(submitted by Chad Arment via Kevin Stewart)
Arizona Reporter - Arizona News - 23/04
The Arizona Game and Fish Department yesterday collected a dead, intact carcass of a cat resembling an ocelot, a rare small to medium-sized cat that is listed as a federally endangered species.
The animal reportedly was accidentally hit and killed by a motorist on Sunday, April 18 on Highway 60 between Superior and Globe.
In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Department is in the process of shipping the carcass to the Service’s national forensics laboratory located in Ashland, Oregon, where it will undergo testing to determine if the cat is actually an ocelot of wild origin.
“Currently, we have no reason to suspect that this is anything other than a wild, naturally occurring ocelot and genetic analysis should help with verification,” said Eric Gardner, the Department nongame and endangered species program lead. “Although not legal to possess in Arizona under most circumstances, ocelots are actually fairly common in the pet trade and genetic testing may help us determine its origin or if this was a captive-raised animal.”
Coincidently, The Sky Island Alliance, a Tucson-based non-governmental organization, last week announced that a volunteer citizen naturalist had retrieved an image of an ocelot from one of the Alliance’s remote cameras placed in Cochise County. The image was dated November 7, 2009. Sky Island Alliance has not yet publicly released the photo.
There have been only a handful of verified ocelot sightings backed up by specimens or photos in Arizona. The species has not been documented in Arizona since 1964 and historical records are very rare. Investigations of the occasional sightings reported since 1964 have often determined that a bobcat had been misidentified as an ocelot, despite the significant difference in tail length between the two species.
Ocelots are small to medium-sized spotted cats with a long tail. They tend to be smaller in the more northerly parts of their range than in the central or southern areas of occurrence. Their upper body coloring is highly variable ranging from grayish to cinnamon, or tawny to reddish brown, with dark markings forming chainlike streaks (generally forming black-bordered elongated spots that are more nearly stripes than spots) down the sides. Their present range is in the eastern and western lowlands of Mexico, from southern Mexico through Central America, and in the lowland areas of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. On the fringes of their range, they occupy a very limited region in both the United States (a remnant population exists in southern Texas) and Argentina.
The ocelot was listed in the U.S. as a federally endangered species in 1982.
http://www.azreporter.com/news/index.php?itemid=983
Posted: Apr 29, 2010 11:38 PM
Updated: May 07, 2010 1:44 PM
Posted by Dan Marries
TUCSON, AZ (KOLD) - A snapshot of a rare animal is stirring excitement in wildlife circles. The photograph, dated November 7, 2009, was captured with a remote sensing camera located only 40 miles north of the international border. Today, Sky Island Alliance released the original ocelot photo:
http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=12402245
Friday, 28 May 2010
unknown lizards in Southeast Asia
Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
April 27, 2010
Just weeks after scientists announced the discovery of a new monitor lizard in the Philippines, researchers have uncovered another unknown monitor inhabiting Southeast Asia. Described in Zootaxa, the new torch monitor (Varanus obor) is found only on the tiny island of Sanana, in the western Moluccan islands of Indonesia.
The new monitor lizard, named 'Torch' for its bright orange head which tops a black body, reaches almost four feet in length, a little smaller than the other recently-discovered monitor Varanus bitatawa from the Philippines. Researchers say the torch monitor in fact a close relative of Varanus bitatawa . Inhabiting the coastal sago palm mangrove forests on Sanana, the torch monitor is the only monitor species to have evolved red coloring.
Researchers believe that since no predatory mammals live on the eastern side of Wallace Line—a biological demarcation first set out by explorer-biologist Alfred Russell Wallace—big reptiles like the torch monitor, which feeds on small animals and carrion, have taken the place of top predator.
"There are more [monitor] species there, doing more different things ecologically than in Africa or South and Southeast Asia, where competition and predation by mammals tend to keep monitor lizards down. East of Wallace's Line in Indonesia, New Guinea, and Australia, monitor lizards are on the top of the heap. It emphasizes again how little we know about some tropical regions, to find an animal so strikingly colored and so large only last year," says Sam Sweet, a professor in the department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology at UCSB, in a press release.
An expert on monitors, Sweet worked Valter Weijola, a graduate student at Abo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, to describe the species. Weijola discovered it a year ago.
The largest family member of the monitor lizards is the infamous Komodo dragon, also endemic to Indonesian islands.
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0427-hance_torch.html
(Submitted by Chad Arment)
mongabay.com
April 27, 2010
Just weeks after scientists announced the discovery of a new monitor lizard in the Philippines, researchers have uncovered another unknown monitor inhabiting Southeast Asia. Described in Zootaxa, the new torch monitor (Varanus obor) is found only on the tiny island of Sanana, in the western Moluccan islands of Indonesia.
The new monitor lizard, named 'Torch' for its bright orange head which tops a black body, reaches almost four feet in length, a little smaller than the other recently-discovered monitor Varanus bitatawa from the Philippines. Researchers say the torch monitor in fact a close relative of Varanus bitatawa . Inhabiting the coastal sago palm mangrove forests on Sanana, the torch monitor is the only monitor species to have evolved red coloring.
Researchers believe that since no predatory mammals live on the eastern side of Wallace Line—a biological demarcation first set out by explorer-biologist Alfred Russell Wallace—big reptiles like the torch monitor, which feeds on small animals and carrion, have taken the place of top predator.
"There are more [monitor] species there, doing more different things ecologically than in Africa or South and Southeast Asia, where competition and predation by mammals tend to keep monitor lizards down. East of Wallace's Line in Indonesia, New Guinea, and Australia, monitor lizards are on the top of the heap. It emphasizes again how little we know about some tropical regions, to find an animal so strikingly colored and so large only last year," says Sam Sweet, a professor in the department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology at UCSB, in a press release.
An expert on monitors, Sweet worked Valter Weijola, a graduate student at Abo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, to describe the species. Weijola discovered it a year ago.
The largest family member of the monitor lizards is the infamous Komodo dragon, also endemic to Indonesian islands.
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0427-hance_torch.html
(Submitted by Chad Arment)
New Giant Monitor Lizard Discovered
How could a colorful, 6-foot-long lizard go undocumented for so long?
Jennifer Viegas
Tue Apr 6, 2010 01:10 PM ET
A "spectacular" new species of giant, secretive, colorful and fruit-eating monitor lizard has been found in a Philippine forest, according to a new study.
The reptile, named the Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor Lizard, is 6 feet long, around 22 pounds and brightly colored yellow and black. It is in the same family as the Komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard.
"Rumors of its existence and some clues have floated around among biologists for the past 10 years," co-author Rafe Brown told Discovery News. Brown is an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas, and is curator of herpetology at the university's Biodiversity Institute.
He and his colleagues collected a large adult specimen from a forest at Northeast Luzon Island in the northern Philippines. They studied its anatomy and sequenced its DNA, both of which indicated that the lizard represents a new species. It is described in the latest issue of Royal Society Biology Letters.
"We think that it had not been discovered (before) primarily because of its secretiveness and because few comprehensive studies of amphibians and reptiles have been conducted in the inaccessible forests of NE Luzon Island," Brown said.
The huge lizard spends much of its time high in the trees overlooking the forest floor. Perhaps because of its size and apparent tree-specific body camouflage, it may be wary and cautious about exposing itself to terrestrial predators.
Unlike its Komodo dragon relative, the Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor Lizard is primarily a vegetarian, subsisting on Pandanus fruit, figs, Pili nut fruits and the occasional snail.
"We do not think it has a venomous bite," Brown said, thinking of the Komodo's venom. "It is not a carnivore, so it would gain no benefit from being able to deliver venom through its bite."
The researchers believe the animal is a "keystone species," which means it helps trees by eating their fruit. The seeds are prepared for germination after they pass through the lizard's digestive tract and are dispersed via bodily waste.
While the new lizard is closely related to another species, Varanus olivaceus of southern Luzon and nearby islands, Brown and his team think three low-elevation river valleys served as barriers to mixing, keeping each type of reptile distinct.
Eric Pianka, one of the world's foremost experts on Varanus lizards, is an integrative biologist at the University of Texas at Austin. Pianka told Discovery News that this "new monitor lizard is indeed exciting. Who would have ever guessed that a 6-foot-long lizard could go undescribed until 2010?"
Pianka added: "This truly is major news!"
Although the lizard was undocumented until now, local Agta and Ilongot tribes people have known about the animal. They rely on its meat as a major source of protein. Brown, however, thinks the greatest threats to the lizard's population are "deforestation, logging, mining and a lack of knowledge about biodiversity."
"To prevent over-exploitation of biodiverse regions, we must first know what is there," he added.
He and his colleagues have already collected specimens in the region representing at least another 10 species -- mostly lizards and frogs -- unknown to science.
"The Sierra Madre of Luzon is a treasure trove of undescribed vertebrate biodiversity," Brown said. "We suspect that many, perhaps dozens of new species of small vertebrates -- reptiles, amphibians, and possibly birds and mammals -- may await discovery in the forests of the northern Philippines."
http://news.discovery.com/animals/giant-monitor-lizard.html
Jennifer Viegas
Tue Apr 6, 2010 01:10 PM ET
A "spectacular" new species of giant, secretive, colorful and fruit-eating monitor lizard has been found in a Philippine forest, according to a new study.
The reptile, named the Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor Lizard, is 6 feet long, around 22 pounds and brightly colored yellow and black. It is in the same family as the Komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard.
"Rumors of its existence and some clues have floated around among biologists for the past 10 years," co-author Rafe Brown told Discovery News. Brown is an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas, and is curator of herpetology at the university's Biodiversity Institute.
He and his colleagues collected a large adult specimen from a forest at Northeast Luzon Island in the northern Philippines. They studied its anatomy and sequenced its DNA, both of which indicated that the lizard represents a new species. It is described in the latest issue of Royal Society Biology Letters.
"We think that it had not been discovered (before) primarily because of its secretiveness and because few comprehensive studies of amphibians and reptiles have been conducted in the inaccessible forests of NE Luzon Island," Brown said.
The huge lizard spends much of its time high in the trees overlooking the forest floor. Perhaps because of its size and apparent tree-specific body camouflage, it may be wary and cautious about exposing itself to terrestrial predators.
Unlike its Komodo dragon relative, the Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor Lizard is primarily a vegetarian, subsisting on Pandanus fruit, figs, Pili nut fruits and the occasional snail.
"We do not think it has a venomous bite," Brown said, thinking of the Komodo's venom. "It is not a carnivore, so it would gain no benefit from being able to deliver venom through its bite."
The researchers believe the animal is a "keystone species," which means it helps trees by eating their fruit. The seeds are prepared for germination after they pass through the lizard's digestive tract and are dispersed via bodily waste.
While the new lizard is closely related to another species, Varanus olivaceus of southern Luzon and nearby islands, Brown and his team think three low-elevation river valleys served as barriers to mixing, keeping each type of reptile distinct.
Eric Pianka, one of the world's foremost experts on Varanus lizards, is an integrative biologist at the University of Texas at Austin. Pianka told Discovery News that this "new monitor lizard is indeed exciting. Who would have ever guessed that a 6-foot-long lizard could go undescribed until 2010?"
Pianka added: "This truly is major news!"
Although the lizard was undocumented until now, local Agta and Ilongot tribes people have known about the animal. They rely on its meat as a major source of protein. Brown, however, thinks the greatest threats to the lizard's population are "deforestation, logging, mining and a lack of knowledge about biodiversity."
"To prevent over-exploitation of biodiverse regions, we must first know what is there," he added.
He and his colleagues have already collected specimens in the region representing at least another 10 species -- mostly lizards and frogs -- unknown to science.
"The Sierra Madre of Luzon is a treasure trove of undescribed vertebrate biodiversity," Brown said. "We suspect that many, perhaps dozens of new species of small vertebrates -- reptiles, amphibians, and possibly birds and mammals -- may await discovery in the forests of the northern Philippines."
http://news.discovery.com/animals/giant-monitor-lizard.html
New Zealand gecko spotted for first time in 100 years... dead in mousetrap
(Submitted by Chad Arment via Kevin Stewart)
22 Apr 2010
The Duvaucel's gecko - which can grow more than 12ins (30cm) long - was found at the Maungatautari wildlife reserve in North Island's northern Waikato region.
Chris Smuts-Kennedy, a Maungatautari ecologist, said the death of the gecko was a cruel irony but that this meant the reserve may be home to more members of the species.
"The most likely scenario is that it represents a surviving population, and this is a species which has been thought to be extinct on the mainland for probably close to a century," he said.
The only confirmed populations of the gecko, which can live up to 50 years, are on predator-free offshore islands. The reptile is vulnerable to attacks by pests, especially rats.
The last time the gecko was seen on the mainland was thought to have been in the 1920s in the Thames area, southeast of Auckland, Smuts-Kennedy said.
Maungatautari staff and volunteers hope to survey the mountain in search of more of the geckos.
Maungatautari is a forested volcano, where introduced pests have been eradicated and a 29-mile (47km) predator-proof fence built to allow the reintroduction of rare native species, including the kiwi.
New Zealand's native birds, reptiles and insects evolved in a predator-free environment before humans arrived in the last 800 or so years and many have been wiped out by introduced species, especially rats, stoats and possums.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/7618551/New-Zealand-gecko-spotted-for-first-time-in-100-years...-dead-in-mousetrap.html
22 Apr 2010
The Duvaucel's gecko - which can grow more than 12ins (30cm) long - was found at the Maungatautari wildlife reserve in North Island's northern Waikato region.
Chris Smuts-Kennedy, a Maungatautari ecologist, said the death of the gecko was a cruel irony but that this meant the reserve may be home to more members of the species.
"The most likely scenario is that it represents a surviving population, and this is a species which has been thought to be extinct on the mainland for probably close to a century," he said.
The only confirmed populations of the gecko, which can live up to 50 years, are on predator-free offshore islands. The reptile is vulnerable to attacks by pests, especially rats.
The last time the gecko was seen on the mainland was thought to have been in the 1920s in the Thames area, southeast of Auckland, Smuts-Kennedy said.
Maungatautari staff and volunteers hope to survey the mountain in search of more of the geckos.
Maungatautari is a forested volcano, where introduced pests have been eradicated and a 29-mile (47km) predator-proof fence built to allow the reintroduction of rare native species, including the kiwi.
New Zealand's native birds, reptiles and insects evolved in a predator-free environment before humans arrived in the last 800 or so years and many have been wiped out by introduced species, especially rats, stoats and possums.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/7618551/New-Zealand-gecko-spotted-for-first-time-in-100-years...-dead-in-mousetrap.html
Giant Palouse earthworms found, but they aren't as 'giant' as expected
(Submiited by Chad Arment via Kevin Stewart)
April 27, 2010
SPOKANE, Wash. — Two living specimens of the fabled giant Palouse earthworm have been captured for the first time in two decades in what represents a significant discovery of a creature that has achieved a mythic status in the area.
The giant Palouse earthworm has fascinated scientists for decades after long being written off as an extinct creature. Reports suggested that the worms had a penchant for spitting and smelled like lilies, further enhancing the myth of the earthworm in the agricultural Palouse region on the Washington-Idaho border.
"It's a good day for the worm," said University of Idaho soil scientist Jodi Johnson-Maynard in Moscow, Idaho, who has been leading the search.
The recent discovery of the worms appeared to dispel the myth about the creature's appearance. They don't spit or smell like lilies and they aren't even that giant.
"One of my colleagues suggested we rename it the 'larger-than average Palouse earthworm,'" Johnson-Maynard said when the find was announced Tuesday.
Although they had been thought to grow to 3 feet long, the adult worm measured about 10 or 12 inches fully extended, while the juvenile was 6 or 7 inches.
The worms were translucent, allowing internal organs to appear. They had pink heads and bulbous tails. The adult had a yellowish band behind the head.
The specimens were found March 27 by Shan Xu, an Idaho student, and Karl Umiker, a research support scientist. They also found three earthworm cocoons, two of which have hatched and appear to also be giant Palouse earthworms.
The Palouse earthworm was first reported to the scientific world in an 1897 article in the American Naturalist by Frank Smith. Smith's work was based on four samples sent to him by R.W. Doane of Washington State University in Pullman.
Massive agricultural development soon consumed nearly all of the unique Palouse Prairie -- a seemingly endless ocean of steep, silty dunes -- and appeared to deal a fatal blow to the worm.
In the late 1980s, University of Idaho scientist James Johnson found two worms in a second-growth forest near Moscow. They were the last living specimens found until now.
The worms were considered extinct until 2005, when Idaho graduate student Yaniria Sanchez-de Leon found a specimen near Albion, Wash. But that worm had been cut nearly in half as she was digging a hole.
After that discovery, conservation groups petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the worm as an endangered species, citing as proof the lack of sightings. But the agency said there simply was not enough scientific information to merit a listing.
Most earthworms found in the Northwest originated in Europe, arriving on plants or in soil shipped to the New World. The giant Palouse earthworm is one of the few native species.
"The most important thing about this to me is this is the first time we have an intact, live specimen that we can get DNA from and make a taxonomic description to the species level," Johnson-Maynard said.
Last month's discoveries followed the development of a new high-tech worm shocking probe that was stuck in the ground and used electricity to push worms toward the surface. The probe was deployed starting last summer and proved far less lethal to worms than sticking shovels into the ground to dig them up, Johnson-Maynard said.
The adult was killed so that University of Kansas earthworm expert Sam James could dissect it identify and it as a giant Palouse earthworm. James made that determination on April 16.
The juvenile remains alive at the University of Idaho, where its DNA will be used to identify new specimens.
Associated Press
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/04/giant-polouse-earthworms-found-but-they-arent-as-giant-as-expected.html
April 27, 2010
SPOKANE, Wash. — Two living specimens of the fabled giant Palouse earthworm have been captured for the first time in two decades in what represents a significant discovery of a creature that has achieved a mythic status in the area.
The giant Palouse earthworm has fascinated scientists for decades after long being written off as an extinct creature. Reports suggested that the worms had a penchant for spitting and smelled like lilies, further enhancing the myth of the earthworm in the agricultural Palouse region on the Washington-Idaho border.
"It's a good day for the worm," said University of Idaho soil scientist Jodi Johnson-Maynard in Moscow, Idaho, who has been leading the search.
The recent discovery of the worms appeared to dispel the myth about the creature's appearance. They don't spit or smell like lilies and they aren't even that giant.
"One of my colleagues suggested we rename it the 'larger-than average Palouse earthworm,'" Johnson-Maynard said when the find was announced Tuesday.
Although they had been thought to grow to 3 feet long, the adult worm measured about 10 or 12 inches fully extended, while the juvenile was 6 or 7 inches.
The worms were translucent, allowing internal organs to appear. They had pink heads and bulbous tails. The adult had a yellowish band behind the head.
The specimens were found March 27 by Shan Xu, an Idaho student, and Karl Umiker, a research support scientist. They also found three earthworm cocoons, two of which have hatched and appear to also be giant Palouse earthworms.
The Palouse earthworm was first reported to the scientific world in an 1897 article in the American Naturalist by Frank Smith. Smith's work was based on four samples sent to him by R.W. Doane of Washington State University in Pullman.
Massive agricultural development soon consumed nearly all of the unique Palouse Prairie -- a seemingly endless ocean of steep, silty dunes -- and appeared to deal a fatal blow to the worm.
In the late 1980s, University of Idaho scientist James Johnson found two worms in a second-growth forest near Moscow. They were the last living specimens found until now.
The worms were considered extinct until 2005, when Idaho graduate student Yaniria Sanchez-de Leon found a specimen near Albion, Wash. But that worm had been cut nearly in half as she was digging a hole.
After that discovery, conservation groups petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the worm as an endangered species, citing as proof the lack of sightings. But the agency said there simply was not enough scientific information to merit a listing.
Most earthworms found in the Northwest originated in Europe, arriving on plants or in soil shipped to the New World. The giant Palouse earthworm is one of the few native species.
"The most important thing about this to me is this is the first time we have an intact, live specimen that we can get DNA from and make a taxonomic description to the species level," Johnson-Maynard said.
Last month's discoveries followed the development of a new high-tech worm shocking probe that was stuck in the ground and used electricity to push worms toward the surface. The probe was deployed starting last summer and proved far less lethal to worms than sticking shovels into the ground to dig them up, Johnson-Maynard said.
The adult was killed so that University of Kansas earthworm expert Sam James could dissect it identify and it as a giant Palouse earthworm. James made that determination on April 16.
The juvenile remains alive at the University of Idaho, where its DNA will be used to identify new specimens.
Associated Press
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/04/giant-polouse-earthworms-found-but-they-arent-as-giant-as-expected.html
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