L. inexpectata - The unexpected one: A new pale nectar-feeding bat species found in Brazil

A new species of nectar-feeding bat froM brazil was discovered unexpectedly amid a research into the whole genus of lonchophylla. the study is available in the open-access journal zookeys. during their study drs. ricardo moratelli and daniela dias found that some of the specimens had their ventral (abdominal) fur considerably paler and some of their measurements were inconsistent with those of the type material of L. mordax, which species they had previously been confused with. To their surprise, a closer look revealed that this was indeed a completely different species, previously unknown to science. The new species was named L. inexpectata - inspired by the surprise element in this new discovery. Using specimens from all currently recognised Brazilian representative of the Lonchophylla genus, the scientists concluded that what they had thought a mere variation of the colouring, is in fact one of the species' distinguishable characteristics. Others include differences in the skull and the teeth morphology. Specimens from the 'unexpected' bat species had been misidentified for more than a century, the scientists point out. Vouchers used in the research are currently being preserved in a number of the world's most reputable collections, including those in the American Museum of Natural History, London's Natural History Museum, Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and Brazil's Museu Nacional.READ MORE -http://phys.org/news/2015-07-unexpected-pale-nectar-feeding-species-brazil.html

Six New Species Of Spiders Found In India

Six more new species of spiders are discovered around banks of river Periyar in Kerala. Researchers have established it as ecological diversity in Kuttivanam of Aluva Sivarathri Manappuram. The research was conducted by of Biodiversity Research Centre of Christ College, Irinjalakuda, lead by Dr. Sudhikumar A V. Among the six newly found species, Argyrodes is said to be associated with the family of black widow which is known as world’s most venomous spider. ALSO READ: Flying Spiders Able Sailors Argyrodes is also one of the most interesting of the lot is distinctly characterized by orange body and green patches. These spiders which live on irregular webs made between green leaves are of size of housefly and according to study, it attaches cocoon to its web.READ MORE -http://focusnews.com/lifestyle/six-new-species-of-spiders-found-in-kerala/91084/

Boa constrictors' lethal secret revealed

Scientists in the US have measured how boa constrictors end the lives of their prey. The work has busted a myth that the snakes suffocate their victims. Researchers took measurements - including blood pressure and heart activity - from anaesthetised rats gripped by the snakes. This showed that the lethal grip restricted blood flow severely enough to cut off the blood flow supplying oxygen to its vital organs. The findings are published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. This "circulatory arrest", the scientists say, is a much more efficient, rapid and definite way of finishing off prey than expected. As the lead researcher, Prof Scott Boback, from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, explained, restricting blood flow to the brain would also make a rodent "pass out within seconds". The researchers believe that recording during a constriction could reveal useful details about how crush injuries cause complex tissue damage in humans. But Prof Boback and his team are interested primarily in the fundamental question of how and why these snakes evolved their unique killing method.READ MORE -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33625080

Worlds first snake had legs?

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Nighttime was the right time for the world's first snakes, according to a new study that found these slithery reptiles were once nocturnal predators with tiny back legs complete with ankles and toes.

The study, published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, also concludes that the first snakes likely emerged 128 million years ago in a warm and forested part of the then supercontinent Laurasia. (Laurasia included what are now North America, Europe and Asia.)

Photos: Iridescent Beauties of the Animal World

The research helps to clear up many long-standing debates over the earliest snakes.

"While snake origins have been debated for a long time, this is the first time these hypotheses have been tested thoroughly using cutting-edge methods," lead author Allison Hsiang of Yale University said in a press release.

She continued, "By analyzing the genes, fossils and anatomy of 73 different snake and lizard species, both living and extinct, we've managed to generate the first comprehensive reconstruction of what the ancestral snake was like."

Hsiang and her team identified similarities and differences between the 73 species, and used this to create a large family tree for snakes. They further noted some of the major characteristics of snakes throughout time.

Video: How Snakes Got Their Venom

The researchers believe that snakes originated on land as opposed to water, which had previously been theorized. The emergence of snakes during the Early Cretaceous coincided with the rapid appearance of many species of mammals and birds.

As for what the first snakes ate, the researchers believe that they could take on almost anything, but not super big prey like what some of today’s snakes can handle. That's because the early snakes hadn't yet evolved the ability to use constriction as a form of attack, like today’s boa constrictors.

The "ancestral" snake's nocturnal ways passed on to many generations, so that diurnal or day-living snakes didn’t show up much until around 50-45 million years ago. That’s when Colubroidea — the family of snakes that now make up over 85 percent of living snake species — came onto the scene. Colder night temperatures probably led to the daytime ways of these snakes.

How Snakes Lost Their Legs

As the years went on, the little legs of the snakes got in the way of their slithering and gradually disappeared. Vestiges of their existence, however, still remain in many snakes, such as in modern boas and pythons.

Snakes are some of the planet's most successful animals in terms of their worldwide distribution. While many species are threatened or endangered, it's not for lack of travel time on the part of snakes.

The researchers note that snakes can travel across ranges that are over 68 square miles in size. To put this into perspective, the figure is 4.5 times greater than the ranges of lizards. Many snakes also live in aquatic habitats now, showing how versatile these reptiles can be in adapting themselves to challenging environments.

Photo: Recreation of the first known snake. Credit: Julius Csotonyi

Tags SNAKES SNAKE REPTILES REPTILE ANIMAL EVOLUTION ANIMAL BEHAVIOR ANIMAL ANATOMY ANIMAL ANIMALS
DISCOVERYnewsletter

SEAGULL ATTACKS DOG AND IT DIES

New pygmy box jellyfish Chiropsella Saxoni identified by scientists after discovery by Queensland boy

A new species of box jellyfish that was discovered in a Gold Coast canal by a nine-year-old boy has been identified by Queensland scientists. Chiropsella Saxoni, also known as the "pygmy box jellyfish", is only about two-and-a-half centimetres long. "It's a really, really little guy, cute as can be," Queensland Museum's Dr Lisa-Ann Gershwin said. "I don't think we have any reason to believe that it's lethal. We haven't done the testing to know for sure. "It's so small, and the type of sting that it would be able to give would be very minor. "I mean it probably hurts, but that's about it." But the discovery of the new species has not come without any concerns — the tiny jellyfish may have been found on the Gold Coast, but has since been spotted further north on the Sunshine Coast. Dr Gershwin warned that could be a sign larger box jellyfish, normally found in northern waters, could also be on the move. "The ecology of this species appears to be similar to -READ MORE -http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-16/new-pygmy-box-jellyfish-chiropsella-saxoni-species-identified/6623426

New Species Found Near Just-Discovered Volcano

Scientists have discovered a number of scary looking new species during their research voyage off the coast of Australia. Scroll down to see the photographs of recently discovered species you have never seen before! The photographs show an unknown bizarre-looking black fish with sharp teeth, fangs and a potential sting in the tail; the eel-like idiacanthidae and the chauliodontidae with giant front teeth. During their expedition the researchers also discovered four the 50-million-year-old volcanoes on the ocean-floor. READ ALSO: Divers Film Condom Sea Creature, Nobody Knows Its Origin Richard Arculus, a geologist, commente on an exciting find: “This is the first time these volcanoes have been seen. It proves yet again that we know more about the topography of Mars than we do the sea bed in our own backyard.-”READ MORE -http://www.naij.com/490215-new-species-found-near-just-discovered-volcano.html

Butterfly species found

Scientists have discovered a tiny butterfly in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh. It is 15 mm in size and has been named Banded Tit Hypolycaena narada. Kurshnamegh Kunte of the National Centre of Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, who discovered the species, said: “Butterflies are supposed to be well-known, and most of the species are discovered in India. Therefore, finding a new species is really surprisingly.” What is more interesting is wildlife enthusiasts had photographed the species a few years ago. A four-member team had visited the Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh in 2009 and photographed this species for the first time. “We found this butterfly and thought it was different from the other commonly found butterflies. We shared the photographs with Dr. Kunte,” said Arjan Basu Roy, one of the team members. Dr. Kunte said it was a unique example of how wildlife enthusiasts could contribute to science in their own way. Vijay Barve, founder of ButterflyIndia Yahoo Group, a virtual platform for butterfly lovers in the country, said that butterfly enthusiasts came together in 2001 and data on butterfly started pouring in from all corners. “We started with 25 members, and the number has now increased to 1,500,” Mr. Barve said. The members have learnt from one another, have undertaken butterfly expeditions and organised -READ MORE -http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/spotted-in-arunachal-butterfly-species-found/article7435719.ece

GM moths 'can curb pest invasion'

A genetically modified moth could help curb a major pest of vegetable crops around the world, research suggests. The diamondback moth feeds on cabbage, broccoli and other crucifers causing an estimated $5bn in damage per year. But male moths with a "self-limiting" gene produce female offspring that do not survive to reproduce. When released into the wild to mate with wild-type females, the GM male moths should over time cause populations of the pest to crash. We need this new technology to solve some old-world problems Prof Tony Shelton, Cornell University A new study published in BMC Biology shows that the technique works very well in confined conditions. The GM moths have been developed by the British company Oxitec, based in Oxford. And the publication of the paper comes ahead of field trials of the GM moth - in which the insects will be studied under netting - at Cornell University in New York this summer. These trials were approved by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) last year, and scientists have plans to carry out small-scale field releases of the insect in future.READ MORE -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33549875

Dinosaur find: Velociraptor ancestor was 'winged dragon'

Scientists have discovered a winged dinosaur - an ancestor of the velociraptor - that they say was on the cusp of becoming a bird. The 6ft 6in (2m) creature was almost perfectly preserved in limestone, thanks to a volcanic eruption that had buried it in north-east China. And the 125-million year-old fossil suggests many other dinosaurs, including velociraptors, would have looked like "big, fluffy killer birds". But it is unlikely that it could fly.READ MORE AND SEE VIDEO-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33510288

Polar bears fail to adapt to lack of food in warmer Arctic

Polar bears are unable to adapt their behaviour to cope with the food losses associated with warmer summers in the Arctic. Scientists had believed that the animals would enter a type of 'walking hibernation' when deprived of prey. But new research says that that bears simply starve in hotter conditions when food is scarce. The authors say that the implications for the survival of the species in a warmer world are grim. Back in 2008 polar bears were listed as a threatened species in the US. At that time, the Secretary of the Interior noted that the dramatic decline in sea ice was the greatest threat the bears faced. We think this data also points towards their eventual decline John Whiteman, University of Wyoming Polar bears survive mainly on a diet of seals that they hunt on the sea ice - but increased melting in the summer reduces seal numbers and as a result the bears struggle to find a meal. Some researchers have argued that polar bears would deal with a reduced calorie intake by entering -READ MORE -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33551569

How mosquitoes zero in on warm bodies

New research suggests that mosquitoes track down something to bite using a sequence of three cues: smell, then sight, and finally heat. Biologists recorded the movement of hungry mosquitoes inside a wind tunnel. The insects were instantly attracted to a plume of CO2, much like a human breath; after sniffing this gas they would also home in on a black spot. Finally, over much shorter distances, the mosquitoes were also drawn towards warmth. The findings, published in the journal Current Biology, build on previous evidence that smell is crucial for mosquitoes to pinpoint their next meal. Body odour, for example, may play a role in how they choose one victim over another. But mosquitoes are particularly good at sniffing out CO2, which is highly concentrated in the breath of the animals whose blood they feed on - like humans. Mosquitoes can home in on stale, exhaled air from up to 50m away. It was also known that heat and vision could be important for attracting the blood suckers, but the new study is the first to unpick the distinct role of all three cues. "We were able to put together a working theory for how all these senses work together in the mosquito, to find a human," said first author Floris van Breugel, from the California Institute of Technology.READ MORE-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33549777

A new species of cockroach found in Florida

Tampa, Florida -- A new type of cockroach coming to a kitchen near you. The Pseudomops septentrionalis aka pale-bordered field cockroach is a native of Costa Rica and Mexico that has been making it's way across the southwest. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the cockroach is not solid brown in color and instead is brown with a tan trim and a ruby-like jewel set in its leading edge. You could almost consider it pretty. It does not appear to be a pest -- yet. Read the entire story at the Tampa Bay Times-SEE LINK FOR FURTHER INFO-http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/just-what-florida-needs----a-new-cockroach/2236051

A New Species Is Found in New Jersey (and It May Already Be in Trouble)

The New Jersey Pine Barrens lies next to one of the busiest places in the country—the Interstate 95 corridor—but that doesn’t mean its mysteries are exhausted. Just this week, researchers announced the discovery of a new species of insect living in its grasses. It’s called the F. whitcombi leafhopper, and it looks kind of like a cockroach that grew a pointy rhinoceros head. Andrew Hicks from the University of Colorado and others found 35 of the hopping, sap-sapping bugs chilling on some pinebarren smokegrass, which itself was a surprise. Flexamia is more commonly known to associate with prairie and desert grasses in America’s more-remote regions, not in scrubland in the “most densely populated state” in the U.S., Hicks writes in ZooKeys. The leafhopper is about four millimeters long, colored like straw, and has a “heavily sclerotized caudoventral margin” on its male genitals, for all the entomologists reading. Because the smokegrass upon which it depends is endangered, Hicks says in his paper the creature’s long-term prospects are -READ MORE-http://www.citylab.com/weather/2015/07/a-new-species-is-found-in-new-jersey-and-it-may-already-be-in-trouble/397826/

This New Species Of Horned Dinosaur Provides Hints About Its Evolution

A spectacular new horned dinosaur fossil has been excavated from its 79 million-year-old resting place in the Cretaceous rocks of Alberta, Canada and described today in a new paper in PLOS ONE by paleontologists David Evans and Michael Ryan. It has been a good year so far for Canadian horned dinosaurs, as the newly described Wendiceratops pinhornensis is yet another incredibly preserved and unique ceratopsid dinosaur providing the latest evidence about facial ornamentation in this order of dinosaur (ornithischians).READ MORE -http://www.forbes.com/sites/shaenamontanari/2015/07/08/this-new-species-of-horned-dinosaur-provides-hints-about-its-evolution/

Lazy lifestyle key to pandas' bamboo-only diet

Scientists have uncovered the key reason why giant pandas are able to survive solely on a diet of bamboo. The researchers found that pandas get by on shoots and leaves because they expend extremely small amounts of energy. A typical adult panda burns up about 38% of the calories used by other, similarly sized animals. The scientists found the bears' slow-moving ways were linked to low levels of thyroid hormones. Scientists have long been intrigued as to how the black and white mammals are able to live exclusively on hard-to-digest bamboo, since their stomachs still retain the gut bacteria of the omnivorous creatures they evolved from. The metabolic rate of an active panda is lower than a completely stationary human Prof John Speakman, University of Aberdeen & Chinese Academy of Sciences This new analysis sheds light on the mystery. 'Frugal with energy' The researchers looked at the daily energy expenditure of five captive pandas and three living in the wild. They found that the creatures used around 38% of the predicted value for mammals of their size. This compares to slow-moving koalas, which use around 69% of the energy normal for similarly sized animals. The most direct comparison with the pandas' laid-back ways were three-toed -READ MORE -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33476974

Climate 'vice' constricts bumblebees' natural ranges - researchers

Climate change is threatening the survival of bumblebees, significantly reducing the habitats in which they can survive, researchers say. They say the natural ranges of these key pollinators are being compressed in both Europe and North America. The analysis indicates that warming is having a greater impact than pesticides or land use change. To ensure bees survive, humans may have to help move them to cooler areas, the European and American researchers add. Century of data Many creatures, including butterflies, have responded to a warming climate by moving towards the poles or towards higher ground. Bumblebees have dealt with the increasing heat by disappearing in large numbers from portions of their southern ranges, but the insects seem to have baulked at moving north.READ MORE-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33442006

New black coral species found, longest-living sea creature

HONOLULU (AP) - A new species of deep-water black coral has been found in the Hawaiian Islands and scientists believe it is the longest-lived marine organism known to date. Hawaii News Now reports (http://bit.ly/1JwfYe4 ) that scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History have found the species can live more than 4,000 years at depths of 1,000 to 1,600 feet. The new species has been dubbed Leiopathes annosa for the Latin word meaning “long lived.” It was previously misidentified as one from the Mediterranean Sea, but was determined to be a distinct. Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/1/new-black-coral-species-found-longest-living-sea-c/#ixzz3evj4bjNB

Geophilus hadesi,New Species of Cave-Dwelling Centipede Discovered

Centipedes are carnivores that feed on other invertebrates. They are common cave inhabitants but members of this particular order usually find shelter there only occasionally. Species with an entire life cycle confined to cave environments are exceptionally rare in the group. Recorded as deep as -3,600 feet (-1,100 meters), the newly-discovered geophilomorph centipede was named Geophilus hadesi, after Hades – the god of the underworld in the Greek mythology. The species has also had its name picked to pair another cave-dwelling species, Geophilus persephones, discovered in 1999 and named after Persephone, the queen of the underworld. “The species is described upon specimens found in two caves at a depth below -820 feet (-250 meters),” Prof Stoev and colleagues wrote in a paper in the journal ZooKeys. “Another two specimens apparently belonging to the same species have been -READ MORE-http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-geophilus-hadesi-centipede-02971.html

Why insects are marvels of engineering

Insects solve some pretty wacky biological problems, says Dr Gregory Sutton. And he should know. For almost a decade, he has been using high-speed cameras to reveal the secrets of the most acrobatic of the world's invertebrates. Along with his colleagues at the Universities of Bristol and Cambridge, he is working out how fleas, locusts and even praying mantises take to the air. He presented some of his latest work at the Society for Experimental Biology's annual meeting in Prague on Thursday. One of the problems these super-jumpers have is that to use a jump as an evasive manoeuvre, they must accelerate in a very short space of time. A flea, for example, releases the energy in its legs in one thousandth of a second. A more robust grasshopper manages the feat in 30 thousandths of a second. "There's a problem in how much energy a muscle can produce," explains Dr Sutton, "and the way they solve it is the same way we solve it with a bow and arrow." When you draw an arrow, all the energy comes from your muscles, but it's stored by the bow, which amplifies the speed at which that energy is released - propelling the arrow forward.READ MORE AND SEE VIDEO-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33334091