- A species of skink—the Vosmer’s writhing skink (Lygosoma vosmaerii)—has been rediscovered in India. Apparently, the skink hasn’t been seen since 1839. More via The Hindu:
Zoologists from Osmania University have rediscovered a species belonging to the lizard family, which was last seen way back in 1839 in the then Bengal province. The species, thought to be extinct till now, has been identified as Lygosoma Vosmaerii and is also known as Vosmer’s Writhing Skink. It was found by the research team at Jaggayyapet, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh.
- After 160 years, Thyreophora cynophila, a unique species of fly, which specializes on feeding off carcasses at a particular stage of decomposition, has been rediscovered in Spain. More via the BBC:
Thought to be the first fly driven to extinction by humans, it was also considered one of Europe’s few endemic animals to have disappeared for good.
The bizarre fly was considered ‘mythical’ due to its orange head, its preference for living on dead animal carcasses, and the fact it was rarely sighted even in the 19th Century.
. . .
Changes in livestock management in central Europe, improved carrion disposal following the Industrial Revolution, as well as the eradication of wolves and other big bone-crushing carnivores could have helped eliminate the fly.
Video: Thyreophora cynophila
- A flowering plant, Clermontia peleana singuliflora, has been rediscovered on Hawaii after almost 100 years of absence. More via First Post:
flower thought to be extinct for almost 100 years has been rediscovered in Hawaii. The species of lobelia was found growing on native trees and ferns in rainforests covering the slopes of the Kohala volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii.
The flower, known as ‘oha wai’ in Hawaiian, was last seen on the island in 1909 and last collected on the nearby island of East Maui in 1920. It had never been recorded on the slopes of Kohala before.
Conservation worker Jon Griffin explained how researchers made the unexpected discovery. “We were surveying a rare tree snail population when we came across a native lobelia plant that we were unable to identify,” he revealed.
He said they sent photographs of the flower to Dr Thomas Lammers, a botanist at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, who identified it as Clermontia peleana singuliflora, which had not been seen for 90 years and was believed to have died out.
- The Sierra Nevada red fox has been rediscovered in the central California. This subspecies of red fox hasn’t been seen since the 1990s. More via National Geographic:
The Sierra Nevada red fox subspecies hadn’t been seen in central California since the 1990s and was considered gone from the area. Only one other population of Sierra Nevada foxes are known, farther north in the Lassen Peak region (see map).
But U.S. Forest Service officials suspected photographs taken by a trail camera near the Sierra Nevada mountains’ Sonora Pass (see map) in August had captured a Sierra Nevada red fox gnawing on a “bait bag” of chicken scraps.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, ran DNA tests on saliva samples from the bag, and sure enough, the spit confirmed the fox as a Sierra Nevada. Testing saliva is “not uncommon,” said Ben Sacks, director of the Canid Diversity and Conservation Unit of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory.
“We thought they were gone,” Sacks added. “We were wrong.”
- Three species of amphibians—two species of frogs and one species of salamander—have been rediscovered around the world. More via Wildlife Extra:
The three animals that have been rediscovered so far include a Mexican salamander not seen since it was discovered in 1941, a frog from the Ivory Coast not seen since 1967 and another frog from Democratic Republic of Congo not seen since 1979.
Image showing Thyreophora cynophila via Wikipedia
Image showing the Sierra Nevada red fox by Keith Slausen
Image showing Hyperolius sankuruensis by Jos Kielgast / Conservation International
