Saturday 31 December 2016

Looking forward to new year and new discoveries of strange animals.

Yet again  in 2016 strange animals were found some new some not meant to exist and i get excited by this as it lets me realize we still do not known all about our planet and its creatures.I hope in 2017 to bring you more posts of these beautiful events so please read my posts and thank you.

Saturday 24 December 2016

New prehistoric bird species identified in Canadian Arctic

An artist's rendering of Tingmiatornis arctica, the new prehistoric bird species discovered by scientists from the University of Rochester.A new species of bird that lived 90 million years ago has been identified in the Canadian Arctic.
Scientists found three fragments of bones —  part of the ulna and parts of the humerus — along with the bones of some vertebrates in 1996 on Axel Heiberg Island. It can often take researchers many years to study prehistoric fossils and make conclusions.
The new species was named Tingmiatornis arctica. Tingmiat means "those that can fly" in Inuktitut. 
Though the discovery allowed scientists to link the bird to its modern-day descendants, the Tingmiatornis arctica doesn't quite resemble the birds we see now.
"The bird would have been a cross between a large seagull and a diving bird like a cormorant, but likely had teeth," John Tarduno, professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Rochester University and leader of the expedition, said in a statement.
The fossils also provide scientists with a better understanding of the climate and environment during the Cretaceous period's Turonian age, which lasted from around 93.9 to 89.8 million years ago.
Instead of a frigid icy region, the Canadian Arctic would have been more like today's Florida —  but with volcanoes. There would have been a -read more

Hairy crabs and deep-sea worms: 6 new species discovered in undersea hot springs

Thousands of hydrothermal vents — chimney-like structures spewing hot water clouds of minerals and nutrients — dot the ocean floor, buzzing with marine life of various kinds.
At one such undersea hot spring in the southwest Indian Ocean, a team of marine biologists have discovered unique marine life, including six species new to science, according to a new study published in Scientific Reports.
In 2011, the team, led by Dr Jon Copley of the University of Southampton in the U.K., sent a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to undersea vents 2.8 kilometers (~1.7 miles) deep at a place called Longqi or ‘Dragon’s Breath’, 1,243 miles southeast of Madagascar.-read more

New species of ant-like desert bees found

: Studying a diverse group of solitary, desert bees, researchers have reported identification of nine new species of the genus Perdita, including two ant-like males.

These solitary bees are not major pollinators of agricultural crops, but fill an important role in natural ecosystems of the American Southwest, including the sizzling sand dunes of -read more

Klingon Newt' and 'Ziggy Stardust' Snake: New Species Found in Asia

'Klingon Newt' and 'Ziggy Stardust' Snake: New Species Found in AsiaA newt that resembles a Klingon from "Star Trek" and a snake with iridescent rainbow scales that calls to mind David Bowie's colorful extraterrestrial alter ego Ziggy Stardust are two of 163 new species recently discovered in Southeast Asia.
Amphibians, reptiles, plants and mammals that were previously unknown to science were found during expeditions to some of the most remote areas in the Greater Mekong — a region that encompasses Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar — where researchers explored dense jungles, caves, rivers and forest canopies.
The new species — which also included a spiky lizard, an orange-eyed frog and a flower with "mouse ear" petals — were all described in 2015. They represent the latest discoveries from a location that is well-known for its biodiversity, with 2,409 new species from the Greater Mekong described since 1997, according to the World Wildlife Federation (WWF). [In Photos: Bizarre New Species Discoveries Include 'Klingon Newt']-read more

Saturday 17 December 2016

Researchers May Have Found Elusive 'Ghost Shark'

One of the most elusive creatures on the planet — and one that's even older than the dinosaurs — was captured on video by scientists and researchers from the Monterrey Bay Aquarian Research Institute in California when they filmed the deep-sea ghost shark,National Geographic reported Thursday.
Officially called chimaeras, but also known as the rat fish, spookfish or even rabbit fish, ghost sharks have roamed the Earth’s seas at of depths 8,500 feet. They are distant relatives of both sharks and rays, but they aren't nearly as big as some of their prehistoric brethren, reaching nearly 5 feet in length. They also possess retractable penises on their heads.
The discovery was technically made seven years ago, but researchers couldn’t confirm whether or not what they were seeing was an actual ghost shark. In 2009, the institute sent a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) down as far as 6,700 feet off the coasts of California and Hawaii, and they made the find by sheer chance.
“Normally, people probably wouldn’t have been looking around in this area, so it’s a little bit of dumb luck,” program director of the Pacific Shark Research Center at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories Dave Ebert told NatGeo.
The video captured was originally part of research by the California Academy of Sciences in pursuit of a new species of ghost shark off the coasts of southern California and Baja, -Read More

Eriovixia gryffindori-Newly discovered spider species named after the "Harry Potter" sorting hat

harrypotterspider.pngA new spider species has just been discovered, but it already has a doppelganger — the sorting hat from the “Harry Potter” series.
Three scientists in India discovered the new spider species and named it after the enchanted hat after noticing the striking similarities. The species is called Eriovixia gryffindori, after the hat’s original owner, Godric Gryffindor. In the books, the sorting hat designates which house of the magical Hogwarts school each student will join. -Read More

From hairy-chested crabs to monstrous slugs: Scientists discover six new species of marine animals hiding beneath the Indian Ocean

Hairy-chested crabs (pictured) and monstrous slugs  are among the six new species of marine animals found living near the hydrothermal vents beneath the Indian Ocean. Researchers stumbled upon this underwater treasure trove while surveying an area the size of a football stadium on the sea floor ¿ 1.7 miles below the surface'WHairy-chested crabs and monstrous slugs are among the six new species of marine animals found living near the hydrothermal vents beneath the Indian Ocean.
Researchers stumbled upon this underwater treasure trove while surveying an area the size of a football stadium on the sea floor – 1.7 miles below the surface.
Using remotely operated vehicles, the team found a new species of 'Hoff' crab, two new snails, a previously unknown limpet and two new species of we can be certain that the new species we've found also live elsewhere in the southwest Indian Ocean, as they will have migrated here from other sites, but at the moment no-one really knows where, or how well-connected their populations are with those at Longqi,' said Dr Copley, the head of the research team at the University of Southampton.
'Our results highlight the need to explore other hydrothermal vents in the southwest Indian Ocean and investigate the connectivity of their populations, before any impacts from mineral exploration activities and future deep-sea mining can be assessed.'
The hydrothermal vents sit 1,243 miles southeast of Madagascar and is known as the Lonqui vents, or 'Dragon Breath'.
For a majority of these species, this is the first time they have been seen by humans and researchers believe these creates only thrive in the Longqi vents.
'Since the first investigations of hydrothermal vents in the eastern Pacific in


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4039030/From-hairy-chested-crabs-monstrous-slugs-Scientists-discover-six-new-species-marine-animals-hiding-beneath-Indian-Ocean.html#ixzz4SSjJgp1n

Tuesday 13 December 2016

Andy mcgrath. .beasts of Britain

Hi Mark, I run a group dedicated to serious research and documenting the many water monsters, bigfoot, unidentified flying cryptids and big cats et al, of The British Isles. I'd love to share my stories and hear yours. Best regards, Andy McGrath - Beasts Of Britain https://www.facebook.com/BeastsOf/?ref=bookmarks#

Saturday 10 December 2016

Bathochordaeus charon, Mythical' sea blob finally spotted a century after its discovery

A giant larvacean, Bathochordaeus charon, surrounded by its inner "house" (the rounded globular object in the middle of the photo) and its outer "house" (the large yellowish mucus net)A mysterious sea blob that looks like a psychedelic Slinky has finally been spotted, more than a century after it was first described.
The translucent, sea-dwelling invertebrate, called Bathochordaeus charon, was identified recently off the coast of Monterey, California, by scientists using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). Though B. charon was first discovered a century ago, no one had managed to confirm its existence in all those years, Rob Sherlock, a scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who found the creature, told Live Science in an email. [See Photos of the Translucent Sea Blob]

Mysterious sea creature

B. charon belongs to a group of sea creatures known as larvaceans — normally teensy, millimeter-size creatures whose bodies resemble a tadpole's, with a large "head" (actually a trunk) and a tail, Sherlock said.

Though the sea is teeming with tiny larvaceans, the larger versions, which can have bodies extending up to 3.9 inches, are much less common. To eat, the sea blob filters food through its shimmering,-Read More
 

NEW PARASITIC CRAB SPECIES DISCOVERED DURING SMITHSONIAN BIOCUBE WORK IN SOLOMON ISLANDS

pea crabA one-cubic-foot approach to studying biodiversity as showcased in the new Biocubeexhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has led to the discovery and naming of a new species of pea crab in the Solomon Islands. Serenotheres janus was recently discovered by students and Smithsonian scientists during a Biocube collaboration, a project in which 12-inch cube frames are placed in diverse habitats around the globe and all of the animal and plant species that are inside or pass through the cubes are documented.
During a 2014 Solomon Islands expedition, students placed a biocube on a portion of the reef off of Njari Island that contained a large chunk of dead coral. “The students extracted the cube, brought it back to the boat and took it apart,” explains Chris Meyer, Natural History Museum mollusk expert and a principal researcher with Biocubes.
Inside they found a live boring date mussel (Leiosolenus obesus), a mollusk shaped like a bullet that bores deep into the hard coral material for protection. Prying open the mussel, Meyer discovered a tiny cream-colored parasitic pea crab living inside.-Read More

'Big and scary' new water spider species discovered by university student in Tasmania

New species of water spider in a jar"My initial reaction was 'Oh God, it's so big, so scary'."
University student Christina Adams did not expect to find a spider in her pitfall trap, and she certainly did not expect it to be a new species.
Ms Adams found the spider at Duckhole Rivulet Saltmarsh near Richmond, east of Hobart.
She was collecting insects for her honours project but did not expect to catch spiders in the traps as they can usually crawl out.
"I initially thought it was a wolf spider," she told Tahlea Aualiitia on 936 ABC Hobart.
"I took a picture and put the picture on the Tasmanian insect page on Facebook and a guy called John Douglas, he's a well-known spider person, he said it wasn't a wolf spider and said it was a new species."-Read More

Four-legged fossils found in Scotland may help fill a 15-MILLION-year gap in evolutionary history

While much is known about our evolutionary history, until now, a 15-million-year gap has remained in the fossil record. But researchers have unearthed five new species in the Scottish Borders that could help to close this gap While much is known about our evolutionary history, until now, a 15-million-year gap has remained in the fossil record.
But researchers believe they may have helped bridged that gap after unearthing five new species of what may be the earliest four-legged backboned animals to walk on land.
The animals come from a crucial point in history, when amphibians split from the group that would later give rise to mammals, birds and reptiles.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4002528/How-life-walked-land-Four-legged-fossils-Scotland-help-15-MILLION-year-gap-evolutionary-history.html#ixzz4SR4M38Tv

The spiders that can FLY:A ghost spider, called Tomopisthes horrendus

Ghost spiders are native to the Valdivian temperate rain forest, an ecoregion on mainland South America. But, these arachnids have developed ways to expand their reach. A ghost spider, called Tomopisthes horrendus, is pictured as it captures preyFlying spiders once took to the skies to conquer remote islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Researchers have discovered three new species of ‘ghost spider’ on Robinson Crusoe Island, a site roughly 400 miles off Chile – and they say they flew hundreds of miles to get there.
According to the team, the ‘eight-legged castaway’ used a technique known as ballooning to colonize areas across the ocean two million years ago, and then experienced rapid evolution to split into several species.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4007704/The-spiders-FLY-Scientists-discover-three-new-species-ghost-spider-traveled-hundreds-miles-Pacific-Ocean-using-web-balloons.html#ixzz4SR3EVu77

'Beautiful' dinosaur tail found preserved in amber

TailThe tail of a feathered dinosaur has been found perfectly preserved in amber from Myanmar.
The one-of-a-kind discovery helps put flesh on the bones of these extinct creatures, opening a new window on the biology of a group that dominated Earth for more than 160 million years.
Examination of the specimen suggests the tail was chestnut brown on top and white on its underside.
The tail is described in the journal Current Biology.
"This is the first time we've found dinosaur material preserved in amber," co-author Ryan McKellar, of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada, told the BBC News website.
The study's first author, Lida Xing from the China University of Geosciences in Beijing, discovered the remarkable fossil at an amber market in Myitkina, Myanmar.
The 99-million-year-old amber had already been polished for jewellery and the seller had thought it was plant material. On closer inspection, however, it turned out to be the tail of a feathered dinosaur about the size of a sparrow.
Lida Xing was able to establish where it had come from by tracking down the amber miner who had originally dug out the specimen.--Read More

Cytherissa lacustris, Rare tiny creatures found in loch near Kinross

OstracodsTiny crustaceans previously recorded at two locations in the British Isles have been found in a loch near Kinross.
Cytherissa lacustris, a species of creature called ostracods, only grow to about a millimetre in length.
Until now, this species had only been known to be living at Loch Assynt in Scotland and a site in north England.
David Horne, professor of micropalaeontology at Queen Mary University of London, found Cytherissa lacustris in Loch Leven.
The species is rare in Britain, but "quite well-known" elsewhere in the northern hemisphere, including parts of Europe and Canada, said Prof Horne.
He was alerted to the possibility that the creatures were living in Loch Leven during a visit to the Discovery Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Prof Horne had gone there to study a large archive of ostracods collected by a 19th Century naturalist, George Brady.--Read More

Saturday 3 December 2016

A Bird, a Word, and a Linguistic Mystery

imageOn Dec. 20, 1792, the whaling ship Asia was making its way through the Desolation Islands, in the Indian Ocean, when the crew decided to stop for lunch. According to the log keeper, the meal was a great success: "At 1 PM Sent our Boat on Shore After Some refreshments," he wrote. "She returned with A Plenty of Woggins we Cooked Some for Supper."
Right about now, you may be feeling peckish. But you may also be wondering:What in the world is a woggin?
New species are discovered all the time. Unknown old species—extinct ones, found as fossils and then plugged into our historical understanding of the world—turn up a lot, too. But every once in a while, all we have to go on is a word. New or old, known or unknown, no one knew what a woggin was until-Read More

Rare Antarctic beetle find delights

BeetlesScientists have made a rare find: a new species of fossil beetle from Antarctica.
It's the first evidence of a ground beetle found on the southernmost continent.
And Antarctic insects are themselves a rarity - the absence of biodiversity is considered a consequence of a lack of moisture, vegetation and the low temperatures.
The specimen is described in the scientific journal Zookeys.
Fossilised forewings from a pair of beetles were discovered on the 200km-long Beardmore Glacier, near the Transantarctic Mountains.
The new species and genus has been named Ball's Antarctic Tundra Beetle, after George E Ball - an expert on ground beetles.
It lived between 14 and 20 million years ago, when Antarctica was warmer than today.
The beetle joins a sparse record of insects from the southernmost continent. Today, Antarctica's insect fauna consists of just three species of flightless midges.Read More

Castaway Ghost Spiders Flew to Robinson Crusoe Island

Arachnophobes might be shocked to learn that some spiders can fly hundreds of miles across the ocean.
Two million years ago, airborne arachnids colonized remote Pacific islands by ballooning, a technique in which spiders use their silk as a kind of kite that can carry them long distances. (Read about spiders that can fly without silk—and steer in midair.)
These so-called ghost spiders likely landed on Robinson Crusoe Island (map), roughly 400 miles off Chile, where they blossomed into several new species. And now scientists have identified at least three previously unknown to science, a new study says.
The rugged island is named in honor of a privateer marooned there in the early 1700s who may have inspired Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe.Read More

New Giant, Air-Breathing Fish Discovered

One of the world's largest, most endangered, and most mysterious freshwater fish has yielded a new surprise: a likely new species—and possibly several more—have been lurking in the backwaters of the Amazon.
New research published by National Geographic explorer Donald J. Stewart and colleagues L. Cynthia Watson and Annette M. Kretzer in the journal Copeia this week reveals strong genetic evidence for an unknown new species of arapaima that was found at several locations in southwestern Guyana.
Long, narrow giants, arapaimas live in tropical South America. They can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh 440 pounds. They breathe air through a primitive lung, and tend to live in oxygen-poor backwatersRead More