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Old August 7th, 2012 #21
Alex Linder
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Superbird! Researchers find new species of masked, red breasted barbet in the remote cloud forests of the Peruvian Andes

Species Capito fitzpatricki named after Cornell director who discovered new species in the 1970s and 1980s

By Eddie Wrenn

7 August 2012

A colourful, fruit-eating bird with a black mask, pale belly and scarlet breast has been discovered and named following an expedition to the remote Peruvian Andes.

The Sira Barbet, or Capito fitzpatricki, is described by Cornell University graduates in a paper published in the July 2012 issue of The Auk, the official publication of the American Ornithologists' Union.

The team discovered the barbet on a ridge of mountainous cloud forest in the Cerros del Sira range in the eastern Andes.



The new species was discovered during a 2008 expedition led by Michael G. Harvey, Glenn Seeholzer and Ben Winger, young ornithologists who had recently graduated from Cornell.

Steep ridges and deep river gorges in the Andes produce many isolated habitats and microclimates that give rise to uniquely evolved species.

Though clearly a sister species of the Scarlet-banded Barbet, the Sira Barbet is readily distinguished by differences in color on the bird's flanks, lower back and thighs, and a wider, darker scarlet breast band.

By comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences of the new barbet to DNA sequences of its close relatives in the genus Capito, the team secured genetic evidence that this is a new species in the barbet family.

The genetic work was done by co-author Jason Weckstein at The Field Museum in Chicago.

The team chose the scientific name, Capito fitzpatricki, in honor of Cornell Lab of Ornithology executive director John W. Fitzpatrick, who discovered and named seven new bird species in Peru during the 1970s and '80s.

Winger said: 'Fitz has inspired generations of young ornithologists in scientific discovery and conservation.

'He was behind us all the way when we presented our plan for this expedition.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...ian-Andes.html
 
Old August 14th, 2012 #22
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Mutant Butterflies Linked to Japan's Nuclear Disaster
Becky Oskin, LiveScience Contributor
14 August 2012

One legacy of the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year has already become apparent through a study of butterflies in Japan: Their rate of genetic mutations and deformities has increased with succeeding generations.

"Nature in the Fukushima area has been damaged," said Joji Otaki, a professor at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, who is the senior author of the new study.

The abnormalities, which the researchers traced to the radiation released from the nuclear power plant, include infertility, deformed wings, dented eyes, aberrant spot patterns, malformed antennas and legs, and the inability to fight their way out of their cocoons. The butterflies from the sites with the most radiation in the environment have the most physical abnormalities, the researchers found.

"Insects have been considered to be highly resistant to radiation, but this butterfly was not," said Otaki.

The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, cut off power to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, leading to meltdowns that released radionuclides including iodine-131 and cesium-134/137.The researchers combined laboratory and field studies to show the radionuclides caused the deformities and genetic defects. Butterflies netted six months after the release had more than twice as many abnormalities as insects plucked two months following the release, the team found. The rise in mutations means radiation from the accident is still affecting the butterflies' development, even though levels in the environment have declined, the study concluded. [See Photos of Fukushima's Deformed Butterflies]

"One very important implication of this study is that it demonstrates that harmful mutations can be passed from one generation to the next, and that these might actually accumulate and increase over time, leading to larger effects with each generation," said Timothy Mosseau, a professor of biology at the University of South Carolina who studies the impacts of radiation from Fukushima and from the 1986 Chernobyl explosion in Ukraine.

Mosseau, who was not involved in this study, added, "It is quite concerning to see accumulated effects occurring over relatively short time periods, less than a year, in Fukushima butterflies."

Radiated butterflies

At the time of the disaster in March 2011, pale grass blue butterflies (Zizeeria maha) were overwintering as larvae. Two months later, Otaki and his colleagues collected adult butterflies from 10 locations. They observed changes in the butterflies' eyes, wing shapes and color patterns.

The researchers had been studying the pale grass blue butterfly for more than 10 years. The insects live in the same places as people – gardens and public parks – which make them good environmental indicators, and they are sensitive to environmental changes, said Otaki.

The team also bred the collected butterflies at the university's labs in Okinawa, 1,100 miles (1,750 kilometers) from Fukushima. They noticed more-severe abnormalities in successive generations, such as forked antennas and asymmetrical wings.

Last September the team collected more adults from seven of the 10 sites and found the butterfly population included more than twice as many members with abnormalities as in May: 28.1 percent versus 12.4 percent. The September butterflies were likely fourth- or fifth-generation descendants from the larvae present in May, the authors reported.

Deformities inherited

It is likely that the first generation of butterflies suffered both physical damage from radiation sickness and genetic damage from the massive exposure to radioactive isotopes after the disaster, the researchers reported. This generation passed on their genetic mutations to their offspring, who then acquired their own genetic defects from eating radioactive leaves and from exposure to low levels of radiation remaining in the environment. The cumulative effect caused successive generations to develop more serious physical abnormalities. "Note that every generation was continuously exposed," said Otaki.

Mosseau said, "This study adds to the growing evidence that low-dose radiation can lead to significant increases in mutations and deformities in wild animal populations."

The findings are consistent with previous studies in Japan and at Chernobyl, Mosseau added. "The ecological studies that we have conducted found that the entire butterfly community in Fukushima was depressed in radioactive areas, as were the birds, and that the patterns seen in Fukushima were similar to what has been observed in Chernobyl. If the plants and animals are mutating and dying, this should be cause for significant public concern."

The results were published Aug. 9 in the journal Scientific Reports.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

http://www.livescience.com/22353-mut...-disaster.html
 
Old August 14th, 2012 #23
N.B. Forrest
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The heads of GE (which built the shit reactors) and the lying CYA Japs responsible for the debacle of a response deserve to be hacked to pieces.
 
Old August 17th, 2012 #24
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New spider family found in Oregon cave

August 17, 2012

Associated Press



GRANTS PASS, Ore. – Amateur cave explorers have found a new family of spiders in southern Oregon that scientists have dubbed Trogloraptor, or cave robber, for its fearsome front claws.

The spelunkers sent specimens to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Entomologists there say the spider -- the size of a half dollar -- evolved so distinctly that it requires its own taxonomic family -- the first new spider family from North America since 1870.

The species name, marchingtoni, honors Deschutes County sheriff's Deputy Neil Marchington, who led scientists to the cave outside Grants Pass.

Academy entomologist Charles Griswold says the spider spins a crude web, but scientists don't know yet what or how it eats.

The discovery is described in the online edition of the journal ZooKeys.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/...n-oregon-cave/
 
Old August 18th, 2012 #25
Alex Linder
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more on new spider family



http://news.discovery.com/animals/ho...er-120818.html

Last edited by Alex Linder; August 18th, 2012 at 08:42 AM.
 
Old April 4th, 2013 #26
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Sleep Tight: Venomous Tarantula the Size of a Human Face Found in Sri Lanka
Neetzan Zimmerman

Just when you thought spiders couldn't possibly get any worse, along comes Poecilotheria rajaei.

The newly discovered tarantula is described as being the size of a human face, with "beautiful, ornate markings" on its legs which can span up to 8 inches across.

Though venomous, the so-called "tiger spider" is not known to be lethal to humans, which is a fairly small comfort to the people of Northern Sri Lanka, particularly patients at a local hospital, where at least one of these eight-legged freaks was found.

Though some arachnologists expressed doubt that a wholly new species had been discovered, British Tarantula Society journal editor Peter Kirk said the spider "has enough significant differences to separate it from the other species."

Ranil Nanayakkara, the scientist who first documented the face-sized spider's existence, did note that the Poecilotheria rajaei is hard to stumble across — though that might soon change.

"They prefer well-established old trees," he is quoted as saying, "but due to deforestation the number have dwindled and due to lack of suitable habitat they enter old buildings."

End. Deforestation. NOW.

http://gawker.com/5993601/sleep-tigh...d-in-sri-lanka
 
Old April 4th, 2013 #27
N.B. Forrest
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Linder View Post
Sleep Tight: Venomous Tarantula the Size of a Human Face Found in Sri Lanka
Neetzan Zimmerman

Just when you thought spiders couldn't possibly get any worse, along comes Poecilotheria rajaei.

The newly discovered tarantula is described as being the size of a human face, with "beautiful, ornate markings" on its legs which can span up to 8 inches across.

Though venomous, the so-called "tiger spider" is not known to be lethal to humans, which is a fairly small comfort to the people of Northern Sri Lanka, particularly patients at a local hospital, where at least one of these eight-legged freaks was found.

Though some arachnologists expressed doubt that a wholly new species had been discovered, British Tarantula Society journal editor Peter Kirk said the spider "has enough significant differences to separate it from the other species."

Ranil Nanayakkara, the scientist who first documented the face-sized spider's existence, did note that the Poecilotheria rajaei is hard to stumble across — though that might soon change.

"They prefer well-established old trees," he is quoted as saying, "but due to deforestation the number have dwindled and due to lack of suitable habitat they enter old buildings."

End. Deforestation. NOW.

http://gawker.com/5993601/sleep-tigh...d-in-sri-lanka
I'm glad I live in a Head Spider-free country.

AMURRICA!! FUCK YEAH!!
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Old April 5th, 2013 #28
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To Hell with telling the bedbugs not to get me!
 
Old August 4th, 2013 #29
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Lavasoa Dwarf Lemur: New Species Found on Madagascar

Biologists from Madagascar and Germany led by Dr Andreas Hapke of the Johannes Gutenberg University’s Institute of Anthropology have described a new, extremely rare species of dwarf lemur that inhabits three isolated forests in the extreme south of Madagascar.



Lavasoa Dwarf Lemur, Cheirogaleus lavasoensis


“Together with Malagasy scientists, we have been studying the diversity of lemurs for several years now,” Dr Hapke said.

“It is only now that we were able to determine that some of the animals examined represent a previously unknown species.”

Lavasoa Dwarf Lemur: New Species Found on Madagascar | Biology | Sci-News.com
 
Old August 4th, 2013 #30
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His eyes are wide with the horror of having been introduced to humanity.
 
Old August 4th, 2013 #31
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To Hell with telling the bedbugs not to get me!
That is one spiffy looking octoped.
 
Old August 4th, 2013 #32
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33 new predatory ant species found

Washington, Aug. 4:

Scientists have discovered 33 new species of monstrous-looking predatory ants in Central America and the Caribbean.

The University of Utah biologist who identified the insects named about a third of them after ancient Mayan lords and demons.

Sharp teeth

These new ant species are the stuff of nightmares when viewed under a microscope, according to entomologist Jack Longino, a professor of biology.

“Their faces are broad shields, the eyes reduced to tiny points at the edges and the fierce jaws bristling with sharp teeth,” Longino said.

In a study published in the journal Zootaxa, Longino identified and named 14 new species of the ant genus Eurhopalothrix and distinguished them from 14 other previously known species.

In another upcoming study accepted for publication in the same journal, Longino identified 19 new ant species from the genus Octostruma and described differences from 15 other previously known species.

The genus name means “eight swellings” for the ants’ eight-segmented antennas.

“The new species were found mostly in small patches of forest that remain in a largely agricultural landscape, highlighting the importance of forest conservation efforts in Central America,” Longino said.

The new ant species are less than one twelfth to one twenty fifth of an inch long — much smaller than a rice grain or common half-inch-long household ants — and live in the rotting wood and dead leaves that litter the forest floors in Central America.

They are nearly eyeless and crawl around in leaf litter using primitive compound eyes to detect light but not form images.

No one knows how they find their prey, presumed to be soft-bodied insects, spiders, millipedes and centipedes. But the ants are known to coat themselves with a thin layer of clay, believed to serve as camouflage.

Among the newly discovered species from forest floor leaf litter, Eurhopalothrix zipacna was named for a violent, crocodile-like Mayan demon.

Eurhopalothrix xibalba, or a “place of fear,” was named for the underworld ruled by death gods in certain Mayan mythology.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...cle4988881.ece
 
Old August 4th, 2013 #33
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I like that name, Xibalba. Good name for a bastard sired on an ugly mexican prostitute. Assuming pronounced Zee-ball-ba
 
Old August 4th, 2013 #34
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http://www.nbcnews.com/science/stuff...red-6C10808231

Scientists have so far recorded about 15,000 species of ants worldwide, according to the statement. But there may be as many as 100,000 in total, said Longino, who has now discovered 131 new species of ants


[listen to NPR story through link]
http://www.npr.org/2013/08/01/207295...33-new-species
 
Old August 4th, 2013 #35
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A new yellow fish has been discovered off Chile. But that's all I'm going to say for the moment.
 
Old August 4th, 2013 #36
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Originally Posted by Alex Linder View Post
A new yellow fish has been discovered off Chile. But that's all I'm going to say for the moment.
You teasing bastard....
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Old August 4th, 2013 #37
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BTW, the guy who found all the ants is a prof at the University of Utah! I like to plug them when I can, as I took some classes there and got some very good (cost-effective) instruction (learned the rudiments of German, from an Australian guy, of all things).
 
Old August 4th, 2013 #38
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A new yellow fish has been discovered off Chile. But that's all I'm going to say for the moment.
I just want to know, Chipolte sauce or lemon and garlic?

Mike
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Old August 5th, 2013 #39
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Quote:
Just when you thought spiders couldn't possibly get any worse
Who the fuck thinks spiders are bad or 'worse'?

Squeamish women and ignorant bastards - that's who.

(How does an ignorant, glib jew bastard get a job as a nature writer? Whoops, I just answered my own question - he's a jew. Tribal nepotism, that's how.)

Spiders are fantastic creatures.

Yeah, sometimes people get bitten by them. Sometimes people even die from spider bite.

But you don't hear everyone complaining so much about mosquitoes, say, who have killed orders-of-magnitude more people than spiders could ever even aspire to.

The greatest thing about spiders is, they don't compete against us. Or prey on us. In fact, they are creatures which complement humans - despite the occasional spider-bite, which can be put down to miscommunication and accident much, much more than malice and predation.
 
Old August 10th, 2013 #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike in Denver View Post
I just want to know, Chipolte sauce or lemon and garlic?

Mike
Lemon, no doubt. I don't know about garlic. I love garlic, but I don't know about fish. I'm more lemon-pepper pan fried with a little vegetable or two.
 
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