Top 10 New Species of 2012

May 22, 2013 — An amazing glow-in-the-dark cockroach, a harp-shaped carnivorous sponge and the smallest vertebrate on Earth are just three of the newly discovered top 10 species selected by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University. A global committee of taxonomists -- scientists responsible for species exploration and classification -- announced its list of top 10 species from 2012 today, May 23.

The announcement, now in its sixth year, coincides with the anniversary of the birth of Carolus Linnaeus -- the 18th century Swedish botanist responsible for the modern system of scientific names and classifications.

Also slithering it way onto this year's top 10 is a snail-eating false coral snake, as well as flowering bushes from a disappearing forest in Madagascar, a green lacewing that was discovered through social media and hangingflies that perfectly mimicked ginkgo tree leaves 165 million years ago. Rounding out the list is a new monkey with a blue-colored behind and human-like eyes, a tiny violet and a black staining fungus that threatens rare Paleolithic cave paintings in France.

"We have identified only about two million of an estimated 10 to 12 million living species and that does not count most of the microbial world," said Quentin Wheeler, founding director of the International Institute for Species Exploration at ASU and author of "What on Earth? 100 of our Planet's Most Amazing New Species" (NY, Plume, 2013).

Continued

The wet summer of 2012 was very good for some butterflies - very bad for others

Grass feeding butterflies defy deluge

January 2013. Grass-feeding butterflies defied the second wettest year on record to enjoy a bumper 2012 across the UK countryside, according to a new scientific survey. Last year's incessant rain prompted substantial grass growth and provided good conditions for some grassland species such as the Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Gatekeeper.

Very good year for meadow brown
The Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) revealed that the Meadow Brown enjoyed its best year since the start of the scheme with almost twice as many counted than in 2011.

Very bad year for other butterflies
But overall 2012 proved to be a washout with recorders seeing 43% fewer species on average than in 2011 during survey counts. The WCBS involves counting butterflies in more than 700 randomly generated 1km-squares across the UK countryside. The scheme helps assess the health of butterfly populations across the wider countryside, rather than specially managed hotspots such as nature reserves.

Last year, recorders saw on average 44 butterflies of four species per-survey made over July and August compared with 2011 when 47 butterflies from seven species were seen on average. In 2009 an average of 80 butterflies and eight species were recorded per-survey.

A relatively dry start to 2012 followed by near continual rain saw bumper grass growth - providing some species with an abundance of their favoured food plants. The Meadow Brown thrived as a result with more than 18,500 counted, almost twice as many as in 2011. This was the most widespread butterfly for the third successive year being seen in 89% of squares surveyed.

Ringlet & Gatekeeper
The Ringlet also enjoyed a good year and was found in almost two-thirds of squares compared to half of squares in 2011. Another grass-feeder, the Gatekeeper, was also more widespread than 2011.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/2012-butterflies.html

2012 weather was great for slugs, bad for mammals – What thrived and what struggled?

Wild weather leads to the ‘Year of the Slug'

January 2013. Unsettled, unpredictable and at times chaotic weather has meant that this year has been hugely challenging for wildlife, according to experts at the National Trust. Whilst birds and insects have struggled, slugs and orchids have done well throughout Britain in our special places.

Matthew Oates, wildlife adviser at the National Trust, said: "This has been a highly polarised year, with wildlife in the places we look after doing either remarkably well or incredibly badly. In general, plants and slugs were the big winners and insects the big losers. But even in this wet summer some insects did surprisingly well, at least in a few places. Our wildlife, farmers, horticulturalists and rural tourism and recreation industries are all long overdue a good summer, having suffered poor ones since 2006. Surely we are due a good one next year?"

Drought and floods
It was a spring of two halves with the warmest March since 1910 and the implementation of drought orders across England followed by the wettest April on record.

The April downpour had a detrimental impact on fruit harvests in the autumn as the spring rains washed away the blossom resulting in a very bad year for English apples across the board and autumn fruits and berries such as sloes and holly berries.

Wet summer
Another poor summer has hit British wildlife hard as it struggled to cope with the very wet conditions and a distinct lack of long dry summer days though some species have gone against the flow and thrived.

It was a bad summer for the insect pollinators and even those flowers that were pollinated have struggled to set fruit in the ongoing we weather with a knock on affect for birds and animals that depends on these crucial food sources.

Bees, butterflies and hoverflies also suffered a set back this year because of the mixed weather becoming generally very scarce, though there were welcome exceptions in some places where the Chalkhill blue and dark-green fritillary did spectacularly well.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/2012-weather-wildlife.html

Big butterfly count reveals that bad weather was bad for most butterflies

Washout summer hampers butterflies

September 2012. This wettest summer for a century saw the numbers of many common butterflies fall, the world's biggest butterfly count has revealed. More than 25,000 people across the UK took part in the Big Butterfly Count 2012, counting over 223,000 butterflies and day-flying moths.

75% species declined in the last year
But the Butterfly Conservation survey revealed the numbers of 15 of the 21 species studied fell compared with last year's figures and 11 common butterflies declined by more than one third. Butterfly Conservation is concerned that the wettest summer for 100 years, combined with a poor spring has triggered population crashes and could put some already threatened species at risk.

Cold and wet weather is bad news
Cold and wet weather is a dangerous double whammy for butterflies - it increases the mortality of caterpillars and also limits the ability of adult butterflies to find mates and lay eggs, which leads to reduced numbers in current and future generations.

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/butterfly-count012.html