Biology News

Bodies of Starfish and Other Echinoderms are Really Just Heads, New Research Suggests

Gene expression data reveal the deployment of the patterning system in the sea star Patiria miniata. Image credit: Formery et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06669-2.
Nov 2, 2023 by News Staff

For centuries, naturalists have puzzled over what might constitute the head of starfish. When looking at a worm, or a fish, it’s clear which end is the head and which is the tail. But with their five identical arms, it’s been anybody’s guess how to determine the front end of the organism from the back. This unusual body plan has led many to conclude that starfish perhaps don’t have a head at all. But now, biologists from Stanford University...

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While a human perpetrator may take pains not to leave their own DNA behind, transferred cat hair contains its own DNA that could provide a link between a suspect and a crime-scene, or a victim. Image credit: Alexas_Fotos.

Hair Shed by Pet Cats is Useful Source of Forensic Evidence, Study Says

Nov 1, 2023 by News Staff

A single cat hair contains DNA which could link a suspect and a crime-scene, or a victim, according to a new study led by University of Leicester scientist...

Male of Psaironeura angeloi perched along small stream, near Chindul, in Manabí Province, Ecuador. Image credit: K.J. Tennessen.

Entomologist Discovers Beautiful New Species of Damselfly

Oct 31, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Dr. Kenneth Tennessen, a researcher at the Florida State Collection of Arthropods, has described a new species of the damselfly genus Psaironeura from...

Understanding the genetic basis of convergence at broad phylogenetic scales remains a key challenge in biology. Kingfishers are a cosmopolitan bird radiation with diverse colors, diets, and feeding behaviors -- including the archetypal plunge-dive into water. Given the sensory and locomotor challenges associated with air-water transitions, kingfishers offer a powerful opportunity to explore the effects of convergent behaviors on the evolution of genomes and phenotypes, as well as direct comparisons between continental and island lineages. Eliason et al. use whole-genome sequencing of 30 diverse kingfisher species to identify the genomic signatures associated with convergent feeding behaviors. Image credit: Robert Balog.

New DNA Study Shines Light on Plunge-Diving Behavior in Kingfishers

Oct 26, 2023 by News Staff

In new research, ornithologists from the Field Museum and elsewhere analyzed the whole genomes of 30 diverse kingfisher species to identify the genomic...

The crest-tailed mulgara (Dasycercus cristicauda). Image credit: Bobby Tamayo / CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed.

Three New Species of Mulgaras May Already Be Extinct

Oct 25, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists from Curtin University, the Western Australian Museum and Murdoch University have identified three new species of mulgaras — small carnivorous...

The epaulette shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) at Océanopolis, Brest, France. Image credit: Strobilomyces / CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed.

Sharks Have Very Low Mutation Rates, New Study Shows

Oct 24, 2023 by News Staff

Sharks occupy diverse ecological niches and play critical roles in marine ecosystems, often acting as apex predators. They are considered a slow-evolving...

Lazaro et al. aimed to compare the reinforcing value and efficacy between food and leisure stimuli for domestic dogs by comparing rates of behavior when receiving access to either their top-preferred food or leisure items. The results indicate that, overall, dogs exhibit a stronger preference for and food is more likely to function as a reinforcer than leisure items for domestic dog’s behavior. Even when dogs had equal preference for both types of stimuli in preference assessments, they showed a higher response rate when working for their preferred food during progressive-ratio trials. Image credit: Congerdesign.

Pet Dogs Prefer Food Over Toys, New Study Shows

Oct 18, 2023 by News Staff

In a University of Florida-led study, scientists allowed pet dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) to pick their favorite food and favorite toy, then put them...

The slaty-backed nightingale-thrush (Catharus fuscater) in Costa Rica. Image credit: Simon Pierre Barrette / CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed.

Cryptic New Bird Species Identified in Panama

Oct 16, 2023 by Natali Anderson

In new research, ornithologists from Drexel University, the Delaware Museum of Nature & Science, and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture conducted...

Space weather from the Sun, such as coronal mass ejections, disturbs Earth’s magnetic field, causing the aurorae and potentially decreasing the magnetic field’s reliability for migrating birds. Image credit: John Megahan.

Severe Space Weather Events Disrupt Nocturnal Bird Migrations, Researchers Find

Oct 11, 2023 by News Staff

Earth’s magnetic field is occasionally but regularly impacted by bursts of energy from the Sun (space weather), such as coronal mass ejections. Birds...

Tomiyamichthys elliotensis, underwater photograph, approx. 5 cm in length, Lady Elliot Island, Queensland, Australia. Image credit: M.V. Erdmann.

New Species of Shrimpgoby Discovered at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

Oct 10, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The newly-discovered species of gobiid fish, Tomiyamichthys elliotensis (common name is the Lady Elliot shrimp goby), is currently known only from Lady...

An Asian hornet hovering outside a nest as a buff-tailed bumblebee emerges. Image credit: Thomas O’Shea-Wheller.

Study: Buff-Tailed Bumblebees Have Successful Method for Fighting Off Invasive Asian Hornets

Oct 5, 2023 by News Staff

Scientists from the University of Exeter have investigated the effects of invasive Asian hornets (Vespa velutina nigrithorax) — which are considered...

Cats love cat-appropriate songs. Image credit: © Natali Anderson.

Domestic Cats Produce Purring-Like Sounds Differently than Previously Thought

Oct 5, 2023 by News Staff

The larynx, or ‘voice box,’ of domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) can produce purring-like sounds without neural input, according to new research...

Travouillon et al. examined the phenomenon of mammalian fluorescence to determine the extent of apparent fluorescence among mammals and to identify the anatomical regions most likely to fluoresce. The images show mammal taxidermy under UV light: (a) polar bear, (b) southern marsupial mole, (c) greater bilby, (d) mountain zebra, (e) bare-nosed wombat, (f) six-banded armadillo, (g) orange leaf-nosed bat, (h) quenda, (i) leopard, (j) Asian palm civet, (k) red fox, (l) dwarf spinner dolphin. Image credit: Travouillon et al., doi: 10.1098/rsos.230325.

At Least 125 Species of Mammals Glow under Ultraviolet Light, New Study Reveals

Oct 4, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Fluorescence — the absorption of short wavelengths of light and re-emission of longer wavelengths of light — is widely distributed among mammals...

Artistic representation of the opportunistic burrowing behavior of the hypothetical ancestor of crown snakes, as predicted from reconstructed high-definition 3D whole-brain models (highlighted middle right) shown in dorsal (top) and lateral (bottom) views. In comparison, the reconstruction of the first natural endocast of a fossil snake (Dinilysia patagonica, top right) displays a divergent morphological configuration of the telencephalon (Tel) and provides no or limited information about the diencephalon (Dien), mesencephalon (Mes), cerebellum (Cb), and medulla oblongata (MO) regions. In contrast, the estimated endocast of Najash rionegrina (bottom right) shows similarities with the hypothetical ancestor of crown snakes in several distinguishable telencephalic regions, including cerebral hemisphere (CH), olfactory bulb (OB), and olfactory tract (OT). Reconstructions of the fossil skulls (purple color) are shown around the cranial endocasts. Image credit: Macrì et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adi6888 / Neptalí Ramírez Marcial.

Researchers Shed New Light on Enigmatic Early Evolution of Snakes

Oct 3, 2023 by News Staff

The ecological origin and early evolution of snakes has long been a focus of multiple research fields and remains one of the most enduring and controversial...

The Asian mysterious pangolin (Manis mysteria) separated from the Philippine pangolin (shown here) and Malayan pangolin over 5 million years ago. Image credit: Gregg Yan / CC BY-SA 4.0.

DNA Study Reveals Cryptic New Species of Pangolin

Oct 2, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The newly-identified species, Manis mysteria, is the ninth known pangolin species or the fifth Asian one. The Asian mysterious pangolin (Manis mysteria)...

Pangea Ultima temperature and habitability: (a) mammalian species diversity without the influence of humans; (b) habitable regions (green area) in the Pre-industrial simulation; (c-h) cold month mean temperature (CMMT; degrees Celsius); (c,f) warm month mean temperature (WMMT; degrees Celsius); (d,g) and habitable regions (green area); (e,h) under two end members of our sensitivity analysis: low-pCO2 conditions (280 ppm) Pangea Ultima planetary configuration (in 250 million years); (c-e) and high-pCO2 conditions (1,120 ppm) Pangea Ultima configuration (in 250 million years); (f-h) with global land surface temperature (GLST) (grid-weighted) indicated. Image credit: Farnsworth et al., doi: 10.1038/s41561-023-01259-3.

Climate Extremes Likely to Drive Mass Extinction of Land Mammals in 250 Million Years

Sep 26, 2023 by News Staff

In about 250 million years, all continents will converge to form Earth’s next supercontinent, Pangea Ultima. A natural consequence of the creation...

The Caribbean box jellyfish (Tripedalia cystophora). Image credit: Jan Bielecki.

Box Jellyfish Found To Be Capable of Associative Learning

Sep 22, 2023 by News Staff

In new research, marine biologists trained the Caribbean box jellyfish (Tripedalia cystophora) to learn to spot and dodge obstacles; their findings challenge...

Halomonas phage vB_HmeY_H4907. Scale bar - 100 nm. Image credit: Su et al., doi: 10.1128/spectrum.01912-23.

Virologists Find Previously Unknown Virus in Mariana Trench

Sep 21, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Dubbed Halomonas phage vB_HmeY_H4907, the new bacteria-infecting virus is the deepest isolated siphovirus from the ocean, and it represents a novel abundant...

The painted bunting (Passerina ciris) in Freeport, Texas, the United States. Image credit: Dan Pancamo / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Study: Resident Songbird Eye Size Varies with Urban Light Pollution Levels

Sep 20, 2023 by News Staff

Urbanization now exposes large portions of the Earth to sources of anthropogenic disturbance, driving rapid environmental change and producing novel environments....

Simple schematic representation of the mutilation of the Tree of life because of generic extinctions and extinction risks. The bottom half of the tree depicted as dead branches shows examples of the extinct genera, and the upper half shows examples of genera at risk of extinction. Extinct genera: (I) lower row left - Delcourt’s giant gecko (Hoplodactylus, left), of which the only specimens known were found in a museum without a label, but probably they were found in New Zealand; and saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise (Cylindraspis, right) from Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean. Lower row right - Yunnan Lake newt (Cynops, left) from China; and the gastric brooding frogs (Rheobatrachus, right) from rainforests in Queensland, Australia. (II) Second bottom-up row left - thylacine (Thylacinus, left), the largest carnivorous marsupial, last known from Tasmania; and Yangtze River dolphin or baijii (Lipotes, right) from China, one of very few freshwater dolphins. Second bottom-up row right - elephant birds (Aepyornis, left), the largest birds surviving to modern times, represent also both an extinct genus and family (Aepyornithidae) endemic to Madagascar; and Moho birds (genus Moho, right) represent also both an extinct genus and family (Mohidae) from Hawaii. Endangered genera: (III) Third bottom-up row left - King cobra (Ophiophagus, left) from Asia; and gavial (Gavialis, right) from India and Nepal. Third bottom-up row right - Alpine newt (Ichthyosaura, left) from Europe; and Mahogany frog (Abavorana, right) from the Malay Peninsula. (IV) Upper row left: volcano rabbit (Romerolagus, left) known from few mountains close to Mexico City, and elephant (Loxodonta, right) from Africa. Upper row right - ‘i’iwi or scarlet honeycreeper (Drepanis, left) from Hawaii; and kakapo (Strigops, right) a flightless parrot from New Zealand. Image credit: Marco Antonio Pineda.

Study: Human-Driven Sixth Mass Extinction is Eliminating Entire Animal Genera

Sep 18, 2023 by News Staff

Mass extinctions during the past 500 million years rapidly removed branches from the tree of life and required millions of years for evolution to generate...

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