New Species News - Earth Science News RSS Feeds

New Species News Stories
Current New Species News Events, Discoveries and Articles

---

Top 10 new species list draws attention to diverse biosphere
The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and a committee of scientists from around the world announced their picks for the top 10 new species described in 2011. (2012-05-24)

DNA barcoding verified the discovery of a highly disconnected crane fly species
Northwestern Europe harbors one of the best known biotas, thanks to the long faunistic and floristic traditions practiced there. (2012-05-21)

Hitting snooze on the molecular clock: Rabies evolves slower in hibernating bats
The rate at which the rabies virus evolves in bats may depend heavily upon the ecological traits of its hosts, according to researchers at the University of Georgia, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. (2012-05-21)

Heliconius butterfly genome explains wing pattern diversity
Pooling funds and putting their heads together, more than 70 scientists from 9 institutions including the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, sequenced the entire genome of the butterfly genus Heliconius, a brightly colored favorite of collectors and scientists since the Victorian era. (2012-05-17)

Where bees are, there will be honey (even pre-historic)
Amber from Cretaceous deposits (110-105 my) in Northern Spain has revealed the first ever record of insect pollination. (2012-05-15)

New study shows bird color variations speed up evolution
Researchers have found that bird species with multiple plumage colour forms within in the same population, evolve into new species faster than those with only one colour form, confirming a 60 year-old evolution theory. (2012-05-10)

UI professor identifies largest known crocodile
A crocodile large enough to swallow humans once lived in East Africa, according to a University of Iowa researcher. (2012-05-10)

UGA study finds in extinction risk, there's not always safety in numbers
A basic tenet underpinning scientists' understanding of extinction is that more abundant species persist longer than their less abundant counterparts, but a new University of Georgia study reveals a much more complex relationship. (2012-05-09)

Beetle-fungus disease threatens crops and landscape trees in Southern California
A plant pathologist at the University of California, Riverside has identified a fungus that has been linked to the branch dieback and general decline of several backyard avocado and landscape trees in residential neighborhoods of Los Angeles County. (2012-05-09)

Battle of the Sexes Offers Evolutionary Insights
n a paper published Thursday, May 3, in the journal Evolution, University of Cincinnati graduate student Karl Grieshop and Michal Polak, associate professor of biological sciences at UC, examine the role of genital spines in the reproductive success of a species of fruit fly. Their investigation identifies the specific type of advantage these spines bestow in the competition to reproduce. (2012-05-04)