The Conservation Report

Two new species of “flying lemur” or colugo have been discovered using genetic work. However, “flying lemur” is a misnomer, since genetic work has placed colugos into a mere “sister group to primates,” and colugos aren’t endemic to Madagascar as lemurs are, but are found in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, colugos don’t actually fly. These animals, using a special skin membrane called a patagium, glide from tree to tree within their arboreal habitat. From Science Daily:

Scientists had recognized just two species of these enigmatic mammals, the Sunda colugo and the Philippine colugo. However, the new findings show that the Sunda colugo, found only in Indochina and Sundaland, including the large islands of Borneo, Sumatra, and Java, actually represents at least three separate species.

“We were guessing that we might find that there were different species of Sunda colugo—although we were not sure,” said Jan Janecka of Texas A&M University. “But what really surprised us was how old the speciation events were. Some went back four to five million years,” making the colugo species as old as other modern species groups (or genera) such as the primates known as macaques and the leopard cats.

The team’s initial hunch that the Sunda colugos might be distinct species came largely from obvious differences in characteristics like body size and color. In the new study, they compared the DNA of colugos living on the mainland, Java, and Borneo, uncovering enough divergence between the sequences to warrant their designation as three species.

Image of female colugo (Cynocephalus variegatus) with infant taken by Norman Lim, and the image was found here

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A new species of gecko (Lepidodactylus buleli) has been described from the largest island in the Vanuatu archipelago: Espiritu Santo. The archipelago is located in the South Pacific Ocean, but the eggs that were collected in a forest canopy on Espiritu Santo, were brought back to Paris and hatched there. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) From The Associated Press:

A 2006 expedition to Espiritu Santo to study the ecosystems of the forest canopy led to the discovery of the 3-inch-long gecko. The expedition included climbers who scoured the canopy for plant and animal samples.

Ivan Ineich, a reptile specialist at the museum, said he first noticed the little lizard when he saw a bloody carcass accidentally hacked in half by one of climbers.

“I said to myself ‘this guy looks bizarre,’ but I couldn’t tell right away it was a new species because it had been so massacred,” Ineich said in a phone interview.

Climbers then harvested a plant where female geckos had hidden nine minuscule eggs, Ineich wrapped them in wet Kleenex, packed them into a pillbox and carried them home to the French capital.

There, he gave the eggs to a friend who raises lizards as a hobby. Eight of the baby geckos died after temperatures in the terrarium plummeted during a power outage, but the ninth lived.

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If you have the money, a new website allows just about anyone to name a newly described species, and naming a species in honor of another person might make a great gift. Part of the proceeds from naming a species is donated to the World Wildlife Fund to protect endangered species. From PR Web, WA:

The new site, located at nameaspecies.com, already features several species available to be named. People pay for the right to name a species and half of the proceeds go directly to the researchers, so that the scientific process and those who push it forward benefit from these sales. Additionally, another portion of the proceeds will be contributed to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as part of Name a Species’ mission to protect and celebrate the world’s biological diversity.

Possibly some fourteen species of snail, recently discovered and inventoried from the Australian Outback, may be new species. From Northern Territory, Australia:

The recent discovery of up to 14 new species of land snails in the Territory outback shows they may be slow, but they’re everywhere.

“Preliminary findings suggest the area is extremely rich in biodiversity, perhaps the hottest place in the Northern Territory,” said conservation scientist Dr Michael Braby.

There are a few newly described geckos being reported from Australia. From Mongabay.com:

Two species of gecko have been discovered in the southern deserts of Western Australia and South Australia, report researchers from the Western Australian Museum.

The Cape Range Gecko (Diplodactylus capensis) is found only on the Northwest Cape near Exmouth, while the Southern Sandplain Gecko (Lucasium bungabinna), occurs in the southern deserts in Western Australia and South Australia, north of the Nullarbor Plain.

A new species of legless lizard has been described from Brazil. From Bloomberg:

The newly identified lizard that lives in the largest savanna area of South America, a region that makes up a fifth of Brazil, survives on small bugs, termites and ants in the soil, said Lisa Bowen, a spokeswoman for the Arlington, Virginia-based group.The native grasslands once covered an area half the size of Europe but are being cleared at a faster rate than the Amazon rain forest for cropland to meet the rising demand for soybeans, sugar cane and cattle, said Ricardo Machado, author of a study by the conservation group on the Cerrado.

Part of a separate evolutionary line from snakes, the new sand-colored species, like other limbless lizards, has external ear openings and lacks the cranial modifications that enable snakes to ingest very large prey, Bowen said today in an e-mail.

Seven new species of glassfrog were discovered in Ecuador. From Mongabay.com:

Seven previously unknown species of frog discovered over the past two years by Ecuadorian researchers are already under threat from habitat loss, reports a newsletter from the IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group.

The frogs belong to the Glassfrog family, a group that is endemic to tropical America and has more than 140 species, of which 40 percent are threatened with extinction due to disease and habitat loss.

Start combing your backyards, because a new species of lichen was discovered on a wooden fence in San Simeon, California. From Point Reyes Light, CA:

Kerry Knudsen walked up to an old corral near the visitor center in Bear Valley on a Thursday morning in July. Holding his magnifying hand lens, a 10-power jeweler’s loupe, to his eye, he looked at the wooden fence, and within five minutes knew he was seeing a lichen previously unknown to science.

The new species will be called Lecanora simeonensis, and its story began nearly two years ago on the weathered conifer wood of another abandoned corral in San Simeon. “The minute I saw it, I knew we didn’t have anything described like that,” recalled Knudsen, lichen curator at the Herbarium of University of California, Riverside. “I knew it was something new when I first saw it, and then the process is to find more of it.”

The world’s longest insect, a new stick insect species, was named after a Malaysian naturalist. From the Independent, UK:

It lives high up in the rainforest canopy of Borneo, its eggs have tiny wings so they can glide from one tree to another, and now it has officially entered the record books as the longest insect species alive today.

A specimen of the stick insect Phobaeticus chani measures 56.6cm (22.3in) long with its legs fully stretched, which is more than a centimetre longer than the previous title holder, another stick insect called P. serratipes found in Malaysia.

Even without its long legs, P. chani has the longest body in the insect world, measuring 35.7cm, which is 2.9cm longer than the previous record holder, yet another stick insect from Borneo called P. kirbyi.

The specimen will go on display in the Creepy Crawlies gallery at the Natural History Museum in London. George Beccaloni, the museum’s curator of stick insects, said: “We’ve known about both the previous record holders for over 100 years, so it’s extraordinary an even bigger species has only just been discovered.

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New species have been discovered living on reefs in Australia:

A recent expedition “exploring two islands just off the Great Barrier Reef, and a reef off northwestern Australia” discovered over one hundred new soft coral species and dozens of new crustacean species.

Some 100 new species of sharks and rays have been discovered in Australian waters. The image above showing Centrophorus zeehaani, a new species of gulper shark, was released by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). From Reuters:

Scientists using DNA have catalogued and described 100 new species of sharks and rays in Australian waters, which they said on Thursday would help conservation of the marine animals and aid in climate change monitoring.

More than 90 of the newly named species were identified by scientists in a 1994 book “Sharks and Rays of Australia” but remained scientifically undescribed.

One rare species of carpet shark catalogued was found in the belly of another shark.

The new names and descriptions will now feature in a revised 2009 edition of the book by Australia’s peak scientific body.

The Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) said its cataloguing of the new species was critical for the management of sharks and rays, which reproduce slowly and are vulnerable to overfishing.

CSIRO scientists said sharks and rays as apex predators play a vital role in the ocean’s ecosystem and can be indicators of climate change.

A new species of catfish has been discovered in India. From the Calcutta Telegraph, India:

“Erethistoides senkhiensis was netted with a 3-meter-diameter cast net with 8mm meshes, in low depth (15-35cm), moderately clear but turbid running water with pebbles, cobbles, concrete of variable colours and sand particles by the three of us about a fortnight back,” Shivaji Chaudhry, also a faculty member at the institute, said.

A new iguana species (Brachylophus bulabula) has been described from Fiji. From National Geographic, DC:

But it wasn’t until almost two years ago that Robert Fisher, a research zoologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in San Diego, started studying preserved museum specimens. He found physical differences between B. bulabula and the other two iguana species.

B. bulabula has a distinct bright nose and a U-shaped band around its neck, Fisher said. The other two species either have a V-shaped band or spots around their necks.

And unlike its dry forest-dwelling relatives, B. bulabula rummages through wet forests.

A new species of blind, subterranean, predatory ant (Martialis heureka) dubbed a living fossil was discovered in Brazil. Image via Reuters and the microscopic photo is by C. Rabeling & M. Verhaagh/National Academy of Sciences/Handout. From the Christian Science Monitor, MA:

The researchers from the US, Germany, and Brazil dubbed the species Martialis heureka, or the ant from Mars. The specimen they uncovered is only about 1/10th of an inch long, has no eyes, and lives in the soil. DNA studies, along with the ant’s physical traits, suggest that it occupies a place at the very base of the ant family tree. It also belongs to its own new subfamily of ants – the first new subfamily uncovered since the early 1920s, says the research team, led by Christian Rabeling, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Texas at Austin.

Not all of the early ants were blind or lived underground, the team holds, but M. heureka’s traits suggest that ants adapted to different ecological niches relatively quickly after they branched off the wasp’s early lineage.

The results appear in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY: $800 Million Prize for Alternative Energy to Power Africa’s Villages

ANIMAL WELFARE: Wheeled Tortoise Gets Around

ANTARCTIC MELTING: “New” Killer Whale Types at Risk From Antarctic Warming

ARCTIC MELTING: Shellfish May Invade North Atlantic As Ice Melts, Hungry Musk-Oxen, Caribou Could Help Warming Arctic

AUTO INDUSTRY: Shaq buys smart fortwo, wears as shoe, Saudi Arabia threatens Nissan boycott over Israeli ad

BIG OIL: ExxonMobil owns the media’s convention coverage Oil Expansion Plans In L.A. Rile Residents

BIOPLASTICS: Biodegradable Plastics Are Good for Atmosphere, Too

BIOPRODUCTS: Dandelion Rubber Could Replace Rare Sources, Silk-Based Optical Lenses Green Enough to Eat

BLOGGING: What Makes for a Good Blog?

CARBON SEQUESTERING: Cattails Shown to Be Effective CO2-Eaters

CHINA: MINI Clubman Rickshaws running around Beijing

CLIMATE CHANGE: Climate Change Caused Widespread Tree Death In California Mountain Range, Study Confirms, West Africa’s coastline redrawn by climate change: experts

COMPOSTING: Human Waste Used by 200 Million Farmers, Study Says

ENERGY MIX OF THE FUTURE: Smokestack heat: Fuel of the future?

ENVIRONMENTALISM: ARE WE ALL STILL ENVIRONMENTALISTS?, The Death of Environmentalism?, FREE & GREEN: A NEW APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, Green but Anti-Government, Pro-Environment, Not Pro-EPA

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: Appeals Court OKs Oil Firms’ Billion-Dollar Award, Companies to end lead wheel weight use in Calif.

EXTINCTION: Extinction Threatens Half of Primate Types, Study Says

FOOD: Half of All Food Produced Worldwide is Wasted

FUEL ECONOMY: Sweden Requires Fuel-Efficient Driving Lessons, Billions of gallons of gas could be saved by “Smart Intersections”

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Oregon Tech To Be Powered Entirely By Geothermal Energy, Google Investing Over $10 Million in Geothermal Energy

GIANT SQUID: Colossal Squid Ripped, Stitched, Hoisted and Moved

GLACIAL MELTING: Huge Greenland Glacier Disintegrating

GLOBAL WARMING: Will Grasslands Overtake U.S. Forests Due to Warming?, Dead Penguins Found Closer to Equator Than Ever Before, Birds Thrown Off by Global Warming, Arctic Tundra Holds Global Warming Time Bomb

GREEN: Colorado Creating US’s First Fossil Fuel-Free Community

GREEN CONSERVATISM: Gingrich Cites Big Oil And Right-Wing Intern To Claim That All Economists Support Drilling, Extreme anti-environment Cheney aide up for top Energy Department post, McCain: ‘I Have Not Missed Any Crucial Vote’ On Energy Legislation

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS: Kangaroo Meat Could Help Australia Cut Gas Emissions

GREENWASHING: Shell rebuked for ‘greenwash’ over ad for polluting oil project

HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT: People vs. Monkeys in Singapore

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Calif. Requires Hybrid Cars To Make Some Noise

INVASIVE SPECIES: Invasive Lionfish Explode

MARINE CONSERVATION: NASA Tool Helps Track Whale Sharks, Polar Bears, Bush Seeks to Protect 3 Pacific Island Chains

MARINE MAMMALS: “Ugliest Dolphin” Finally Filmed, Mexico Invests to Save Endangered Porpoise

NANOTECHNOLOGY: Nanomaterial Cleans up Broken Fluorescent Bulbs

NEW SPECIES: Newfound Monkey Species “Rarest in Africa,” Expert Says, New, “Chubbier” River Dolphin Species Found in Bolivia

OCEAN DEAD ZONES: Ocean ‘dead zones’ expanding worldwide: study

PLASTIC: Did Big Plastic Pay Off The FDA???

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Amtrak Gets Funding Boost To Meet Record Demand, Sweden Rolling Out 183 MPH High-Speed Green Train

RECLAIMED OR RECYCLED WATER: Recycled Sewage: Coming to a Tap Near You?

RECYCLING: Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, gets trashy, Old tires make new roads, No Economic Slowdown For Reusable Bags

RENEWABLE RESOURCES: Colorado to Ditch Two Coal Plants, Moving to Solar and Wind, 13 Magnificent Renewable Energy Successes and Failures

SOLAR: IKEA Solar Panels on the Horizon, Miami Gets 600 Solar Bus Shelters, Coal Power Plant Retrofit With Solar, Solar Efficiency Record Broken, Oregon Launching First Solar Highway in the US, Want Solar? Head to Sam’s Club, 2 Large Solar Plants Planned in California, Will Each Be 10 Times Bigger Than Largest Now in Service, Solar-Powered Plane Flies for Nearly 83 Hours, Doubles World Record, Hot Asphalt as Better Energy Collector than Solar Panels?

SUSTAINABILITY: Wal-Mart Pares Costs By Selling Local Produce

WALL-E: Wall*E + Kleenex = Iron*E

WATER POLLUTION: AP: Drugs found in drinking water

WATER WARS: McCain’s Colorado River Gaffe Might Cost Him Key Western States

WETLANDS: Australian Wetlands Threatened

WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING: 14 Tons of Frozen Scaly Anteaters Seized in Indonesia

WIND POWER: New Study Says City-Based Rooftop Wind Power Doesn’t Pay Off, Kites Could Become Major Source Of Wind Power, Wind Turbines Give Bats the “Bends,” Study Finds

ZOOLOGICAL CONSERVATION: Huge Insectarium Opens, Lonesome George a Father?

Another new species of blind snake has been discovered (above). More about the newly described blind snake can be found at the Fiji Times, Fiji.  In more new species news: (1) A new species of barb (Puntius kamalika) has been named after HIV/AIDS activist Kamalika Abeyaratne, and (2) a new species of aphid (Mindarus harringtoni) was discovered fossilized in amber via eBay.

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Genetic work has revealed two species of goliath grouper, so the “new species” or the Pacific goliath grouper is formally known as Epinephelus quinquefasciatus. It’s not surprising that two species of goliath grouper exist, since the two populations have been geographically separated for millions of years. The discovery will have implications for fisheries conservation, since the Pacific goliath grouper is considered overfished and critically endangered. Furthermore, the Atlantic goliath grouper (E. itajara) is considered overfished and critically endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Some interesting images of the Brazilian Atlantic goliath grouper fishery in action can be found on Flickr, and there is more on this story at the DR Corner. From Science Daily (press release):

“For more than a century, ichthyologists have thought that Pacific and Atlantic goliath grouper were the same species, and the argument was settled before the widespread use of genetic techniques. The genetic data were the key to our finding: two species, one on each side of the isthmus.,” said Dr. Matthew Craig of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, lead author of the study.

Because the two populations of grouper are identical in body form and markings, they were both considered part of the same species: Epinephelus itajara. About three-and-a-half million years ago—before the Caribbean and the Pacific became separated by present-day Panama—they were the same species.

Since that time, the two populations have evolved into genetically distinct populations. While testing the hypothesis that Pacific and West Atlantic grouper were the same species, the research team found significant differences in the DNA from both populations. The differences indicate that the two populations have effectively evolved into two separate species after being separated from one another by Central America. The new Pacific species is now classified as Epinephelus quinquefasciatus. E. itajara is currently listed as critically endangered to extinction in the World Conservation Union’s Red List of Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora. Due to its scarcity, E. quinquefasciatus may also be considered critically endangered.

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Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse my work or me and their image is protected under an attribution license.

Information about the top-centered image showing a large goliath grouper can be found here

Smithsonian scientists in the central African country of Gabon have discovered a new species of bird. The so-called olive-backed forest robin (Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus) was discovered during a biodiversity assessment of southwestern Gabon that contains two protected areas – Loango and Moukalaba-Doudou National Parks. The research expedition that discovered the new forest robin was part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity Program (SIMAB).

According to the authors presenting the findings in the scientific journal Zootaxa, the new species of forest robin is common and “inhabits primary lowland forest and forages on or near the ground like the other members of the genus Stiphrornis of central and western Africa [and] unique phenotypic features of the new species include the male’s bright orange chin, throat, and breast, creamy yellow belly, olive green back and rump, and gray flanks.”

Certainly, new species discoveries of any bird or mammal are rare, but this discovery is surprising considering the coloring of the bird, and its apparent status of being “common.” These factors reflect the level of scientific exploration within this area of Gabon. Furthermore, considering the increase in habitat degradation, loss, and fragmentation, these factors also highlight the importance of supporting science and projects that conduct biodiversity surveys or inventories, because information and the subsequent press can facilitate awareness to protect unique landscapes. It is easier to make an argument for species or landscape protection if we know what’s there.

In addition to biodiversity assessments and research conducted by SIMAB, the project is also working to integrate biodiversity education as part of the conservation strategy or portfolio of the area. Image credit: Brian Schmidt. From the Press Room of the Smithsonian Institution:

The bird was first observed by Smithsonian scientists in 2001 during a field expedition of the National Zoo’s Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity Program in southwest Gabon. It was initially thought, however, to be an immature individual of an already-recognized species. Brian Schmidt, a research ornithologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and a member of the MAB program’s team, returned to Washington, D.C., from Gabon in 2003 with several specimens to enter into the museum’s bird collection. When he compared them with other forest robins of the genus Stiphrornis in the collection, Schmidt immediately noticed differences in color and plumage, and realized the newly collected birds might be unique.

“I suspected something when I found the first bird in Gabon since it didn’t exactly match any of the species descriptions in the field guides,” Schmidt said. “Once I was able to compare them side by side to other specimens in our collections it was clear that these birds were special. You, of course, have to be cautious, but I was still very excited at the prospect of possibly having found a new species of bird.”

To ensure that the specimens Schmidt collected were a new species, geneticists at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo compared the DNA of the new specimens to that of the four known forest robin species. The results clearly showed that these birds were in fact a separate and distinct species.

Discovering an unknown mammal or bird species is far from a common event. Before the 20th century, the rate of discoveries was great—several hundred new species were being described each decade. Since then, however, the pace has slowed and new species of vertebrates are generally only found in isolated areas.

Now officially recognized, the olive-backed forest robin brings Gabon’s number of known bird species to 753. Other than its existence, however, little is known to science about this newcomer.

On the Net: Zootaxa; Aves, birds
On the Net: A new species of African Forest Robin from Gabon (Passeriformes: Muscicapidae: Stiphrornis): Full journal article
On the Net: Smithsonian Institution’s Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity Program (SIMAB)

Among the new species of reptiles discovered in Cambodia and Vietnam by a “father-son species detective team” include a new species of gecko and venomous species of snake from the family Viperidae (Cryptelytrops honsonensis). Vietnam is a biodiversity hotspot.  More information can be found at Wildlife Extra, VietNamNet Bridge (Vietnam), and the journal Zootaxa.

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AL GORE: Al Gore places infant son in rocket to escape dying planet

ARCTIC MELTING: Robot planes getting bird’s eye view of shrinking Greenland Ice Sheet

AUTO INDUSTRY: Going small: A smart experience: With $4-a-gallon gas and waiting lines nine months long, the Smart Fortwo is becoming the car for informed Americans wanting to make a statement, The Cars.com true mileage index

BIG OIL: Big Oil’s biggest quarter ever: $51.5B in all

CARBON TAX: South Africa pushes climate change plan: Ambitious proposal includes carbon tax

CHINA: China fails to keep promises it made to win Olympic game

ECOSYSTEM IMBALANCE: Jellyfish invasion bothering beachgoers: The stinging creatures showing up on sand and in water in unusually high numbers

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES: Incredible fish armor could suit soldiers

ENERGY CONSERVATION: Energy conservation: Starting at home, Maryland residents asked to cut energy use

E-WASTE: Electronic e-waste to be e-cycled: How to greenly recycle your gadgets

FISHERIES: Killer herpes decimates young French oysters

GREENWASHING: Insidious Examples Of Greenwashing

HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT: Pelican vs. trout: Who wins in Idaho?

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Things go better with Coca-Cola hybrids

MARINE MAMMALS: Belugas troubled by tourism?

NEGLECTED DISEASES: Nigeria’s neglected diseases: Making the case to fight schistosomiasis

NEW SPECIES: Aptostichus stephencolberti: Stephen Colbert gets a spider named after him, Dolphin find may make marine history: A DIMINUTIVE dolphin called “Snubby” may make history in marine science if DNA samples taken this week from animals off the northwest Kimberley coast prove they are the world’s newest dolphin species or sub-species, New catfish species found, Crew films rare species of dolphin:
A camera crew has filmed a rare species of dolphin that has only been known to scientists for three years near Broome, Western Australia

OFFSHORE DRILLING: Drilling is up, prices are up, Bush rips Democrats for opposing offshore drilling

SCIENCE: ‘Gravity tractor’ could deflect asteroids

SHARKS: Blue sharks beat the odds, by tasting bad, Shark avoids suffocation by turning off electricity

SOCIAL ISSUES: Attenborough alarmed as children are left flummoxed by test on the natural world

SOLAR: Utah’s solar fired furnace to power California for less than the cost of coal or gas

WIND POWER: World’s largest wind farm planned in Oregon

Besides being a great place to go salamander watching, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park seems to be a great place to go new species hunting as well. An ATBI revealed hundreds of new species both to science and to the Park, but the list of new species isn’t exactly made up of species that would make the front cover of Newsweek.

The list includes many ostensibly insignificant species such as various new species of algae, mayflies, mites, and water bears. Water bears aren’t the mammalian cuddly type of furry bears most of us are familiar with, but water bears are tiny segmented animals that are known for living in various extreme environments, including hot springs, ice, the bottom of the ocean, and “some can survive temperatures close to absolute zero, temperatures as high as 151°C (303°F), 1,000 times more radiation than any other animal, nearly a decade without water, and can also survive in a vacuum like that found in space.”

The bulk of the new species are bacteria but there are quite a few new species from the orders Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps) and Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). As of December 1, 2007, species new to science included 27 new crustaceans, 1 new millipede, 7 new mollusks, and 21 new slime molds amongst many others.

Recording and conserving such biodiversity is extremely important, and not to sound cliché, but all creatures are connected and need each other. Although as a species we perceive ourselves as largely disassociated from nature, we need healthy aquatic environments, natural landscapes, and biodiversity for our survival and psychological well being.

To see the full list of new species from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park go here and to see some of the remarkable illustrations by Nancy Lowe of the new species discovered in the the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, go here.

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A new species of threadsnake (Leptotyphlops carlae), which probably grows less than 4 inches long (about ten centimeters) and is as thin as spaghetti was discovered on the island of Barbados by S. Blair Hedges, a Professor of Biology from the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment. Hedges has “discovered or co-discovered 72 species of amphibians and reptiles, including the smallest tetrapod (a frog) and smallest amniote vertebrate (a lizard).” He also helped describe what may be the world’s smallest lizard (below).

This new species of thread snake may not be the world’s smallest species, since other similar threadsnake species may be smaller. These little snakes are poorly known, so it is probably too early to determine which species is the smallest. Furthermore, few specimens exist of these fascinating little snakes in museums. Snakes from the genus Leptotyphlops are also known as blind snakes, and they burrow to feed on insect larvae. IMAGES by Blair Hedges/Pennsylvania State University. From Science News:

Hedges studied five adult Barbados threadsnakes, including a female that’s going to be the reference specimen for the new species. Hedges and Hass found her in a remnant of forest on the eastern side of Barbados in June 2006.

She carried a single egg in her oviduct. Animals at the miniature end of their species tend to reproduce one offspring at a time, often a baby relatively large in comparison to the mother, Hedges says.

He says the Barbados snake also fits another pattern: Islands are often homes for very large or very small species. Some lineages on continents never make it out to islands, so island dwellers have opportunities to fill niches they wouldn’t on the mainland. Hence, when searching for an unusual form of an animal, such as minis or giants, islands make good places to start looking.

Over his career, Hedges has codescribed other extreme herps: A frog smaller than a dime and the smallest known lizard. Each came from an island.

More thread snake images by Nate Kley, an evolutionary biologist and herpetologist:

On the Net: Snakes hold thread of evolution evidence
On the Net: Gobbling Food Helps Threadsnakes Avoid Danger; In A Snake-Eat-Ant World, It’s Survival Of The Fastest
On the Net: Weird jaws let tiny snake gulp fast

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IMAGE: The top image shows the new species of migratory manta ray and the bottom image shows the resident species of manta ray

Manta rays (Manta birostris) are giant cartilaginous filter feeders of the order Rajiformes, which includes skates and many other species of rays. They are the largest of all ray species and are often associated with pelagic or coral reef waters (oceanodromous or residents of reefs). Giant manta rays are distributed worldwide and remain a scientific mystery. Certainly, there are more species to be discovered, and many believe that more species exist.

A marine study in Mozambique by Andrea Marshall aims to gather more information on giant manta rays. She is a PhD marine biologist sponsored by the Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF). Recently, Andrea’s work has revealed a new species of manta ray through genetic and morphological studies.

The SOSF study has also observed reproductive behavior. Giant manta rays have a very low, minimum population doubling time, so the large marine animals are vulnerable to overfishing since they “are now known to give birth to a single large offspring about 1.4m in size after a year of gestation and, once reaching maturity at about 4m across, typically produce a pup every other year.” Modern fishing pressure may influence how large these rays can grow, since recent research on whale sharks shows that because “humans have over-exploited the whale shark — the world’s largest living fish — to such a degree that the ocean giants are actually shrinking in size.”  Giant manta rays are often bycatch in the industrial tuna fisheries as well. From the Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom:

The manta now confirmed as a distinct species is the larger of the two and shys away from divers rather than seeking interaction.

Little is known about its lifestyle or migration patterns and Marshall has only ever witnessed it arriving at sea-mounts or at particularly productive areas along a coastline to feed on plankton before disappearing back into the deep ocean.

Although both species are harmless the larger, migratory manta has retained the presence of a non-functioning sting in its tail.

Other differences between the two species lie in colour, skin texture and reproductive biology. The smaller of the two species is not migratory and is often encountered at coral reefs where they congregate to be cleaned by parasite-eating fish in locations such as Hawaii, the Maldives, Mozambique, Australia, Japan and the Island of Yap.

The more commonly known ray resides in the same areas year round making it particularly susceptible to fishing pressure. If resident rays continue to be fished unsustainably they face localised extinction.

The larger rays, migrants and ocean wanderers which makes conservation management difficult, are fished heavily particularly in southeast Asia, and thousands are killed each year.

Many fall victim to ghost nets and are killed alongside other marine creatures as by-catch. Rays are also threatened by habitat degradation, boat traffic and disturbance by divers.

This old image illustrates the size that giant manta rays can reach. This particular specimen was caught of the coast of New Jersey:

This is an image from one of my presentations on trawl fisheries when I worked for NOAA/NMFS. I cannot remember where I found the image (it may be a Greenpeace image), but it shows a manta ray as bycatch amongst some type of Scombridae species, possibly skipjack tuna. Note the Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) in the background too.

On the Net: Save Our Seas Foundation - Manta Rays, Mozambique
On the Net: The American Elasmobranch Society

Image Found Here
Image Found Here

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AIR POLLUTION: Beijing begins massive shutdown to curb pollution before Olympics

ANTARCTIC MELTING: Ice adrift from warming scrapes Antarctic seabed bare, Ice shelf hanging by a thread, More icebergs scouring Antarctica’s seabed

ARCTIC COOLING: Distant wildfires cause Arctic cooling

ASSISTED COLONIZATION; ASSISTED MIGRATION: Should we relocate species threatened by climate change?, Move species threatened by warming, scientists advise, Moving species to save them: Pros and cons

BIODIESEL: China builds tung tree oil biodiesel plants

CARBON SEQUESTERING: EPA drafts rule for carbon sequestration, Amazon river powers Atlantic carbon sink

CLIMATE CHANGE: White House buries climate change deaths report

DESERTIFICATION: Sand swallowing Chinese city

DEVIL FACIAL TUMOUR DISEASE (DFTD): “Teen sex” rising for cancer-affected Tasmanian devils

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT: Judge orders federal wolf protections restored: Decision likely ends planned wolf hunt for this fall, Living with wolves Q&A: No hunting season for wolves, but poachers likely, Gray wolves regain endangered-species protections: A Montana judge sides with environmentalists who had challenged the species’ delisting

ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP: Green countries: A global report card on nations doing the most, and least, to clean up the environment

EVOLUTION: Noisy fish reveal evolution of vocalizing

GREEN ADVERTISEMENT: Cooling off on dubious eco-friendly claims

GREEN CONSTRUCTION: Vast cities that float on the seas are to transform how we live, real-life Atlantises that will allow humankind to prosper once existing coastlines fall to the ravages of global warming, XERITOWN: New sustainable urban complex for Dubailand

HYDROGEN FUEL: Researchers generate hydrogen without the carbon footprint

INVASIVE SPECIES: Tiny bug threatens to take down U.S. citrus crops

MARINE CONSERVATION: Vibrant new reefs found off Brazil

NATURE: Leopard attacks and kills crocodile (PHOTOS, VIDEO), Weirdest animals and creatures in the world post, “Annoying” bird mimics sirens, Bees enlisted to attack crows in Tokyo, Nature’s own nano gold found

NEW SPECIES: Has a new species of insect appeared in the middle of London?

OFFSHORE DRILLING: The three biggest myths the Bush Administration wants you to believe about offshore drilling

REEL BIG FISH: “Monster” lake’s rare giants lure anglers, biologists

RECYCLING: Jets mined for parts, homes

RED TIDE: Red tide kills Mexico fish

SOLAR: Florida gives green light to largest solar power plant in U.S.

SUSTAINABILITY: Amazing Stat: California uses more gas than China

TIDAL POWER: East coast getting tidal energy projects , World’s first commercial-scale tidal power turbine begins feeding electricity to the grid: SeaGen more than four times the size of next largest tidal turbine

UPWARD MIGRATION: Stinging wasps moving north due to warming?

VERTICAL FARMING: Country, the city version: Farms in the sky gain new interest

WATER AVAILABILITY: The water shortage myth, Bottled water wars

WAVE POWER: Wave-powered boat makes it from Japan to Hawaii

WIND POWER: First U.S. town powered completely by wind

AIRLINE INDUSTRY: British PM blasts polluting ‘ghost’ flights: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday that airlines flying empty planes simply to maintain valuable airport slots were “unacceptable” due to their environmental impact.

ANIMAL WELFARE: Trend alert: Pill-popping pets, 16 stingrays in Brookfield Zoo exhibit killed: Water in fish tank gets too hot for them to handle, Bunny beheadings: Over 40 rabbits have been have been mysteriously murdered since last summer in the Ruhr district of Germany

ARCTIC DRILLING: Interior Dept. Opens 2.6 Million Alaskan Acres for Oil Exploration

ASSISTED COLONIZATION; ASSISTED MIGRATION: Should we move species to save them?

CAPE WIND: Cape Wind: The legal challenges

CLIMATE CHANGE: Some thoughts on testifying in front of Congress, Something strange is happening at the coldest, driest place on Earth

CONSTITUTIONAL HEALTH: Al-Marri and the power to imprison U.S. citizens without charges, The political establishment and telecom immunity — why it matters, Suing George W. Bush: A bizarre and troubling tale: U.S. officials went to extremes to stifle our legal challenge to Bush’s warrantless surveillance — but a federal judge says the program is criminal, anyway.

DEVELOPMENT; POPULATION GROWTH: Growing pains in the land of Bollywood

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric cars take over: 17 electric cars you must know about

ENERGY MIX OF THE FUTURE; CLIMATE CHANGE; AL GORE: A generational challenge to repower America: This speech was given today at the D.A.R. Constitutional Hall, Mr. Gore, how do you feel about 90 percent?: Blogosphere responds reservedly to Gore’s call for 100 percent renewable electricity in 10

ENDANGERED SPECIES: Delta smelt moves towards endangered status as ecosystem collapses

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY: Schwarzenegger criticizes Bush White House on environmental policy, Cheney wanted to delete major parts of environmental testimony

EXTINCTION: Evolution & extinction

FISHERIES: Big old fat fecund female fish: The BOFFFF hypothesis and what it means for MPAs and fisheries management

GLOBAL WARMING: Global warming sends Russian researchers fleeing

HIV/AIDS: Senate agrees to triple anti-AIDS funding

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Overworked hybrid engineer dies

HYBRIDS: Grizzly-polar bear hybrid found: But what does it mean?

NATURE: Eight new natural wonders inscribed on World Heritage List

NEW SPECIES: New primate species discovered on Madagascar: Number of known mouse lemur species increases to 16

NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES: Reflections: The death of gallium

NUCLEAR ENERGY: Do nukes have a bright future? Maybe not.

OCEAN DEAD ZONES: NOAA and Louisiana scientists predict largest Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” on record this summer: Mississippi River flooding is major contributor to size of this year’s dead zone

OFFSHORE DRILLING: Bush lifts oil drilling ban, wants Congress to act, The Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969: A lesson in offshore drilling, Naomi Klein debunks Bush’s offshore drilling plan

OIL: New Iranian oil field discovered, ‘Two oil men’ to blame for high gas prices, Pelosi says

OPINION: Let’s get rid of Darwinism

SCIENCE: Humans and machines will merge in future, Flatfish fossils fill evolutionary gap, ‘Missing link’ flatfish has eye that’s moved halfway across its head, Flatfish fossils fill in evolutionary missing link, Incredible pictures of Mars - and they look surprisingly like some parts of Earth

WALL-E: Will Cockroaches Inherit the Earth?: What Wall-E gets wrong about the apocalypse

WIND POWER: Deep-water turbines get Mass. congressional support , New Texas wind power project is massive

ZOOLOGICAL CONSERVATION: Selling SeaWorld, Busch Gardens: Could InBev do it if it wanted to?

ZOONOTIC DISEASES: Ebola-like virus returns to Europe after 40 years

New species may be discovered in your backyard garden like this new species of carnivorous ghost slug recently discovered in Wales. The recently described species of ghost slug is eyeless and lives underground. The slug consumes earthworms “with its blade-like teeth, sucking them in like spaghetti.” From the BBC News, UK:

“The Ghost Slug belongs to an obscure and almost unpronounceable group of slugs - the Trigonochlamydidae,” said Ben Rowson, a biologist at National Museum Cardiff.

“We had to thumb through lots of old publications in Russian and German to find anything like them - but then discovered they were something entirely new.”

After studying the slug’s anatomy, the scientists realised it was an undescribed species and christened the creature with the name adapted from the Welsh word for ghost, ysbryd.

Image Found Here

IMAGE: Albula vulpes is a previously known species of bonefish.