Saturday 31 May 2014

Sinkhole swallows car in Evansville, Indiana.

A car carrying four passengers was swallowed by a sinkhole in Evansville in southern Indiana on Friday 30 May 2014. Timothy Stone, his girlfriend and their two children had stopped at a junction when they felt the car beginning to sink. All four were able to escape the care safely, but the front of the car was swallowed by a sinkhole that opened up to 3.5 m wide and 5 m deep, and had to be rescued by a pair of towing trucks.

The vehicle trapped in the Evansville sinkhole on 30 May 2014. Kevin Swank/The Evansville Courier & Press.

Sinkhole are typically caused by the erosion of soft sediments or limestone beneath the surface, creating voids that can open up unexpectedly. On this occasion the hole appears to have been triggered by the collapse of a sewer main, which lead to the washing away sediments beneath the road, and triggering the collapse of a water main, leading to further water loss and further erosion, eventually causing the overlying road to collapse.

The approximate location of the 30 May 2014 Evansville sinkhole. Google Maps.

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One person had to be rescued by the Chicago Fire Department after a...


A US Marine has died after falling into a 20 m sinkhole while hunting deer in near Buckthorn in Pulaski County, Missouri, on the...




A man in his twenties was taken to hospital with neck and back pains after his car was partially swallowed on English Avenue in Indianapolis slightly before 8.00 am local time (slightly before noon, GMT) on Monday 9 September 2013. The sinkhole is believed to have been caused by a burst water main washing sediments away...


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About 150 people forced to leave their homes by landslide in Perak State, Malaysia.

Around 150 people have been forced to leave their homes after a landslide in Ipoh, the capital of Perak State in Malaysia. The incident took place at about 5.30 pm on Friday 30 May 2014, when about 30 m³ of hillside on the Laluan Meru Indah road collapsed close to a number of residences. Around 20 families have been evacuated as a precaution. 

The scene of the 30 May 2014 Ipoh Landslide.  L.Manimaran/New Straights Times.

The incident happened after about five hours of heavy rain. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall. Ipoh has a rainforest climate and experiences heavy rainfall all year round, typically receiving about 2800 mm per year, and about 210 mm in May.

The approximate location of the 30 May 2014 Ipoh landslide. Google Maps.

See also...


Three people are missing presumed dead after a landslide struck a...



Nine people are confirmed to have died following a landslide in the Berastagi sub-district on northern Sumatra on Saturday 30 November 2013. Four of the dead are said to be children under 10 years old. The incident happened following several hours of heavy rain...



Four people were killed in a landslide at Paris Beach on the shores of Lake Toba, near Nagori Tiga Ras in north Sumatra, at about 11.00...


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Flights across Australia disrupted following series of large eruptions on Sangeang Api, Indonesia.

Flights from Australia to Indonesia and Southeast Asia have been severely disrupted and several airports forced to close completely following a series of massive eruptions on Sangeang Api, an island volcano in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. The eruptions began on Friday 30 May 2014 and have so far produced three large ash plumes. The first reached a height of between 6 and 15 km and has drifted southeast over Australia towards Alice Springs. The second reached a height of 14 km and is currently over the city of Darwin, and the third has drifted westward and is currently over Bali. 

Ash column over Sangeang Api on Friday 30 May 2014. Sofyan Efendi.

Volcanic ash is extremely hazardous to aircraft in a number of ways. At its most obvious it is opaque, both visually and to radar. Then it is abrasive, ash particles physically scour aircraft, damaging components and frosting windows. However the ash is most dangerous when it is sucked into jet engines, here the high temperatures can melt the tiny silica particles, forming volcanic glass which then clogs engine. When this happens the only hope the aircraft has is to dive sharply, in the hope that cold air passing through the engine during the descent will cause the glass to shatter, allowing the engine to be restarted. Obviously this is a procedure that pilots try to avoid having to perform.

Sangeang Api is a complex volcano comprising two cones, Doro Api and Doro Mantoi, rising to 1949 m and 1795 m above the sea respectively, located on an island roughly 5 km off the northeast coast of West Nusa Tenggara in the Flores Sea. The island has been uninhabited since 1988 when it was abandoned following a series of large eruptions. It is an extremely active volcano, having undergone major eruptions least 19 times since 1512; the first eruption on the island recorded by eyewitnesses.

The location of Sangeang Api. Google Maps.

The Lesser Sunda Islands are located on the northern part of the Timor Microplate. This is trapped between the converging Eurasian and Australian Plates, both of which are being subducted beneath it. In the south the Australian Plate is passing under the island of Timor, with material from the subducted plate melted by the friction and the heat of the Earth's interior rising through the Timor Plate to feed the volcanoes of the island. In the north the Eurasian Plate is being subducted in the same way, feeding the volcanoes there.

The subduction zones beneath the Timor Microplate. Hamson (2004).

See also...


The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.2 Earthquake at a depth of 27.2 km, 9 km to the northeast of the city of Kupang on the western (Indonesian) half of the Island of Timor, at...



The Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre reports an eruption on the island volcano Batu Tara, one of the Lesser Sunda Islands in the Flores Sea, producing a 2.1 km ash column on the morning of Friday...



Six people, including two children have been killed by an eruption on Mount Roketenda on the tiny Indonesian island of Palue (or...



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Asteroid 2014 KC45 passes the Earth.

Asteroid 2014 KC45 passed by the Earth at a distance of 88 260 km (23% of the distance between the Earth and the Moon), at about 8.10 am GMT on Wednesday 28 May 2014. There was no danger of the asteroid hitting us, and had it done so it would have presented no risk. 2014 KC45 is calculated to have an equivalent diameter of 2-8 m (i.e. a spherical body with the same volume would have diameter of 2-8 m), and an object of this size would be expected to break up in the atmosphere over 35 km above the Earth's surface, making it unlikely that even fragmentary material would reach the ground.

The calculated orbit of 2014 KC45. JPL Small Body Database Browser.

2014 KC45 was discovered on 27 May 2014 (the day before its closest approach to the Earth) by the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey, which is located in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. The designation 2014 KC45 implies that it was the 1128th asteroid (asteroid C45) discovered in the second half of May 2014 (period 2014 K).

2014 KC45 has an 759 day orbital period and an eccentric orbit that takes it from 0.94 AU from the Sun (i.e. 94% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun) to 2.32 AU from the Sun (i.e. 232% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, considerably more than distance at which the planet Mars orbits the Sun). It is therefore classed as an Apollo Group Asteroid (an asteroid that is on average further from the Sun than the Earth, but which does get closer).

See also...

 Asteroid 2014 JE15 passes the Earth. 

Asteroid 2014 JE15 passed by the Earth at a distance of 15 810 000 km (over 40 times the average distance between the Earth and the...


 Faye's Comet reaches its perihelion.

Faye's Comet (Comet 4P/Faye) reached it's perihelion (the closest point in its orbit to the Sun) on 29 May 2014, for the first time in seven-and-a-half years. It presents no danger to the Earth, as it never comes within the orbit of Mars, and was not easily visible on this...



 Asteroid 2014 HM2 passes the Earth.


Asteroid 2014 HM2 passed by the Earth at a distance of 15 320 000 km (slightly under 40 times the average distance between the Earth...



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A new species of Grasshopper from Oaxaca State, Mexico.

Grasshoppers (Acrididae) are large Insects related to Crickets and Katydids. They undergo incomplete metamorphosis, with juveniles essentially similar to adults, lacking only wings and sexual characteristics. Grasshopper eggs are laid in ootheca (egg cases) which hold a number of eggs arranged like peas in a pod. The oldest known fossil Grasshoppers date from the Early Jurassic.

In a paper published in the journal Zootaxa on 1 May 2014, Derek Woller of the Department of Biology at the University of Central Florida, Paolo Fontana of Protezione delle piante e biodiversità agroforestale at the Centro Trasferimento Tecnologico at the Fondazione Edmund Mach and Ricardo Mariño-Pérez and Hojun Song, also of the Department of Biology at the University of Central Florida, describe a new species of Grasshopper from the pine-oak forests of the Sierra Madre del Sur Mountain Range in Oaxaca State, Mexico.

The new species is named Liladownsia fraile, where ‘Liladownsia’ honours the Grammy Award-winning Mexican singer-songwriter Ana Lila Downs Sánchez, who performs under the name ‘Lila Downs’, and ‘fraile’ is a Spanish word for monk or friar, a reference to the swollen prozona (front part of the abdomen) which resembles the hood of a monk, and which gets the Grasshopper its local name, ‘Chapulín de Capucho’, the Hooded Grasshopper.

Field photographs of both sexes of Liladownsia fraile from the type locality in Oaxaca, Mexico: (A) Female. (B) Male. Woller et al. (2014).

Liladownsia fraile is a large, robust Grasshopper, with adult males reaching 29.49 mm in length and adult females reaching 41.46 mm. It is slow moving for a Grasshopper, and brightly coloured, with at least two male and one female colour forms.

Two different colour variations in adult male Liladownsia fraile. Woller et al. (2014).

Female Liladownsia fraile. Woller et al. (2014).

Liladownsia fraile was found living around the boundaries of Pine-Oak forests between 1900 and 3000 m above sea level, in a shrubby layer at the edge of the woodland, with acid soils and a temperature range of 10-26°C, and annual precipitation from 350-2000 mm per year. Its preferred host plant is the Pineapple Sage, Salvia elegans. This is a habitat that ranges from Mexico to Guatemala, so the Grasshopper may have a similarly extensive range.

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The modern Insect Order Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, Crickets and Katydids etc.) appeared in the fossil record in the Late Carboniferous. It is placed by Palaeoentomologists in the Superorder Archaeorthoptera, which comprises both the Orthopterans and related groups known from the late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic, but which...




The Rancho La Brea Tar Pits of Los Angeles County are renowned worldwide for their well preserved late-Pleistocene fossils, notably...



Mole Crickets, Gryllotalpidae, are burrowing insects related to...


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A new species of Disk-winged Bat from Peru and Brazil.

Disk-winged Bats (Thyroptera) are small insectivorous foliage nesting Bats found in lowland moist forests from Mexico to southeastern Brazil. They are distinguished by small adhesive disks on their feet, an adaptation convergent with the Old World Sucker-footed Bats (Myzopodidae), though the two groups are (besides living on opposite sides of the Atlantic) otherwise easy to distinguish.

In a paper published in the American Museum Novitates on 27 January 2014, Paúl Valazco of the Division of Vertebrate Zoology (Mammalogy) at the American Museum of Natural History, Renato Gregorin of the Departamento de Biologia at the Universidade Federal de Lavras, and Robert Voss and Nancy Simmons, also of the Division of Vertebrate Zoology (Mammalogy) at the American Museum of Natural History, describe a new species of Disk Winged Bat from Peru and Brazil.

The new species is named Thyroptera wynneae, in honour of Patricia Wynne, artist-in-residence at the Department of Mammalogy at the American Museum of Natural History for over 40 years. Thyroptera wynneae is small for a Disk-winged Bat, reaching at most 68 mm in length. It has greyish brown fur on its back, with the bases of the hairs darker than the rest of the hair; the belly fur is tri-coloured, with the basal third of each hair white in colour, the middle third light brown in colour and the upper third dark brown.

Right oblique view of the head of Thyroptera wynneae. Burton Lim in Valazco et al. (2014).

The species is described from three specimens, all of which are male, collected from northeast Peru and southeast Brazil; it is likely that the Bat is found in at least some of the intervening area.

The first specimen was found roosting with another Bat (which escaped) within a dead Cecropia leaf, beside a trail about 50 m from the Centro de Investigaciones Jenaro Herrera forestry research station about 2.5 km inland from the right bank of the Río Ucayali in the Peruvian department of Loreto. The research station is located on a terrace above a floodplain in an area of mixed primary and secondary rainforest.

Roost of Thyroptera wynneae in secondary growth at the Centro de Investigaciones Jenaro Herrera, Loreto, Peru. Two bats occupied the dark interior of this dead Cecropia leaf (arrows), which was hanging in understory vegetation by its petiole about 2 m above the ground. One specimen was captured in a butterfly net placed underneath the leaf, but the other bat escaped. Cecropia (Cecropiaceae) is a speciose genus of trees commonly found in secondary vegetation throughout the Neotropics, where hanging dead leaves like this one are abundant in the subcanopy and understory. Valazco et al. (2014).

The other two specimens were captured in ground-level mist nets at a site called Campolina about 25 km east of Marliéria in the Parque Estadual do Rio Doce in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The Parque comprises about 36 000 hectares of semideciduous forest covered hills and small mountains, the Campolina site being located in an area of primary forest with trees reaching 20-30 m tall and an open understory.

Patricia J. Wynne at her microscope in the AMNH Department of Mammalogy. Patricia’s first mammalogical illustration appeared almost 40 years ago (in Hooper, 1975), and she has lost track of how many she has drawn since then. In addition to her technical work for museum researchers, Patricia has illustrated museum exhibition labels, numerous educational publications, and dozens of popular science books. She is now busier than ever in semiretirement. Denis Finnin in Valazco et al. (2014).

See also…


New World Nectar-Feeding Bats (Phyllostomidae) evolved separately from the Nectar-Feeding Bats of the Old World (which may themselves represent more than one evolutionary lineage). They...


 New species of Bat discovered in Vietnam.

Bats are the second largest group of mammals, with about 1240 known extant species; 20% of all named mammal species are bats. They are at their most diverse in the tropics, and tend to be small...



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Friday 30 May 2014

Magnitude 4.0 Earthquake in Mono County, California.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 4.0 Earthquake at a depth of 7.7 km in northern Mono County, California, slightly before 0.50 am local time (slightly before 7.50 am GMT) on Friday 30 May 2014. There are no reports of any damage or casualties associated with this event, though it was reportedly felt up to 200 km away.

The approximate location of the 30 May 2014 Mono County Earthquake. Google Maps.

California is extremely prone to Earthquakes due to the presence of the San Andreas Fault, a tectonic plate margin that effectively bisects the state. The west of California, including Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, is located on the Pacific Plate, and is moving to the northwest. The east of California, including Fresno and Bakersfield is on the North American Plate, and is moving to the southeast. The plates do not move smoothly past one-another, but constantly stick together then break apart as the pressure builds up. This has led to a network of smaller faults that criss-cross the state, so that Earthquakes can effectively occur anywhere.

Witness accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events and the underlying structures that cause them. If you felt this quake (or if you were in the area but did not, which is also useful information) then you can report it to the United States Geological Survey here.

See also...

 Magnitude 3.8 Earthquake in Mineral County, Nevada.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 3.8...



 Magnitude 3.6 Earthquake in Inyo County, northern California.

A Magnitude 3.6 Earthquake at a depth of 12.8 km occurred close to...

 Northeast California shaken by Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake.

A Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake struck northeastern California on...


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A Megatheropod tooth from the Early Cretaceous of Guanxi Province, China.

In recent years China has become a focus for studies of Early Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems, with a large number of finds from deposits such as the Jehol Biota that have revolutionised our understanding of many organisms during the period, particularly Insects and small Vertebrates. However fossils of larger Vertebrates from the Early Cretaceous of China remain rare, and in particular large Theropods (which are likely to have been present) are very poorly known from China at this time.

In a paper published in the journal Acta Geologica Sinica in February 2014, Mo Jinyou, Huang Choalin and Xie Shaowen of the Natural History Museum of Guanxi and Eric Buffetaut of the Laboratoire de Geologie de l’Ecole Normale Superieure describe the tooth of a large Theropod Dinosuar from the Early Cretaceous Xinlong Formation of the Napai Basin in Fusui County in Guanxi Province.

The tooth appears to be a right maxillary or left dentary. It is almost complete, with only the tip, part of the crown and the root missing. It is 71 mm high, 37 mm deep and 17 mm wide, with a curved, bladelike shape, typical of Theropod teeth. There are distinct carinae (serrations) on both surfaces, again typical of Theropod teeth. Mo et al. believe that it is most likely to have originated from a large Carcharodontosaurid (a group related to Allosuarid and Neovenatorids).

Gigantic Theropod tooth from the Xinlong Formation of the Napai Basin in Fusui County, Guangxi Province, in labial (A & B), basal (C), lingual (D & G), distal (E) and mesial (F) views. Arrow in (B & D) marks the end of the mesial carina. Scale bars are 1 mm in (A & G) and 10 mm in all other photos. Mo et al. (2014).

The depth (front-to-back) measurement of this tooth is exceptionally large, with only three known Theropods producing larger teeth; the largest tooth recorded in a Tyranosaurus was 54.5 mm deep, the largest tooth of a Carcharodontosaurus 46.65 mm deep and the largest tooth of an Acrocanthosuarus was 42.07 mm deep. This suggests that whatever produced the Xinlong tooth was likely to have been an exceptionally large Theropod Dinosaur.

See also…


Dinosaurs are the most distinctive element of Mesozoic Vertebrate faunas, arising in the Triassic, and coming to dominate all known terrestrial ecosystems during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, before disappearing abruptly (other than the still extant Birds) at the end of that period. Despite this widespread distribution, very few Dinosaur...


 A dwarf Tyrannosaurid from the Late Cretaceous of northern Alaska.

Tyrannosaurids were large, predatory Dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of North America and Eurasia. They are among the best known of all Dinosaurs, since they were the biggest carnivores in...



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Asteroid 2014 JE15 passes the Earth.

Asteroid 2014 JE15 passed by the Earth at a distance of 15 810 000 km (over 40 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon) slightly before 2.30 am on Wednesday 28 May 2014. There was no danger of the asteroid hitting us, and had it done so it would not have presented a serious threat. 2014 JE15 is calculated to have an equivalent diameter of 16-52 m (i.e. a spherical object with the same volume would be 16-52 m in diameter), and an object of this size would be expected to break up in the atmosphere between 26 and 7 km above the Earth's surface, with only fragmentary material reaching the ground.

The calculated orbit of 2014 JE15. JPL Small Body Database Browser.

2014 JE15 was discovered on 2 May 2014 by the Dark Energy Camera at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The designation 2014 JE15 indicates that it was the 380th asteroid (asteroid E15) discovered in the first half of May 2014 (period 2014 J).

While 2014 JE15 occasionally comes near to the Earth, it does not actually cross our orbital path. It has an elliptical 1257 day orbit, that takes it from 1.11 AU from the Sun (1.11 times the distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun), slightly outside our orbit, to 3.50 AU from the Sun, (3.50 times the distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, and considerably more than twice the distance at which the planet Mars orbits the Sun). As a Near Earth Object that remains strictly outside the orbit of the Earth it is classed as an Amor Family Asteroid.

See also...

 Faye's Comet reaches its perihelion.

Faye's Comet (Comet 4P/Faye) reached it's perihelion (the closest point in its orbit to the Sun) on 29 May 2014, for the first time in seven-and-a-half years. It presents no danger to the Earth, as it never comes within the orbit of Mars, and was not easily visible on this occasion, as the perihelion occurred on the far side of the Sun.


 Asteroid 2014 HM2 passes the Earth.

Asteroid 2014 HM2 passed by the Earth at a distance of 15 320 000 km (slightly under 40 times the average distance between the Earth...



 The orbit of Linus.

22 Kalliope is a 166.2 km Main Belt Asteroid with an 1814 day orbit that takes it from 2.62 AU from the Sun (2.62 times the distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun) to 3.20 AU. Unusually, but not exclusively, it has a small Moon, Linus, thought to be about 28 km in diameter. While other asteroids with Moons have been discovered, the positioning of 22 Kaliope within the Main Asteroid Belt makes...



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Four new species of Carnivorous Sponges from the American West Coast.

Unlike most Sponges (Porifera), which feed by filter feeding water pumped through their bodies, Carnivorous Sponges (Cladorhizidae) feed by capturing Crustaceans and other small animals on hooked spicules on filaments, then digesting them externally.  The group are predominantly found in deep water, where carnivory is presumed to be a better feeding strategy than filter feeding, though a few shallow water forms are known. Spicules apparently from Carnivorous Sponges have been found from deposits as old as the Jurassic, implying that the group is at least this old, though it has been suggested that the group is paraphyletic, resulting from convergent evolution by different lineages within the Sponge group Poecilosclerida. Carnivorous Sponges have often been collected in the vicinity of chemosynthetic communities, and one species, Cladorhiza methanophila, has been demonstrated to host symbiotic methane oxidizing bacteria within its tissues.

In a paper published in the journal Zootaxa on 9 April 2014, Lonny Lundsten of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Henry Reiswig of the Department of Biology at the University of Victoria and the Natural History Section of the Royal British Columbia Museum, and William Austin of the Khoyatan Marine Laboratory, describe four new species of Carnivorous Sponges from the Pacific Coast of North America.

The first new species described is placed in the genus Asbestopluma, and given the specific name monticola, meaning ‘mountain dweller’, as it was discovered living on the Davidson Seamount off central California. Asbestopluma monticola is a branching Sponge with a ‘bottle-brush’ arrangement of filaments reaching 28 cm tall and 19 cm wide. As well as on the Davidson Seamount it was found living on a rocky outcrop within the Monteray Canyon, closr to the North Californian coast, as well as off the coast of Oregon, giving the species a known range of over 1000 km.

Colony of Asbestopluma monticola on the Davidson Seamount. Lundsten et al. (2014).

Asbestopluma monticola was found living at an average depth of 1236 m, in areas where oxygen concentration was low and the average temperature was 3.18˚C. Small Crustacean prey was observed adhered to the body of the Sponges, in various states of decomposition. The species occurred in mixed communities, alongside other Sponges, Corals, Crustaceans, Echinoderms and Fish. Small Pandalid Shrimps were observed climbing about on the branches of the Sponges.

(A) Filaments of Asbestopluma monticola. (B & C) Images of prey in various states of decomposition. Lundsten et al. (2014).

Asbestopluma monticola, spicules: (A) large styles 1, (B) large styles 2, (C) large styles 3, (D) microacanthotylostrongyle, (E) sigma, (F) palmate anisochela. Lundsten et al. (2014).

The second new species described is also placed in the genus Asbestopluma, and is given the specific name rickettsi, in honour of the marine biologist Edward F. Ricketts, who was immortalized as ‘Doc Ricketts’ in John Steinbeck’s Canary Row the first specimens of Asbestopluma rickettsi were collected by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s ROV Doc Ricketts.

Asbestopluma rickettsi is a branching Sponge with a ‘bottle-brush’ arrangement of filaments reaching 21.78 cm tall and 12.38 cm wide. The Sponge was found living in a community of chemosynthetic organisms in a low oxygen basin off the coast of California, north of La Jolla. The community also included Vesicomyid Clams, Tube Worms and Bacterial Mats. The average depth at the site was 1031 m and the average temperature 3.93˚C. Asbestopluma rickettsi was not observed capturing Crustacean prey, but rather was found to be feeding on methane-oxidizing Bacteria; it could not be determined whether these Bacteria were symbionts (living within the tissues of the Sponge) or were being ingested and consumed from the neighbouring Bacterial Mats.

Specimen of Asbestopluma rickettsi. Lundsten et al. (2014).

Asbestopluma rickettsi, spicules: (A) large styles 1, (B) large styles 2, (C) large styles 3, microacanthotylostrongyle (D), sigma (E), palmate anisochelae 1 (F), palmate anisochelae 2 (G). Lundsten et al. (2014).

The third new species is placed in the genus Cladorhiza, and given the specific name caillieti, in honour of Gregor Cailliet of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, a noted ichthyologist and deep sea biologist. It was discovered on the Endeavor Segment, of the Juan de Fuca Ridge hydrothermal vent field, off the coast of British Columbia, where it was found hanging from the underside of overhanging basalt ledges at an average depth of 2149 m in temperatures averaging 1.87˚C. Cladorhiza caillieti is an unbranching Sponge with a bottle-brush arrangement of filaments reaching up to 9.17 cm long and 3.6 mm wide. It was part of a community that included other Sponges, as well as Gorgonian Corals, Crinoids and Serpulid Worms. Numerous Crustacean prey, in various states of decomposition were found adhered to the filaments of the Sponges.

Cladorhiza caillieti: in situ image of numerous specimens attached to the underside of overhanging ledges(A), collection of specimens (B). Lundsten et al. (2014).

Collected specimens of Cladorhiza caillieti in the lab. Lundsten et al. (2014).

Partially digested Crustacean adhered to a filament of Cladorhiza caillieti. Lundsten et al. (2014).

Cladorhiza caillieti spicules: large styles 1 (A), 2 (B) and 3 (C), sigma 1 (D) and 2 (E). Lundsten et al. (2014).

Cladorhiza caillieti spicules: sigma 3 (A), sigmancistra (B), unguiferate anisochelae 1 (C) and 2 (D). Lundsten et al. (2014).

The final new species described is also placed in the genus Cladorhiza and given the specific name evae, in honour of Eve Lundsten, the wife of Lonny Lundsten. The species was discovered on a hydrothermal chimney at a depth of 2373 m, in the Gulf of California east of Cabo Pulmo where the Lundstens honeymooned. Cladorhiza evae is an unbranching Sponge with a bottle-brush arrangement of filaments that reaches 18.7 cm long and 3.1 mm wide. The area had low oxygen concentrations an average temperature of 2.02˚C, but was home to a diverse community including numerous Crabs, Worms and Fish. A variety of small prey were found adhered to the Sponges in various states of decomposition.

Cladorhiza evae group of individuals in situ on the hydrothermal chimney where they were discovered. Lundsten et al. (2014).

Cladorhiza evae, Collected specimens in the lab. Lundsten et al. (2014).

Prey in various states of decomposition on the filaments of Cladorhiza evae. Lundsten et al. (2014).

Cladorhiza evae spicules: large styles 1 (A), 2 (B), and 3 (C), sigma 1 (D) and 2 (E). Lundsten et al. (2014).

Cladorhiza evae spicules: sigmancistra (A), unguiferate anisochelae (B). Lundsten et al. (2014).

See also…


Sponges (Porifera) are considered to be the most primitive form of animals. They lack differentiated cells, and can reform if disassociated by (for example) shoving them through a sieve. On the other hand they cannot be considered colonies of single-celled organisms, as they have definite structures, bodies with more-or-less set shapes consisting of networks of pores and channels through which water is pumped; the individual cells feeding separately by filtering food from the water in these channels...



Sponges (Porifera) are considered to be the most primitive form of animals. They lack differentiated cells, and can reform if disassociated by (for example) shoving them through a sieve. On the other hand they cannot be considered colonies of single-celled organisms, as they have definite structures, bodies with more-or-less...



Sponges (Porifera) are considered to be the most primitive form of animals. They lack differentiated cells, and can reform if disassociated by (for example) shoving them through a sieve. On the other hand they cannot be considered colonies of single-celled organisms, as they have definite structures, bodies with more-or-less set shapes consisting of networks of pores and channels...



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