Saturday 28 January 2017

Candy-striped hermit crab discovered in Caribbean

Underwater photographer Ellen Muller stumbled upon a previously undiscovered species of hermit crab, now known as the candy-striped hermit crab for its distinct red-and-white legs and pincers.An underwater photographer has stumbled upon a new species of hermit crab with legs and pincers striped like candy canes.
Ellen Muller captured photos and video of the tiny creature at dive sites in the National Marine Park off the southern Caribbean island of Bonaire. Just a few millimetres wide, the animal is the subject of a new report in the journal ZooKeys
The report is authored by the Smithsonian's Rafael Lemaitre, a hermit crab expert who documented the new species.
The red-and-white colour pattern on the legs and pincers of the crab reminded both Lemaitre and Muller of a traditional candy cane, prompting them to give it the common name "candy-striped hermit crab."
Its scientific name is Pylopaguropsis mollymullerae, after diver Muller's young granddaughter, Molly Muller.-read more and see video

New snail species discovered on Kimberley islands showcase 'amazing diversity', scientist says

Setobaudinia umbadayi, aka the hairy snail, found in WA Kimberley.They may be slow-moving and somewhat sluggish, but 150 new species of snail have been discovered by scientists in Australia's far north — proving the slimy molluscs are surprisingly well-travelled.
Researchers surveying remote islands off the Kimberley coast have documented new species of land snail living throughout the relatively untouched wilderness.
The discoveries were originally made as part of the Kimberley Island Survey, which collected data from 22 islands between 2009 and 2011.
However, scientists only recently completed their analysis, finding there were up to 13 previously undocumented species of snail living on each island.
They range from minute molluscs less than two millimetres long to creepy critters covered in alien-like hair.-read more

New species of poison frog discovered in Amazonian slopes of Andes in southeastern Peru

Scientists have discovered a new species of poison frog on the Amazonian slopes of the Andes in southeastern Peru.
The species was found in just nine locales in the buffer zones of Manu National Park and the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, at the transition between montane forests and the lowlands, from 340 to 850 meters (1,115 to 2,788 feet) above sea level.
The species is commonly known as the Amarakaeri poison frog. Its scientific name is Ameerega shihuemoy — with the species name, shihuemoy, being the native Harakmbut word for “poison dart frog.” The Amarakaeri are an indigenous people from Amazonian Peru; their language belongs to the Harakmbut linguistic group.
“We wanted to highlight the existence of this area for the world when we named this species,” Jennifer Serrano, the lead author of a paper describing the species in the journal Zootaxa, told Mongabay.
The region that the Amarakaeri poison frog calls home is considered one of the most biodiverse on the planet for herpetofauna, but it is also threatened by human activities, including agriculture, gold mining, logging, and an illegally -read more

Ancient, scary and alien-looking specimen forms a rarity in the insect world—a new order

Ancient, scary and alien-looking specimen forms a rarity in the insect world -- a new orderResearchers at Oregon State University have discovered a 100-million-year-old insect preserved in amber with a triangular head, almost-alien and "E.T.-like" appearance and features so unusual that it has been placed in its own scientific "order" - an incredibly rare event

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-01-ancient-scary-alien-looking-specimen-rarity.html#jCp

New species discovered in Bland County

New speciesAn excursion to the center of the earth isn’t necessary to discover a new species of living creature. Sometimes all it takes is a trip to the back yard.
Lifelong Bastian resident Stephen Levitt spent 53 years on Grapefield Road and never once noticed anything different about the critters in Wolf Creek that borders the family land.
It took a pair of researchers from Colorado State University’s Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management department to distinguish a new species of stonefly found in the waterway.
Research assistant Chris Verdone said he and his department head, Dr. Boris Kondratieff, conducted an investigation for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services in the spring of 2016.-read more

A new invasive carp found in the Great Lakes

A new invasive carp found in the Great LakesA new species of invasive Asian carp has appeared in three of North America´s Great Lakes, threatening the ecosystem, Canada´s fisheries and oceans ministry said Friday.
Grass carp, one of four Asian carp species, were captured between 2013 and 2016 in Lakes Michigan, Erie and Ontario, the ministry said, citing a joint Canada-US study.
The voracious fish, which can reach a weight of 45 kilograms (100 pounds) and 1.5 meters (five feet) in length, could cause "extreme" ecological damage within the next 50 years as it supplants native species, the study concluded, noting a lack of natural predators to keep its numbers in check.-read more

New Wasp Species Discovered Parasitizing Pests of Pine Trees

Baryscapus dioryctriae is a new species of wasp that parasitizes two moths of the genus Dioryctria, a pest of pine trees in China. (Photo credit: Li-Wen Song, et al)A new parasitoid wasp species, named Baryscapus dioryctriae, has been discovered in China. The new species is known to parasitize larvae of two species of Dioryctria, which are serious pests of pine trees, and was found during a survey looking for natural enemies of Dioryctria pryeri and D. abietella.
Josh Lancette
Josh Lancette
This finding, published today in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America, is important because the new species could potentially be used as a biological control agent. The Dioryctria moth larvae that hurt pine trees are often concealed within the cones, making insecticides generally ineffective. An effective biological control agent such as a parasitoid wasp could -read more

New ancient otter species among largest ever found

New ancient otter species among largest ever foundDr. Denise Su, curator and head of paleobotany and paleoecology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History was co-author on new research that described a species of otter new to science and that is among the largest otter species known.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-01-ancient-otter-species-largest.html#jCp

New Crypt-Keeper Wasp Is Parasite That Bursts From Host's Head

Scientists have discovered a new parasitic wasp species with a life cycle so diabolical, they named it after Set, the Egyptian god of evil and chaos.
Meet Euderus set, otherwise known as the crypt-keeper wasp.
Native to the southeastern United States, this species lays its egg inside the tiny, wooden chambers that another parasitic wasp species, the gall wasp (Bassettia pallida), carves out in sand live oak trees. These knobby protuberances, known as galls, are sort of like tree cysts induced by the presence of the host wasp's young.
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Once the egg hatches, the crypt-keeper larva burrows into the other wasp and takes over its mind, forcing it to start tunneling through the tree’s bark to freedom—a feat the crypt-keeper struggles to perform on its own. (Read more about mindsucking parasites in National Geographicmagazine.)-http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/01/crypt-keeper-wasps-parasites-new-species/

New species of prehistoric palm discovered in Canada

This palm fossil, found near Edmonton, suggests that palms lived in western Canada at a time when the climate was more temperate.A researcher identified a new species of small palm that once grew in Canada after examining a fossil that had been part of an Alberta museum collection for decades.
Palms are typically associated with warm, tropical climates. However, this newly discovered fossil indicates that palms grew much farther north than previously thought east of the Rockies.
'We see palms and we think, 'Oh! It was tropical!' Well, maybe not.'- David Greenwood, Brandon University
The finding also indicates that palms existed in temperate (rather than tropical) climates 20 million years earlier than records previously suggested.
David Greenwood, a biology professor at Brandon University in Manitoba, found the palm in the collection at the the Royal Tyrell Museum. The Drumheller, Alta., museum had held the fossil since scientists collected it in 1995.
The finding is significant for several reasons, he told CBC News.
"It's got two different levels of specialness: one, just the scientific interest of palms as climate records, but also, hey, we had palms in Canada!-read more

Species of ancient lizard that lived in the time of the dinosaurs is discovered

Around 75 million years ago lived a little lizard, in the mountains of what is now Montana. A skeleton of the lizard, which roamed at the same time as the dinosaurs, has been discovered for the first time. Artist's impression picturedAround 75 million years ago lived a little lizard, in the mountains of what is now Montana.
A skeleton of the lizard, which roamed at the same time as the dinosaurs, has been discovered for the first time.
The extinct species has been described in a paper published today, filling huge gaps in our understanding of how lizards evolved. 


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4152862/New-species-ancient-lizard-discovered.html#ixzz4X3wmJAEF

New species of songbird found

Researchers exploring the forests of Western Ghats also designate two new genera that is endemic to the region

The fragmented forests of the highest ranges of the Western Ghats have revealed a secret that is music to the ears of naturalists. Researchers exploring these “sky islands” have designated two new endemic genera and a new species of songbird.
The research published in the latest issue of BMC Evolutionary Biology was undertaken by V. V. Robin; Sushma Reddy; C .K. Vishnudas; Pooja Gupta; Frank E. Rheindt; Daniel M. Hooper and Uma Ramakrishnan.
The team has designated two new genera, the Western Ghats shortwings as Sholicola (closely related to flycatchers) and the laughing thrushes as Montecincla (closely related to babblers. The newly described Sholicola ashambuensis is confined to the Agasthyar Malai mountain ranges.
The species in the Montecincla genera include Montecincla jerdoniMontecincla cachinnansMontecincla fairbanki and Montecincla meridionalis belongs to Montecincla genus. Sholicola major and Sholicola albiventris belongs to Sholicola genus.-read more

Saturday 21 January 2017

Scientists stunned to discover that one mythological animal is perfectly real, and has now been captured on film

Cryptozoology is considered a psuedoscioence. Its believers seek evidence of cryptids such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or the Yeti. They may also seek evidence of dragons and other mythical creatures referenced in historical literature. Among zoologists, these people tend to get less respect. Worst of all, they are rarely able to offer scientifically verifiable evidence for their beliefs.

Enter the 'horse deer.' This deer-like species has been reported for centuries as living around a lake in rural, northwestern China. It has been seen so rarely that it has been considered mythological, extinct, or a case of mistaken identity. Yet locals have insisted that the horse deer is an actual animal. The creature looks like a deer with some of the characteristic appearance of a small horse.-Read More

New species of poison frog discovered in Amazonian slopes of Andes in southeastern Peru

Scientists have discovered a new species of poison frog on the Amazonian slopes of the Andes in southeastern Peru.
The species was found in just nine locales in the buffer zones of Manu National Park and the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, at the transition between montane forests and the lowlands, from 340 to 850 meters (1,115 to 2,788 feet) above sea level.
The species is commonly known as the Amarakaeri poison frog. Its scientific name is Ameerega shihuemoy — with the species name, shihuemoy, being the native Harakmbut word for “poison dart frog.” The Amarakaeri are an indigenous people from Amazonian Peru; their language belongs to the Harakmbut linguistic group.
“We wanted to highlight the existence of this area for the world when we named this species,” Jennifer Serrano, the lead author of a paper describing the species in the journal Zootaxa, told Mongabay.
The region that the Amarakaeri poison frog calls home is considered one of the most biodiverse on the planet for herpetofauna, but it is also threatened by human activities, including agriculture, gold mining, logging, and an illegally constructed road meant for the transport of fuel for illegal miners and loggers in the area, according to Serrano.
A. shihuemoy’s appearance is not dissimilar to other species in the genus Ameerega, though it does bear some-Read More

New snail species discovered on Kimberley islands showcase 'amazing diversity', scientist says

Setobaudinia umbadayi, aka the hairy snail, found in WA Kimberley.
They may be slow-moving and somewhat sluggish, but 150 new species of snail have been discovered by scientists in Australia's far north — proving the slimy molluscs are surprisingly well-travelled.
Researchers surveying remote islands off the Kimberley coast have documented new species of land snail living throughout the relatively untouched wilderness.
The discoveries were originally made as part of the Kimberley Island Survey, which collected data from 22 islands between 2009 and 2011.
However, scientists only recently completed their analysis, finding there were up to 13 previously undocumented species of snail living on each island.
They range from minute molluscs less than two millimetres long to creepy critters covered in alien-like hair.-Read More

New Species of Moth Found in Parts of Southern California and Mexico Named After Donald Trump

A biologist has named a newly discovered species of moth found in parts of Southern California and Baja, Mexico, after President-elect Donald Trump.
Dubbed “Neopalpa donaldtrumpi,” the Canadian evolutionary biologist who discovered the tiny insect explained that he chose the name in honor of the next president partly because of the crown of yellowish scales on its head.
“With its hair tufts, its presence in US and Mexico, and its fragile habitat that needs conservation, I really did not have any choice with this one other than to name [the moth] after Mr. President-elect himself,” said Dr. Vazrick Nazari.
He added he also chose the name to bring awareness to conservation challenges.
“I hope to bring some public attention to the importance of conservation of the fragile habitats in the United States that still contain undescribed and threatened species, and-Read More

Ants use Sun and memories to navigate

Ant
Ants are even more impressive at navigating than we thought.
Scientists say they can follow a compass route, regardless of the direction in which they are facing.
It is the equivalent of trying to find your way home while walking backwards or even spinning round and round.
Experiments suggest ants keep to the right path by plotting the Sun's position in the sky which they combine with visual information about their surroundings.
"Our main finding is that ants can decouple their direction of travel from their body orientation," said Dr Antoine Wystrach of the University of Edinburgh and CNRS in Paris.
"They can maintain a direction of travel, let's say north, independently of their current body orientation."
Ants stand out in the insect world because of their navigational ability.
Living in large colonies, they need to forage for food and carry it back to their nest.
This often requires dragging food long distances backwards.-Read More

Sunday 15 January 2017

On the trail of an extinct species at a snail's pace, and then bingo!

  • Photo/Illustraion
TAKAMATSU--A tiny species of snail previously known only in the fossil record is not extinct after all.
The creature still thrives on Shikoku island in western Japan.
Shigefumi Yano, a retired high school teacher and snail enthusiast, made the startling discovery after asking himself whether it was possible the species had survived.
The creature in question is Awalycaeus yanoshokoae, a minuscule snail with a shell just 4 millimeters in diameter. It is a member of the subfamily Alycaeinae. The species was only known in fossilized remains from 33,000 years ago in sedimentary layers in a Sarudado limestone cave located on a hillside in Hidaka, Kochi Prefecture.
Yano, who is 65 and a resident of Kanonji, Kagawa Prefecture, started poking around the local cave after reading an article in 2012 about the snail fossils discovered there.
“Whether they were still living there was a gamble since the species in the Sarudado cave was known only through fossils,” Yano said. “I was thrilled when I actually found them.”
“Since fossils of contemporary species were found alongside the snail fossils, I thought that just maybe this snail hadn’t become extinct, either,” he said.
With his wife Shoko, 60, Yano started investigating in January 2014.
Yano theorized that if the mollusk species still existed, it would be found along layers of limestone around the Sarudado cave. He pored over local geological maps to pinpoint limestone sediment in the area and headed two months later to sites he had identified.
But the task he set himself was like finding a needle in a haystack.
The couple scoured mountain slopes for hours on end, to no avail. Yano was on the verge of giving up when Shoko came across an Awalycaeus shell.-read more

Scientists baffled by ‘new species’ of spider that makes STONEHENGE-like structures

The spider
Remarkable footage has emerged showing two yellow spiders crawling out of their eggs.
This in itself is nothing spectacular, but it’s what surrounds the creatures that has baffled scientists.
An intricate fence structure circles the insects, with silk being attached to the middle of the structure, where the egg is formed.
The phenomenon – which was filmed in Yasuni National Park in Ecuador last month – is the first of its kind to show the creature behind the “silkhenge” being born.-read more and see video

Two New Bug Species Have All-Pink Females

Meet Malaysia's new pink ladies: Two species of katydid whose females sport distinctly rosy hues.
While the males of the new species are a uniform green color, the females are standouts in red and pink. Not only that, both sexes look just like leaves, with distinctive veins and leaf-like lobes on their legs. (Also see a new species of spider that looks like a leaf.)
The insects, which live in northern Borneo (map), are especially unusual because one of them was identified based on photographs alone.
In 2013, a friend showed George Beccaloni pictures of a spectacularly colored katydid—a type of grasshopper-like insect—that Beccaloni couldn’t identify. Beccaloni sent them to Sigfrid Ingrisch, an expert on Asian katydids.
“He was reluctant to name and describe it because it’s not good practice to describe new species based only on photos,” says Beccaloni, a zoologist at London's Natural History Museum. “Often you need to look at microscopic characteristics, things that don’t show up in photos, to differentiate species.”-read more

Two virus-carrying mosquito species discovered, nine new ones in a decade

A University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences entomologist has found two more non-native mosquito species in Florida that transmit viruses that cause disease in humans and wildlife. That makes nine new mosquito species found in Florida in the past decade.
"The presence of any exotic mosquito is important from a nuisance, or biting, standpoint," said Nathan Burkett-Cadena, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of entomology at the UF/IFAS Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach, Florida. "However, these two species are known to transmit pathogens that affect human and animal health."
Burkett-Cadena found the mosquito species Aedeomyia squamipennis and Culex panocossa in Florida City and Homestead, both in south Miami-Dade County. He and Erik Blosser, a post-doctoral researcher at the FMEL, were visiting South Florida to collect a native mosquito species, Culex cedecei, to investigate its biology and ecology, when they noticed the two non-native species.
They took samples from several environments including forests,-read more

Saturday 14 January 2017

Star Wars-loving scientists name new gibbon species ‘Skywalker’, and actor and fans can’t have enough of it

star wars, luke skywalker, skywalker gibbon, starwars character primate, new primate skywalker, new species named skywalker, luke sykwalker, mark hamhill, trending news, weird news, latest newsThanks to some scientists, who are fans of epic space opera franchise ‘Star Wars,’ a new gibbon species living in the tropical forests of south-west China has been named to honour Luke Skywalker. The newly-discovered Skywalker gibbon is threatened by habitat loss and hunting and scientists argue that it should be classified as ‘endangered.’ Skywalker is the main protagonist of the film franchise.
The species has been named Skywalker hoolock gibbon partly because the Chinese characters of its scientific name mean “Heaven’s movement” and also because the scientists are fans of Star Wars, reported the BBC.
The exciting news about the Skywalker hoolock gibbon was greeted with delight by none other that Mark Hamill himself who played the popular character in the films. Fans were ecstatic by the news and many shared hilarious side-by-side photographs of apes and Hamill’s characters on Twitter. Some even initiated a photoshop challenge showing the gibbons in Star Wars-themed costumes and weapons.-read more

The elusive ruby seadragon is caught on camera in the wild for the first time

A live ruby seadragon has been spotted on camera for the first time. The rare species, that was discovered in 2015 from museum collections, was caught on camera by marine biologists from Scripps Oceanography in San Diego 
A ruby seadragon has been spotted on camera for the first time.
The rare species, that was discovered in 2015 from museum collections, was caught on camera in the Recherche Archipelago off the south coast of Western Australia.
Footage was taken using a low-light camera to reveal the bright red colour and surprising appearance of the mysterious animal.

Primate tool-use: Chimpanzees make drinking sticks

Researchers have used camera traps to film tool-use that is unique to chimpanzees in Ivory Coast.
The footage revealed that the clever primates habitually make special water-dipping sticks - chewing the end of the stick to turn it into a soft, water-absorbing brush.
Primate researchers examined the "dipping sticks" and concluded they were made specifically for drinking.
The findings are reported in the American Journal of Primatology.
Lead researcher Juan Lapuente, from the Comoe Chimpanzee Conservation Project, in Ivory Coast, explained that using similar brush-tipped sticks to dip into bees' nests for honey was common in chimpanzee populations across Africa.
"But the use of brush-tipped sticks to dip for water is completely new and had never been described before," he told BBC News.
"These chimps use especially long brush tips that they make specifically for water - much longer than those used for honey."
The researchers tested the chimps' drinking sticks in an "absorption experiment", which showed that the particularly long brush-tips provided an advantage.
"The longer the brush, the more water they collect," said Mr Lapuente.
"This technology allows Comoe chimpanzees to obtain water from extremely narrow-read more and see video

Mother-baby bonding insight revealed

A baby kangaroo keeps a close eye on its mother
Scientists say they have solved the mystery of why mothers tend to cradle newborn babies on the left.
This position activates the right hemisphere of the brain, which is involved in functions that help in communication and bonding, they say.
The "positional bias" is not unique to humans, with their advanced brains, but is also found in animals, according to researchers in Russia.
Similar behaviour has been seen in baby mammals following their mothers.
They include kangaroos and horses on land and walruses and orcas in the sea.
Dr Yegor Malashichev of Saint Petersburg State University, said the position helped in survival and social bonding.
"If there is no eye contact, or it is wrong, there is no activation of the right hemisphere of the infant... the right hemisphere is responsible for social interactions," he told BBC News.
"All the [11] species we studied demonstrated the lateral bias.
"We suggest that this bias is even more widespread and may be a characteristic of all mammals, with few exceptions. "-read more

Mysterious fossils find place on the tree of life

Hyolith
A strange animal that lived on the ocean floor 500 million years ago has been assigned to the tree of life, solving a long-held mystery.
The creature has eluded scientific classification since the first fossil was discovered 175 years ago.
The extinct hyolith has a cone-shaped shell, tentacles for feeding and appendages that acted as "feet".
It belongs to an invertebrate group that includes animals such as the horseshoe worm, say scientists.
Joseph Moysiuk, of the University of Toronto, made the discovery after analysing more than 1,500 specimens dug out of rocks in Canada and the US.
"Hyoliths are small cone-shaped sea dwelling animals. They are known from all around the world, mostly from fossils of their shells," he told BBC News.
"They appear in the fossil record about 530 million years ago and survived until about 250 million years ago.
"But the question of where hyoliths actually fit into the tree of life has been somewhat of a mystery for the last 175 years, since they were first described."-read more

Orcas reveal the origin of menopause

A 40-year study of a population of killer whales off the US Pacific coast has helped British researchers to solve an evolutionary mystery - why killer whales and humans are two of only three species that go through what we call menopause - stopping reproduction part-way through their lives.
By examining a record of every birth and death in every orca family, scientists discovered that the menopause gave new calves a better chance at survival - preventing what they called "reproductive conflict" between mothers and daughters.
Prof Darren Croft from the University of Exeter, who collaborated with the Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island and Fisheries and Oceans Canada in the study, says the findings, published in the journal Current Biology, could reveal how and why the same phenomenon evolved in humans.-read more and see video

Saturday 7 January 2017

Kozhikode: New damselfly species discovered from Western Ghats

KOZHIKODE: A new species of damselfly has been discovered from the shola forest ecosystems of Marayur sandalwood division and Mathikettan Shola National Park, which are part of the Western Ghats in Idukki district.

The species has been named Protosticta monticola, with the species epithet `monticola' referring to mountain dweller,-Read More
A new species of moth has been discovered in the Kingdom by Fife Coast and Countryside Trust wildlife volunteers. The Yellow-Barred Brindle moth, which is most commonly found in north-west England and western Scotland was spotted by Geordie Guthrie, who is a volunteer with Fife Coast and Countryside Trust (FCCT) voluntary group, earlier this year. Along with Bunty Johnstone and Derek Robertson, Geordie was recruited in 2008 by countryside ranger Derek Abbott to collect wildlife data at Lochore Meadows. This data is then passed to Fife Nature Records, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), the Bumble Bee Trust and the Butterfly Conservation Trus

Read more at: http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/environment/new-moth-species-found-by-volunteers-1-4327129
A new species of moth has been discovered in the Kingdom by Fife Coast and Countryside Trust wildlife volunteers. The Yellow-Barred Brindle moth, which is most commonly found in north-west England and western Scotland was spotted by Geordie Guthrie, who is a volunteer with Fife Coast and Countryside Trust (FCCT) voluntary group, earlier this year. Along with Bunty Johnstone and Derek Robertson, Geordie was recruited in 2008 by countryside ranger Derek Abbott to collect wildlife data at Lochore Meadows. This data is then passed to Fife Nature Records, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), the Bumble Bee Trust and the Butterfly Conservation Trust. The surveys provide up to date information about species seen at the Meadows

Read more at: http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/environment/new-moth-species-found-by-volunteers-1-4327129
A new species of moth has been discovered in the Kingdom by Fife Coast and Countryside Trust wildlife volunteers. The Yellow-Barred Brindle moth, which is most commonly found in north-west England and western Scotland was spotted by Geordie Guthrie, who is a volunteer with Fife Coast and Countryside Trust (FCCT) voluntary group, earlier this year. Along with Bunty Johnstone and Derek Robertson, Geordie was recruited in 2008 by countryside ranger Derek Abbott to collect wildlife data at Lochore Meadows.

Read more at: http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/environment/new-moth-species-found-by-volunteers-1-4327129

Bat-friendly tequila boosting numbers

Wildlife officials say it might be time for a toast now that a once-rare bat important to the pollination of plants used to produce tequila is making a comeback.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday proposed removing the lesser long-nosed bat from the endangered species list.Read More

USU researchers find 'ant-like' bees among new species


A team of Utah State University researchers has found nine new species of bees that are found only in the Western United States, including Utah.
The new species of the Perdita subgenus Heteroperdita were reported by USU’s Terry Griswold and Zach Portman with researchers from other institutions in the Dec. 23 edition of the journal Zootaxa.
“It’s exciting — you can go in our backyard, in parts of Utah and adjacent states, and find something that no one knew was there,” said Griswold, a USU adjunct professor and researcher at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Bee Lab in Logan.
Statewide, these bees are found in places like the Great Salt Lake and the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, but probably not Cache Valley, because the plant the insects visit for pollen likely doesn’t exist here, Griswold said.-Read More

Fossil fruit from 52 million years ago revealed

The berry, which has turned to coal, filled the lantern-like husk
A fossilised fruit dating back 52 million years has been discovered in South America.
The ancient berry belongs to a family of plants that includes popular foods such as potatoes, tomatoes and peppers.
The plant family's early history is largely unknown as, until now, only a few seeds have been found in the fossil record.
Scientists say the origins of the class go back much further than previously thought, by tens of millions of years.
The plant, a type of Physalis, was found in a fossilised rainforest in Patagonia.
It belongs to the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family of flowering plants, which includes crops, tobacco, medicinal plants and garden flowers such as the petunia.

'Incredibly rare'

Peter Wilf, professor of geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, led the team that discovered the ancient berry.
He told BBC News: "It's the only fossil fruit ever found of this whole group of plants, that now has over 2,000 species.
"A lot of the evolutionary history of life, especially plants, which are rare as fossils, is-Read More