Student discovers 18 new species of aquatic beetle in South America

JUNE 22, 2020

by Brendan M. Lynch, University of Kansas

It would be striking for a seasoned entomologist with decades of fieldwork to discover such a large number of species unknown to science. But for University of Kansas student Rachel Smith, an undergraduate majoring in ecology & evolutionary biology, the find is extraordinary: Smith recently published a description of 18 new species of aquatic water beetle from the genus Chasmogenus in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.

"The average size of these beetles, I would say, is about the size of a capital 'O' in a 12-point font," said Smith of the collection of new species. "They spend a lot of their life in forest streams and pools. They're aquatic, so they're all great swimmers—and they can fly."

The research involved Smith traveling to Suriname to perform fieldwork as well as passing countless hours in the lab of Andrew Short, associate professor of ecology & evolutionary biology and associate curator with KU's Biodiversity Institute, who co-wrote the new paper.

Smith said many of the aquatic beetle species are virtually indistinguishable simply by looking at them, even under a microscope.

"Something unique and fascinating about this genus, particularly the ones I worked on, is that many look almost exactly the same," she said. "Even to my trained eye, it's hard to tell them apart just based on external morphology. Their uniqueness is in there but kind of hidden in this very uniform external morphology."

To identify the new species, Smith compared DNA evidence from the aquatic beetles with a few external morphological differences that could be observed. But this was not enough: Much of Smith's work also hinged on dissecting these tiny specimens collected in northeastern South America to spot key differences in their internal anatomy.

"Because it's difficult to tell them apart from external morphology, you kind of have to go inside," she said. "I ended up doing over 100 dissections of these beetles to extract the male genitalia and look at it under a microscope. That really was the true way to tell them apart. Ultimately, it came down to male genitalia and genetic divergence that I used to delimit many of these species."

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New tarantula species from Angola distinct with a one-of-a-kind 'horn' on its back

Date:  February 12, 2019

Source:  Pensoft Publishers

A new to science species of tarantula with a peculiar horn-like protuberance sticking out of its back was recently identified from Angola, a largely underexplored country located at the intersection of several Afrotropical ecoregions.

Collected as part of the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, which aims to uncover the undersampled biodiversity in the entire Okavango catchment of Angola, Namibia and Botswana, thereby paving the way for sustainable conservation in the area, the new arachnid is described in a paper published in the open-access journal African Invertebrates by the team of Drs John Midgley and Ian Engelbrecht.

Although the new spider (Ceratogyrus attonitifer sp.n.) belongs to a group known as horned baboon spiders, the peculiar protuberance is not present in all of these species. Moreover, in the other species -- where it is -- the structure is completely sclerotised, whereas the Angolan specimens demonstrate a soft and characteristically longer 'horn'. The function of the curious structure remains unknown.

The new tarantula's extraordinary morphology has also prompted its species name: C. attonitifer, which is derived from the Latin root attonit- ("astonishment" or "fascination"), and the suffix -fer ("bearer of" or "carrier"). It refers to the astonishment of the authors upon the discovery of the remarkable species.

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The first case of a Portuguese beetle living exclusively in groundwater

January 8, 2019, Pensoft Publishers

A diving beetle demonstrating various adaptations to the life underground, including depigmentation and evolutionary loss of eyes, was discovered at the bottom of a clay pound in the cave Soprador do Carvalho, Portugal. The species turned out to be the very first in the whole order of beetles (Coleoptera) to be known exclusively from the underground waters of the country.

Despite not being able to find any other specimens during their study—save for the single female, the team of Dr. Ignacio Ribera, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (Spain) and Prof Ana Sofia P. S. Reboleira, University of Copenhagen (Denmark) identified the beetle as new to science, thanks to its unambiguous morphology in combination with molecular data.

Aptly named Iberoporus pluto in reference to the ruler of the underworld in Greek mythology Pluto, the species was recently described in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

With a uniformly pale orange body measuring 2.8 mm in length and 1.1 mm in its widest part, the beetle is larger than the rest species known in its genus, and its appendages are longer and more slender. While blindness and depigmentation are clear adaptation to life away from sunlight, the elongated limbs and antennae reflect poor swimming abilities needed in a subterranean habitat. Going for 4 km in horizontal direction, Soprador do Carvalho is the largest in the Dueça cave system, located in the north-eastern part of the Sicó karst area in central Portugal. In recent years, the cave is being explored for tourism.

"The knowledge of the subterranean fauna from Portugal has significantly increased over the last decade, with the description of a high number of obligate subterranean species (tripling their number) and the establishment of new biogeographic patterns," explain the authors of the study. "A high number of these species are stygobiont (i.e. confined to groundwater), mostly from wells in the north of the country, where evapotranspiration is higher."

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Protected northern red-legged frog re-discovered - via Herp Digest

Delta Optimist/ NOVEMBER 16, 2018

The northern red-legged frog is federally and provincially protected.

After finding a northern red-legged frog in the Delta Nature Reserve, Burns Bog Conservation Society staff are jumping with joy. The frog was thought to have been extinct locally.

“I was leading one of our field trips through the Delta Nature Reserve on Oct. 9 and one of the students saw something move,” said Nikolai Karpun, the society’s education and communications coordinator. “I looked over and saw a frog. It looked unlike any I had seen in the Delta Nature Reserve. Luckily, my first instinct was to take a photo.”

The northern red-legged frog is federally and provincially protected. It’s threatened by habitat loss as well as competition from non-native frogs.

The goal of the provincial management plan for the northern red-legged frogis to maintain self-sustaining and ecologically functioning populations in occupied watersheds throughout its range.

Burns Bog Conservation Society executive director Eliza Olson said nearby highway work will soon impact the Delta Nature Reserve.

“Before works start, we must find out if there are any more northern red-legged frogs in the Delta Nature Reserve,” said Olson. “We’d be hopping mad not to.”

Rare creatures have been found in Delta before. In 1999, a southern red-backed vole was spotted on the western side of Burns Bog, the first time since 1947 it had been seen in B.C.

“I wonder what other hidden treasures are in Burns Bog waiting to be found?” asked bog society education and research coordinator Mark Robertson.

Anyone who thinks they’ve spotted a northern red-legged frog in Delta, note the date, time and location. If possible, take a photo, but do not attempt to capture the frog. Contact the Burns Bog Conservation Society at info@burnsbog.org, or call 604-572-0373.

New wasps named after Crocodile Dundee and Toblerone amongst 17 new genera and 29 species

Five species are also named after institutions holding some of the largest wasp collections

Date: June 25, 2018

Source: Pensoft Publishers

Summary:

  

A total of 17 new genera and 29 new species of parasitoid wasps were identified following a study into the material deposited at major natural history collections around the globe in an attempt to further uncover the megadiverse fauna of the group of microgastrine wasps.

The novel taxa known to inhabit the tropics, including the Afrotropical, Australasian, Neotropical and the Oriental region, are published by Dr Jose Fernandez-Triana and Caroline Boudreault of the Canadian National Collection of insects in Ottawa in a monograph in the open access Journal of Hymenoptera Research.

Curiously, amongst the newly described wasps, there are several newly described genera and species, which received particularly amusing names.

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Six new peeping frogs discovered in western Mexico

by Mike Gaworecki on 11 May 2018

Scientists have discovered six new species of peeping frog in the western Mexican states of Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacán.

All six frogs belong to the genus Eleutherodactylus and were described in the journal Mesoamerican Herpetology last month. According to the authors of the article describing the new species, Eleutherodactylus frogs “are among the most diverse and taxonomically challenging groups of amphibians in the New World.”

The genus Eleutherodactylus consists of five subgenera, four of which are native solely to the West Indies and are relatively well-studied. The six newly discovered frogs belong to the fifth subgenus, Syrrhophus, a group that has received less attention from scientists.

Scientists have discovered six new species of peeping frog in the western Mexican states of Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacán.

All six frogs belong to the genus Eleutherodactylus and were described in the journal Mesoamerican Herpetology last month. According to the authors of the article describing the new species, Eleutherodactylus frogs “are among the most diverse and taxonomically challenging groups of amphibians in the New World.”

The genus Eleutherodactylus consists of five subgenera, four of which are native solely to the West Indies and are relatively well-studied. The six newly discovered frogs belong to the fifth subgenus, Syrrhophus, a group that has received less attention from scientists. Frogs belonging to Syrrhophus can be found in Cuba and continental North America, where their ranges extend from Texas to central Guatemala. They are most species-rich in Mexico.

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This Contorted Mystery Squid May Be the 'Most Bizarre' Ever Seen

By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | April 20, 2018 11:57am ET

"There's a challenge for you — what is THAT?"

Unusual deep-sea creatures seen for the first time can sometimes stump even a seasoned expert in marine biology. And in a recent video of an ocean dive in the Gulf of Mexico, an expert's off-camera exclamation revealed his surprised response to the appearance of a squid that had contorted itself into such a peculiar shape that it barely resembled a squid at all.

On April 17, the inverted, folded-up squid made its on-screen debut for the cameras of an expedition submersible. Its posture was so peculiar that Mike Vecchione, a research zoologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), dubbed the contorted cephalopod "the most bizarre squid I've ever seen." [Gallery: Exploring the Gulf of Mexico]

The dive was part of an ocean exploration mission to investigate deep-sea habitats in the Gulf of Mexico. The expedition is being conducted by the NOAA research vessel Okeanos Explorer and is taking place from April 11 through May 3.

From aboard Okeanos, scientists send deep-diving remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to capture high-resolution video of marine communities and to map the geography of habitats on the bottom of the ocean. Okeanos researchers share frequent updates from the dives, including photos and video, posting them on the mission's website.

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The 11th species of an endemic Australian wasp genus

February 19, 2018, Flinders University

As well as an interest in all insects, Flinders biological sciences Ph.D. Ben Parslow has a fascination for wasps.

The focus of his doctorate research on the wasp genus Gasteruption has accidently has put him on the trail of describing the 11th species of an endemic Australian wasp genus.

It's estimated that there are three times the 10,140 or so described species of wasps still to be identified by scientists in Australia.

As such, he was most excited to come across a "really interesting looking wasp" in material loaned from a collection at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.

"These Hyptiogaster wasps are uncommonly collected and the material was loaned to myself hidden among other wasps I am borrowing for my Ph.D. research," he says.

"It was a strange looking wasp and as soon as I saw it, it piqued my interest.

"After checking it against the described material, we were sure it was something new."

With University of Adelaide mentor Dr. John Jennings, the "new" Hyptiogaster wasp has been described in a new paper in Zootaxa.

"This species is the first of the genus to be described from the Northern Territory," he says.

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New butterfly species discovered in Russia with an unusual set of 46 chromosomes

Date:  November 27, 2017

Source:  Pensoft Publishers

Summary:

Finding a new species is a rare event in easy-to-see and well-studied organisms like butterflies, especially if they inhabit well-explored areas such as Europe. Researchers have now discovered the previously unknown South-Russian blue using an array of modern research techniques. Furthermore, the new species was found to possess 46 chromosomes, just like a human, whereas its closest relative has 68 chromosomes.

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New hermit crab uses live coral as its home

Crab substitutes for marine worm in symbiotic partnership with walking coral

Date:  September 21, 2017

Source:  PLOS

A new hermit crab species can live in a walking coral's cavity in a reciprocal relationship, replacing the usual marine worm partner, according to a study published September 20, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Momoko Igawa and Makoto Kato from Kyoto University, Japan.

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Researchers discover first new sunfish species in 130 years

JULY 26, 2017

by Chuck Bednar

For the first time in more than a century, researchers have discovered a new species of sunfish – a creature that could grow to nearly 10 feet (3 meters) in size and weigh at least two metric tons, and which is described in a recent edition of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

The previously unknown species has been dubbed the Hoodwinker Sunfish (Mola tecta), and as Mashable explained, it was discovered by Australian Ph. D. student Marianne Nyegaard and her colleagues after a four-year hunt that started with samples of the creature’s skin and DNA.

As Nyegaard explained on the website The Conversation, she analyzed more than 150 samples of sunfish DNA as part of a population study conducted off the coast of Bali in Indonesia as part of her doctoral research. Sequencing the genomes of those samples revealed four distinct species of sunfish – three which were known, and a fourth that had never been identified.

Read more at 

Dig it! Two new shrimp species found in burrows at the bottom of the Gulf of California

May 12, 2017

Although the Santa María-La Reforma lagoon complex in the Gulf of California is one of the most important areas for shrimp fishery, little is known about the crustacean species that live in the burrows dug in the bottom.

In addition to presenting two species new to science, researchers Drs. José Salgado-Barragán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Manuel Ayón-Parente and Pilar Zamora-Tavares, both affiliated with Universidad de Guadalajara, México collaborated to build on the knowledge of small shrimp species living there. The study is published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Over the span of about two years - between 2013 and 2015, the scientists conducted series of surveys of the bottom-dwelling crustaceans in Bahía Santa María-La Reforma lagoon, located in the southwest Gulf of California. Following a thorough examination of the collected specimens, they recorded five shrimp species of three genera, inhabiting burrows dug into either mud, sand, or sandy-mud. Two of these species turned out to be previously unknown.

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New dinosaur species named in honor of Ghostbusters monster

May 10, 2017

by Chuck Bednar

A newly-identified species of ankylosaur sporting a horned face and a spiked, club-like tail has been named in honor of Zuul, the monstrous demigod featured in the 1984 movie Ghostbusters, according to new research published this week in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Take one look at the new species, officially named Zuul crurivastator, and it’s easy to see why the paleontologists who discovered it chose to name it after the fictional beast: it bears a striking resemblance to the entity that possessed Sigourney Weaver’s character Dana Barrett in the film. “We couldn’t resist,” Dr. Victoria Arbour, a postdoctoral fellow at the Royal Ontario Museum and the University of Toronto and one of the researchers who discovered the new species, told USA Today. In fact, they even brought in Dan Aykroyd, who played Ray Stanz in the movie, to introduce the creature and discuss its similarities to Zuul in a short video.

“We are so honored that the Royal Ontario Museum would accord the name of this magnificent creature with the appellation that we called our terror god in the movie,” Aykroid said.

The new species was discovered in Hill County, Montana and is believed to be approximately 75 million years old, the Museum explained on its website. Its entire body was covered in scales and it was about 20 feet long with a roughly 10-foot tail, according to Los Angeles Times reports.



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New shrimp species named after Pink Floyd

12 April 2017

A new species of shrimp has been named after Pink Floyd thanks to a pact between prog rock-loving scientists.

The synalpheus pinkfloydi uses its large pink claw to create a noise so loud it can kill small fish.

The team behind the discovery vowed years ago if it ever found a new pink shrimp it would "honour" the rockers.

Sammy De Grave, head of research at Oxford University Museum of National History, said he has been a fan of the band since he was a teenager.

And it is not the first crustacean he's named after a rock legend, having already named a species of shrimp after Rolling Stones front man, Mick Jagger - elephantis jaggerai.

Image copyright Kate Pocklington Image caption Pink Floyd-themed artwork was created to make the discovery 

He said: "I have been listening to Floyd since The Wall was released in 1979, when I was 14 years old. 

"The description of this new species of pistol shrimp was the perfect opportunity to finally give a nod to my favourite band.

"We are all Pink Floyd fans, and we always said if we would find a pink one, a new species of pink shrimp, we would name it after Pink Floyd."

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New species of marine worm discovered in Antarctica

Date: February 13, 2017

Source: Hokkaido University

A team of Japanese scientists has discovered a new species of polychaete, a type of marine annelid worm, 9-meters deep underwater near Japan's Syowa Station in Antarctica, providing a good opportunity to study how animals adapt to extreme environments.

International efforts are currently underway in Antarctica to build long-term monitoring systems for land and coastal organisms from an ecological conservation standpoint. To this end, the accumulation of continent-wide fauna information is essential, but Japan is lagging behind in gathering and analyzing such data around Syowa Station, particularly in regard to coastal marine life.

To address this problem, in 2015 a team of researchers, including Keiichi Kakui, a lecturer at Hokkaido University, and Megumu Tsujimoto, a postdoctoral researcher at Japan's National Institute of Polar Research, started researching marine specimens stored at the institute, as well as newly collected specimens. As a part of this process, they conducted microscopic analyses to examine two annelid worms that scuba divers collected 8-9 meters deep on January 16th, 1981, at Nishinoura near Syowa Station.

The worm found 9 meters deep turned out to be a new, unnamed polychaete -- a variety with a thick, gel-like coat and conspicuous, long notochaeta. The team named the new species Flabegraviera fujiae, taking after the icebreaker ship "Fuji" used in the expedition in 1981. The specimen collected 8 meters deep was recognized as Flabegraviera mundata, and was deemed to have been collected at the shallowest depth ever recorded for the Flabegraviera genus.

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133 new species described by the California Academy of Sciences in 2016

From a fleet of shining beetles to sharks and an alarming bird virus, spanning 5 continents and 3 oceans, these discoveries add to Earth's tree of life

Date: December 21, 2016

Source: California Academy of Sciences

In 2016, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences added 133 new plant and animal species to our family tree, enriching our understanding of Earth's complex web of life and strengthening our ability to make informed conservation decisions. The new species include one bee fly, 43 ants, 36 beetles, one sand wasp, four spiders, six plants, 23 fishes, one eel, one shark, seven nudibranchs, five fossil urchins (and one fossil sand dollar), one coral, one skate, one African lizard, and an alarming new bird virus. More than a dozen Academy scientists -- along with several dozen international collaborators -- described the discoveries.

Proving that our planet contains unexplored places with never-before-recorded plants and animals (with their own set of evolving viruses), the scientists made their finds over five continents and three oceans, ventured into vast deserts, plunged beneath the sea, and scoured thick rainforests and towering mountain ranges. Their results help advance the Academy's mission to explore, explain, and sustain life on Earth.

"Biodiversity scientists estimate that we have discovered less than 10% of the species on our planet," says Dr. Shannon Bennett, Academy Chief of Science. "Academy scientists tirelessly explore the lesser-known regions of Earth -- not only to discover new species, but also to uncover the importance of these species to the health of our natural systems. Each of these species, known and as-yet-unknown, is a wonder unto itself but may also hold the key to ground-breaking innovations in science, technology, or society. Species live together in rich networks that thrive on complexity whether we can see it or not. Even the tiniest organism," she adds, "can be beautiful and important."

Below are a few highlights among the 133 species described by the Academy in 2016. 

Flashy "twilight zone" groppo -- deepest fish discovered by human hands

One pink-and-yellow fish has earned its spot in deep reef history. Grammatonotus brianne -- an eye-popping species of groppo -- is the deepest new fish discovery ever made by human hands. The discovery was captured on film at 487 feet beneath the ocean's surface.

Academy scientists are currently diving to twilight zone reefs around the world. In these narrow bands of deep reefs, animals live in partial darkness, well beyond recreational diving limits yet above the deep trenches patrolled by submarines and ROVs. Reaching extreme depths requires Academy divers and their collaborators to push the boundaries of both technology and the human body, using closed-circuit "rebreathers" that extend the amount of time they can spend underwater.

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