No new males: Climate change threat to Cape Verde turtles

JULY 11, 2019

by University of Exeter

Rising temperatures could mean no male loggerhead turtles hatch at a key breeding ground by the end of this century, new research suggests.

The University of Exeter study also warns that—by 2100—more than 90% of loggerhead nests on the Cape Verde islands could incubate at "lethally high temperatures," killing turtles before they hatch.

The sex of turtle hatchlings is determined by incubation temperature, and this study combined current temperature and hatchling data with projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Even under a scenario based on low future emissions and warming, by 2100 just 0.14% of hatchlings would be male.

Under mid and high-emissions scenarios, hatching of male loggerheads could cease entirely.

"Cape Verde hosts one of the largest nesting population of loggerhead turtles in the world—up to 15% of the global nesting total," said Dr. Lucy Hawkes, of the University of Exeter.

"We estimate that 84% of current hatchlings are female, and warmer temperatures will increase this proportion.

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Five New Species of Cuckoo Bees from the Cape Verde Islands

ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) — The biota of island archipelagos is of considerable interest to biologists. These isolated areas often act as 'evolutionary laboratories', spawning biological diversity rapidly and permitting many mechanisms to be observed and studied over relatively short periods of time. Such islands are often the places of new discoveries, including the documentation of new species.

The Republic of Cape Verde comprises 10 inhabited islands about 570 kilometers off the coast of West Africa and have been known since at least 1456. Although the bee fauna of the islands was thought to be moderately well known, research by Dr. Jakub Straka of Charles University in Prague and Dr. Michael S. Engel of the University of Kansas have shown that this is not the case. A recent study published in the Open Access journal ZooKeys documents the cuckoo bee fauna of the islands, revealing that their entire fauna of cuckoo bee species is in fact new to science.

These bees, like the more widely known cuckoo birds, invade the nests of other host bee species. While the host is out collecting pollen for its brood, the cuckoo bee female enters the nest and deposits her eggs on the food resource. The cuckoo bee egg hatches and the immature promptly dispatches the host egg, leaving the pollen and nectar reserves for itself.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120830105419.htm

Lizard survives 3,000 miles in suitcase and 30 minutes in washing machine

A hardy lizard that stowed away in a tourist's suitcase survived a 3,000-mile flight from Cape Verde to the UK – and then endured a full cycle in a washing machine.

The lizard, which has been named Larry, is thought to have clambered into Sue Banwell-Moore's suitcase as she packed following a two-week holiday on the islands off the west coast of Africa.

Larry survived the six-hour flight in the luggage hold of a passenger jet and arrived back at Banwell-Moore's home in Somerset.

But its ordeal did not end there. Banwell-Moore scooped up the hapless reptile in a pile of dirty clothes and stuffed it into her washing machine.

She only spotted the lizard as she was hanging out the washing following the 30-minute delicates cycle.

Assuming the 15cm-long (6ins) animal was dead, she covered it with a saucepan but was surprised and delighted when it recovered from its ordeal. Larry is now being cared for at a wildlife park.

Banwell-Moore said: "I was hanging out the washing on the clothes dryer and I looked down and there was this lizard there. I thought he was dead and I'm sure he nearly was – I have absolutely no idea how he was still alive.

"I called my daughter and she was screaming with laughter while I was screaming with shock. I made sure the heating was on overnight so I could keep him warm and he survived. It must have got into my suitcase on the last day and the funny thing was I only saw one lizard when I was out there.

Larry has now made the rather less ambitious 25-mile journey to the Tropiquaria wildlife park in Williton, Somerset. Banwell-Moore added: "I realised what the poor thing had been through and I sort of fell in love with it. I keep ringing Tropiquaria and he seems to be doing OK – it is a miraculous survival."

Chris Moiser, the director of Tropiquaria, is still trying to identify Larry. "It is very rare – Cape Verde is one of those places with native species found nowhere else in the world, it is so remote. We have it down to one of two species of chioninia but to tell the difference between these we need to carefully count some of the small facial scales, which is rather difficult on a relatively small lizard which moves at speed."

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