Biology News

Two New Species of Glassfrogs Discovered in Ecuador

The Mashpi glassfrog (Hyalinobatrachium mashpi), female. Image credit: Jaime Culebras.
Mar 24, 2022 by Natali Anderson

An international team of researchers has described two new species of the frog genus Hyalinobatrachium from the Ecuadorian Andes. The Mashpi glassfrog (Hyalinobatrachium mashpi), female. Image credit: Jaime Culebras. The glassfrogs, or glass frogs, are members of the amphibian family Centrolenidae, with more than 150 species. These frogs are found in the Neotropics, from southern Mexico, through Central America, into the northern half of South America,...

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Cuban Painted Snail is Mollusk of Year 2022

Mar 21, 2022 by News Staff

There were five finalists — three snails, one mussel and a tusk shell or scaphopod — in the Mollusk of the Year 2022 competition, an international...

The New Caledonian storm petrel (Fregetta lineata) off Nouméa, New Caledonia, in January 2020. Image credit: Hadoram Shirihai, Tubenoses Project.

New Species of Storm Petrel Identified

Mar 15, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Based on the numbers seen at sea, both off Australia and New Caledonia, the population of the New Caledonian storm petrel (Fregetta lineata) is in the...

Theloderma khoii, holotype, male, in life. Image credit: Ninh et al., doi: 10.5852/ejt.2022.794.1655.

New Species of Mossy Frog Discovered in Vietnam

Mar 15, 2022 by Natali Anderson

An international team of researchers has described a new species of the tree frog genus Theloderma from northeastern Vietnam. Theloderma khoii, holotype,...

Wei et al. found that honeybee tongue hairs’ hydrophobicity can prevent the hairs from being adhered to the soft tongue surface, which could significantly enhance the deformability of the tongue when honeybees feed at various surfaces and promote their adaptability to different environments. Image credit: Jiangkun Wei.

Honeybee Tongue Hairs are Stiff and Hydrophobic, New Study Shows

Mar 14, 2022 by News Staff

The honeybee tongue, foraging liquid food in nature, has a unique segmented surface covered with dense hairs. Since honeybees are capable of using their...

Using field surveys and manipulative experiments, Zhong et al. evaluated how habitat modification by Brandt’s voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) influences predation risk from shrikes in a steppe grassland, located in Inner Mongolia, China. Image credit: Guoliang Li.

Brandt’s Voles Trim Tall Grass to Watch Predatory Birds, Study Shows

Mar 11, 2022 by News Staff

A steppe-dwelling rodent species called the Brandt’s vole (Lasiopodomys brandtii) actively modifies habitat structure by cutting down a large, unpalatable...

The rose-veiled fairy wrasse (Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa), underwater photograph from Rasdhoo Atoll, Maldives, 60 m. Image credit: Luiz Rocha.

New Species of Fairy Wrasse Discovered

Mar 11, 2022 by Natali Anderson

An international team of researchers has discovered a new species of the fish genus Cirrhilabrus living in the waters off Maldives and Sri Lanka. The rose-veiled...

The thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus). Image credit: University of Melbourne.

Scientists Propose Nine Steps to De-Extinction of Tasmanian Tiger

Mar 10, 2022 by News Staff

The reality of bringing back the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), also known as the Tasmanian tiger or the marsupial wolf, from extinction using its...

Saffron, the world’s most expensive spice, is extracted from the flowers of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus). Image credit: Johan Puisais.

Saffron Crocus was First Domesticated in Ancient Greece

Mar 10, 2022 by News Staff

In a review paper published in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science, researchers followed ancient arts and recent genetics to trace the evolutionary...

Acetabularia jalakanyakae. Image credit: Felix Bast.

New Species of Green Alga Discovered

Mar 7, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Biologists have described a new species of the unicellular green algal genus Acetabularia from a rocky intertidal habitat of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Acetabularia...

Maxillaria anacatalinaportillae. Image credit: Hugo Medina.

New Species of Orchid Discovered in Ecuador

Mar 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists have described a new species of the Neotropical orchid genus Maxillaria from cloud rainforests of northern Ecuador. Maxillaria anacatalinaportillae....

The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). Image credit: Naokivin1978.

Artificial Electrochemical Neurons Make Venus Flytrap Close Its Lobes

Feb 28, 2022 by News Staff

Researchers have demonstrated bio-integration of organic electrochemical neurons with cells of the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) to induce lobe closure...

Longitudinal cross-section showing microplastic particles inside a birch lateral root in a one-year-old birch tree after being exposed to contaminated soil for 5 months. Clockwise from top left shows cross sections using light microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Arrows point to fluorescing microplastic particles. Inset in bottom right panel shows the area indicated by the arrows in the bottom left panel after enlargement. All images have been enhanced using a contrast and brightness correction. Scales are shown in the bottom right or left corner of the respective image. Image credit: Austen et al., doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152085.

Microplastic Particles Detected in Roots of Birch Trees

Feb 22, 2022 by Sergio Prostak

New research led by the Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries shows that individual microplastic particles with diameters between...

Loui, the juvenile male orangutan, uses the core as an active element to vertically strike on the concrete floor of the testing room. Image credit: Motes-Rodrigo et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263343.

Scientists Investigate Stone Tool Making and Using Abilities in Orangutans

Feb 17, 2022 by News Staff

Early stone tools represent one of the most important technological milestones in human evolution. The production and use of sharp stone tools significantly...

Fairy Pittas Prepare Food for Their Nestlings, New Study Shows

Feb 15, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Insect-eating birds that feed nestlings with grasshoppers, beetles, or moths perform insect prey preparation before feeding nestlings so that the nestlings...

This photo shows a chimpanzee female, Roxy, applying an insect to a wound on the face of an adult chimpanzee male named Thea. Image credit: Tobias Deschner.

Chimpanzees Regularly Capture Insects and Apply Them onto Wounds

Feb 8, 2022 by News Staff

In a new paper published this week in the journal Current Biology, University of Osnabrück’s Dr. Simone Pika and colleagues report the first observations...

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are attracted to specific colors, including red, orange, black and cyan. Image credit: Kiley Riffell.

Mosquitoes are Attracted to Specific Colors, New Study Shows

Feb 4, 2022 by News Staff

Mosquitoes track odors, locate hosts, and find mates visually. The color of a food resource, such as a flower or warm-blooded host, can be dominated by...

A person’s appreciation of nature and their tendency to visit natural spaces are heritable characteristics. Image credit: Adam Derewecki.

Study: Our Desire to Be in Nature and How We Experience It are Partially Heritable

Feb 3, 2022 by News Staff

Using the TwinsUK panel, an international team of researchers led by the National University of Singapore examined the extent to which genetic versus environmental...

The number of tree species and individuals per continent in the Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative (GFBI) database. This dataset (blue points in the central map) was used for the parametric estimation and merged with the TREECHANGE occurrence-based data (purple points in the central map) to provide the estimates in this study. Green areas represent the global tree cover. GFBI consists of abundance-based records of 38 million trees for 28,192 species. Depicted here are some of the most frequent species recorded in each continent. Some GFBI and TREECHANGE points may overlap in the map. Image credit: Gatti et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2115329119.

There Are About 73,000 Tree Species on Earth, New Study Shows

Feb 1, 2022 by News Staff

Tree diversity is fundamental for forest ecosystem stability and services. However, because of limited available data, estimates of tree diversity at large...

The Meratus white-eye in the Meratus Mountains, South Kalimantan province, Indonesia, on July 9, 2016. Image credit: Eaton et al.

Two New Bird Species Discovered on Borneo

Jan 31, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Ornithologists have described two new species of the flycatcher genus Cyornis and the white-eye genus Zosterops from southeastern Borneo, Indonesia. The...

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