27 February, 2009

(From original article by Lisa Lombardi)
January 5th, 2009
One-hundred fifty years after Charles Darwin published On The Origin of Species—the book that laid out his theory of natural selection as a means of evolution—scientists are hailing the evolutionary significance of a creature that Darwin missed during his time in the Galápagos Islands: the pink iguana.
An article published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences outlines the importance of the rare “rosada iguana,” a type of land iguana that is only found on the island of Volcan Wolf in the Galápagos. This rosy-colored reptile with distinctive black striping was first spotted in 1986 when a couple of park rangers stumbled upon it, but its discovery barely made a splash in the science pond and no publication has “officially” noted its existence.
Read the full original article at ScienCentral.
2 Comments |
All Articles, Amphibians & Reptiles, New Species, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
24 February, 2009
That’s not a drawing. That’s the real photo.

“The beady bits on the front of the Pacific barreleye fish in this picture released February 23, 2009, aren’t eyes but smell organs. The grayish, barrel-like eyes are beneath the green domes, which may filter light. In this picture the eyes are pointing upward—the better to see prey above in the darkness of the barreleye’s deep-sea home. Since the eyes are upright tubes, “it just looked like [they only] looked straight up,” MBARI marine technician Kim Reisenbichler said. But by watching live fish from a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and by bringing a barrelfish to an aquarium for study, the scientists discovered that the eyes can pivot, like a birdwatcher pointing binoculars.”
Read more at National Geographic.
2 Comments |
All Articles, Fresh/Marine Aquatic, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
23 February, 2009
Conservationists have found a host of new species after discovering uncharted new territory on the internet map Google Earth.

Excerpt from original article by Louise Gray,
Environment Correspondent
“The mountainous area of northern Mozambique in southern Africa had been overlooked by science due to inhospitable terrain and decades of civil war in the country.
However, while scrolling around on Google Earth, an internet map that allows the viewer to look at satellite images of anywhere on the globe, scientists discovered an unexpected patch of green.
A British-led expedition was sent to see what was on the ground and found 7,000 hectares of forest, rich in biodiversity, known as Mount Mabu.
In just three weeks, scientists led by a team from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew found hundreds of different plant species, birds, butterflies, monkeys and a new species of giant snake.
The samples which the team took are now back in Britain for analysis.
So far three new butterflies and one new species of snake have been discovered but it is believed there are at least two more new species of plants and perhaps more new insects to discover. …”
Read the entire article (and find more pics!) at the Telegraph.co.uk.
View many many more shots of the forest and animals at the Telegraph’s slideshow.
3 Comments |
All Articles, Amphibians & Reptiles, Insects, New Species, Plants & Fungi, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
6 February, 2009
From BBC News:
“As well as their distinctive markings and colourings, the researchers say Nectophrynoides are also unique because females give birth to offspring rather than lay eggs.”
.
.
.
.
Find pictures of more of the new species at BBC News online.
3 Comments |
All Articles, Amphibians & Reptiles, New Species |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
6 February, 2009

Excerpt from CNN.com:
“A recent scientific expedition in Colombia’s mountainous Darien region has unearthed 10 new species of amphibians, an environmental organization said.
Scientists with Conservation International on Monday announced the discovery of 10 new species in what’s being referred to as a safe haven for frogs located in the west of the country on the border with Panama….”
Read the original article on CNN.
1 Comment |
All Articles, Amphibians & Reptiles, New Species |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
25 November, 2008
From Mongabay.com:
Scientists have rediscovered a long-lost species of primate on a remote island in Indonesia.
Conducting a survey of Mount Rore Katimbo in Lore Lindu National Park on the island of Sulawesi, a team led by Sharon Gursky-Doyen of Texas A&M University captured three pygmy tarsiers, a tiny species of primate that was last collected in 1921 and was assumed to be extinct until 2000 when two scientists studying rats accidently trapped and killed an individual. Gursky-Doyen’s team spent two months using 276 mist nets to capture the gremlin-like creatures so they could be fitted with radio collars and tracked. One other individual was spotted but eluded capture.
Pygmy tarsiers are among the smallest and rarest primates in the world. The species is distinguished from tarsiers by its diminutive size (50 grams) and its fingers which
have claws instead of nails, which Gursky-Doyen believes may be an adaptation to its mossy habitat some 7,000-8,000 feet (2,100-2,440) about sea level. “
Read the full article, and find many more great photos (and a video!) of the pygmy tarsier at mongabay.com!
(thanks to mongabay for providing the great photos and map!)
7 Comments |
All Articles, Rediscovered, Small Mammals, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
25 November, 2008
From National Geographic.com:

“A new species of Plesionika shrimp probably won’t be thrown on the barbie anytime soon. That’s because it was found living at depths of 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) off the coast of Tasmania, researchers announced in October 2008.
An Australian survey team found the shrimp–along with hundreds of new species of corals, starfish, sponges, shrimps, and crabs–within a network of marine reserves.
The latest discovery “shows us there’s so much out there that we don’t know” said Justin Marshall, a marine scientist at the University of Queensland who was not part of the survey team. “We may be destroying habitat before we even know what’s there, so we need to describe it before it’s gone.”
—Photograph courtesy CSIRO“
For more images, and to read the rest of the information available, visit National Geographic.
1 Comment |
All Articles, Fresh/Marine Aquatic, Invertebrates, New Species, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
23 November, 2008
From NewScientist.com:
11:19 21 November 2008 by Emma Young
A new, third species of bottlenose dolphin has been discovered in the waters off southern Australia. It is only the second new dolphin to be discovered in 50 years.
Luciana Möller of the Marine Mammal Research Group at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and her colleagues were studying populations of what they thought were Indo-Pacific and common bottlenoses in southern waters.
DNA analysis, though, revealed that most the animals living close to the shores of the states of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania were in fact a new species, belonging to a new genus. “They look very like the Indo-Pacific species, but genetically they’re very different,” says Möller.
The team has called the new species the Southern Australian bottlenose. It is awaiting a scientific name after a formal description.
3 Comments |
All Articles, Fresh/Marine Aquatic, New Species |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
23 November, 2008
Researchers have discovered a new species of Bagworm Moth that wraps its eggs individually in “beautiful cases” fashioned from its golden abdominal hairs, according to a new paper published in the Annals of the Entomology Society of America. The behavior is unique among insects.
“We were mystified when we found a bizarre bag-like structure, about 12 mm long, studded with fragments of other insects, and containing a live insect larva,” said Diomedes Quintero, a professor of biology at the University of Panama who collected the larvae.
3 Comments |
All Articles, Invertebrates, New Species, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
15 October, 2008
In Australia….:

/wildlife/articl
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — A tiny frog species thought by many experts to be extinct has been rediscovered alive and well in a remote area of Australia’s tropical north, researchers said Thursday.The 1.5 inch-long Armoured Mistfrog had not been seen since 1991, and many experts assumed it had been wiped out by a devastating fungus that struck northern Queensland state.But two months ago, a doctoral student at James Cook University in Townsville conducting research on another frog species in Queensland stumbled across what appeared to be several Armoured Mistfrogs in a creek, said professor Ross Alford, head of a research team on threatened frogs at the university.
Read the full article at the Environmental News Network.
__________________________________________________________________
and in Costa Rica:
An extremely rare female frog has been spotted for the first time in 20 years.
The tiny tree frog, Isthmohyla rivularis, was seen in Costa Rica’s Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve.
This species was thought to have become extinct two decades ago, but last year a University of Manchester researcher caught a glimpse of a male.
However, the discovery of the female and more males suggests this species is breeding and has been able to survive where many other frogs have not.
Andrew Gray, a herpetologist from Manchester Museum at the University of Manchester, said: “This has been the highlight of the whole of my career.
Read the entire article, and watch the two videos at BBConline. (don’t miss the second video at the bottom!)
1 Comment |
All Articles, Amphibians & Reptiles, Rediscovered, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
2 October, 2008
Rare otter species ‘found in Vietnam’
This handout photo received on September 18 shows a hairy-nosed otter (Lutra sumatrana) in U Minh Ha National Park, in Vietnam’s Ca Mau province, in March 2008. Researchers said Thursday that they have found two hairy-nosed otters, which have been listed as the world’s rarest species, in the national park in southern Vietnam.
Scientists came across the pair in U Minh Ha National Park in March, according to a statement from the Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program.
“We were only about two and half metres away from them when we spotted the two otters. It was truly amazing to see such a rare species in the wild,” said research officer Nguyen Van Nhuan.
Hairy-nosed otters were thought to be extinct in the 1990s. However, they have since been rediscovered in Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia.
Read the complete article at PHYSORG.com
1 Comment |
All Articles, Rediscovered, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
15 August, 2008

Public release date: 15-Aug-2008
Contact: John Gibbons
Smithsonian
Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution have discovered a new species of bird in Gabon, Africa, that was, until now, unknown to the scientific community. Their findings were published in the international science journal Zootaxa today, Aug. 15.
The newly found olive-backed forest robin (Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus) was named by the scientists for its distinctive olive back and rump. Adult birds measure 4.5 inches in length and average 18 grams in weight. Males exhibit a fiery orange throat and breast, yellow belly, olive back and black feathers on the head. Females are similar, but less vibrant. Both sexes have a distinctive white dot on their face in front of each eye.
PLEASE read the entire article at EurekAlert!
5 Comments |
All Articles, Birds, New Species |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
11 August, 2008
Excerpt from BBC News:
By Jennifer Carpenter
Science reporter, BBC News
The world’s smallest snake, averaging just 10cm (4 inches) and as thin as a spaghetti noodle, has been discovered on the Caribbean island of Barbados.
The snake, found beneath a rock in a tiny fragment of threatened forest, is thought to be at the very limit of how small a snake can evolve to be.
Females produce only a single, massive egg - and the young hatch at half of their adult body weight.
This new discovery is described in the journal Zootaxa.
The snake - named Leptotyphlops carlae - is the smallest of the 3,100 known snake species and was uncovered by Dr Blair Hedges, a biologist from Penn State University, US.
Read the full article at BBC News online.
Thanks again to the Amateur Naturalist for the tip.
5 Comments |
All Articles, Amphibians & Reptiles, New Species, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
11 August, 2008
Ok, all- this is a big one. I’m posting the heads up (kindly forwarded to me by the Amateur Naturalist), and will post more specifics if and when they come available:
from BBC News online:
An expedition to the rainforests of Guyana has discovered species new to science.
A team of researchers and wildlife film-makers spent six weeks searching the pristine forest as part of a BBC documentary.
The group believes it has revealed two fish species, one frog species and a number of bat flies that have not been described previously.
The finds are detailed in the BBC series Lost Land of the Jaguar.
The three-part documentary includes footage of the elusive South American cat.
Dr George McGavin was astonished at the variety of life on show
|
“In a short time, we caught hundreds of species, 10% of which may be new to science. It was unreal, unbelievable,” exclaimed Dr George McGavin, a zoologist and one of the four presenters of the documentary.
He added: “Catching is the easy bit, the hard bit is going back to the lab and examining the species, comparing them to collections and books - seeing if they are new to science. One hour in the field can equal hundreds of hours in the lab.”
2 Comments |
All Articles, Amphibians & Reptiles, Fresh/Marine Aquatic, New Species, Small Mammals, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
26 May, 2008
Excerpt from original article by
Dave Hansford
for National Geographic News
February 4, 2008
A previously unknown species of uakari monkey was found during recent hunting trips in the Amazon, a New Zealand primatologist has announced.
Jean-Phillipe Boubli of the University of Auckland found the animal after following native Yanomamo Indians on their hunts along the Rio Aracá, a tributary of the Rio Negro in Brazil.
[...]
“I searched for that monkey for at least five years. The reason I couldn’t find it was because the place where they were was sort of unexpected.”
[...]
Boubli named the new monkey Cacajao ayresii after Brazilian biologist José Márcio Ayres.
In 2003, Dr Boubli described a new species of bearded saki monkey (Chiropotes israelita), and he has said the Pantepui region of the Amazon basin on the Brazil-Venezuela border also contains new species of spider monkey, squirrel monkey and capuchin monkey.
“Finding a relatively large monkey as a new species these days is pretty cool,” Dr Boubli told National Geographic magazine. “It shows how little we really know about the biodiversity of the Amazon.”
Follow links above to original sources.
Find more (excellent) information at ScienceAlert.com
4 Comments |
All Articles, Monkeys & Lemurs, New Species |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
10 April, 2008
Exerpt from original article by:
MICHAEL CASEY, AP Environmental Writer
Thursday, April 10, 2008
(04-10) 05:43 PDT BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)
A frog has been found in a remote part of Indonesia that has no lungs and breathes through its skin, a discovery that researchers said Thursday could provide insight into what drives evolution in certain species.
[...]
“These are about the most ancient and bizarre frogs you can get on the planet,” Bickford said of the brown amphibian with bulging eyes and a tendency to flatten itself as it glides across the water.
“They are like a squished version of Jabba the Hutt,” he said, referring to the character from Star Wars. “They are flat and have eyes that float above the water. They have skin flaps coming off their arms and legs.”
Along with the lungless frog, Bickford said his team discovered two new lizard species and four other species of frogs during their two-month trip.
Read full article at The San Francisco Chronicle online.
8 Comments |
All Articles, Amphibians & Reptiles, Fresh/Marine Aquatic, New Species, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
27 February, 2008
From BBC news:
Despite its name, the creature, along with the 15 other known species of elephant shrew, is not actually related to shrews.
Dr Rathbun told the BBC News website: “Elephant shrews are only found in Africa. They were originally described as shrews because they superficially resembled shrews in Europe and in America.”
In fact, the creature is more closely related to a group of African mammals, which includes elephants, sea cows, aardvarks and hyraxes, having shared a common ancestor with them about 100 million years ago.
“This is why they are also known as sengis,” explained Dr Rathbun.
From Yahoo news:
The newcomer, dubbed Rhynchocyon udzungwensis, stands head and shoulders above his cousins, weighing in at a massive 700 grammes (1.5 pounds), about 25 percent larger than any other known sengi.
He was identified by scientists Galen Rathbun of the California Academy of Sciences and Francesco Rovero of the Museum of Natural Sciences in Trento, Italy.
Their discovery is published in the February issue of the British-based Journal of Zoology.

“This is one of the most exciting discoveries of my career,” Rathbun, a 30-year veteran of sengi-watching, said in a press release.
“It is the first new species of giant elephant-shrew to be discovered in more than 126 years. From the moment I first lifted one of the animals into our photography tent, I knew it must be a new species — not just because of its distinct colouring, but because it was so heavy!”
Find the full BBC article here.
Read the rest of the Yahoo article here.
(thank you for reminding me, Ashley. I’ve been busy lately, and hadn’t gotten around to posting this one.)
5 Comments |
All Articles, New Species, Small Mammals, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
17 January, 2008
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 16, 2008;
4:29 PM LONDON

– Eeek! Imagine a rodent that weighed a ton and was as big as a bull. Uruguayan scientists say they have uncovered fossil evidence of the biggest species of rodent ever found, one that scurried across wooded areas of South America about 4 million years ago, when the continent was not connected to North America.
A herbivore, the beast may have been a contemporary, and possibly prey, of saber-toothed cats _ a prehistoric version of Tom and Jerry.
For those afraid of rodents, forget hopping on a chair. Its huge skull, more than 20 inches long, suggested a beast more than eight feet long and weighing between 1,700 and 3,000 pounds….
Read the full article at the Washington Post online.
No Comments » |
All Articles, New Species, Paleontology, Small Mammals, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
17 November, 2007

(AP) — A Dutch scientist thinks he has discovered a new species of wild pig nearly twice the size of other pigs in Brazil’s Amazon region.
At four feet long and 90 pounds, the pig is the latest in a string of new species that Marc van Roosmalen reported to have found since 1996. His findings were published in the Oct. 29 edition of the German scientific journal Bonner Zoologische Beitrage.
Van Roosmalen, said his discovery of the peccary - a kind of wild pig he dubbed Pecari maximus - points out the need to protect the region as a habitat for wild species.
He said he made his discovery by accident in 2000, while searching for a new monkey species.
[...]
The region where Roosmalen discovered the new peccary and other species - mostly primates - lies along a logging frontier around Nova Aripuana, where the number of sawmills has grown from two in 2002 to 14 today.
[...]
DNA analysis showed the animal diverged from the most closely related species, Pecari tajacu, or collared peccary, about 1 million to 1.2 million years ago, Van Roosmalen said.
Find the full article at Physorg.com
6 Comments |
All Articles, New Species, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
26 October, 2007
The following is copied directly from EurekAlert.org:

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — Researchers at New Mexico State University recently discovered the world’s hottest chile pepper. Bhut Jolokia, a variety of chile pepper originating in Assam, India, has earned Guiness World Records’ recognition as the world’s hottest chile pepper by blasting past the previous champion Red Savina. In replicated tests of Scoville heat units (SHUs), Bhut Jolokia reached one million SHUs, almost double the SHUs of Red Savina, which measured a mere 577,000.
Dr. Paul Bosland, Director of the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University’s Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences collected seeds of Bhut Jolokia while visiting India in 2001. Bosland grew Bhut Jolokia plants under insect-proof cages for three years to produce enough seed to complete the required field tests. “The name Bhut Jolokia translates as ‘ghost chile,’” Bosland said, “I think it’s because the chile is so hot, you give up the ghost when you eat it!” Bosland added that the intense heat concentration of Bhut Jolokia could have significant impact on the food industry as an economical seasoning in packaged foods.
——
The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS HortScience electronic journal web site: http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/42/2/222
Founded in 1903, the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) is the largest organization dedicated to advancing all facets of horticultural research, education, and application. Society website - ashs.org
6 Comments |
All Articles, New Species, Plants & Fungi, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
8 October, 2007

Thursday, 22 May 2003
Excerpt from original article
by Danny Kingsley
ABC Science Online
Four complete new kingdoms of life have been discovered by American researchers in the high alpine environment of Colorado, rewriting the textbooks on microbes.
The new microbe kingdoms were found in barren, boulder-filled tundra slopes west of Boulder, Colorado, delegates of the a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Washington DC heard this week.
Dr Allen Meyer, a medical practioner working with Professor Steven Schmidt in the environmental, population and organismic biology department of the University of Colorado in Boulder, made the discovery as part of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s ‘Microbial Observatories’ program.
“It is very interesting and kind of surprising to discover four kingdoms in the same locality,” Dr Don Colgan, an evolutionary biologist at the Australian Museum in Sydney, commented to ABC Science Online.
Until relatively recently, ‘kingdom’ was the highest level of classification in the scientific taxonomic system that places all forms of life into hierarchical categories. Kingdoms are made up of divisions (or phyla), which themselves break down again into classes, then orders, families, genus and finally, species.
Scientists in the 18th century originally classified the kingdoms of life into two basic groups: plants and animals. In 1977, Dr Carl Woese turned biology on its head when he discovered the ‘third kingdom of life’: archaea micro-organisms that live near volcanic vents on the seafloor without oxygen and in conditions thought to be reminiscent of Earth’s earliest environment. He has since proposed that these three kingdoms be placed in a higher classification, called domains.
Two advances in science have helped uncover even more new kingdoms of life, Colgan said: the increase in the analytical power of computers and the discovery of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process, which has allowed scientists to look at DNA sequences in intricate detail. A debt must also be paid to adventurers who go to extreme places and collect samples, he added.
Scientists now believe there are many more kingdoms, including fungi and a number of types of single-celled organisms. The number of kingdoms was estimated to be about 30 before the University of Colorado discovery. [more...]
Much MUCH more information is included in the Original Article at the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) website, News in Science.com.
No Comments » |
All Articles, New Kingdom |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
4 October, 2007

Excerpt from
original article
by Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) -
Using new DNA sequencing techniques, the researchers have identified as many as 37,000 different kinds of bacteria huddled near two hydrothermal vents on an underwater volcano off the Oregon coast.
“Many of these bacteria had never been reported before,” said Julie Huber of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, whose study appears in the journal Science.
[...]
Her research is part of an international effort to create a census of marine microbes, which make up as much as 90 percent of the total ocean biomass by weight.
Read the full, detailed article at Reuters.com.
1 Comment |
All Articles, Fresh/Marine Aquatic, New Species |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
4 October, 2007
Then it MUST be 2 newly discovered DINOSAURS!

First:
–Excerpt from original
article by: Scott Norris
for National Geographic News
October 3, 2007
“A massive fossil skull found in southern Utah represents a new species of duck-billed dinosaur, researchers say.
The unusually well-preserved skull shows the duckbill was a muscular vegetarian, with hundreds of teeth and bulging jaws.
“It could have eaten whatever [vegetation] was in its way,” said lead researcher Terry Gates, a paleontologist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
[...]
Gates and colleague Scott Sampson studied the skull, and concluded that it is a new species of hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur.
The species was given the scientific name Gryposaurus monumentensis in honor of the national monument where the skull was unearthed.”
Read full article at National Geographic.
News in Science article here.
_______________
Second:
Excerpt from article at
LiveScience.com
” A strange, long-necked waddling dinosaur with massive arms and probably enormous claws has been discovered.
It walked only on its hind legs like the carnivorous dinosaurs from which it evolved, but Suzhousaurus megatherioides, meaning “giant sloth-like reptile from Suzhou,” was an herbivore, says researcher Daqing Li of the Third Geology and Mineral Resources Exploration Academy of Gansu Province in northwestern China, where the fossil specimen was found.
The creature belongs to a group of dinosaurs called therizinosaurs, characterized by long necks capped by small heads, massive arms and claws, and flaring ribs and hips that made their bodies very wide. [...]“
Read the entire (very detailed) article at LiveScience.com.
1 Comment |
All Articles, New Species, Paleontology |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
4 October, 2007
A previously unknown indigenous group living in isolation has been found deep in Peru’s Amazon jungle, a team of ecologists has said. The ecologists spotted the 21 Indians near the Brazilian border as they flew overhead looking for illegal loggers.
The group was photographed and filmed from the air on the banks of the Las Piedras River in Peru’s south-eastern Amazon region.
A government official who was on the flight said there were three palm huts on the river bank.
“We’ve found five other sites with this kind of shelter along the same river,” Ricardo Hon told Associated Press news agency.
__________
Get more info from the original article at BBC News.–While you’re there, make a point to check out the links to other articles about Peruvian Indians in the news. The links can be found at the top of the right-hand column.
Find an INCREDIBLE resource for information on Native Amazonian tribes (including maps, photos*, videos, illustrations of different ceremonies- like the ‘Poison Frog Ceremony’- and MUCH more!) at Amazon-Indians.org, Matses.info, and Amazonz.info.
*please be aware that there is ‘National Geographic’ style nudity in the photos at these sites. These are native Natives.
Photo credit: Amazon-Indians.org, with many thanks! The Indians pictured are of the Matis tribe, of theYavarí Valley in Brazil. They bear many cultural and linguistic similarities to other tribes in Peru. You can find out more about that at the site.
2 Comments |
All Articles, Humans, Unusual Nature |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
26 September, 2007
The tropical forests of Vietnam are throwing open their secrets, as scientists discover 11 new species including two types of butterfly and a snake.
The species, which also include five orchids and three other plants, are exclusive to the remote area in the centre of the country known as the “Green Corridor”, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) charity said.
A further 10 kinds of plant, including four orchids, are still being examined but are thought to be new species.
The WWF said the animals and plants, found in forests in the Annamites Mountains of Thua Thien Hue province where several mammal species were discovered in the 1990s, could represent the “tip of the iceberg” of new species.
Find the original article at the Daily Mail.
5 Comments |
All Articles, Amphibians & Reptiles, Insects, New Species, Plants & Fungi |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
20 September, 2007
Exerpt from
original article
by Blake de Pastino
from National Geographic.com
September 18, 2007
This unusual species of flying fox was recently discovered in the Philippines not long after it was deemed not to exist.
Jake Esselstyn, a biologist with the University of Kansas, was among a team of researchers that found the animal, a type of fruit bat, last year while surveying forest life on the island of Mindoro.
“When we first arrived on Mindoro, a local resident that we hired as a guide described the bat to me in great detail, and he asked me what it was called,” Esselstyn said.
“I politely told him that there was no such bat. I was wrong.”
Several days into the survey, the scientists accidentally captured a creature in a net that fit the guide’s description: a large flying fox with bright orange fur and distinctive white stripes across its brow and jaw.
In his own defense, the scientist pointed out that the species’ closest known relative lives some 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) away on an island in Indonesia.
“It makes you wonder if there are other related species on islands between,” he said.
Read the full article at National Geographic!
8 Comments |
All Articles, New Species, Small Mammals |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
20 September, 2007
Excerpt from article
originally posted at
mongabay.com
August 13, 2007

“Scientists have discovered a previously unknown species of bird in dense bamboo thickets in the Peruvian Amazon.
Writing in the journal The Auk, authors led by Daniel F. Lane of the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science describe the new species of twistwing (Cnipodectes superrufus).
The scientists say the brownish-red colored bird [...] remained unknown until the present due to its poorly known, and largely inaccessible habitat: thickets of thorny bamboo (Guadua weberbaueri) in southeastern Peru.
Relatively little is known about the species. It apparently eats small arthropods (mostly insects) and has a call similar to that of the Sulfur-bellied Tyrant-Manakin (Neopelma sulphureiventer).”
Read the full article at Mongabay.com
Daniel F. Lane, Grace P. Servat, Thomas Valqui H.A, and Frank R. Lambert (2007). A DISTINCTIVE NEW SPECIES OF TYRANT FLYCATCHER (PASSERIFORMES: TYRANNIDAE: CNIPODECTES) FROM SOUTHEASTERN PERU. THE AUK Volume 124, Issue 3 (July 2007)
No Comments » |
All Articles, Birds, New Species |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy
4 September, 2007
By Charles Q. Choi,
Special to LiveScience
posted: 07 August 2007
03:32 pm ET
In a once-lost forest in Africa, six animal species new to science have been discovered, members of a two-month expedition now reveal, including a bat, a rodent, two shrews and two frogs.
“If we can find six new species in such a short period, it makes you wonder what else is out there,” said Wildlife Conservation Society researcher Andrew Plumptre.
Read the entire article at LiveScience.com
No Comments » |
All Articles, Amphibians & Reptiles, New Species, Small Mammals |
Permalink
Posted by zaxy