicanthus daphneae.



Researchers this year branded a new family, called Dendrogrammatidae, to categorize these sea sponge-like organisms. 

 
Rana kauffeldi

A new frog species, the Atlantic Coast leopard frog (Rana kauffeldi) ranges from Connecticut to North Carolina.

 
Researchers discovered four new species of burrowing rodents called tuco-tucos this year in Bolivia.

 http://
Paroedura hordiesi

A new species of nocturnal gecko (Paroedura hordiesi) was found living in an old French fort in northern Madagascar. 


Maratus pardus Courtship Display

A new species of p e a c o c k spider (Maratus pardus) was identified this year in Western Australia. 



Some of the newly discovered saki monkey species

Researchers this year identified 16 distinctive species of saki monkeys. 

In addition to the Top 10 new species chosen by the International Institute for Species Exploration this year (which included a penicillium fungus, a large dragon tree, and a new carnivorous mammal), dozens of other organisms were recognized by science for the first time this year.

These discoveries proffer a welcome break from stories of threatened populations and impending extinctions. Here’s a selection of notable new species identified in 2014:


An antechinus

Mammals Abound

Although there are always one or two newly discovered mammals that capture the public’s attention each year, 2014 seems to stand out with several new species of saki monkeys, three new species of marsupials, four new species of gopher-like rodents, and a tiny elephant shrew.

“It’s a very exciting time to be a mammalogist,” the Queensland University of Technology’s Andrew Baker, who led the research that identified the three marsupials, told The Guardian. “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.”

One of the three new marsupial species, the black-tailed antechinus (Antechinus arktos), had formerly been confused with a mainland form of the dusky antechinus (A. swainsonii mimetes), but mitochondrial DNA sequencing confirmed that A. arktos is, in fact, a distinct species.

A similar story yielded the discovery of 16 distinct saki monkey species, including five that had never before been observed.
http://www.factzoo.com/sites/all/img/mammals/monkeys/female-brazilian-saki-monkey.jpg

The tiny species of elephant shrew, also called a round-eared sengi, was discovered in Africa’s Namib Desert and earned the title of the smallest member of the order Macroscelidea. In July, a team led by Scott Gardner of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln described four new species of burrowing rodents called tuco-tucos from the Andes mountains in South America.

A whale of a find

A new species of crustacean was found this year on, of all places, the bones of a dead minke whale at the bottom of the ocean near Antarctica. British researchers uncovered the new organisms with the help of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), which revealed via a live video feed tiny animals resembling lice dotting the bare bones of the long-dead whale. The bones “were absolutely covered in these little critters—there were 500 to 6,000 specimens per square meter,” British Antarctic Survey researcher Katrin Linse said in an April statement.

The team used the ROV’s robotic arm to collect some of the bones for further study, and subsequent genetic testing confirmed that these less than 4-millimeter-long critters did, in fact, constitute a new species of isopod, now dubbed Jaera tyleri.


Jaera tyleri

“You could never hope to find a whale fall on purpose—it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Linse said. “It gave us a rare opportunity to look at the ecology of these unique habitats, and which sorts of species settle on them.”

Anemone confusion


One of the world’s largest sea anemones, with tentacles measuring more than 2 meters long, isn’t an anemone at all. Instead, researchers discovered this year, it belongs to an order unto itself. First discovered in 2006 in the deep Pacific Ocean, new DNA analysis revealed that Boloceroides daphneae does not fit with other anemones on the tree of life. This prompted a renaming—the species is now called Relicanthus daphneae—and a regrouping, with the organism now falling into an entirely new order within the subclass Hexacorallia.


Relicanthus daphneae (This organism now falls into an entirely new order within the subclass Hexacorallia.)

The discovery of this new order of Cnidaria—a phylum that includes jellyfish, corals, sea anemones and their relatives—is the equivalent to finding the first member of a group like primates or rodents,” Estefanía Rodríguez, an assistant curator in the American Museum of Natural History, said in a May statement. “This amazing finding tells us that we have so much more to learn and discover in the ocean.”

Meanwhile, a bit farther south, another team of scientists has discovered a new species of true anemone living on the ice of Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf, making the organisms the first reported ice-dwelling anemones. The researchers found thousands of these small animals (dubbed Edwardsiella andrillae) covering the underside of the ice shelf, with their tentacles projecting down into the frigid waters of the Antarctic Ocean. The discovery was “total serendipity,” said the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Frank Rack. “When we looked up at the bottom of the ice shelf, there they were.”

A whole new family


Edwardsiella andrillae

They may look like mushrooms, but these bizarre creatures are actually more like sea sponges, with their dense, non-living, jelly-like substance (called mesoglea).

Originally discovered on a 1986 research cruise, some 1,000 meters down in the Bass Strait between Southern Australia and Tasmania, in September these mesogleal animals earned their own designation as two new species. What’s more, researchers decided these two species warranted categorization in an entirely new family, called Dendrogrammatidae.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/41701/title/New-Species-Galore/


Agelbert NOTE:
What would scientists do without Latin and Greek?  ;D But yeah, standardization beats calling a life form some local name like "turd blossom" or "post turtle".

I checked out some more P e a c o c k Spiders.  :o Those arachnids are definitely among the colorful champions of biosphere show offs!
Put on your sun glasses and enjoy!



They are VERY tiny so you really don't need to worry about getting bitten by one where they live (Australia). You might check your ears though.  ;D
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Newly Discoved Species
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2015, 09:42:36 pm »
What Is the Oldest Living Thing in the World?

The oldest living thing in the world is thought to be an ancient seagrass known as Posidonia oceanic that was estimated to be approximately 200,000 years old when it was discovered in the Mediterranean Ocean, from Spain to Cyprus in 2012.

Posidonia Oceanica, or Neptune seagrass

Scientists believe that the seagrass is able to live so long because it is asexual. It can reproduce on its own and essentially clone itself as needed. Over time, as Posidonia oceanic expands by growing more branches. Each individual patch of the seagrass weighs about 6,000 tons and takes up about 10 miles (16 km) over the Mediterranean Ocean.

The second oldest living thing is the world is a 43,000 year old Tasmanian shrub, Lomatia tasmanica.


Tasmanian shrub, Lomatia tasmanica



More about the oldest living things on Earth:


Jeanne Calment

A French woman named Jeanne Calment is considered the person who lived the longest in documented history, and was 122 when she died in 1997.



Cinachyra antarctica Antarctic sponge
No sponge jokes, please. Show some respect for these long lived fellow earthlings!   ;D

An Antarctic sponge is thought to be the oldest living animal at an estimated 10,000 years old.  :o  :icon_sunny:



Great Basin bristlecone pine Pinus longaeva

The Giant Basin Bristlecone Pine tree is the oldest tree, at over 5,000 years old. 

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-oldest-living-thing-in-the-world.htm
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Newly Discoved Species
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2015, 10:27:34 pm »
First ‘Glowing’ Sea Turtle  :o  Discovered in Solomon Islands 

by Laura Goldman
October 1, 2015

Some corals are known to “glow” underwater, as do some jellyfish, eels and more than 180 other fish species.

And now, for the first time ever, it was discovered that reptiles also have the ability to light up like a Christmas tree.
Quote

In July, a glowing hawksbill sea turtle — a critically endangered species – was discovered in the Solomon Islands by David Gruber, a marine biologist.

Gruber was on an expedition funded by the TBA 21 Academy, whose mission, according to its website, is to “reimagine the culture of exploration, opening a new chapter in the history of art at sea.” His intention was to film bioflourescent corals and small sharks.

Biofluorescence, as National Geographic explains, is “the ability to reflect the blue light hitting a surface and re-emit it as a different color.”

This is not the same as bioluminescence, which is the ability of animals to emit their own light through chemical reactions or host bacteria.

One night as Gruber was filming a coral reef, the hawksbill sea turtle appeared “from out of the blue,” he said in a National Geographic video. He described the turtle as looking like a “bright red and green spaceship.”

Gruber’s diving partner, TBA 21 Academy Director Markus Reymann, said in the video that he’d never seen a turtle that calm. “He was just hanging out with us. I was loving the light.”



Scientists have only been studying bioflourescence for about 10 years. “As soon as we started tuning into it, we started finding it everywhere,” Gruber said. “First it was in corals and jellyfish, then it was in fish – and there it was, this UFO.”

Most bioflourescent animals display only one color, usually green or red. Corals can display both colors – and apparently, so can sea turtles, although Gruber said the red could be from algae on the shell.

The reason why the hawksbill is bioflourescent remains a mystery. “We know they have really good vision. They go on long and arduous migrations,” Gruber said. He said they could glow to find or attract each other.

It could also be a defense mechanism to protect themselves from predators. Alexander Gaos, director of the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative (ICAPO), a nonprofit working to bring this species back from the brink of extinction, told National Geographic bioflourescence could serve as a kind of camouflage.

Hawksbills are already sometimes difficult to spot because their shells blend in with their rocky reef habitat, Gaos said.

According to ICAPO, hawksbills are the only species of sea turtle with “a brilliantly colored, keratinous shell consisting of overlapping (imbricated) scutes, colloquially referred to as a tortoise shell.”

Sadly, its unique shell is what has driven the hawksbill to near extinction. Along with the dangers facing all sea turtles, such as getting caught in fishing nets and tangled in plastic bags and other marine pollution, the hawksbills are the only species killed for their shells. For centuries, tortoiseshell was used in jewelry, combs, ornaments and other items.

In 1977, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) treaty generally put an end to the tortoiseshell trade. Japan continued to import the shells until 1991, when it stopped doing so to prevent a U.S. fish embargo. Unfortunately, the tortoiseshell trade still continues underground, according to ICAPO.

Because the hawksbill sea turtle is now one of the rarest species on Earth, finding the reasons for its bioflourescence will be extremely difficult. Gruber will instead study the green sea turtle, which is closely related to the hawksbill but not as close to extinction.

“What’s even more sad about this is these turtles have such a storied history, and now they’re critically endangered,” Gruber said.

But there is some encouraging news: Hawksbill sea turtles are showing signs of recovery in the Arnavon Islands, according to a study earlier this year by the Nature Conservancy. Because of conservation efforts, their population has doubled over the past 20 years.

And that’s something we can all glow about.  ;D


Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/first-glowing-sea-turtle-discovered-in-solomon-islands.html#ixzz3nYsybDPW



He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Newly Discoved Species
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2016, 11:12:22 pm »
Alien-like sea creature discovered 12,139-feet deep near Mariana Trench

Published on May 1, 2016

Alien-like jellyfish found near the Mariana Trench resembles a ghost from arcade game Pac-Man.
A glowing, alien-like sea creature that slightly resembles the ghost in the arcade game Pac-Man was spotted by researchers as it floated by their underwater camera during the 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Mariana Trench this week.

The bizarre sea creature was discovered by NOAA’s Okeanos Explorer on Dive 4 at 12,139 feet on the Enigma Seamount near the Mariana Trench (known as the deepest part of the world’s oceans with a maximum depth of 36,070 feet). It is located near Guam in the western Pacific Ocean.

Editor The Cosmos News  Category Science & Technology License  Standard YouTube License



:o 

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Newly Discoved Species
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2016, 09:35:25 pm »
Agelbert Note: Yes, it's over a year old. But I had never seen these new species and you probably haven't seen them either.  ;D
Stunning VIDEO Of Newly Discovered Deep Sea Creatures

June 15, 2015 by John Konrad

A team of scientists aboard the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer have mounted a unique crowd-sourced exploration of the largely unknown deep sea off the coast of Puerto Rico.

The first two legs of their 52-day expedition were spent mapping the uncharted seafloor. In April, during the mission’s third and final leg, the scientists’ focus shifted to better understanding deep-sea ecosystems and found several creatures so new to us, they don’t even have names. In a total of twelve dives, they saw 100 species of fish, 50 species of deepwater corals and hundreds of other invertebrates, many of which had never been seen in their natural habitat.

To get this amazing footage the team sent their ROV down to depths over 20,000 feet, the deepest dives ever conducted in the region. It gathered data and recorded video that the scientists streamed online. The video (above) is breathtaking.

Yesterday the Okeanos Explorer has pulled into San Francisco and will use the time in port to complete some alongside repairs as well as process and clean data more of this amazing data. [Via Quartz]



http://gcaptain.com/stunning-video-newly-discovered-deep-sea-creatures/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Newly Discoved Species
« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2017, 05:59:42 pm »
Agelbert NOTE: I'm posting this here because this species has a newly discovered ability.    ;D

A common tree frog has kept a secret for a long time— it glows!

Elena Motivans March 14, 2017
 
Sometimes, interesting discoveries occur by accident. At the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum in Buenos Aires, scientists were examining the pigments of a common tree frog. The polka dot tree frog (Hypsiboas punctatus) isn’t very bright; its skin is a muted yellow-green colour and it has reddish spots. However, after examining its skin under UV light, they found that it, in fact, has fluorescent skin! It glowed a very bright blue and green. The scientists were naturally quite shocked. This is the first time that fluorescence has been observed in amphibians. Although fluorescence is more common in aquatic animals (corals, sharks, fish, a sea turtle), it is very rare in land animals, being only found previously in scorpions and parrots.

The polka dot tree frog. Top: with the naked eye. Bottom: with UV light. Image credits: Taboada, C. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA (2017)


How does it work? ???

Fluorescence first involves absorbing low wavelength light, to which frog photoreceptors aren’t very sensitive. Then the light is emitted at higher wavelengths; the photoreceptors are very sensitive to these wavelengths. Therefore, there needs to be light outside for an animal to glow like this.  In this regard, fluorescence is different from bioluminescence. Bioluminescence does not require any light and is created through chemical reactions.

The fluorescent molecules that this tree frog uses are completely unique. No other fluorescent animal uses anything like them!  :o Three molecules, called hyloin-L1, hyloin-L2 and hyloin-G1, located in the lymph and skin glands were found to cause this glow. The molecular structure of the molecules involves a ring and a chain of hydrocarbons. The most similar molecules to these are found in plants.


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Why fluoresce? 

The fluorescence contributes 18-29% to the light available in twilight and night, making the frogs brighter and, perhaps, helping them to see more. This fluorescence could be used to communicate, camouflage, or attract a mate, though its true purpose is not known yet.

This frog is probably not the only fluorescent one out there. One of the study’s authors, Dr. Julián Faivovich, thinks that it is likely that other frogs also have this property. The most promising candidates are the 250 other species of tree frogs that have translucent skin like the polka dot tree frog. He encourages other researchers studying tropical frogs to carry a UV flashlight with them.

http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/common-tree-frog-kept-secret-long-time-glows/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Newly Discoved Species
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2017, 06:26:39 pm »
Incredible new Amazon glass frog is so transparent you can see its beating heart  :o

LAST UPDATED ON MAY 29TH, 2017 AT 6:46 PM BY TIBI PUIU

Deep in the Amazonian lowlands, biologists stumbled across a peculiar glass frog species completely new to science. What makes glass frogs so interesting, unique even, is their chest which varies in different levels of transparency. This trait is so pronounced in some individuals that you can see their beating hearts straight through the limpid chest. Unfortunately, the new species called Hyalinobatrachium yaku may already be threatened with extinction by oil exploitations in the area.

The amazing see-through frog. Credit: Jaime Culebras. The amazing see-through frog. Credit: Jaime Culebras.

Glass frog or “see-through frog” is a unique type of frog that is named that way because of its translucent skin. These usually live in Central and South America, preferring tropical rainforests where they rest high in the treetops right above the water. These unique amphibians are usually tiny, typically 0.78 inches long, though some can reach 3 inches in length.

The body of the frog is usually bright green or olive green in color, and it’s the belly that’s covered in transparent skin. Liver, heart, and intestines can be seen when the glass frog is looked from the underneath.

Glass frogs are arboreal animals, meaning they spend most of their lives in trees and will come to the ground only during the mating season which takes place right after the rainy season. Females lay 20 to 30 eggs on the underside of leaves that hang right above the water. Males, on the other hand, guard the eggs until these are ready to hatch and fall on the below water stream. The males are also very protective of their mates’ eggs and will watch them 24/7. Nothing will sway the males from their jobs and no intrududer is intimidating enough for them. Some males have even been known to kick away wasps that get too close to the egg cluster!

More than 60 different species of glass frogs are known to science, the latest being Hyalinobatrachium yaku which was identified as unique by researchers at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, in Ecuador. The team led by biologist Juan Guayasamin performed DNA sequencing on samples taken from the glass frog and found the genome didn’t match other species. They also found that the dark green spots on its back, its call, and reproductive behavior were different from other known frogs.

A juvenile H. yaku, stands out with its dark green spots and atypical reproductive behaviours.

‘All species in this genus have a completely transparent ventral peritoneum, which means that organs are fully visible in ventral view,’ researchers explain in a new paper, published to ZooKeys.

‘The reproductive behaviour is also unusual, with males calling from the underside of leaves and providing parental care to egg clutches.’

Nobody’s sure why the see-through skin appeared in glass frogs but the discovery of H. yaku might help shed light in the matter. The more members scientists can draw on a family tree, the easier it becomes to identify out evolutionary traits and mechanisms.  ::)

Might be already endangered

All in all, Hyalinobatrachium yaku looks like a fine addition to the 100 to 200 of so new amphibian species discovered each year — far more than new birds or mammals. However, this joy might be short-lived. Like other glass frogs, this amphibian needs pristine streams to breed but these are beginning to dry up or get polluted from nearby oil wells.

“For example, even though a high proportion of the Ecuadorian Amazon is already concessioned to several extractive activities, the Government of Ecuador is planning to intensify oil extraction in the region,” the researchers wrote.

“Aside from obvious concerns such as water pollution, extraction of natural resources increased the level of regional road development, which could threaten populations of H. yaku.”

http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/glass-frog-transparent-43242/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Newly Discoved Species
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2020, 03:54:36 pm »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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