Saturday 26 May 2018

Another new narrow-mouthed frog species discovered in Coastal Karnataka

After the Microhyla laterite that was described from Manipal in 2016, scientists have found another new narrow-mouthed frog from the city centre of Mangaluru, in coastal Karnataka. 
The coastal city of Mangaluru in Karnataka now has a new feather in its cap with the discovery of a new species of narrow-mouthed frog. Named after Mangaluru, called kodial in the Konkani language, Microhyla kodial was first spotted in Mangaluru. The newly discovered species is the 10th species of Microhyla from India.
A joint effort by a team comprising Vineeth Kumar K, Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mangalagangothri, Konaje, Radhakrishna Upadhyaya K, Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mangalagangothri, Konaje, Prof. Rajashekhar K Patil , Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mangalagangothri, Konaje, Godwin Rodny D’Souza, St. Aloysius Pre University College, Mangalore, Anwesha Saha, Suri Sehgal Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), and Dr. N. A. Aravind Madhyastha, Suri Sehgal Centre for =read more

Bizarre New Species of Crabs and a Giant Sea Cockroach Discovered in Waters Off Indonesia

Bizarre New Species of Crabs and a Giant Sea Cockroach Discovered in Waters Off Indonesia

One known species of isopod, or "giant sea cockroach"
One known species of isopod, or "giant sea cockroach"
ISTOCK
A crab with green googly eyes, another with "ears" resembling peanuts, and a species of giant sea cockroach are among the dozen new kinds of crustaceans discovered by scientists in the waters off Indonesia, Channel News Asia reports.
These finds are the result of a two-week expedition by Indonesian and Singaporean scientists with the South Java Deep Sea Biodiversity Expedition (SJADES 2018), which involved exploring deep waters in the Sunda Strait (the waterway separating the islands of Sumatra and Java in Southeast Asia) and the Indian Ocean. Using trawls, dredges, and other tools, researchers brought a huge variety of deep-sea life to the surface—some species for the very first time.
"The world down there is an alien world," Peter Ng, chief scientist of the expedition, told Channel News Asia. "You have waters that go down more than 2000 to 3000 meters [9800 feet], and we do not know … the animal life that's at the bottom.=read more

Is this hairy crab the newest species found in the UK?

A colony of exploding ants, a shrimp that's been named after prog rockers Pink Floyd, four types of miniature night frog and a coconut-cracking giant rat - these are just some of the new species discovered in the past year.
While all of these exotic creatures were found many thousands of miles away from Britain, such discoveries aren't the preserve of scientists in the remotest part of some far-flung wilderness. In fact, it's estimated there are thousands of species yet to be identified in the UK alone - and many millions globally.
The hairy crab that's potentially the latest new-to-science domestic discovery was collected by naturalist and photographer Steve Trewhella on Chesil Beach, near Weymouth, in Dorset.
The 2cm-wide creature was found living inside a polystyrene buoy that washed ashore following a storm and is suspected to have travelled across the Atlantic from the Caribbean.
Mr Trewhella, who has sent the crab to the Natural History Museum for identification, hopes the tiny crustacean could prove to be his greatest success story.=read more

cryptic teeth

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Load of Croc: 'Bird' Teeth May Actually Be from Teenage Crocodilians
A baby nile crocodile
Credit: Jeffrey Govender/Shutterstock
For nearly 50 years, researchers have found mysterious, disembodied teeth dating to the dinosaur age in southern Alberta, Canada. The teeth lacked jawbones, so researchers weren't sure what animals these teeth came from, although many suspected the pointy chompers belonged to ancient birds.
Now, new research is turning that idea on its head: These cryptic teeth aren't avian in nature, but likely those of juvenile crocodilians, said Sydney Mohr, a master's student in biological sciences at the University of Alberta, who is rstudying the teeth.
"They've basically always been referred to as bird teeth," Mohr said, "but with not much evidence to back that up." [Images: How the Bird Beak Evolved]=read more

18-Inch Rat Species Discovered

A rare new species of rat — up to four times the size of the rodents that populate American cities — has been identified in the Solomon Islands.
The discovery marks the first time in 80 years that a new rat species has been found in the archipelago in the South Pacific.
In 2010, mammalogist Tyrone Lavery heard rumors about a coconut-cracking giant rat called "vika" that lived in the trees of Vangunu Island. People on the island even had songs and children's rhymes about the rats. But after several surveys, Lavery couldn't find the creature.
"I started to question if it really was a separate species, or if people were just calling regular black rats 'vika,'" Lavery said in a statement from The Field Museum in Chicago, where he is a postdoctoral researcher. [Rats and Lizards and Monkeys, Oh My! 9 Islands Ruled by Animals]
Then, in 2015, a ranger captured one of the rats as it scurried out of a felled tree.=read more

Dinosaur dandduff

A pile of dandruff shed by dinosaurs roughly  125million years ago have been  discovered in Liaoing province in China.The white fry white flecks are almost identical to human dandruff and measure 1 to 2 millimetres and made up of  keratin.It's is believed that their May have come from Microraptor ,Beipiaosaurus and Sinornithosaurus dinosaurs and Confuciusornis Bird.It shows that they shed skin in clumps rather than in one go like modern snakes and lizards.

Saturday 12 May 2018

New species of shrew discovered living on a single remote mountain in the Philippines

Scientists have discovered a new species of shrew living on a single mountain in the Philippines - and it remains a mystery how it got there.
The Palawan moss shrew is one of three species unique to Mount Mantalingahan on Palawan Island. 
It was first spotted in 2007 by the late Danilo 'Danny' Balete. Unlike other shrews, its tail is covered in dense fur rather than visible scales.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5715817/Species-shrew-discovered-mountain-Philippines-no-one-knows-got-there.html#ixzz5FIDO9leq
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