Biology News

Jun 9, 2014 by News Staff

A group of ornithologists from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, has described a new species of flowerpecker from the Wakatobi Islands of Indonesia, off the coast of Sulawesi. The Wakatobi flowerpecker (Dicaeum kuehni), male. Image credit: Kelly SBA et al. The Sulawesi region is part of Wallacea, a biodiversity hotspot named after a famous British explorer and co-founder of the theory of evolution by natural selection, Alfred Russel Wallace. Despite...

Jun 6, 2014 by News Staff

Biologists have described a new species of moonseed plant from the dry forests and transient sand dunes of Bolivia and Paraguay. Cissampelos arenicola,...

Jun 5, 2014 by News Staff

 Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) cope with extreme heat by resting against cooler tree trunks, according to a new study led by Dr Michael Kearney from...

Jun 2, 2014 by News Staff

Scientists have described a spectacular new species of shade lizard from the cloudforests of northwestern Ecuador. Alopoglossus viridiceps, male, about...

May 30, 2014 by News Staff

Ichthyologists from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and the University of Kentucky have announced the discovery of a new eyeless cavefish in...

May 29, 2014 by News Staff

An immensely long (7–8 mm) and slender (15 μm) ovipositor of the parasitic fig wasp Apocrypta westwoodi is equipped with a sharp, zinc-coated tip, ready...

May 28, 2014 by News Staff

Cats eat more during the winter and owners should give their pet more food during this time, a four-year observational study of 38 adult colony cats has...

May 28, 2014 by News Staff

According to new research reported in the journal Nature Communications, light-colored insects are out-competing darker-colored ones in the face of climate...

May 27, 2014 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has documented a previously unknown multi-country migration of Burchell’s zebra (Equus quagga) that is the longest...

May 27, 2014 by Natali Anderson

Scientists led by Dr Kristofer Helgen from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History have erected a new genus called Neomonachus...

May 26, 2014 by Enrico de Lazaro

Marine biologists have described two new species of coral reef fish from the waters off Curaçao, southern Caribbean. The Spot-tail golden bass (Liopropoma...

May 23, 2014 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Science has shown that fruit flies (Drosophila sp.) think before they act. The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster....

May 22, 2014 by News Staff

According to new genetic research reported in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, populations of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in North...

May 22, 2014 by News Staff

An awesome mammal from Colombia and Ecuador, a leaf-tailed gecko from Australia and a snail with semi-transparent shell from Croatia are among the new...

May 21, 2014 by News Staff

Entomologists have described a new species of praying mantis from Nyungwe National Park, the Republic of Rwanda. Dystacta tigrifrutex, female. Image credit:...

May 20, 2014 by News Staff

The Clarion Nightsnake (Hypsiglena unaocularus) – a nocturnal snake species that was initially discovered in 1936 and then struck from the scientific...

May 15, 2014 by Natali Anderson

Botanists from the University of Calicut in Kerala, India, have described a new species in the genus Musa. Musa arunachalensis. Image credit: Sreejith...

May 12, 2014 by News Staff

An international team of botanists has described a new, nickel-hyperaccumulating species of plant from Luzon Island, Philippines. Rinorea niccolifera....

May 9, 2014 by News Staff

Entomologists have discovered 24 new species of wasps that mummify caterpillars, several were named after famous people including Jimmy Fallon, John Stewart,...

May 8, 2014 by News Staff

Scientists from at the Scripps Research Institute have created a living Escherichia coli that has a pair of ‘alien’ DNA building blocks in...