Sinapses Fail: outubro 2011

sexta-feira, 21 de outubro de 2011

segunda-feira, 17 de outubro de 2011

Top 10 - Novas espécies

Bioluminescent Mushroom

(Some fruiting bodies of Mycena luxaeterna growing on a rotten branch. © Cassius V. Stevani/IQ-USP, Brazil)

Name: Mycena luxaeterna

Common Name: Eternal light mushroom

Family: Mycenaceae

How it made the Top 10: This new species, collected from some of the last remaining Atlantic forest habitat near São Paulo, Brazil, emits very bright yellowish green light 24 hours per day from its gel-covered stems. DNA sequences of this species
(from 5 gene regions) are helping us to understand the origin and evolution of bioluminescence in the fungi. Of the estimated 1.5 million species of fungi on earth, only 71 species are known to be bioluminescence and Mycena luxaeterna is one of the most visually striking species.

Darwin's Bark Spider

(Images © Matjaž Kuntner)

Name: Caerostris darwini

Common Name: Darwin's bark spider

Family: Araneidae

How it made the Top 10: This orb-weaving spider builds the largest orb-style webs that are known to science. Webs of this species have been found spanning rivers, streams and lakes with “bridgelines” reaching up to 25m in length and total web size reaching up to 2.8m². The silk spun by these spiders has an average toughness of 250MJ/m³with the highest measured at 520MJ/ m³. This makes it, “the toughest biological material ever studied, over ten times stronger than a similarly-sized piece of Kevlar” and more than two times stronger than any other known spider silk. The unusual behaviors of this new species will allow us to understand size dimorphism, mate guarding, and self castration (among others). Also discovered in association with Darwin's bark spider was an undescribed symbiotic fly species.

Bacterium

(Electron micrograph (negative staining) of Halomonas titanicae (with permission from the Society for General Microbiology); Closer view of rusticles formed on RMS Titanic wreck (courtesy of RMS Titanic Inc.); ESEM showing stacked mineralized individual bacterium in the form of a stalagmite shape occurring inside a rusticle (courtesy of Dr. Henrietta Mann).)

Name: Halomonas titanicae

Common Name: None

Family: Halomonadaceae

How it made the Top 10: This new species of iron-oxide consuming bacteria was discovered on a rusticle from the RMS Titanic. Studies show that it sticks to steel surfaces creating knob-like mounds of corrosion products that have contributed, along with other microorganisms, to the deterioration process of the Titanic's metal. This will eventually lead to the Titanic's disappearance. This bacterium could be useful to perform studies related to the disposal of old naval and merchant ships that have sunk in the deep ocean.

Monitor Lizard

(Holotype, adult male, taken by J. Brown; paratype, juvenile male, taken by A.C. Diesmos)

Name: Varanus bitatawa

Common Name: Sierra Madre Forest Monitor or Golden Spotted Monitor

Family: Varanidae

How it made the Top 10: This is a large arboreal frugivorous lizard of the genus Varanus and can only be found in the Northern Sierra Madre Forest, Luzon Island, Philippines. The forest monitor lizard can grow to more than 2 meters (6.6ft) in length but weighs only about 10 kilograms (22lb). It is brightly colored with stripes of gold flecks. Its scaly body and legs are a blue-black mottled with pale yellow-green dots and its tail is marked in alternating segments of black and green. It is quite astounding to think that something this size has eluded biologists that surveyed the area possibly because it spent most of its time in trees. However, it was known to the local hunters and is already a flagship for conservation in the Philippines.

Pollinating Cricket

(Cricket image courtesy of Sylvain Hugel; image of orchid courtesy of C. Micheneau)

Name: Glomeremus orchidophilus

Common Name: None

Family: Gryllacrididae

How it made the Top 10: This species is the only pollinator of the rare/endangered orchid Angraecum cadetii on Réunion island (South Western Indian Ocean), representing the first clearly-supported case of orthopteran-mediated pollination in flowering plants.

Duiker

(Drawing courtesy of Yann Le Bris)

Name: Philantomba walteri

Common Name: Walter's Duiker

Family: Bovidae

How it made the Top 10: This new duiker from West Africa was first encountered at a bushmeat market. It is a surprising find because, “The discovery of a new species from a well-studied group of animals in the context of bushmeat exploitation is a sobering reminder of the mammalian species that remain to be described, even within those that are being exploited on a daily basis for food or ritual activities.” The taxonomic description of Philantomba walteri should facilitate research into its ecology and behaviour, as well as its conservation.

Leech

(Images courtesy of PLoS ONE)

Name: Tyrannobdella rex

Common Name: None

Family: Praobdellidae

How it made the Top 10: This T. rex leech was discovered feeding from the nasal mucous membrane of a little girl in Perú. It is unusual because it is the only known species of leech with a “single armed jaw with such large teeth.”

Underwater Mushroom

(Headwaters of the Rogue River; three specimens braving the current; two specimens braving the current - photographs © Robert Coffan)

Name: Psathyrella aquatica

Common Name: Rogue mushroom

Family: Psathyrellaceae

How it made the Top 10: First report of a mushroom species fruiting underwater.

Jumping Cockroach

(Male Saltoblattella montistabularis prior to take off; male; female - images courtesy of Mike Picker)

Name: Saltoblattella montistabularis

Common Name: Leaproach

Family: Blattellidae

How it made the Top 10: This new species of cockroach exhibits unusual morphology. It has legs that are highly modified for jumping. Prior to its discovery jumping cockroaches were only known from the Late Jurassic. This extant cockroach has jumping ability that is on par with grasshoppers. In addition to the leg modifications, it has hemispherical shaped eyes that protrude from the sides of the head instead of kidney shaped and the antennae have an additional fixation point to help stabilize them during jumping.

Pancake Batfish

(An image of Halieutichthys intermedius taken by one of its discoverers, Prosanta Chakrabarty)

Name: Halieutichthys intermedius

Common Name: The Louisiana Pancake Batfish

Family: Ogcocephalidae

How it made the Top 10: This species was discovered just before the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 and its entire known distribution is in the region of the spill. It is also a remarkably hideous (in a good way) animal. It is flat like a pancake, spikey, hops on its fins and has huge bulging eyes. Its discovery and precarious existence due to the oil spill was the lead article on cnn.com and a number of other outlets.

informações do site:

http://species.asu.edu/

desculpa.. tava com preguiça de traduzir ;P