Saturday 31 October 2015

Was the common ancestor of all apes actually petite? (+video)

Did apes shrink or grow throughout evolution?
Scientists previously thought that small-bodied apes shrunk as they diverged from the great apes, a group that includes humans. But the common ancestor of all apes may have actually been quite small.
Researchers found a new primate's partial skeleton that may change evolutionary history. The ancient animal holds many traits similar to both branches of ape – and it's small.-READ MORE-http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1030/Was-the-common-ancestor-of-all-apes-actually-petite-video

Tenaelurillus Jagannathae.New species of spider named after Lord Jagannath

Stenaelurillus jagannathae, Spider species, Lord Jagannath, Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, Delhi newsA team of students from IP University, led by a professor from the university’s School of Environmental Management have discovered a new species of spider in Delhi’s Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary. The students have named it Stenaelurillus jagannathae after Lord Jagannath due to its unique colour pattern which resembles the Hindu deity’s face.
“In this age of global warming and climate change, when extinction of species is at its peak, the discovery of a new spider species in urban Delhi is fascinating. It proves that there is an urgent need to document biodiversity in every area before they vanish, for which the study of taxonomy as a discipline is critical,” said Professor Sanjay Keshri Das, who is an assistant professor at the university’s School of Environmental Management.READ MORE-http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/new-species-of-spider-named-after-lord-jagannath/

Utetes canaliculatus, Scientists Observe Wasps Evolving Into New Species

Scientists have documented three species of wasps turning into three new species, an unusual close-up view of rapid evolution in action.
In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team found that evolutionary changes in one species of fruit fly triggered a cascade of evolutionary changes in three species of wasps that are predators of the fruit fly.
As a result, not only did the fruit fly evolve into a new species, but so did each of the wasps. The speciation process took a mere 160 years. The research sheds light not only on how some new life-forms originate, but also how quickly it can happen.
“We tend to think of evolution occurring over millions of years,” said Scott Egan,evolutionary biologist at Rice University and co-author of the study. “What jumped out at me is that [a new species] can emerge in contemporary time.”READ MORE--http://www.wsj.com/articles/scientists-observe-wasps-evolving-into-new-species-1446229404

A new species is evolving right before our eyes — an ultra-successful mix of wolves, coyotes and dogs

 A new species combining wolves, coyotes and dogs is evolving before scientists’ eyes in the eastern United States.
Eastern coyote (Wikipedia Commons)Wolves faced with a diminishing number of potential mates are lowering their standards and mating with other, similar species, reported The Economist.
The interbreeding began up to 200 years ago, as European settlers pushed into southern Ontario and cleared the animal’s habitat for farming and killed a large number of the wolves that lived there.
That also allowed coyotes to spread from the prairies, and the white farmers brought dogs into the region.
Over time, wolves began mating with their new, genetically similar neighbors.
The resulting offspring — which has been called the eastern coyote or, to some, the READ MORE-http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/a-new-species-is-evolving-right-before-our-eyes-an-ultra-successful-mix-of-wolves-coyotes-and-dogs/

Saturday 24 October 2015

EARLY LIFE THAN THOUGHT

DISCOVERY OF EVIDENCE OF POTENTIAL ORGANISMS WAS FOUND IN GRAPHITE TRAPPED WITHIN ZIRCON CRYSTALS -JACK HILLS,WESTERN AUSTRALIA.THIS COULD HAVE EXISTED  4.1 BILLION YEARS AGO-300 MILLION EARLIER THAN THOUGHT.

Musa nanensis: New Species of Wild Banana Discovered in Thailand

Musa nanensis: male inflorescence. Image credit: P. Srisanga.The newly-discovered species belongs to Musa, a large genus in the familyMusaceae containing more than 70 species of bananas and plantains.
The species’ scientific name – Musa nanensis – honors the Thai northern province of Nan, where the type specimens of this new species were collected. The common name is the Kluai Si Nan (means ‘banana pride of Nan’).
According to Dr Sasivimon Swangpol of Mahidol University and her colleagues,Musa nanensis is a perennial herb, 4.9 to 9.8 feet (1.5 to 3 m) in height. Its flowering time is year round.
Fruits are 2.8 inches (7 cm) long and 0.6 inches (1.5 cm) wide. They are straight to curved, angular with prominent ridges at maturity.READ MORE-http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-musa-nanensis-wild-banana-thailand-03349.html

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY: New species of dangerous, globe-trotting mosquito found

The Asian tiger mosquito has invaded the Inland area — making this the second type of potentially dangerous mosquito to be discovered in the region in recent weeks. The viral disease-transmitting, non-native Aedes albopictus, native to tropical and subtropical Southeast Asia, was identified in the San Bernardino County city of Upland on Oct. 15 and confirmed that same day by the state’s insect-borne disease specialists, San Bernardino County Public Health Department spokeswoman Claudia Doyle said Tuesday evening. The discovery comes on the heels of recent announcements that a related blood sucker, the Aedes-READ MORE-http://www.pe.com/articles/county-783953-mosquitoes-yellow.html

Lymantrichneumon disparis,New species of wasp discovered in England

New species of wasp <em>Lymantrichneumon disparis.</em>A species of wasp that has never been recorded in the country has been discovered at a British nature reserve.
The parasitic wasp, Lymantrichneumon disparis, now known to be a genus and a new species to Britain, was found by a butterfly collector at the RSPB’s Broadwater Warren near Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
But is has taken two years for experts to confirm the 2013 discovery made by Tony Davis, of Butterfly Conservation, who was undertaking a moth monitoring programme when he came across the specimen.
He said: “I’d finished my work and was leaving the reserve but couldn’t resist one last sweep on my net and that’s when I found the wasp. I knew it was something special, but I could never have guessed it was an entirely new species to the -READ MORE-http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/21/new-species-of-wasp-discovered-in-england

Chelonoidis porteri.New Giant Tortoise Species Found on Galápagos Islands

Picture of a tortoise's faceA new species of tortoise has been hiding in plain sight in the Galápagos. Now it has a name.
There are two populations of giant tortoises on the island of Santa Cruz: The ones that live on the island’s east side are known as the Cerro Fatal tortoises, and the ones in the west and southwest are called the Reserva tortoises. The two groups look so much alike that until recently they were considered the same species, Chelonoidis porteri.
When a research team led by Yale evolutionary biologist Adalgisa Cacconeanalyzed chunks of repetitive nuclear DNA and maternally inherited READ MORE-http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/151021-galapagos-tortoise-new-species-animals-science/

Expedition seeks Atlantis microbes

Monday will see an international team of scientists set sail for the mid-Atlantic on a quest to sample microbes living deep in the ocean floor. The expedition will use new types of rock drill developed in the UK and Germany to retrieve cores from up to 80m below the seabed. The target of interest is the Atlantis Massif, a 4km-high underwater mountain. Scientists say its rocks may hold clues to the origins of life on Earth and its potential on other planets and moons. The team is interested in the process of serpentinisation, which involves the alteration of material brought up from the mantle. This occurs along the mid-Atlantic Ridge - the rugged chain of formations stretching down the centre of the ocean, where new crust is being created. Rocks that contain iron- and magnesium-rich minerals (olivine) react with seawater-READ MORE-BBC LINK-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34609272Carbonate tower

Big monkey voice 'means less sperm'

The deep, growling roar of the howler monkey may hide reproductive shortcomings, according to biologists. A study by an international team of scientists has revealed that the primates either develop big voices, or big testes - but not both. Scientists made the discovery while trying to understand the "evolution of the animals' incredible roars". The findings suggest such evolutionary trade-offs may be more common that previously thought. They are published in the journal Current Biology.READ MORE AND WATCH VIDEO-BBC LINK-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34607031

Sunday 18 October 2015

MAMMOTHS HUNTED TO EXTINCTION.

IT IS CLAIMED BY UNIVERSITY  OF MITHIGAN,AMERICA.THEY  BELIEVE THAT MAMMOTHS  WEANING AGE  FELL  FROM 8 TO 5 IN THE  30,000 YEARS  BEFORE EXTINCTION DUE TO PRESSURE  FROM PREDAORS. THE UNIVERSITY  OF MITHIGAN, TESTED NITROGEN LEVELS IN TUSKS FROM JUVENILE MAMMOTHS FROM SIBERIA TO DISCOVER MUCH MILK WAS IN DIET AND STUDIES SHOW  GLOBAL WARMING MAKES WEANING PERIOD LONGER.SO THIS IS WHY IT ITS THOUGHT NOW HUNTED  TO  EXTINCTION BY EARLY MAN.

Fossil teeth place humans in Asia '20,000 years early'

an array of human teeth from the cave siteFossil finds from China have shaken up the traditional narrative of humankind's dispersal from Africa.
Scientists working in Daoxian, south China, have discovered teeth belonging to modern humans that date to at least 80,000 years ago.
This is 20,000 years earlier than the widely accepted "Out of Africa" migration that led to the successful peopling of the globe by our species.
Details of the work are outlined in the journal Nature.
Several lines of evidence - including genetics and archaeology - support a dispersal of our species from Africa 60,000 years ago.
Early modern humans living in the horn of Africa are thought to have crossed the Red Sea via the Bab el -READ MORE ON BBC LINK-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34531861

Saturday 17 October 2015

Hyorhinomys stuempkei, new-rat-species-found-in-remote-indonesian-rainforest

The Hog-nosed rat, Hyorhinomys stuempkei, (Photo by Kevin C. Rowe, Senior Curator of Mammals, Museum Victoria)
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, October 11, 2015 (ENS) – A new rat with features never before seen by scientists has been discovered on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia a two-day trek from the nearest village. The Hog-nosed rat, Hyorhinomys stuempkei, is so genetically different from other rats that its discoverers classified it as an entirely new genus and species.
Jake Esselstyn, who serves as Museum of Natural Science Curator of Mammals at Louisiana State University and fellow scientists from Australia and Indonesia found the new rat on the second day of their field season in 2013.
LSU Museum of Natural Science Mammal Curator Jake Esselstyn (Photo by Kevin Rowe)
LSU Museum of Natural Science Mammal Curator Jake Esselstyn (Photo by Kevin Rowe)
Esselstyn and Museum Victoria Senior Curator of Mammals Kevin Rowe set out in opposite directions from their field camp to check their traps. They each caught the same type of animal in their traps and knew at once that they were looking at something new.
“We had never seen anything like this. It was obviously a new species. We came back to camp and were both surprised that the other one had it as well,” Esselstyn said.
The animal is a shrew rat with a large, flat, pink nose and forward-facing nostrils for-READ MORE-http://ens-newswire.com/2015/10/11/new-rat-species-found-in-remote-indonesian-rainforest/

New fish species found in Greenland

Nansenia boreacrassicauda is 30 cm long and has big eyes (photo: www.jypichthyology.info)
Researchers from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources have discovered a previously unknown species of fish in the North Atlantic off the southeast coast of Greenland.
The 30cm-long fish, which has very large eyes, has been given the Latin name of nansenia boreacrassicauda and the Danish name of ‘nordlig tykhale blyantsmelt’ (‘northern thick-tailed pencil smelt’).
According to the biologist Jan Yde Poulsen, who made the discovery, the fish was found in 2008 during an expedition of the Greenland research vessel R/V Pâimut that focused on the local halibut population.
Previously misidentified-READ MORE-http://cphpost.dk/news/new-fish-species-found-in-greenland.html

Sommera cusucoana,Scientists Uncover New Coffee Tree Species in Honduras

Sommera cusucoana: tip of shoot with flower, developing fruits, and leaf pair emerging between pair of stipules. Image credit: A.C. Dietzsch.This new species belongs to the coffee family Rubiaceae, according to a paper published in the journal PhytoKeys.
Named Sommera cusucoana, the species is a 33 foot (10 m) high tree with cream-colored flowers and red, cherry-like fruits (at all developmental stages).
It was discovered during an ecological survey of montane rain forest vegetation in Cusuco National Park in Honduras by Dr Daniel Kelly and Dr Anke Dietzsch from Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland.
Only two individual trees were located, about the same size and within a few feet of each other.
“The site is within Cusuco National Park, in the upper slopes of the Sierra del Merendón. These upper slopes are largely covered by montane rain forest vegetation,” the scientists said.READ MORE-http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-coffee-tree-sommera-cusucoana-03341.html

Saturday 10 October 2015

TITIANOSAURUS

THE BRAIN OF THIS 40 FT LONG DINOSAUR MEASURED ONLY 2 1/2 INCHS- MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY.

SAME FEET.

A ANALYSIS OF 107 PREHISTORIC  FOOT  BONES  HAS SHOWN THAT ANCIENT MAN WERE SIMILAR  TO  MODERN MAN .THE BONES WERE AMONG HUNDERS  DISCOVERED IN A CAVE -JOHANNESBURG,SOUTH AFRICA.

POSSIBLE MASS EXINCTION OF FROGS?

A KILLER FUNGUS  MAY LEAD TO MASS EXTINTION IN ALL SPECIES OF FROGS -194-1.3 %  ARE BELIEVED TO DIE IN LAST  30 TO 40 YEARS. THIS IS DUE TO THE SPREAD OF AMPHIBIAN CHYRID FUNGUS THAT AFFECTS BREATHING ,FEEDING.

Sand pit' probes walking strategies

By puffing air upwards through a box of sand, a US laboratory has tested how lizards, crabs and robots cope with ground that is more or less "fluid".
They say the contraption is like a wind tunnel for studying movement on unstable surfaces.
Tests of this kind could help design robots to handle inconsistent terrain - such as might be found on Mars.
For now, the team has identified key aspects of leg shape and movement that help maintain speed on flowing ground.
The results appear in the journal Bioinspiration and Biomechanics.
"The pioneers of flight looked at different wing designs in a wind tunnel, and now we can do this with robotic design," said senior author Daniel Goldman, from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Tread gently

By adjusting the rate at which air is pumped through the sand, Prof Goldman and his team can control precisely how fluid the surface becomes.
They used this system to observe the motion of a six-legged "Sandbot", four species-READ MORE - SEE VIDEO -BBC LINK-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34486870

Ancient horse-like foetus discovered in Germany

Eurohippus
A fossilised foetus belonging to an early relative of the horse has been described by scientists.
The unborn foal was identified among the remains of its mother - a 48-million-year-old horse-like animal found in Germany's Messel pit in 2000.
The mare probably fell into a lake shortly before birth - which led to outstanding preservation of the soft tissue from the foetus.
Details are published in the open access journal Plos One.
Dr Jens Loren Franzen and colleagues investigated the 12.5cm-long foetus using scanning electronic microscopy and high-resolution micro-X-rays.
Almost all bones are present and connected, except for the skull, which appears to have been crushed.
And this exceptional preservation allowed the researchers to reconstruct the original appearance and position of the foetus.
This corresponded very well with foetuses in living mares, suggesting the horse reproductive system was already highly developed during the Eocene Period.

Beaver or Otter, It Lived in Dinosaurs' Time

In the conventional view, the earliest mammals were small, primitive, shrewlike creatures that did not begin to explore the world's varied environments until the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago.
Mark A. Klingler/Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Scientists have found a fossil of a mammal — part beaver, part otter, part platypus — that lived in China 164 million years ago.
But scientists are reporting today that they have uncovered fossils of a swimming, fish-eating mammal that lived in China fully 164 million years ago, well before it was thought that some mammals could have spent much of their lives in water.
The extinct species appears to have been an amalgam of animals. It had a broad, scaly tail, flat like a beaver's. Its sharp teeth seemed ideal for eating fish, like an otter's. Its likely lifestyle — burrowing in tunnels on shore and dog-paddling in water — reminds scientists of the modern platypus.
Its skeleton suggests that it was about 20 inches long, from snout to the tip of its tail, about the length of a small house cat.
The surprising discovery, made in 2004 in the abundant fossil beds of Liaoning Province, China, is being reported in the journal Science by an international team led by Ji Qiang of Nanjing University.
In the article, Dr. Ji and other researchers from the Chinese-READ MORE-http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/24/science/24beaver.html?_r=0

Ancient DNA reveals 'into Africa' migration

Researchers extracted DNA from a 4,500-year-old skull that was discovered in the highlands of Ethiopia.
A comparison with genetic material from today's Africans reveals how our ancient ancestors mixed and moved around the continents.
The findings, published in the journal Science, suggests that about 3,000 years ago there was a huge wave of migration from Eurasia into Africa.
This has left a genetic legacy, and the scientists believe up to 25% of the DNA of modern Africans can be traced back to this event.
"Every single population for which we have data in Africa has a sizeable component of Eurasian ancestry," said Dr Andrea Manica, from the University of Cambridge, who carried out the research.
Petrous bone
Ancient genomes have been sequenced from around the world, but Africa has proved difficult because hot and humid conditions can destroy fragile DNA.
However, the 4,500-year-old remains of this hunter gatherer, known as Mota man, were found in a cave and were well preserved. READ MORE - BBC LINK-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34479905

FRIST PLANT.

THIS IS A SEA ALGAE WHICH EVOVLED 45 MILLION YEARS AGO WHICH IS BELIEVED TO SLASH ON TO LAND.A PROTAIN INSIDE  REACTED TO A FUNGI ALLOWING IT TO TAKE ROOT ONTO BARREN SURFACE AND  SUCK WATER AND NUTRIENTS FROM THE SOIL.THIS EVENT  IS BELIEVED TO BROUGHT FUNDAMENTAL CLIMATE CHANGE,SPARKED LAND BASED ECOSYSTEMS PLUS ANIMAL EVOLUTION.

New species of 'hog-nosed' rat discovered in Indonesia

A hog nosed ratVictorian scientists have discovered a new mammal, the hog-nosed rat, with features not been seen by science before.
Hyorhinomys stuempkei was previously undocumented in any scientific collection.
The rodent was found by a team of scientists from Museum Victoria, Louisiana State University and the Dutch Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense in a remote, mountainous forest of Mount Dako, on Sulawesi Island in Indonesia.READ MORE-http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/06/new-species-of-hog-nosed-rat-discovered-in-indonesia

New Fish Species Found In the Salish Sea

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Halfbanded Rockfish
Halfbanded rocketfish swimming near purple gorgonian coral. (Photo : Flickr: California Department of Fish and Wildlife)
Fish native to the Salish Sea – such as Coho salmon, Pacific halibut and dogfish shark – have some new neighbors to mingle with. The diversity of fish species living in the region has increased by 14 percent, say researchers from the University of Washington who recently documented 253 fish living in this area, 37 of which have recently moved in. The university's report represents the most comprehensive study regarding fish species in the area, and the findings will help conservationists assess and manage fish populations that may be in danger of disappearing.   -READ MORE-
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/17384/20151009/fish-frenzy-new-species-found-salish-sea-study-shows.htm

From ‘Dracula’ fish to snub-nosed monkeys: New species found in Himalayas

(Photo credit: @wwf_uk)(CNN) — Most people hate rainy weather. It can put a damper on plans and keep you cooped up indoors.
But spare a thought for the Burmese snub-nosed monkey.
The furry fellow often spends rainy days with its head down between its knees because otherwise the water runs into its upturned nose and makes it sneeze.
Hunters in Myanmar’s remote and rugged Kachin state, where the monkeys live, say it’s easy to track them down during a downpour thanks to their bouts of sneezing.READ MORE-http://wtnh.com/2015/10/09/from-dracula-fish-to-snub-nosed-monkeys-new-species-found-in-himalayas/

Scientific Debunkers Make Life Hard for Monsters

With sightings of the Loch Ness monster growing rarer each year, the latest theory among Nessie enthusiasts is that she was a giant catfish.
The species, released into the loch by the Victorians, can survive in frigid waters. If the theory is correct, it will have solved the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster, a popular obsession since the 1930s. That and the fact that a BBC research team scoured the loch in 2003, using satellites and 600 sonar beams, all to no avail.
It’s been a tough few years for the field of cryptozoology, as monster hunting is known in polite circles. Take the kraken, which the medieval Nordics believed could crush a ship with its mighty tentacles. Alfred, Lord Tennyson imagined it as the most primeval of all the terrors of the sea: “Below the thunders of the upper deep, / Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, / …The Kraken sleepeth.”READ MORE-http://www.wsj.com/articles/scientific-debunkers-make-life-hard-for-monsters-1444230919

Saturday 3 October 2015

WORLDS SMALLEST SEAHORSE?

READ MOREMandatory Credit: Photo by MikeBailey/SeahorseSurvivalT/REX Shutterstock (5212298b) The giant 13-inch spiny seahorse Fishermen accidentally catch massive 13-inch spiny seahorse in Poole Harbour, Dorset, Britain - 25 Sep 2015 *Full story: http://www.rexfeatures.com/nanolink/r6jb The world's largest seahorse has been discovered by a fisherman off the British coast, sparking fresh hope for the threatened mystical creatures. The whopping 13-inch spiny seahorse was accidentally hauled in by Michael Bailey while he was out fishing for mullet in Poole Harbour, Dorset. Experts say the enormous fish is around twice the average size for the species - and smashes the existing record by almost two inches. The monster seahorse hooked its tail round Mr Bailey's net and clung to it as he and crewmate Malcolm Glover hailed their catch on board. When they realised just how big the rare specimen was they immediately called seahorse expert from their boat who advised them to measure it and take a photo. A 13 IN SEAHORSE THOUGHT TO BE THE WORLDS SMALLEST WAS CAUGHT IN POOLE,DORSET BY A FISHERMAN.ITS TWICE THE AVERAGE SIZE AND SMASHES EXISTING RECORD BY ALMOST 2 INS.THE SEAHORSE WAS PHOTOGRAGHED AND MEASSURED THEN RELEASED BACK INTO THE SEA.

Angustopila dominikae-New species of tiny snail found in China

World's smallest snail
A tiny snail has been discovered in China that is so small 10 of them could fit side-by-side in the eye of a needle!
The Angustopila dominikae is one of seven new species of 'micro-snail found by scientists from Japan's Shinshu University.
Its shell measures in at just 0.86 millimetres, and is possibly the world's smallest land-based snail.
Surprisingly, it is related to the giant African land snail, which is nine million times larger than it.READ MORE

Potentially new species found on excursion to Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

EARL HARBOR (HawaiiNewsNow) -
It may take scientists months before they know exactly what they found on their most recent expedition to the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
That’s because many of the specimens they brought back may be entirely new species.
"Several new species of fish, probably a new species of seahorse, several probable new species of algae, seastars" said Dr. Randy Kosaki, Chief Scientist at PMNM.
The research took place over 27 days, with 20 scientists aboard the research vessel Hi’ialakai.  The areas they were diving to were deep sea mounts some 200-300 feet below the surface.
"Literally we have better maps of the moon than the ocean.  So these are completely unexplored, no one's ever dived on them before" said Kosaki.
Getting that deep isn't easy---regular SCUBA gear won't work.  Instead, the divers used specialized equipment that weighs around 150 pounds.
"It’s very advanced and sophisticated technology that allows us to dive deep and stay at depths for long time" said Research Specialist Daniel Wagner.
Once down there, they saw reefs teeming with life.
"Stunning things, and the thing you notice first is just the amount of big fish.  Apex predators.  Big sharks, big ulua" said Wagner.
And all those potential new species.  The expedition may be over, but in many ways, the work has just begun.
"Now it's going to be a lot of long hours in museum collections, collecting DNA, genetic analyses to confirm these are new species, distinct from any known species" said KosakREAD MORE