Wednesday, November 10, 2010

New Species all over

A new wasp from Los Angeles (title link) reminds us that discoveries are everywhere waiting to be made.

Then we have "the Bigfoot of ants," rediscovered after 60 years. It was found when a biology graduate student who specializes in ants spotted two on a rock near his apartment.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-bigfoot-ants.html


I once before mentioned Durrell's vontsira (Salanoia durrelli), which, this New Scientist piece claims, is the first carnivore described in 24 years. I'm not sure that's right, I seem to remember some Vietnamese weasel, but I'll have to look that up...
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/

An oversized extinct penguin, five feet tall and gray and reddish-brown (casual wear?) was found after 36 million years. Where? In the Peruvian desert. If it came to the waters for its health, it was misinformed.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130268514

And a weird googly-eyed fish pulled out of Great Slave Lake (Canada's second-largest lake) turns out to be not a new species, as first guessed, but one in a new habitat.
http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/ stories/papers/oct1_10cs.html

No comments: