Conducting nature surveys can be grueling, often frustrating work. In forest landscapes, the efforts may necessitate scaling towering trees and, on the ground, turning over 100 or so heavy logs for every skittish critter sighting.
During a recent survey of Malaysia's Penang Hill, arachnologist Lauren Esposito of the California Academy of Sciences and post-doc Stephanie Loria were examining about their 99th log at night when a moment of discovery occurred.
"We were just standing on the path, sort of casually chatting while she dug into a rotting log, when she said, 'Chaerilid!' which is the scientific name for ghost scorpions," Esposito told Seeker. "The look on her face was worth the whole trip!"
The venomous arachnid, which fluoresces when under ultraviolet light, is just one of several likely new species discovered during the recent top-to-bottom flora and fauna survey of Penang Hill on Malaysia's island state of Penang. Other probable new species discoveries made during the survey — unprecedented in its =read more
No comments:
Post a Comment