10 NEW SPECIES LAUNCH NEW UNDERSTANDINGS NOW

As we celebrate the new BN App and other Beautiful launches this week, we became fascinated by the many new species begin discovered, for the first time. While the animals aren’t the ones launching, the scientists who discovered and declared them to be new species are helping to launch new advances in understanding evolution, in general, and of these particular species in particular.

1. INAGUA LYRETAIL HUMMINGBIRD

The Bahama Woodstar is a brightly plumed hummingbird, native to the Bahamas. Scientists are now in the process of recognizing two distinct species:

• Calliphlox evelynae evelynae is widespread throughout the Bahaman Islands, and is most prominent in the north.
• Calliphlox evelynae lyrura is only found in the southernmost islands.

A team of scientists, led by Christopher J. Clark, of the University of California, Riverside, conducted studies on the two species’ courtship displays, calls, appearance, and genes.

They determined that lyrura has a more prominently forked tail and higher pitched calls than evelynae, and both birds have distinct scolding calls.

These findings were published in The Auk.

2. VAMPIRE CRAB

Vampire crabs have become popular pets among aquarium collectors. But scientists had never documented them as a unique species.

In a recent study, published in Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Christian Lukhaup, and a team of researchers, took on the task to make the new species known.

4. LESULA MONKEY

The lesula is a striking new species of monkey that scientists recently discovered in the forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Lomami Basin, where the lesula was found, remains largely unexplored by scientists. They were surprised to hear that local hunters had long been aware of its existence. The first lesula that the scientists saw was a local school director’s pet.

Lesulas have large human-like eyes, rosy pink skin, and golden fur. They are shy animals, which has why they have been difficult to find and study.

The lesula discovery was published recently in the journal PLOS ONE.

5. H. DINAE GLASS FROG

A new species of frog (Hyalinobatrachium dianae) has recently been discovered in Costa Rica. The glass frog has transparent skin so you can see its internal organs and skeletons. There are 147 other species of glass frog, but this one is unique.

The frog is only one inch long. It has bulging Kermit-like eyes. It has a distinctive mating call that resembles a tin whistle. It sounds more like an insect than like a frog, which is part of why the species has gone undetected until recently.

The discovery was made by Biologist Brian Kubicki and the study published recently in the journal Zootaxa.

6. GLASS SNAIL

This beautiful transparent snail species was just discovered more than 3,000 feet underground in a Croatian cave -- one of the 20 deepest caves in the world.

The snail, Zospeum tholussum, was discovered by a team of cavers and biologists from the Croatian Biospeleological Society. Alexander Weigand of Goethe University later identified it as a new species in August of 2013.

All snails are slow, but these take the cake! They travel only a few millimeters per week, spending their lives grazing in one tiny space. They can move faster only by hitching rides on crickets, bats, or water currents to travel more quickly.

Such an elegant snail species has never been seen in nature before this discovery.

The species is described in a recent issue of the journal Subterranean Biology.

7. NOT A HATCHETFISH

This Lilliputian new fish species was recently found in New Caledonia by an unsuspecting fisherman, William Larue. Its beautiful translucent scales and huge glassy eyes are wonderfully delicate.

This fish is thought to be related to the hatchetfish of the Sternoptychidae family, which typically live between 200 and 2,000 meters deep in the sea, however this little guy was found swimming just below the surface.

Since only one fish of this kind has been discovered, it cannot yet be declared a new species. A team from Secretariat of the Pacific Community hopes to discover more specimens on their upcoming expedition.

8. NEW CUSK EEL

A luminous new sea creature was photographed underwater by Joshua Lambus during a nighttime dive in Hawaii. It appears to be a new species, and not much about it is yet certain.

Lambus believes that this may be young eel, or a relative of the cusk-eel. The cusk-eel belongs to the tropical bony marine-fish family, Ophidiidae. There have been 7 new cusk-eel species discovered in recent years.

The cusk-eel lives deep below the ocean’s surface. The abyssal cusk-eel is the deepest living sea creature ever recorded. Abyssal cusk-eels are long and slim, with charming little fins and a bright white hue.

Check out the journal The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, where discovery was described.

9. NEW SEA BASS

A colorful new species of sea bass, Liopropoma olneyi, has been discovered by Smithsonian scientists in the Florida Straits.

DNA barcoding of the fish larvae determined that this fish is morphologically different from all other known species sea bass. It was declared a new species without the presence of any adult fish. Around the same time, another group of Smithsonian scientists discovered the adults swimming deep among the reefs of Curacao.

The findings were published recently in the journal PLOS ONE.

10. BLUE-FLOWERED LEGUMES

Public volunteers in the Western Cape Province of South Africa have recently discovered two new species of blue-flowering legumes:

• Psoralea diturnerae, named for Dianne Turner, leader of citizen science group, the Outramps, found in a small mountainous region.
• Psoralea vanberklae, named for the group photographer, Nicky Van Berkel, is located in one tiny coastal region.

Findings were published in recent issue of the journal Pensoft.

Read more about Beautiful Launch, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including Wake up to Something Beautiful Now!

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Anand Varma. Courtesy of Phys.Org.  Male Inagua Lyretail Hummingbird. (Calliphlox lyrura).
2. Image: by Anand Varma. Courtesy of Phys.Org.  Male Inagua Lyretail Hummingbird (Calliphlox lyrura).
3. Photo: by Christian Lukhaup. Courtesy of Animal New York. Vampire Crab.
4. Photo: by Christian Lukhaup. Courtesy of Animal New York. Vampire Crab.
5. Photo: by Jurgen Otto. Peacock Spider. (Maratus volans).
6. Photo: by Jurgen Otto. Peacock Spider. (Maratus volans).
7. Image: by Maurice Emetshu. Courtesy of Plos One Journal. Lesula.
8. Image: by Brian Kubicki for Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center. Glass Frog. H. Dinae.
9. Image: by Alexander M. Weigand. Glass Snail. Zospeum Bourguignat.
10. Photo: by William Larue Courtesy of Earth Touch News. New fish species related to hatchetfish.
11. Image: by Joshua Lambus. Courtesy of Australian Geographic. Cusk-Eel.
12. Image: by Barry Brown, Substation Curacao. Courtesy of Smithsonian Science. Liopropoma olneyi. Seabass.
13. Photo: by Nicky Van Berkel. Courtesy of Pensoft. Blue-Flowered Legumes.
14. Image: by Brian Kubicki for Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center. H. Dinae Glass Frog.
15. Photo: by John Hart. Courtesy of Plos One. Cercopithecus lomamiensis.
16. Image: by Brian Kubicki for Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center. H. Dinae Glass Frog.