Romans had whaling industry, archaeological excavation suggests

Ancient whale bones have been found on three Roman fish processing sites close to the Strait of Gibraltar

Nicola Davis

Wed 11 Jul 2018 00.01 BSTLast modified on Wed 11 Jul 2018 10.16 BST

Ancient bones found around the Strait of Gibraltar suggest that the Romans might have had a thriving whaling industry, researchers have claimed.

The bones, dating to the first few centuries AD or earlier, belong to grey whales and North Atlantic right whales – coastal migratory species that are no longer found in European waters.

Researchers say this not only suggests these whales might have been common around the entrance to the Mediterranean in Roman times, but that Romans might have hunted them.

They add that Romans would not have had the technology to hunt whale species found in the region today - sperm or fin whales which live further out at sea - meaning evidence of whaling might not have been something archaeologists and historians were looking out for.

“It’s the coastal [species] that makes all the difference,” said Dr Ana Rodrigues, first author of the research from the Functional and Evolutionary Ecology Centre, CEFE, in France. 

Read more 

Endangered bandicoot 'should never have been brought to South Australia'

Researchers say the western barred bandicoot was actually five species and those ‘reintroduced’ would never have lived in SA

Lisa Cox

Tue 17 Jul 2018 01.43 BSTLast modified on Tue 17 Jul 2018 01.44 BST

An endangered Australian bandicoot that was reintroduced to the Australian mainland is now believed to be one of five distinct species, and researchers say it may have been a mistake to introduce it to South Australia.

Scientists working for the Western Australian Museum have published research that concludes that what has been known as the western barred bandicoot is in fact five distinct species – four of which had become extinct by the 1940s as a result of agriculture and introduced predators. The species were closely related but occurred in different parts of Australia.

In the 2000s, western barred bandicoots that had survived on the arid Bernier and Dorre islands off Western Australia were reintroduced to the mainland, including to a predator-proof reserve in outback South Australia.

But the new study shows the surviving species that was translocated to that part of the country would never have occurred there previously.

Lead researcher Dr Kenny Travouillon made the findings after analysing skulls and DNA from tissue from specimens held in collections in Paris and London.

Continued  

A breakthrough to rescue the Northern White Rhino

First ever hybrid embryo produced outside the womb

Date:  July 5, 2018

Source:  Forschungsverbund Berlin

Northern White Rhinos (NWR) are functionally extinct, as only two females of this species are left on the planet. An international team of scientists has now successfully created hybrid embryos from Southern White Rhino (SWR) eggs and NWR sperm using assisted reproduction techniques (ART). This is the first, ever reported, generation of blastocysts (a pre-implantation embryos) of rhinos in a test tube. Additionally, the international team established stem cell lines from blastocysts of the SWR with typical features of embryonic stem cells. This breakthrough is published in Nature Communications today.

Continued  

New wasp species with a giant stinger discovered in Amazonia

Date:  July 5, 2018

Source:  University of Turku

Summary:

A newly discovered wasp species in the Amazon has an exceptionally large stinger that surprised even scientists. The new insect, which is found in the extremely diverse transitional zone between the Andes and the Amazonian lowland rainforest, uses its stinger both for laying eggs and injecting venom.

Researchers from the University of Turku, Finland have discovered a new wasp species in the Amazon which has an exceptionally large stinger that surprised even the scientists. The new insect, which is found in the extremely diverse transitional zone between the Andes and the Amazonian lowland rainforest, uses its stinger both for laying eggs and injecting venom.

Researchers from the Biodiversity Unit of the University of Turku, Finland, have in the recent years found and described several new animal species from all over the world -- especially from Amazonia. Many of these animals are unusual in their characteristics and habits. In their latest study, the scientists, in collaboration with colleagues from Colombia, Spain and Venezuela, discovered several wasp species unknown to science from the Amazon which were described and named in the latest issue of the journal Zootaxa.

Read more  

First dogs in the Americas arrived from Siberia, disappeared after European contact

Date:  July 5, 2018

Source:  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

A study reported in the journal Science offers an enhanced view of the origins and ultimate fate of the first dogs in the Americas. The dogs were not domesticated North American wolves, as some have speculated, but likely followed their human counterparts over a land bridge that once connected North Asia and the Americas, the study found.

This is the first comprehensive genomic study of ancient dogs in the Americas to analyze nuclear DNA, which is inherited from both parents, along with mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down only from mothers to their offspring. By comparing genomic signatures from 71 mitochondrial and seven nuclear genomes of ancient North American and Siberian dogs spanning a period of 9,000 years, the research team was able to gain a clearer picture of the history of the first canine inhabitants of the Americas.

Continued 

What does the koala genome tell us about the taste of eucalyptus?

New data provides insight into the marsupial's unique feeding habits

Date:  July 10, 2018

Source:  Kyoto University

Summary:

Sequencing of the koala genome has revealed some interesting qualities about these marsupials on their sense of taste. They have more bitter taste receptor genes than any other Australian marsupial, and most mammals. This possibly enables the animals to detect toxic metabolites contained in eucalyptus. Koalas even have functional receptors for both sweetness and umami.

Koalas have long captured people's hearts and minds thanks to their cuddly features and seemingly relaxed demeanor.

Now, in a collaborative study by the Koala Genome Consortium -- involving 54 scientists at 29 institutions, including Kyoto University -- researchers have successfully sequenced the entire koala genome, uncovering much that has been unknown about these mesmerizing marsupials.

Past studies have revealed many unique features of the koala's morphology, physiology and ecology. However, little was known about the animal's genome. With this study published in Nature Genetics, the koala is now the fourth marsupial species to have its genome sequenced, providing further understanding of the genetic background of its biology, and establishing a high-quality genomic reference for marsupial mammals.

Read on  

Bale monkeys living in different areas have very different DNA

Date:  July 9, 2018

Source:  BioMed Central

Summary:

Bale monkey's that live in continuous bamboo forests have different mitochondrial DNA to Bale monkeys living in fragmented forests, according to a study published in the open access journal, BMC Evolutionary Biology.

Dr Addisu Mekonnen and colleagues at The University of Oslo, Norway, looked at the genetic diversity of the two populations of Bale monkeys. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA suggested strong genetic differences between the Bale monkeys who lived in continuous forests or fragmented forests. The researchers found that the populations of Bale monkeys were so different from each other that the Bale monkeys from fragmented forests were more similar to vervets and grivets than Bale monkeys from continuous forests.

Dr Addisu Mekonnen, corresponding author of the study, explains: "Remarkably, our phylogenetic analysis showed that Bale monkeys in fragmented forests are more closely related to their sister species, vervets and grivets, than Bale Monkeys from continuous forests. This suggests that hybridization had taken place between Bale monkeys from fragmented forests and vervet and grivet monkeys, but not with bale monkeys in continuous forests. This hybridization could be due to habitat fragmentation and close proximity to similar monkeys."

Read more  

Primates adjust grooming to their social environment

Date:  July 11, 2018

Source:  Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Summary:

Researcher show that wild chimpanzees and sooty mangabeys, two primate species who live in complex social groups, choose their grooming partners based on a variety of criteria, including their social relationship with them and their potential partner's dominance rank. In particular, individuals of both species avoided grooming group mates whose friends were among the bystanders, as grooming might be interrupted.

Read on  

The first endemic Baltic Sea fish species received its name

Date:  July 11, 2018

Source:  University of Helsinki

Summary:

Researchers have discovered and named a new endemic fish species in the Baltic Sea, the 'Baltic flounder,' Platichthys solemdali.

The "Baltic flounder" Platichthys solemdali is the first fish species shown to be native only to the Baltic Sea, i.e. the first endemic fish described from the area and one of the only two known endemic species when considering any organism. The fact that a new vertebrate species is found and described from European waters, and especially from the species-poor Baltic Sea still after more than a century of biological research in the area, makes this finding significant.

"The reason why this species has not been recognized before is that it appears to be near to identical to the other flounder species, the European flounder, Platichthys flesus, also occurring in the Baltic Sea," says professor Juha Merila, one of the authors behind the article, from the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences.

Currently the two species can be distinguished only with genetic methods, or by studying their eggs and sperm. The species also differ in their interaction with the environment: the newly described Baltic flounder lays sinking eggs on the sea floor in coastal areas while the European flounder spawns buoyant eggs in deep areas out in the open sea. The new species is more abundant in the Gulf of Finland while the distribution of the European flounder is centered to the central and southern Baltic Sea.

Read on

Rats trail behind shrews, monkeys, and humans in visual problem solving

Work could have important implications for translational research

Date:  July 12, 2018

Source:  Society for Neuroscience

Summary:

Rats take a fundamentally different approach toward solving a simple visual discrimination task than tree shrews, monkeys, and humans, according to a comparative study of the four mammal species. The work could have important implications for the translation of research in animal models to humans.

Rats take a fundamentally different approach toward solving a simple visual discrimination task than tree shrews, monkeys, and humans, according to a comparative study of the four mammal species published in eNeuro. The work could have important implications for the translation of research in animal models to humans.

Continued

Fuzzy yellow bats reveal evolutionary relationships in Kenya

Date:  July 12, 2018

Source:  Field Museum

Summary:

DNA analysis of fuzzy yellow bats in Kenya revealed at least two new species unknown to science. It's important because Africa's biodiversity is often under-studied and poorly understood, even though bats play a crucial role in agriculture and public health.

After Halloween, people tend to forget about bats. But, for farmers, residents of Kenya, and scientists, bats are a part of everyday life. While North America has 44 species, Kenya, a country the size of Texas, has 110 bat species. Many of these species also contain subspecies and further divisions that can make the bat family tree look like a tangled mess. Researchers set out to cut the clutter by sorting the lineages of yellow house bats and in the process found two new species.

Read on 

Tree shrews can tolerate hot peppers: Mutation in pain receptor makes peppery plant palatable

Date:  July 12, 2018

Source:  PLOS

Almost all mammals avoid eating chili peppers and other "hot" foods, because of the pain they induce. But not the tree shrew, according to a study publishing July 12 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Yalan Han of the Kunming Institute of Zoology in China, and colleagues. The researchers found that this close relative of primates is unaffected by the active ingredient in chili peppers due to a subtle mutation in the receptor that detects it. They speculate that this is an evolutionary adaptation to enable tree shrews to cope with a peppery plant that makes up part of their diet.

Read on 

First fossilized snake embryo ever discovered rewrites history of ancient snakes

July 19, 2018 by Katie Willis, University of Alberta

The first-ever discovery of an ancient snake embryo, preserved in 105-million-year-old amber, provides important new information on the evolution of modern snakes, according to a new study led by University of Alberta paleontologists.

"This snake is linked to ancient snakes from Argentina, Africa, India and Australia," explained paleontologist Michael Caldwell, lead author and professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. "It is an important—and until now, missing—component of understanding snake evolution from southern continents, that is Gondwana, in the mid-Mesozoic."

Caldwell and his international team, including collaborators from Australia, China and the United States, have tracked the migration of these ancient Gondwanan snakes beginning 180 million years ago when they were carried by tectonic movements of continents and parts of continents, from Australia and India, to Madagascar and Africa, and finally to Asia, in modern-day India and Myanmar.

The amber fragment in which the specimen was found also provided important clues about its environment.

"It is clear that this little snake was living in a forested environment with numerous insects and plants, as these are preserved in the clast," explained Caldwell. "Not only do we have the first baby snake, we also have the first definitive evidence of a fossil snake living in a forest."

Read more at: 

The origins of those sexual organs: a fishy tale much more primitive than we thought

July 19, 2018 by John Long And Marion Chevrinais, The Conversation

Euphanerops, a primitive jawless fish from the World Heritage site at Miguasha, Quebec, which has now been found to have paired hind limb structures and copulatory sex organs. Credit: François Miville-Deschênes with permission, Author provided

Fossil discoveries from the Devonian rocks of Scotland and Australia first revealed that the earliest jawed fishes, the placoderms, reproduced using copulation in much the same way as sharks and rays do today.

They also had the first paired pelvic skeletons, the precursor to the hind paired fins – and legs – of all animals. Their paired reproductive organs, called "claspers", probably developed in the same way as limbs.

The appearance of jaws and teeth in the first vertebrates was thus intimately linked to the origin of paired hind limbs (pelvic girdles) and an advanced kind of sexual reproduction.

Read more at: 

Bengal cat receives first feline hip replacement surgery performed at Purdue Veterinary Teaching Hospital

July 19, 2018 by Tim Doty, Purdue University

Fridgey, a 2-year old Bengal cat uses an aquatic treadmill as part of a rehabilitation program after undergoing a full hip replacement at the Purdue Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Credit: Purdue University photo

As busy as it is beautiful, the Bengal cat is an energetic domestic breed that tends to have a lot in common with its cousins in the wild – high jumping, climbing and even a love for water. So, imagine the pain and disappointment when Fridgey, a 2-year-old Bengal cat, started to have problems with his hips.


That's where the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Purdue University's College of Veterinary Medicine comes in to help. The hospital's orthopedic surgery team began treating the cat in 2017, initially performing a commonly done surgery on his left hip called a femoral head ostectomy (FHO), which involves removing part of the femur bone.

When Fridgey later began to have issues on his right side, his owner, Tyler Goldsberry of Schererville, Ind., again brought him to the Purdue Veterinary Teaching Hospital. This time, the surgery team led by Dr. Mark Rochat, clinical professor of small animal orthopedic surgery, and Dr. Sarah Malek, assistant professor of small animal orthopedic surgery, proceeded to perform a procedure commonly used in human medicine but never before used on a feline patient at Purdue – total hip replacement surgery.

"The technology has been around for years; it's just that the availability of the systems and training for the people performing the procedures weren't as commonplace in the past," Malek said. "Now it's much more commercially available and technically feasible."



Read more at: 

Australia has a new venomous snake -- And it may already be threatened

Date:  July 16, 2018

Source:  University of Queensland

The ink has not yet dried on a scientific paper describing a new species of snake, yet the reptile may already be in danger of extinction due to mining.

A team of biologists led by The University of Queensland's Associate Professor Bryan Fry discovered a new species of bandy-bandy snake at Weipa on the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula.

Professor Fry said the chance discovery occurred when the team was undertaking sea snake research.

"Bandy-bandies are burrowing snakes, so Freek Vonk from the Naturalis Museum and I were surprised when we found it on a concrete block by the sea, after coming in from a night of sea snake spotting," Professor Fry said.

Continued  

Seeing through the eyes of a crab

New research provides insight into the visual world of a crustacean

Date:  July 16, 2018

Source:  Society for Neuroscience

Crabs combine the input from their two eyes early on in their brain's visual pathway to track a moving object, finds new research published in JNeurosci. This study of adult male crabs from Argentina's Atlantic coast provides insight into the visual world of a crustacean.

The widely spaced eyes and visually guided behaviors of the crab Neohelice granulata suggest this highly social predator may compute visual parameters of moving targets by combining input from both eyes, but it is unclear where and how the two sources of visual information are merged and processed.

Continued  

Bumblebees thrive in towns more than countryside

Urban bumblebees have better access to food, allowing them to produce more offspring

Nicola Davis

Wed 27 Jun 2018 00.01 BST

Bumblebee colonies fare better in villages and cities than in fields, research has revealed.

Bumblebees are important pollinators, but face threats including habitat loss, climate change, pesticide and fungicide use and parasites. Now researchers say that bumblebee colonies in urban areas not only produce more offspring than those on agricultural land, but have more food stores, fewer invasions from parasitic “cuckoo” bumblebees, and survive for longer.

“[The study] is not saying that cities are necessarily the ideal habitat for bees, it is just that they are doing better in the cities than in the countryside,” said Ash Samuelson, a doctoral student and first author of the research from Royal Holloway, University of London.

While researchers have previously found a greater variety of pollinator species in urban settings, Samuelson says the latest study goes further, revealing that it is not simply that bumblebees make a flying visit to urban locations, but that populations are stronger there.

Continued  

Australia needs tighter ivory sale laws to protect elephants, parliamentary committee hears

Parliament looking at whether Australia’s regulations allow poached ivory and horns to be passed off as antiques

Australian Associated Press

Tue 3 Jul 2018 09.53 BST

Australia’s failure to regulate the sale of elephant ivory and rhino horns could be contributing to the demise of the animals, a parliamentary committee has heard.

The committee is looking into the country’s regulations and whether they allow newly-poached ivory and horns to be passed off as antiques.

Australia has a ban on ivory imports but it’s legal to buy and sell ivory items domestically.

The Department of Environment and Energy revealed during a public hearing in Sydney on Tuesday it “does not regulate domestic sales of items containing elephant ivory and rhino horn”.

Rather, it is responsible for implementing strict international trade requirements that limit imports and exports, including for research or if the item is vintage.

Labor senator Lisa Singh, who pushed for the inquiry, said the government had a role in enforcing the rules and its lack of regulation was a “failure”.

She claims 50 auction houses across the country are known to trade in ivory and rhino horns.

“We need to determine whether we are creating an opportunity for laundering of illegal wildlife horns and ivory into Australia and through the country,” she said.

Continued  

Protecting oceans in Patagonia for a more sustainable future

Date:  July 5, 2018

Source:  University of Barcelona

Preserving a 300,000 square km area in Patagonian waters could improve the conservation of 20 % of the population of sea birds in their natural habitat, according to a study published in the journal Conservation Biology and led by the expert Francisco Ramírez, researcher from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute of the University of Barcelona (IRBio). The new study, which shows a multidisciplinary approach to define marine areas of interest in conservation, is also signed by Isabel Afán, Joan Giménez and Manuela G. Forero, from the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC).

One of the marine ecosystems with more biodiversity worldwide

Only 3 % of the ocean surface is protected, which is a lower level to the one in terrestrial ecosystems. Marine ecosystems in the Argentinian Patagonia are one of the areas with a larger biodiversity and highest biological production worldwide. Despite their ecological value, they are now one of the most threatened marine areas by the impact of human activity-intense fishing activity- and changes related to global warming.

Read more  

Black hairstreaks found miles from their heartland

This rare species was only discovered in 1828. Now the population is enjoying a boom

Patrick Barkham

Fri 29 Jun 2018 21.30 BSTLast modified on Fri 29 Jun 201822.56 BST

The black hairstreak is a dark, elusive and rather plain little butterfly. And yet it inspires great passion, and not just because of its rarity.

There’s something deeply restful and lovely about this midsummer insect, especially when it lets you creep close and admire it sunning itself on blackthorn.

It only flies for a couple of weeks in June, and guidebooks say it is only found in middle England woodlands, roughly between Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire.

But this butterfly has bamboozled experts since it was belatedly discovered in 1828 and this June has seen a glorious population explosion. Black hairstreaks have been discovered on many new sites, including miles from their heartland – in East Sussex.

Readon

Leadbeater's possum: conservationists say draft report proves endangered status

Forestry industry and Barnaby Joyce have been pushing to downgrade species’ status

Lisa Cox

Sun 8 Jul 2018 19.00 BSTLast modified on Mon 9 Jul 2018 00.04 BST

Conservation groups say the Leadbeater’s possum should retain its conservation status as a critically endangered Australian species, based on new advice from the government’s scientific advisory body.

In a draft consultation document, the threatened species scientific committee says the Victorian possum meets at least one of the criteria to make it eligible for listing as critically endangered.

Under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, species only need to meet one criterion to be eligible for listing as either vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered.

The forestry industry and the former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joycehave been pushing the government to downgrade the species’ critically endangered conservation status to open up protected areas of Victorian forest for logging.

Habitat loss from logging and fire are key threats to the possum, which is primarily found in mountain ash forests of Victoria’s central highlands.

The government is reviewing the possum’s listing as critically endangered and conducting public consultation until mid-August.

Continued

Is it a panther? Is it a puma? No, just a cat and a huge claws for frustration

Rangers are sick of mistaken panther sightings, which detract from the fight against feral cats 

Naaman Zhou

Fri 6 Jul 2018 23.26 BST 

A large cat in Western Australia that was mistaken for a panther is the latest in a long line of mythical big cat sightings that wildlife rangers say are unhelpful. 

The large black feline – estimated to be 50% larger than a house cat – was spotted in the town of Coorow, 275km north of Perth, in late June, and reported to wildlife authorities as a potential panther or big cat. 

But local wildlife ranger Tim Gilbertson told the ABC he was getting sick of panther reports. 

“People need to get over the idea the cats are panthers,” he said. “It is just not on. They are big feral cats, at least 50% bigger than a house cat and they are powerful.” 

Gilberston believes that mistaking cats for panthers detracts from the fight against feral cats, which cover 99% of the Australian continent and kill 1 million native birds a night. 

“If you are getting larger cats, you have to ask what they are eating,” he said. “They are eating native animals.” 

Continued 

Dangerous protected reptiles

Date:  June 27, 2018

Source:  University of Freiburg

Summary:

Attacks by crocodiles have been rising in South East Asia since they became protected animals, a study finds.

The south-east Asian island state of East Timor has a problem with crocodiles. Between 2007 and 2014 there was a sharp increase in attacks on humans. Many of these attacks were fatal. Sebastian Brackhane, a research assistant in the Department of Remote Sensing and Landscape Information Systems of the University of Freiburg, has analyzed data on crocodile attacks in relation to a rise in the population of estuarine crocodiles in East Timor. The results of his field study have been published in the Journal of Wildlife Management.

Continued 

Dry weather boosts UK's most endangered butterfly

High brown fritillary population rises due to harsh winter and sunny spring

Steven Morris

Mon 2 Jul 2018 00.01 BST

The combination of a harsh winter and sunny May and June has given the population of the UK’s most endangered butterfly, the high brown fritillary, a welcome boost.

Volunteers have been counting rare butterflies in a wooded valley on the Devon coast, which has been the focus of a project to encourage species such as the high brown fritillary.

Matthew Oates, a National Trust volunteer and one of the UK’s leading butterfly experts, said: “The butterfly seems to be having a very good year, with over 200 seen during the count.

“Ideal weather conditions; a cold and harsh winter, which has helped knock back the bracken and then a warm and sunny May and June have been ideal for caterpillar development.

“As we are having some fairly dry weather, it’s now the perfect time for seeing this large and powerful butterfly.”

Conservationists believe changes to woodland management, such as the abandonment of coppicing, have contributed to the steep decline of the large, fast-flying butterfly over the past 50 years.

The National Trust has been given £100,000 by the People’s Postcode Lottery to improve 60 hectares (150 acres) of lowland heath and wood pasture at Heddon Valley in north Devon as a habitat for the butterfly.

Read on  

Britain's biggest butterfly threatened by rising seas

New charity warns Britain’s largest butterfly could be lost within four decades as rising seas turn its habitat into saltmarsh

Patrick Barkham

Fri 29 Jun 2018 12.27 BSTLast modified on Fri 29 Jun 201813.40 BST

Britain’s biggest butterfly, the swallowtail, could become extinct within four decades because of rising sea levels, a new charity has warned.

New inland habitat needs to be created for the swallowtail because rising seas are predicted to turn much of its current home, the Norfolk Broads, into saltmarshes later this century.

The British swallowtail caterpillar’s only food plant, milk parsley, cannot survive in saltwater, and so the plant and the butterfly will need to be translocated to the Cambridgeshire fens, according to butterfly experts.

“At least 90% of the current swallowtail breeding sites will become salt marsh with a sea level rise of 50cm,” said Mark Collins, chair of the Swallowtail and Birdwing Butterfly Trust, a new charity working to save the 500 swallowtail and birdwing butterfly species worldwide. “We could be looking at 30 or 40 years and these sites will be gone, given the rate of sea-level rise and also tidal surges and ‘salination events’, where saltwater comes rushing up the Broads’ rivers.”

Read on

Orangutan: How 70,000 years of human interaction have shaped an icon of wild nature

Date:  June 27, 2018

Source:  Cardiff University

Summary:

The evolution of the orangutan has been more heavily influenced by humans than was previously thought, new research reveals.

Professor Mike Bruford, of Cardiff University, was part of the team of scientists shedding light on the development of the critically endangered species. Their findings offer new possibilities for orangutan conservation.

One of humans' closet living relatives, the orangutan has become a symbol of nature's vulnerability in the face of human actions and an icon of rainforest conservation.

But in the research paper published in the journal Science Advances, the team argues this view overlooks how humans, over thousands of years, have shaped the orangutan known today.

Continued  

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.

Read more  

Paleontologists ID two new Miocene mammals in Bolivia

Litopterns: Extinct hoofed mammals similar to small moose

Date:  June 27, 2018

Source:  Case Western Reserve University

Summary:

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University and two other universities have discovered the 13-million-year-old fossils of a pair of new species of extinct hoofed mammals known as "litopterns" from a site in Bolivia.

The animals, which look similar to small moose or deer in a paleoartist's rendering, are being dubbed Theosodon arozquetai and Llullataruca shockeyi, ungulates native only to Bolivia. They lived in the latter part of the middle Miocene epoch, a time interval from which relatively few fossils have been collected in South America.

Read on 

Climate change linked to potential population decline in bees

Study finds that warmer temperatures push bees to their physiological limits, may drive local extinction

Date:  June 28, 2018

Source:  Northwestern University

Summary:

A new study from Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden has found that climate change may drive local extinction of mason bees in Arizona and other naturally warm climates.

In a two-year, in situ field experiment that altered the temperature of the bees' nests to simulate a warmer, future climate, 35 percent of bees died in the first year and 70 percent died in the second year. This is compared to a 1-2 percent mortality rate in the control group.

"The projected temperatures appear to be pushing this species up against its physiological limits," said Northwestern's Paul CaraDonna, who led the research. "This is evidence that we might see local extinction in the warmer parts of this species' range, which is pretty sobering."

Read on 

What's giant panda conservation worth? Billions every year, study shows

Date: June 28, 2018

Source: Cell Press

Summary:

In China, the giant panda is clearly a cultural icon. And yet panda conservation, and the panda itself, is often criticized because of the associated cost. But a new analysis shows that panda conservation has great value that extends far beyond protection of pandas themselves.

In China, the giant panda is clearly a cultural icon. And yet panda conservation, and the panda itself, is often criticized because of the associated cost. But an analysis reported in Current Biology on June 28 shows that panda conservation has great value that extends far beyond protection of pandas themselves.

According to the new findings, the panda's protection as an umbrella species yields 10 to 27 times as much value as it costs to maintain the current reserves. In fact, the findings suggest it might be worth expanding those panda reserves and other investments in natural capital in China.

Continued