Biology News

Sharks Use Earth’s Magnetic Field for Homeward Orientation, Study Shows

The bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo). Image credit: Tony Hisgett / CC BY 2.0.
May 10, 2021 by News Staff

Bonnethead sharks (Sphyrna tiburo) rely on magnetic fields for their long-distance journeys, according to new research led by scientists from the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory. The bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo). Image credit: Tony Hisgett / CC BY 2.0. Migration is common in marine animals and use of the map-like information of Earth’s magnetic field appears to play an important role. While sharks are iconic migrants and well...

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An adult female Masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) in the Masaai Mara National Park, Kenya. Image credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / CC BY-SA 3.0.

DNA Study Confirms There Are Four Giraffe Species

May 7, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has sequenced and analyzed the genomes 50 giraffe individuals representing all traditionally recognized subspecies....

The buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris). Image credit: Leona B.

Study: Larger-Sized Bumblebee Foragers Start Work Earlier

May 6, 2021 by News Staff

By leaving the colony earlier to find and exploit flowers in low light, larger-sized foragers of the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) are aided...

Head of Strumigenys ayersthey in full-face view. Image credit: Booher & Hoenle, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1036.62034.

Entomologists Discover New Species of Trap-Jaw Ant in Ecuador

May 6, 2021 by News Staff

Entomologists from the Yale Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, the Georgia Museum of Natural History, and the Technical University of Darmstadt...

Adult female of the Mindoro fanged frog (Limnonectes beloncioi). Image credit: S.L. Travers.

New Fanged Frog Species Discovered in Philippines

May 6, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has discovered a cryptic new species of fanged frog living on Mindoro and Semirara Islands of the central Philippines. Adult...

The first photograph of the Bornean Rajah scops-owl (Otus brookii brookii) in the wild. Image credit: Andy Boyce.

Scops-Owl Subspecies Missing for 125 Years Rediscovered in Malaysia

May 4, 2021 by News Staff

Otus brookii brookii, a subspecies of the Rajah scops-owl (Otus brookii) that had been lost to science since 1892, has been discovered alive and photographed...

Well digging by wild donkeys (Equus africanus asinus) in the Sonoran Desert, the United States. Image credit: Lundgren et al., doi: 10.1126/science.abd6775.

Well-Digging Feral Horses and Donkeys Increase Water Availability in Desert Regions, Study Says

May 3, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Feral equids (horses and donkeys) reintroduced to desert regions in the North American southwest regularly dig wells to expose groundwater, increasing...

Etelis boweni, caught in American Samoa. Image credit: NOAA Fisheries.

New Species of Deepwater Snapper Discovered

May 3, 2021 by News Staff

A team of marine biologists from the United States, Spain and Taiwan has discovered a new species of the snapper genus Etelis living in Indo-West Pacific...

Brachycephalus rotenbergae. Image credit: Nunes et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244812.

New Species of Poisonous Fluorescent Frog Discovered in Brazil

Apr 30, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Scientists have described a new species of the frog genus Brachycephalus from the forests of the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Brachycephalus rotenbergae....

Grimpoteuthis imperator: (a-c) habitus before fixation showing dorsal, ventral, and oral views, anterior facing up; (d, e) specimen prior to MRI following several months in 10% formalin solution showing dorsal and ventral views, anterior facing up; stippled frame denotes the MRI region of interest; (f) virtual section through the 3D MRI dataset, anterior facing right; the asterisk denotes a susceptibility artifact in the buccal mass area caused by ingested sediment; (g) virtual section through the central long axis of the funnel; (h) section of an arm showing the suckers and cirri, right lateral view; (i) volume rendering of the viscera, ventral view, anterior facing up; (j) close-up of the left gill showing eight broad lamellae; (k) volume rendering of the viscera, oblique posterior view. Image credit: A. Ziegler & C. Sagorny, doi: 10.1186/s12915-021-01000-9.

Marine Biologists Discover New Octopus Species in Pacific Ocean

Apr 26, 2021 by News Staff

Using a combination of MRI, micro-CT and minimally invasive gene analysis, a team of biologists from the Institut für Evolutionsbiologie und Ökologie...

Scolopendra alcyona found underwater at the upper reach of Shirase River, Kume-jima Island. Image credit; H. Sato.

Scientists Discover New Amphibious Species of Centipede

Apr 22, 2021 by Natali Anderson

A team of biologists from Japan has discovered a new species of the genus Scolopendra living in the forests of the Ryukyu Archipelago and Taiwan. Scolopendra...

Rare Wild Coffee Species Has Arabica-Like Flavor, Greater Tolerance to Higher Temperatures

Apr 20, 2021 by Natali Anderson

The enigmatic narrow-leaved coffee (Coffea stenophylla), a rare and little-known species of wild coffee from West Africa, has a similar flavor profile...

Holotype (left) and paratype (right) of Travunijana djokovici. Image credit: Jozef Grego.

New Snail Species Discovered in Montenegro

Apr 15, 2021 by News Staff

Scientists have described a new species of aquatic snail from a karstic spring in Montenegro and named it after Novak Djokovic, a famous Serbian tennis...

A graphical abstract showing the six sex chromosomes found in Odorrana swinhoana. Image credit: Ikuo Miura.

Taiwanese Frog Has Six Sex Chromosomes, Study Shows

Apr 15, 2021 by News Staff

Biologists have found a multiple sex chromosome system comprising three different chromosome pairs in Odorrana swinhoana, a species of medium to large-sized...

Mountain gorilla silverback chest beating. Image credit: Wright et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-86261-8.

Male Gorillas Beat Their Chests to Advertise Body Size, Study Shows

Apr 12, 2021 by News Staff

The chest beat of male mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) is an honest signal of body size, according to a paper published in the journal Scientific...

Cuckoo wasps. Image credit: Arnstein Staverløkk, NINA / CC BY3.0.

Scientists Discover New Species of Cuckoo Wasp

Apr 12, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of biologists has discovered a new species of the cuckoo wasp genus Chrysis living in Norway. Cuckoo wasps. Image credit: Arnstein...

Bombus incognitus is indistinguishable from Bombus sylvicola using typical diagnostic characters. Image credit: Jennifer Geib.

Cryptic New Species of Bumblebee Discovered in Rocky Mountains

Apr 8, 2021 by News Staff

A research team led by Uppsala University scientists has sequenced and compared the genomes of a bumblebee species called Bombus sylvicola and a previously...

The black-throated trogon (Trogon rufus). Image credit: Moisés Silva Lima / CC BY 2.0.

New Species of Bird Discovered in Brazil

Apr 6, 2021 by Natali Anderson

A team of ornithologists from the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Paraguay has described a new species of trogon from the Atlantic Forest of north-eastern...

The Walter’s duiker (Philantomba walteri). Image credit: Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, University of Oxford.

Walter’s Duiker Photographed for First Time in the Wild

Apr 5, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of zoologists led by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at the University of Oxford has snapped an...

Streptococcus agalactiae (round spheres) on the surface of the bladder where they encounter urine to make their DNA. Image credit: Glen Ulett.

Streptococci Can Generate DNA using Human Urine: Study

Apr 1, 2021 by News Staff

Streptococcus agalactiae, a commensal urogenital tract bacterium and opportunistic pathogen, can produce new DNA using human urine, according to new research...

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