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Newly Discovered: Previously Unknown Animal Species (Not Alleged Cryptids Or Species Believed Extinct)

New giant shrew found in Kenya
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ... ing19.html
Wed, Sep 22, 2010

Researchers may have discovered a previously unknown species of the giant elephant shrew - a small mammal with a nose like a trunk - in a remote Kenyan forest.

Images of the rat-sized animal were captured by cameras in the Boni-Dodori forest along Kenya's northeastern coast while they were researching biodiversity.

"It is believed to be a new species of giant sengi, otherwise known as an elephant shrew (Macroscelidea)," the conservationists from the Zoological Society of London and the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) scientists said in a statement.

"Once DNA samples have been collected, we look forward to conducting the genetic analysis required to determine whether or not this is indeed a new species of elephant shrew," Galen Rathbun from the California Academy of Sciences said.

The animals are more closely related to elephants than shrews despite their size, and got their name because of their long, flexible, trunk-like nose.

Dr Rathbun said the animals were captivating due to their ancient and often misunderstood ancestry, their monogamous mating, and their flexible snouts used to forage for food.

The academy's research scientists launch dozens of expeditions each year to document biodiversity around the world.

"It is always exciting to describe a new species ... a necessary precursor for ensuring that the animals are protected," he said in the statement.

Forty years ago, forests covered 12 per cent of Kenya, but now it is just 1.7 per cent. Greed and mismanagement of public resources have been blamed for the degradation.

Sam Andanje from the KWS said the discovery underlined the significance of conserving isolated forests in Kenya.

"Unfortunately, they are highly threatened by ongoing, rapid coastal development and there is now an urgent need for an effective management plan," he said.
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German scientists discover rare ape species in Asia
http://www.physorg.com/news204286403.html
September 21st, 2010 in Biology / Plants & Animals

Crested gibbons are found only in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and southern China


This photo from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) shows a Yellow-Cheeked Crested Gibbon. Crested gibbons are found only in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and southern China. Scientists at the Germany Primate Centre say they have discovered a new species of the ape by identifying its distinctive song.

German scientists said on Tuesday they had discovered a new rare and endangered ape species in the tropical rainforests between Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia by its distinctive song.

The new type of crested gibbon, one of the most endangered primate species in the world, is called the northern buffed-cheeked gibbon or Nomascus annamensis, a statement from the German Primate Centre (DPZ) said.

"The discovery of a new species of ape is a minor sensation," said Christian Roos from the DPZ.

"An analysis of the frequency and tempo of their calls, along with genetic research, show that this is, in fact, a new species."

The distinctive song "serves to defend territory or might even be a precursor of the music humans make," the statement added.

The male of the new species is covered with black fur that appears silver in sunlight. His chest is brownish and his cheeks deep orange-golden in colour. The females are orange-beige in colour.

Crested gibbons are found only in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and southern China. Scientists had assumed there were six different species but the recent discovery takes the number to seven.

Gibbons have become endangered due to illegal hunting. "Gibbons are kept as cute pets, or they are eaten, or they are processed into traditional medicines," said the DPZ.

Many species number only around 100 individuals, said Roos. Scientists currently have "absolutely no idea" how many of the new species might be alive, but are conducting further study to determine this, he told AFP.

Like orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos, gibbons belong to the apes, man's closest relative.

"Only if we know where which species is found and how many individuals there are can we start with serious conservation actions," added the scientist.

News of the discovery was published in the Vietnamese Journal of Primatology.
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New carnivorous mammal species found in Madagascar
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_ne ... 080783.stm
By Victoria Gill
Science and nature reporter, BBC News

Newly discovered carnivorous mammal, Durrell's vontsira
Scientists first caught the live specimen in 2005

A new species of carnivorous mammal has been discovered in Madagascar.

The mongoose-like creature has been called Durrell's vontsira (Salanoia durrelli) in honour of conservationist Gerald Durrell.

Scientists found the creature in the wetlands of Lake Alaotra, the largest lake in Madagascar.

Its marsh habitat is under pressure from invasive species and pollution, and the team thinks it could be one of the world's most threatened mammals.

They describe the cat-sized animal for the first time in the journal Systematics and Biodiversity.

A team from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust first saw the mammal swimming in the lake during a field trip in 2004. Suspecting it might be a new species, they photographed it so their zoologist colleagues could examine it more closely.

A team then returned to the site in 2005, caught one of the animals and took detailed measurements and blood and tissue samples.

During the same expedition, the scientists sent one dead specimen to the Natural History Museum in London.

There, zoologists were able to compare the creature with its closest relative, the forest-dwelling brown-tailed vontsira, and finally confirm its identity.

Durrell's vontsira and the brown-tailed vontsira are similar but have very different colouring, explained the Natural History Museum's Dr Paula Jenkins, a member of the research team.
Lake Alaotra, Madagascar, where a new species of carnivorous mammal has been discovered
Scientists think the animal lives in the wetlands of Lake Alaotra

"In addition, we found obvious differences in the structure of the skull and teeth... the size and shape of the pads on the paws clearly distinguished this animal from the brown-tailed vontsira, which is a forest-dwelling animal found in eastern Madagascar.

"It was indeed a distinct new species and the specimen we have in the museum is now recognised as the holotype (the specimen from which the species takes its name) so it is available to scientists for research in the future."

'Incredibly rare'

The discovery of mammal species is uncommon and finding a new carnivore species is "particularly unusual", Dr Jenkins added.

"Durrell's vontsira is incredibly rare," she said.

"We know of only two animals in the wild. It has only been found in the wetlands of [Lake] Alaotra in Madagascar, so it lives in a very small area and is consequently vulnerable to the pressures on this threatened habitat."
Marshes around Lake Alaotra in Madagascar
The creature may be adapted to a semi-aquatic habitat

The researchers still know very little about the animal's behaviour and biology.

They think it may be a mongoose-like creature specifically adapted for an aquatic or semi-aquatic environment.

Professor John Fa, chief conservation officer at Durrell, told BBC News: "If that is the case, it's very interesting indeed; mongooses normally live in arid or forested areas.

"We think it feeds on fish and small mammals in the lake and if it's a mongoose that catches fish - that's very unusual."

The scientists hope to return to the lake to carry out a more detailed, systematic trapping study, and possibly to tag and follow the small mammals to see if their habitat is confined to the lake.

"This just shows how much biodiversity Madagascar is still throwing at us," Professor Fa added.

Since 2006, new mammal species found in this biodiversity hotspot have included three new species of mouse lemur (Microcebus jollyae, M. mittermeieri and M. simmoni) and a bat (Scotophilus marovaza).

But the last carnivore discovered on the island was Grandider's vontsira (Galidictis grandidieri), described in 1986.

It is classified as Endangered on The IUCN Red List.

The team also included researchers from Nature Heritage in Jersey and Conservation International (CI).
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New species of fish found four-and-a-half miles under the sea
A new species of fish has been discovered almost four-and-a-half miles down in a deeply inhospitable part of the ocean previously thought to be entirely free of fish.
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Published: 6:55PM BST 14 Oct 2010

The new type of snailfish was found living at a depth of 22,966ft (7,000m) in the Peru-Chile trench of the South East Pacific Ocean.

The 10 inch long tadpole-shaped creature with a large head, tiny eyes and pelvic fins has adapted to living in an icy cold, pitch black environment under constant, crushing pressure.

Mass groupings of cusk-eels and large crustacean scavengers were also found living in the narrow abyss despite the inhospitable conditions.

The findings, in one of the deepest places on the planet, were made by a team of marine biologists from the University of Aberdeen and experts from Japan and New Zealand.

The team took part in a three-week expedition, during which they used deep-sea imaging technology to take 6,000 pictures at depths between 14,764ft (4,500m) and 26,247ft (8,000m) within the trench.

The mission was the seventh to take place as part of HADEEP, a collaborative research project between the University of Aberdeen's Oceanlab and the University of Tokyo's Ocean Research Institute, supported by New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric research (NIWA).

Oceanlab's Dr Alan Jamieson, who led the expedition said these latest discoveries helped shed new light on life in the depths of the Earth.

"Our findings, which revealed diverse and abundant species at depths previously thought to be void of fish, will prompt a rethink into marine populations at extreme depths," he said.

"This expedition was prompted by our findings in 2008 and 2009 off Japan and New Zealand where we discovered new species of snailfish known as Liparids inhabiting trenches ... at depths of approximately 7,000 metres – with each trench hosting its own unique species of the fish.
"To test whether these species would be found in all trenches, we repeated our experiments on the other side of the Pacific Ocean off Peru and Chile, some 6,000 miles (9,656km) from our last observations.
"What we found was that indeed there was another unique species of snailfish living at 7,000 metres – entirely new to science – which had never been caught or seen before."

The new snailfish will not be named until it is officially confirmed as a new species. It has big eyew

Sailfish are widely distributed from the Arctic to Antarctic Oceans and include almost 200 species. Their teeth are small and blunt and the deep sea ones have prominent, well-developed sensory pores of the head. They range from two inches (five centimetres) to some 30 inches (77 centimetres) in length.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthn ... e-sea.html
 
New snub-nosed monkey discovered in Northern Myanmar
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-snu ... anmar.html
October 26th, 2010 in Biology / Plants & Animals

An image reconstructed by Photoshop, based on a Yunnan snub-nosed monkey and the carcass of the newly discovered species, is also available. This image should be credited to Dr. Thomas Geissmann. Credit: Dr. Thomas Geissmann

An international team of primatologists have discovered a new species of monkey in Northern Myanmar (formerly Burma.) The research, published in the American Journal of Primatology, reveals how Rhinopithecus strykeri, a species of snub-nosed monkey, has an upturned nose which causes it to sneeze when it rains.

Field biologists led by Ngwe Lwin from the Myanmar Biodiversity And Nature Conservation Association and supported by an international team of primatologists from Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and the People Resources and Biodiversity Foundation, discovered the new species during the nationwide Hoolock Gibbon Status Review in early 2010. Hunters reported the presence of a monkey species with prominent lips and wide upturned nostrils.

Sightings were reported from the eastern Himalayas to the northeastern Kachin state leading the team to conduct field surveys which led to the discovery of a small population of a new species which displays characteristics unlike any other snub-nosed species previously described.

Thomas Geissmann, who is leading the taxonomic description, describes the monkey as having almost entirely blackish fur with white fur only on ear tufts, chin beard and perineal area. It also has a relatively long tail, approximately 140% of its body size.

The species has been named Rhinopithecus strykeri in honour of Jon Stryker, President and Founder of the Arcus Foundation who supported the project. However, in local dialects it is called mey nwoah, 'monkey with an upturned face.'

New snub-nosed monkey discovered in Northern Myanmar

Enlarge

Fauna & Flora International has commissioned the attached artists impression of the new species in its habitat, based on field sightings and a carcass of the newly discovered species. The image should be credited to Martin Aveling/Fauna & Flora International. Credit: Martin Aveling/Fauna & Flora International
While the species is new to science the local people know it well and claim that it is very easy to find when it is raining because the monkeys often get rainwater in their upturned noses causing them to sneeze. To avoid getting rainwater in their noses they spend rainy days sitting with their heads tucked between their knees

Frank Momberg, FFI's Regional Programme Development Coordinator, Asia Pacific, who interviewed local hunters during the field surveys suggests that the species is limited to the Maw River area. The distribution area is believed to be 270 km (squared) with an approximate population of 260-330 individuals, meaning that it is classified as Critically Endangered by IUCN.

As this new species of snub-nosed monkey inhabits the Kachin State in northeastern Myanmar it is geographically isolated from other species by two major barriers, the Mekong and the Salween Rivers, which may explain why the species has not been discovered earlier.

According to local hunters the monkeys spend the summer months, between May and October, at higher altitudes in mixed temperate forests. In winter they descend closer to villages when snowfall makes food scarcer.

Species of snub-nosed monkeys are found in parts of China and Vietnam. Presently all species are considered endangered. Until now no species have been reported in Myanmar. However, this latest addition to the snub nosed family is already critically endangered due to increasing hunting pressure resulting from the building of logging roads by Chinese companies beginning to invade the previously isolated distribution area of this newly discovered monkey.

Mark Rose, Chief Executive of Fauna & Flora International said, "We are committed to taking immediate conservation action to safeguard the survival of this important new species together with our partners and local communities in Myanmar."

Provided by Wiley
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You know, if you were to write a fictional monkey with those characteristics, no oner would believe you?
 
Kondoru said:
You know, if you were to write a fictional monkey with those characteristics, no oner would believe you?
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Sounds like something out of Kipling's Just So Stories.
 
To avoid getting rainwater in their noses they spend rainy days sitting with their heads tucked between their knees
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Wish I could do the same! :lol:

Just wondering how this came about in evolutionary terms. Woops - I think I'm hearing creationists knocking on the door...
 
you must have a funny nose, Zilch.

To be fair upon the poor brute, this account of their attitude to rain has never been observed, it may be just hearsay.
 
Or rediscovered:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11948321

Scientists have rediscovered a bizarre insect in Kenya, collecting the first Terrible Hairy Fly specimen since 1948.

Since then, at least half a dozen expeditions have visited its only known habitat - a rock cleft in an area east of Nairobi - in search of the fly.

Two insect specialists recently spotted the 1cm-long insect, known as Mormotomyia hirsuta, living on the 20m-high rock.

They point out that it looks more like a spider with hairy legs.

The fly was found by Dr Robert Copeland and Dr Ashley Kirk-Spriggs during an expedition led by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE).

"The rediscovery of the species, which has been collected on only two occasions before, in 1933 and 1948, has caused excitement in insect museums world-wide," the team members said in a statement.

Unable to fly and partial to breeding in bat faeces, the fly is thought to live only in the dank, bat-filled cleft of the isolated rock in Kenya's Ukazi Hills.

It also has non-functional wings that resemble miniature belt-straps, and tiny eyes.

Dr Copeland of the Nairobi-based ICIPE said the fly's physical appearance had left scientists bamboozled about where exactly it belonged in the entire order of Diptera, or "true flies"...
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But take a look at the photo: that's an ant, isn't it? It has tiny wings, but it looks more antlike than flylike.
 
Two forms of world's 'newest' cat, the Sunda leopard
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_ne ... 369238.stm
By Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News

Sundaland clouded leopard filmed in the wild (picture courtesy of A Wilting, A Mohamed and Sabah Wildlife Department)
Did Bornean clouded leopards evolve new spots?

The "newest" cat species described to science, the Sunda clouded leopard, actually exists in two distinct forms, scientists have confirmed.

This big cat is so enigmatic that researchers only realised it was a new species - distinct from clouded leopards living elsewhere in Asia - in 2007. The first footage of the cat in the wild to made public was only released last year.

Now a genetic analysis has confirmed that the cat comes in two forms, one living in Sumatra, the other on Borneo.

Clouded leopards are the most elusive of all the big cats, which include lions, tigers, jaguars, snow leopards and normal spotted leopards.

So far we can only speculate about the specific course of events in the evolution of the clouded leopard
Joerns Fickel
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research

Living across south-east Asia, into China and India, the leopards have larger cloud-like spots than ordinary leopards.

Until 2006, all clouded leopards were thought to belong to a single species.

However, genetic studies revealed that there are actually two quite distinct clouded leopard species.

As well as the better known clouded leopard living on the Asian mainland (Neofelis nebulosa), scientists determined that a separate clouded leopard species lives on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.

The two species are thought to have diverged over one million years ago.

This leopard is now known as the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), though it was previously and erroneously called the Bornean clouded leopard.

Since 2008, it has been listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In 2010, a team of scientists working in the Dermakot Forest Reserve in Malaysia released the first footage of the cat in the wild to be made public.
Advertisement

Unperturbed by the spotlight (Footage courtesy of A Wilting/A Mohamed/Cat News)

Led by Mr Andreas Wilting of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany, the researchers captured images of a Sunda clouded leopard walking along a road.

Now Mr Wilting and colleagues have published new research which reveals even more about this mysterious cat.

They sampled 15 Sunda clouded leopards living on Borneo and 16 living in Sumatra, conducting molecular and genetic studies to reveal their origin.

The researchers also examined the skulls of 28 further Sunda clouded leopards and the fur coats of 20 specimens held in museums, as well as the coats of cats photographed on both islands.

"Although we suspected that Sunda clouded leopards on Borneo and Sumatra have likely been geographically separated since the last Ice Age, it was not known whether this long isolation had caused them to split up into separate sub-species," explains Wilting.

RARE CATS: FIND OUT MORE

Ghostly photographs of the rare Saharan cheetah were revealed last month
A "lost" population of tigers has been filmed living in the Himalayas by the BBC
Only the second known photos of the elusive African golden cat were taken in the wild in 2009
Watch more videos of wild cats here

But his team's analysis confirms that the latest "new" species of cat to be discovered actually comes in two forms, a Bornean subspecies N. d. borneensis and the Sumatran subspecies N. d. diardi.

Their results are published in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

The differences aren't obvious: the Sunda clouded leopards on Borneo and Sumatra look alike.

Both cats have similar patterned coats as they live in similar jungle habitats, the researchers suspect.

But as well as being genetically distinct, the clouded leopards on both islands are also morphologically different, having unique features in their skulls and teeth.

It is unclear what caused the Sunda clouded leopard to evolve into two forms.

"So far we can only speculate about the specific course of events in the evolution of the clouded leopard," says team member Joerns Fickel, also at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research.

But the researchers think that a volcanic eruption on Sumatra 75,000 years ago may have wiped out most clouded leopards.

One group survived in China and colonised the rest of mainland Asia.

Another hung on in Borneo, becoming the Sunda clouded leopard. This evolved into two types after a group colonised Sumatra via glacial land bridges, and then became cut off as sea levels rose.
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Clouded leopards are the most elusive of all the big cats, which include lions, tigers, jaguars, snow leopards and normal spotted leopards.
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When did Clouded Leopards start being put in the genus Panthera?
 
oldrover said:
Clouded leopards are the most elusive of all the big cats, which include lions, tigers, jaguars, snow leopards and normal spotted leopards.
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When did Clouded Leopards start being put in the genus Panthera?
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Where does it say that?
 
The term 'big cat' refers to the Pantherines exclusively. So when it says that they're the most elusive of the big cats, and goes on to list the five living species, I took it to mean they were including them in that group.

Thing is though taxonomy is shifting about all the time, and when I read up on this subject in depth it was nearly twenty years ago. Then there were the five big cats listed, the small cats and two anomalies, the cheetah and the clouded leopard. I think that these days the cheetah is more closely grouped with the big cats, but I'm not sure about the clouded leopard.
 
oldrover said:
The term 'big cat' refers to the Pantherines exclusively. So when it says that they're the most elusive of the big cats, and goes on to list the five living species, I took it to mean they were including them in that group.

Thing is though taxonomy is shifting about all the time, and when I read up on this subject in depth it was nearly twenty years ago. Then there were the five big cats listed, the small cats and two anomalies, the cheetah and the clouded leopard. I think that these days the cheetah is more closely grouped with the big cats, but I'm not sure about the clouded leopard.
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I think the Panthera genus has been refined to 'great cats'. 'Big cats' now apparently, as you say, includes cheetahs but also the Neofelis and Uncia varieties of leopard and pumas.
 
Reading around this again now twenty years later has been interesting. Looks like from some more recent articles the clouded leopard is in fact now put in with, or at least closely linked to the pantherines.

Also the puma, which never has been, isn't Felis concolor anymore its now Puma concolor, and is closely to the cheetah, and the jaguarundi, which has also gone from Felis to Puma yagouaroundi. The puma still isn't in with the big or great cats (quite right, found this term being used interchangeably with big cat), which means the cheetah's presumably out again too.

Here's something else interesting about the clouded leopard.
(Links are to abstracts only)

In this article I report on a number of unusual features in the clouded leopard skull hitherto considered characteristic of sabertooth felids exclusively, and, accordingly, universally believed to be absent in extant felids. The skull morphology of the clouded leopard sets it apart from other extant felids, and in a number of respects it approaches the morphology of primitive sabertooths. This indicates convergence of several characters in machairodontine felids and the clouded leopard,
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http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 8/abstract


comparison of craniomandibular morphology of the extant clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa and Paramachairodus reveals numerous similarities and subsequent divergence from other extant great cats. In several key aspects, the clouded leopard has approached a primitive sabercat craniomandibular morphology and has diverged markedly from its sister group, the Panthera lineage.
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http://www.springerlink.com/content/4t0p8117hp5n6006/
 
Rare albatross is unique species
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_ne ... 421647.stm
By Ella Davies
Earth News reporter

Amsterdam albatross (c) Dr S Shaffer

The Amsterdam albatross's status puzzle has been solved

The world's rarest albatross has been confirmed as a separate species by scientists.

The genetic analysis solves 20 years of debate over the status of the Amsterdam albatross.

Canadian researchers have proven that the birds' DNA varies significantly from wandering albatrosses, their closest living relatives.

Only 170 of the birds remain on Amsterdam Island, where the whole population breed on a single plateau.

Amsterdam albatrosses are very large seabirds that can weigh up to 8kg and have wingspans as large as 3.5m.

The birds are named after Amsterdam Island in the Indian Ocean, which they use as a breeding ground.
Amsterdam albatross (c) Dr S Shaffer
The birds breed on a single volcanic island

They were first discovered in 1983, but the scientific community has since been divided over whether they are a separate species.

Some scientists believed the birds to be a subspecies of the wandering albatross, which also inhabits the Southern Ocean.

Dr Theresa Burg and her colleagues from the University of Lethbridge, Canada, set out to solve the debate by examining the birds' DNA. Their findings are published in the Journal of Avian Biology.

Dr Burg explained that Amsterdam albatrosses differ in appearance from wandering albatrosses.

"They are slightly smaller in size," she said. "They lay their eggs at a different time and have slightly browner plumage than the other wandering albatrosses."

The team's study also revealed significant differences between the birds' DNA. The analysis showed that Amsterdam albatrosses separated from their cousins, becoming a genetically distinct species, up to 265,000 years ago.


This is one additional, but important, piece of evidence that hopefully can help protect the remaining Amsterdam albatrosses
Dr Theresa Burg
University of Lethbridge

Despite their large wingspan and ability to fly for long distances, Amsterdam albatrosses always return to the same breeding grounds on a single plateau of the island.

They do not share this breeding ground with any other wandering albatrosses and researchers suggest that this geographical isolation is what led the birds to develop as a separate species.

Scientists hope that now the birds are recognised as unique, efforts to conserve them will increase.

"This is one additional, but important, piece of evidence that hopefully can help protect the remaining Amsterdam albatrosses," says Dr Burg.

While the current population is considered stable, the Amsterdam albatross is critically endangered.

An estimated 18-26 pairs breed each year in a tiny area at the centre of the island. Pairs mate for life and produce one egg every other year.

Conservationists say the species' survival is threatened by accidental entanglement in long-line fishing gear and nest-site disturbance by domestic animals.
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I don't know, seabird bloody flavour.
 
A frozen microbe Eden

Image: Wikimedia commons, Vincent van Zeijst
Researchers combing the icy expanses of Antarctica have turned up more than 200 new species of microbes capable of living in extreme conditions. Along with numerous species that can survive temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius, Chilean researchers from the Biosciences Foundation in Santiago also discovered organisms that can tolerate extreme pHs, ones that can live in high salt concentrations, and even one microbe that can live comfortably at 95 degrees C.

The team also found a previously undiscovered species of Deinococcus -- a group of ultra tough bacteria -- that can withstand 5,000 times the gamma ray exposure than can be tolerated by any other known organisms. The bacteria's impressive vigor has scientists theorizing that the microbe may have evolved somewhere other than our planet since such high levels of radiation have never occurred on Earth. "We wish to determine which mechanisms this microorganism possesses in order to protect itself from the effects of radiation, as well as conceive their potential applications," biochemist Jenny Blamey, one of the scientists who participated in the research, told Nature.

Read more: News in a nutshell - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences http://www.the-scientist.com/news/displ ... z1JOxYYnpy
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Deepest-living land animal found
By Jennifer Carpenter' Science reporter, BBC News

Worms have been found living at depths in the Earth where it was previously thought animals could not survive.
Discovered in South African mines, the roundworms can survive in the stifling 48C (118F) water that seeps between cracks 1.3km beneath the Earth's crust.

The find has surprised scientists who, until now, believed only single-celled bacteria thrived at these depths.
Writing in the journal Nature, the team says this is the deepest-living "multi-cellular" organism known to science.

The researchers found two species of worm. One is a new species to science, which the scientists have named Halicephalobus mephisto after Faust's Lord of the Underworld.
The other is a previously known roundworm known as Plectus aquatilis.

Until now, only single-celled organisms, like bacteria and fungi, have been recovered from kilometres beneath the Earth's crust. The lack of oxygen is thought to stymie attempts by anything larger to make its home there.

But this has not stopped scientists looking.
The Earth's subterranean world is only accessible to researchers in a handful of places worldwide where ore-mining requires drilling to reach depths of more than 3km.

Taking advantage of two such sites - the Beatrix and Driefontein gold mines in South Africa - the international team of researchers placed filters over the mines' bore-holes through which thousands of litres of groundwater pour.
From these samples they usually recover only bacteria; so the worms were a surprise.
"It scared the life out of me when I first saw them moving," said geo-microbiologist Dr Tullis Onstott of Princeton University in New Jersey, US. "They look like black little swirly things," he added.

These worms seem capable of surviving in very low levels of oxygen - at 1% of the levels found in most oceans, explained Dr Onstott.

But how did the worms get there?
The water in which the worms were found is between 3,000 and 10,000 years old, and so it is unlikely that the researchers brought the worms with them into the mines.
The scientists, for now, believe that the animals originally came from the surface but got washed down into the cracks in the Earth's crust by ancient rainwater.

Dr Gaeten Borgonie, a member of research team, explained that he thinks the animals look very much like the tiny worms that live in rotting fruit and soil at the surface, and probably descended from them.
Worms at the surface experience great extremes of temperature and can survive being frozen and thawed, dehydrated and re-hydrated, he told BBC News.

Dr Borgonie believes that worms already have some of the "attributes necessary" to survive at these great depths. So it wasn't a surprise to him that the first multicellular organism to be found in the deep subsurface of the Earth was a worm.

The authors of the study expect to find other multicellular animals far beneath our planet's surface, and are preparing to descend again to search for others.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13620701
 
New Pacific eel is a 'living fossil', scientists say
[Video Footage of the 'living fossil' Protoanguilla palau]

A newly discovered eel that inhabits an undersea cave in the Pacific Ocean has been dubbed a "living fossil" because of its primitive features.
It is so distinct, scientists created a new taxonomic family to describe its relationship to other eels.
The US-Palauan-Japanese team say the eel's features suggest it has a long and independent evolutionary history stretching back 200m years.
Details appear in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The animal used as the basis for the new study was an 18cm-long female, collected by one of the researchers during a dive at a 35m-deep cave in the Republic of Palau.
But the scientists also mention other examples of the new eel species in their research paper.

At first there was much discussion among the researchers about the animal's affinities. But genetic analysis confirmed that the fish was a "true" eel - albeit a primitive one.
"In some features it is more primitive than recent eels, and in others, even more primitive than the oldest known fossil eels, suggesting that it represents a 'living fossil' without a known fossil record," write the scientists.

In order to classify the new animal, the researchers had to create a new family, genus and species, bestowing on the animal the latin name Protoanguilla palau.

The team - including Masaki Miya from Chiba's Natural History Museum in Japan, Jiro Sakaue from the Southern Marine Laboratory in Palau and G David Johnson from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC - drew up a family tree of different eels, showing the relationships between them.
This allowed them to estimate when the ancestors of P. palau split away from other types of eel.
Their results suggest this new family has been evolving independently for the last 200m years, placing their origins in the early Mesozoic era, when dinosaurs were beginning their domination of the planet.

The researchers say the Protoanguilla lineage must have once been more widely distributed, because the undersea ridge where its cave home is located is between 60 and 70 million years old.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14547942
 
New ferret-badger species found in central Vietnam

A species of ferret-badger hitherto not known to western science has been found in a national park in the central Vietnamese province of Ninh Binh.
Tuoi Tre newspaper Wednesday quoted the non-profit organization PanNature as saying that the animal, Melogale cucphuongensis sp.nov, belongs to the genus Melogale, which has four species - together known as weasels -- and is mainly found in Indochina , Java, Bali, and parts of Borneo.

It has different characteristics from the other four -- a dark brown head and body with a black and white stripe running from neck to shoulders.

Newswire Dan Tri said the new species, locally known as chon bac ma (silver-cheeked fox) had first been discovered by the Cuc Phuong National Park’s Endangered Primate Rescue Center in January 2006 when it attempted to rescue an injured ferret-badger.

However, its study was interrupted because the animal died, and not until recently could it find another animal of the same species.

The discovery has been announced in the German scientific journal Der Zoologische Garten.
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http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pages ... etnam.aspx
 
Marine surveys record 'brainless fish' off Orkney

Scotland's biggest horse mussel bed and a "faceless and brainless" fish were recorded during government-backed surveys this year.
The work covered almost 2,200 square miles - equivalent to an area one and a quarter times the size of the Cairngorms National Park.
The Scottish government has hailed the finds made during the surveys.
WWF Scotland said the results highlighted the need to better protect the marine environment.

Scottish Natural Heritage and Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University were among organisations that carried out the work.
Underwater video was shot and acoustic and 3D images were used in the surveys.
Vessels from Marine Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) and the Northern Lighthouse Board were also involved.
Several rare species were recorded.

Off the west coast, fan mussels were found. Growing to up to 48cm long, the mussels are Scotland's largest sea shell.

Around the Small Isles more than 100 specimens of marine life were noted.

Off Tankerness on Orkney, the government said the prehistoric "faceless and brainless" amphioxus fish was recorded.
The rarely-seen species was regarded as a modern representative of the first animals that evolved a backbone, the Scottish government said.
With a nerve chord down its back, the fish does not have a clearly defined face or brain.

The largest horse mussel bed in Scotland was recorded near Noss Head in Caithness.
The molluscs stabilise seabeds, which in turn provides habitat for other species, and can live up to 50 years.

Other finds included flame shell beds in Loch Linnhe in Argyll and new communities of northern feather star off the Sound of Canna.

Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead described the finds as "weird and wonderful".
He added: "The waters around Scotland are rich in such fascinating biodiversity and it's our responsibility to protect this fragile environment.
"That's why we have ramped up our marine survey work, with plans being prepared for new surveys in 2012 to further our knowledge of what lies beneath Scotland's seas."

Susan Davies, director of policy and advice with Scottish Natural Heritage, said Scotland's seas were a "fantastic asset".
She added: "The findings from these surveys will help us to manage them sustainably and ensure future generations can also enjoy the benefits of a healthy and diverse marine environment."

WWF Scotland's head of policy, Dr Dan Barlow, said the surveys had confirmed that the seas and coasts provided important habitats for wildlife.
He said: "From helping inform the appropriate deployment of marine renewables to supporting the roll out of a network of Marine Protected Areas, these survey findings will prove invaluable in helping ensure the recovery of Scotland's seas.
"It is important that the government builds on this survey work to further our knowledge of the marine environment."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-h ... s-16346065
 
Unknown 'Hoff' crab species found
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bre ... ing45.html
Wed, Jan 04, 2012

Scientists have discovered a “lost world” of previously unknown species, including a crab dubbed "The Hoff", thriving in a deep sea hotspot near Antarctica.

Researchers operating a robot submersible found a plethora of unidentified creatures including crabs, starfish, barnacles, sea anemones and an octopus.

The communities were living around volcanic vents deep beneath the Southern Ocean, where temperatures can reach 382C. Hydrothermal vents create a unique environment lacking in sunlight but rich in life-sustaining minerals.

Professor Alex Rogers, from Oxford University’s Department of Zoology, who led the research, said: “Hydrothermal vents are home to animals found nowhere else on the planet that get their energy not from the Sun but from breaking down chemicals, such as hydrogen sulphide.

“The first survey of these particular vents, in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica, has revealed a hot, dark, ‘lost world’ in which whole communities of previously unknown marine organisms thrive.” A camera-equipped Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) was sent on a series of dives on the East Scotia Ridge to depths of more than 2,000 metres.

Highlights among the images captured included huge colonies of a new species of yeti crab clustered around vent chimneys, and an undescribed predatory seven-armed sea star. Scientists have dubbed the yeti crab "The Hoff" because of its hairy chest. Prof Rogers said the crab would be given a formal scientific name later.

A mysterious pale-coloured octopus, as yet unidentified, was also spotted nearly 2,400 metres deep on the seafloor.

The discoveries were described today in the online journal Public Library of Science Biology .

“What we didn’t find is almost as surprising as what we did,” Prof Rogers added. “Many animals such as tubeworms, vent mussels, vent crabs and vent shrimps, found in hydrothermal vents in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, simply weren’t there.” The cold Southern Ocean may act as a barrier to other species that make their homes around hydrothermal vents, the scientists believe.

The uniqueness of East Scotia Ridge also suggests that vent ecosystems may be much more diverse than was previously thought.

Prof Rogers was on an international panel of experts who warned last June that the world could be facing an unprecedented era of marine extinction.

“These findings are yet more evidence of the precious diversity to be found throughout the world’s oceans,” he said. “Everywhere we look, whether it is in the sunlit coral reefs of tropical waters or these Antarctic vents shrouded in eternal darkness, we find unique ecosystems that we need to understand and protect.”

Last week University of Southampton scientists reported finding another ecological hotspot around “black smoker” vents deep below the Indian Ocean.

Reuters
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