Podocarpoxylon donghuaiense: Podocarp Wood with growth rings from the Eocene of Guangxi Province in South China.

Podocarps are the second largest family of Conifers today, with 194 species in 19 genera known. Unlike most Conifers, Podocarps are entirely tropical distribution, with most species being found in montain rainforests, though they are also found in lowland forests. The group is quite ancient, becoming widespread in both hemispheres early in the Jurassic, which suggests an origin late in the Triassic or very early in the Jurassic, though molecular evidence suggests most living species are descended from a common ancestor that lived in the late Cretaceous ot early Palaeocene.

In a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports on 30 August 2016, Long Li and Jian-Hua Jin of the State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol at Sun Yat-sen University, Cheng Quan of the Research Center of Paleontology & Stratigraphy at Jilin University and Alexei Oskolski of the Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology at the University of Johannesburg and the Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, describe the discovery of fossil Podocarp wood from the Donghuai coal-mine in Baise City in Guangxi Province.

The wood is described as Podocarpoxylon donghuaiense, where Podocarpoxylon is an existing genus name applied to fossil Podocarp wood, and donghuaiense means 'from Donghaui'. The wood comes from the Eocene Nadu Formation, and is the first described fossil Podocarp wood from China, though fossil Podocarp leaves have been described from the Eocene of Hainan Island and Guangdong Province in South China.

Wood structure of Podocarpoxylon donghuaiense. Transverse section showing distinct growth rings (arrow). Scale bar = 400 μm. Li et al. (2016).

Podocarpoxylon donghuaiense is unusual in a Podocarp wood, in that it has growth rings, something not seen in modern or previosly described wood of the group, and which implies the wood comes from a tree that was growing in a seasonal climate. However the wood shows enough features distinctive to Podocarp woods, such as smooth horizontal and tangential walls of ray cells without indentures, cupressoid and taxodioid pits on cross fields, that Li et al. are confident in its assignment to the Podocarpaceae.

See also...

Xenoxylon junggarensis: A new Gymnospermous fossil wood from the Late Triassic Huangshanjie Formation of Xinjiang.                                                      Plant fossils are considered to be extremely important in the...

Diptocarp wood from the northwest of India. Diptocarps, Dipterocarpaceae, are the dominant trees of modern South and Southeast Asian rainforests, and are also found in South America, Africa and Madagascar. The group reach their maximum diversity today on the island of Bornea, where there are over 280 described species of Diptocarp, but the earliest...

Wood fossils from the Plio-Pleistocene of northwest India with African affinities.             India separated from Africa about 130 million years ago, and was effectively an island continent until its collision with Eurasia in the Middle Cenozoic. Nevertheless the modern flora and fauna of India show strong affinities with that of Africa, and while there was probably...

 

 

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Manihot pachycaulis: A new species of Cassava from Goiás State, Brazil.

Cassavas, Manihot spp., are a group of trees and shrubs in the Milkspurge family, Euphorbiaceae, which includes the widely cultivated Edible Cassava, Manihot esculenta. The genus is thought to have originated in Central America, but reaches its maximum diversity in the Cerrado (savanah), Caatinga (thornscrub), and Amazon (rainforest) ecosystems of Brazil, where about 80 of the 100 known species are found.

In a paper published in the Nordic Journal of Botany on 22 January 2016, Marcos José da Silva, Alexandre Antonio Alonso, and Rodolfo Carneiro Sodré of the Departamento de Botânica at the Universidade Federal de Goiás, describe a new species of Cassava from the Cerrado of Goiás State, Brazil.

The new species is named Manihot pachycaulis, where 'pachycaulis' means 'thick-stemmed'. The plants are dwarf shrubs reaching 15-45 cm in height, with pendant flowers and lobed leaves. The species was found growing on Cerrado Grasslands in the Chapada dos Veadeiros region of Goiás State, on hillslopes with clay or clay and rock soils, at altitudes of between 705 and 1028 m above sealevel.

Details of Manihot pachycaulis (A) general aspect of the plant, (B) flowering branch, (C) detail of the stem, note the enlarged base, (D) aspect of the inflorescence showing the staminate flower resupined, (E) detail of pistillate flowers. Marcos José da Silva in Da Silva et al. (2016).

All of the colonies of the plant discovered were within a 100  km² area in an area without any conservation protection, and none of these colonies contained more than about 10 plants. For this reason the species is considered to be Vulnerable under the terms of the  International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.

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Catasetum telespirense: A new species of epiphytic Orchid from the southern Brazilian Amazon.                                                                     In 2011-2012 a series of series of rescue expeditions recovered and relocated around 105 000 epiphytic plants (plants which live on other plants, typically...

Two new species of Bigonia from Brazil. Bigonias of the genus Tynanthus are lianas (woody climbers) found across the Neotropics (tropical areas of Central and South America), but reaching their maximum diversity in the wet forests of...

Two new species of Milkvine from Venezuela and Brazil.                                          Milkvines of the genus Malalea are found across southern parts of North America, Central America and northern South America. They are perennial twining vines, who get their common name from the milky...

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Magnitude 3.8 Earthquake rattles Anchorage, Alaska.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 3.8 Earthquake at a depth of 35.1 kmabout 40 km to the east of Anchorage, Alaska, slightly before 4.30 am local time (slightly before 12.30 pm GMT) on Tuesday 30 May 2016. There are no reports of any damage or casualties associated with this event, but people have reported feeling it locally.

The approximate location of the 30 August 2016 Anchorage Earthquake. Earthquake Report/Google Maps.

Alaska lies on the North American Plate, with the Pacific Plate underlying the ocean to the south. The Aleutian Trench runs along much of the south coast of Alaska, with the Pacific Plate being subducted beneath this and passing under Alaska as it sinks into the Earth. The 4 January quake occurred in the far southeast of the state; east of the extent of the Aleutian Trench. Off the coast of southeast Alaska the Pacific and North American Plates pass one-another horizontally, with the Pacific Plate moving northward and the North American to the south (a transform plate margin). This is not a smooth process, and the plates frequently stick together, then break apart as the pressure builds up, causing Earthquakes.

Model of the subduction of the Pacific Plat beneath the North American Plate along the southern coast of Alaska and the Aleutians. United States Geological Survey.

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

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Landslide deisplaces about 150 000 tonnes of debris in Glacier Bay in southeast Alaska.   About 150 000 tonnes of debris are believed to have been displaced following a landslide onto Lamplugh Glacier in Glacier Bay in southeast Alaska on...

Eruption on Mount Pavlof causes severe disruption to flights over Alaska.               Mount Pavlof, a 2.5 km high stratovolcano (cone-shaped volcano made up of layers of ash and lava) on the Alskan Peninsula, underwent a significant...

Eruptions on Mount Pavlof, on the Alaskan Peninsula.                                                  Mount Pavlof, a 2.5 km high stratovolcano began erupting on Saturday 31 May 2014, for the first time since the preceding September, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. This...

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Lightning kills 323 Reindeer in Norwegian national park.

A total of 323 Reindeer have been killed by a lightning strike during a thunder storm on the Hardanangervidda National Park on Friday 26 August 2016, according to the Norwegian Environment Agency. The Reindeer migrate across the park, which is a mountainous plateau, at this time of year, and are believed to have huddled together during the storm, an action which helps to protect the younger members of the herd (which included 70 calves) from the worst of the elements, but which makes them particularly vulnerable to (rare) lightning strikes.

Reindeer killed by lightning on the Hardangervidda Plateau on 26 August 2016. Håvard Kjøntvedt/Norwegian Environment Agency.

Thunderstorms occur when warm, moist bodies of air encounter cooler, drier air packages. The warm air rises over the cooler air until it rises above its dew point (the point where it cools to far to retain its water content as vapor), and the water precipitates out, falling as rain, sleet or hail.

Warm moist air passing over the surface of the Earth acts as an electrical generator, creating a negative charge in the cloud tops and a positive charge at the ground (or occasionally in a second cloud layer). The atmosphere acts as an electrical insulator, allowing this potential to build up, until water begins to precipitate out. This allows a channel of ionized air to form, carrying a current between the clouds and the ground, which we perceive as lightning.

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Thirteen dead after helicopter crashes during flight from Norwegian oilfield.                 Thirteen people have died after a helicopter crashed to the west of Bergen, Norway, on Friday 29 April 2016, during a return flight from the Gullfaks Oil Field in...

Magnitude 3.8 Earthquake off the west coast of Norway.                                          The British Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 3.8 Earthquake at a depth of 10 kmabout 30 km offshore of the town of Florø in Sogn og Fjordane County...

Fireball over northern Europe.       Eyewitnesses across much of northern Europe reported seeing a bright fireball in the sky moving southwest to northeast at about 6.05 pm GMT on Saturday 31 October 2015. The event was seen from the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark...

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Worker dead after landslide at Kuala Lumpur construction site.

One worker is being treated for injuries and another has died following a landslide in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday 30 August 2016. The incident happened in the north of the city slightly before 4.00 pm, following a period of heavy rain. Neither of the men has been named, though the dead man has been identified as a Bangladeshi national and the injured man as a 28-year-old Malaysian.

The scene of the 30 August 2016 Kuala Lumpur landslide. The Coverage.

Malaysia has become increasingly landslip-prone in recent years due to extensive deforestation, which leaves soil exposed to heavy tropical rainfall. 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. August is one of the driest months in Kuala Lumpur, where the monsoon season lasted from October to March, however the city has a wet tropical climate, and heavy storms can happen at any time of year.

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Three workers killed by landslide at Phuket landslide.                                                    Three workers were killed by a landslide at a construction site on the Thai island of Phuket at about 4.30 pm local time on Tuesday...

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...

Truck swallowed by Singapore sinkhole.      A truck carrying sand for the construction industry was partially swallowed by a sinkhole in Singapore on Thursday 24 April 2014. The incident happened at about 8.30 am local time when the driver of the truck...

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Ceratocaryum argenteum: A plant producing dung-mimicing seeds.

Ceratocaryum argenteum is a large Rush-like Grass native to Cape region in South Africa. It produces lage, hard seeds which Dung Beetles have been observed burrying, despite the fact that they do not appear to be a suitable food source for either the Beetles or their larvae, which has led to suggestions that the seeds somehow mimic the dung of a large Antelope, fooling the Beetles into burrying the seeds.

In a paper published in the South African Journal of Science on 26 July 2016, Jeremy Midgley and Joseph White of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Cape Town describe the results of an investigation into the relationship between the seeds of Ceratocaryum argenteum and the Dung Beetles.

Midgley and White placed piles of Ceratocaryum argenteum seeds beside a sand road in the De Hoop Nature Reserve in early in the morning after heavy rain events in February 2016. They found that two species of Dung Beetle, Epirinus flagellatus and Scarabaeus spretus, arrived at the seed stations within a few minutes of placing the seeds, and immediately began rolling the seeds away and burrying them. One specimen of Scarabaeus spretus even flew into a bag containing the seeds before they could be placed. Flesh Flies, Sarcophagidae, and Lesser Dung Flies, Sphaeroceridae, were also attracted to the seeds.

(a) Epirinus flagellatus rolling a Ceratocaryum argenteum seed; (b) Scarabaeus spretus rolling a seed (the arrow indicates a Sphaerocerid Lesser Dung Fly); (c) the large hole made by Scarabaeus spretus for burying several seeds (the arrow indicates the location of the Dung Beetle); and (d) a female Sarcophagid Fly on a seed. Midgley & White (2016).

Two Antelope species present in the De Hoop Nature Reserve, the Eland, Taurotragus oryx, and the Bontebok, Damaliscus pygargus. The two species have different diets, with the Bontenok favouring Grasses and the Eland being a browser with a mixed diet. 

This is a useful difference, as many tropical Grases use a different photosynthetic method to most other plants (which enables them to use less water in the process), as a side affect of which they tend to fix more of the lighter carbon isotope Carbon 12 (¹²C) and less of the heavier isotope Carbon 13 (¹³C), which results in the  tissues of animals which eat these Grasses having a distinct isotope signature; useful to archaologists trying to understand the diets of ancient populations and ecologists trying to understand the diets of animals. 

The larvae of Dung Beetles feed on undigested plant tissues within dung balls burried by their parents. This means that a Dung Beetle should have a carbon isotope signature which matches the dung of the animal on which it fed. Midgley and White analysed dung from both the Antelope species as well as a number of individuals of both Dung Beetle. Both Beetles had a carbon isotope signature closely matching that of the Eland dung, suggesting that this is their natural diet. Since other large Dung Beetles are present in the De Hoop Nature Reserve which did not pay any attention to the Ceratocaryum argenteum seeds, Midgely & White suggest that the seeds must specifically be mimicing the Eland dung, presumably be emiting chemical signatures (scents) detectable by the Beetles.

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Ateuchus cujuchi: A new species of Scarab Beetle from Rodent burrows in Bolivia. Tuco-tucos, Ctenomys spp., are small South American Rodents which live their entire lives underground within underground burrow systems, never venturing to the surface. Studies of other Rodents with similar...

A new species of Scarab Beetle from Hardap Province, Namibia.                                    There are currently eight species of Scarab Beetles in the genus Scapanoclypeus, which is known from Namibia and western South Africa. They are... 

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Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake in Papua Province, Indonesia.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake at a depth of 28.43 km, in the Van Rees Mountains of Papua Province, Indonesia, slightly after 4.20 pm local time (slightly after 7.20 am GMT) on Sunday 28 August 2016.An Earthquake of this size has the potential to cause considerable damage, however the area where it occurred is very remote and there are no reports of any damage or casualties at this time.

The approximate location of the 28 August 2016 Van Rees Mountains Earthquake. Google.

The tectonic situation underlying Papua Province is complex, with the island being made up of a number of small tectonic plates being squeezed between the larger Pacific and Australian plates. The area affected by the 6 April quake lies on the boundary between the Maoke Plate, which underlies much of Papua Province and the Woodlark Plate, which underlies much of the east of the island. Other parts of the island lie on the Bird's Head, Australian and South Bismarck Plates. To the north of Papua Province the Caroline Plate is being subducted in the Manus Trench, which is parallel to the northern shore of the island.

 The plates underlying Papua Province and the surrounding area, along with their directions and rates of movement. Wikipedia.

Witness accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events, and the structures that cause them. The international non-profit organization Earthquake Report is interested in hearing from people who may have felt this event; if you felt this quake then you can report it to Earthquake Report here.

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Injuries reported after eruption on Manam Moto, Papua New Guinea.                    The Rabaul Volcano Observatory reported an eruption on Manam Motu, a volcanic island 13 km off the north coast of Papua New Guinea on Friday 31 July 2015, which started at about 11.30 am local time...

Landslides kills nine in Papua New Guinea. Nine people have died after two landslides swept through the village of Kenagi, in Papua New Guinea's Eastern Highlands, late in the evening of Saturday 2 November 2013, and early in the morning of Sunday...

Another worker killed in fresh Grasberg Mine cave in.                                                            A worker has been killed in a cave in at the Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold operated Grasberg Mine in Indonesian West Papua, less than two weeks after an incident on 14 May 2013, in which 38 workers...

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Using zircon uranium-lead geochronology to understand the origins of the Miocene Sanya Formation beneath the South China Sea.

The Miocene Shanya Formation forms part of the geological sequence in the Yinggehai Basin, which underlies part of the northwestern South China Sea. The formation is 2950 m thick at its maximum, and is known to host a number of hydrocarbon reserves, making it of great interest to exploration geologists. The formation comprises shallow marine sedimentary deposits formed by the deposition of material washed from nearby terrestrial environments, however, like many offshore deposits, the processes that led to the formation of the Shanya Formation are poorly understood, making it hard to make predictions about where hydrocarbons might be found within these beds.

In a paper published in the journal Acta Geologica Sinica in February 2016, Wang Ce of the State Key Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry and the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Liang Xinquan, also of the State Key Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, and Fu Jiangang, Jiang Ying and Dong Chaoge, again of the State Key Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry and the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, describe the results of a study in which zircon uranium-lead geochronology was used to develop an understanding of the origins of sedimentary material in the Shanya Formation.

Zircon is a mineral formed by the crystallization of cooling lavas. When it forms it often contains trace amounts of uranium, which decays into (amongst other things) lead at a known rate. Since lead (which has a much lower melting point) will not have been present in the original lava, it is possible to calculate the age of a zircon crystal from the ratio between these elements.

 A ziron crystal, about 250 µm in length. Wikipedia.

This has obvious uses for the dating of igneous rocks, but can also be useful in sedimentary geology, since it enables geochemists to link zircons found in sedimentary rocks to their sources (i.e. the igneous rocks from which they were eroded before being deposited in the sedimentary strata).

Wang et al. collected zircons from sandstones attributed to the Sanya Formation from drill cores in the northern, northeaster and eastern parts of the Yinggehai Basin. The first sample (from the north) yielded zircon uranium-lead dates with a very wide range of dates, though the most abundant were 274, 432 and 957 million years old, with smaller peaks in abundance at 793, 1966 and 2481. The second site (from the northeast) yielded a similar range of dates, with the commonest dates being 156 and 428 million years old and smaller peaks at 41, 239 and 733 million years old. The third site (the one in the east) produced zircons with a smaller range of dates, being much younger, with peaks at 99 and 238 million years old.

The youngest zircons present, the 41 million-year-old crystals in the second sample, are approximately the right age to be associated with melting and exhumation during a period of motion on the Red River Fault Zone, which runs through Yunnan Province and Vietnam, and which is a fault within the Yangtze Block that accommodates movement by the Indo-Australian Plate.

The zircons aged 99 and 156 million years old, found in the second and third drill cores, are consistent with the formation of the Yanshanian Granites on Hainan Island in the Late Jurassic-Cretaceous.

Zircons with dates of 230-250 million years old, again found in the second and third samples, are likely to have originated during the collision of the Indochina and Yangtze Blocks, and could have come from a wide range of sources in South China, Vietnam or Hainan Island.

Samples dating to about 430 million years ago, found in the first and second samples, are thought likely to be associated with the Caledonian Orogen, when the ancient continents of Laurentia, Baltica and Avalonia collided during the closure of the Iapetus Ocean; grains of this age are common in South China, but very rare on Hainan.

Grains 700-1000 million years old, again found in the first and second samples only, are likely to have formed during the Jinningian Movement, part of the breakup of the ancient supercontinent of Rodinia, and originated on the Yangtze Block.

Zircons 1966 and 2481 million years old, found only in the first sample, are likely to have formed during the origin of the Yangtze block.

Thus zircons in the sediments from the first and second drill cores are dominated by grains that originated from the Yangtze Block to the north (i.e. mainland China), while the third sample appears to contain mostly zircons that originated on Hainan Island, a source which also provided a significant minority of the material in the second sample.

Possible provenance directions of the Lower Miocene Sanya Formation in the Yinngehai Basin. Wang et al. (2016).

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Significant new gold deposits discovered on the Jiaodong Peninsula in Shandong Province, China.                                           The Jiaodong Peninsula of Shandong Province in northeast China...

Assessing the impact of land reclamation in the Spratly Islands.                                      The Spratly Islands are a widely distibuted archipelago of over 750 coral reefs, atols and islands in the South China Sea. Ownership of the islands is disputed between surrounding nations, with China, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and...

Predicting eruptions in monogenetic volcanic fields.                                                        Seismic activity and fumerol (gas) emissions are well established as predictors of eruptions on stratovolcanoes (volcanic mountains which undergo repeated eruptions), but predicting eruptions in...

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Paleosisyra minor: A new species of Spongefly from Baltic Amber.

Spongeflies, Sisyridae, are Neuropteran Insects related to Dustywings and Brown Lacewings. The adults closely resemble Brown Lacewings, but the larvae are very different, being aquatic, which is unusual in Neuropterans, and parasitic on Freshwater Sponges and Bryozoans. There are about 60 species living today, but like other Neuropterans the group is ancient, with a fossil record going back to the Crecaceous, and modern Spongeflies are probably less diverse than the ancient members of the group.

In a paper published in the journal Zootaxa on 26 August 2016, Wilfried Wichard of the Institute of Biology at the University of Koeln, Sonja Wedmann of the Senckenberg Forschungsstation Grube Messel, and Thomas Weiterschan of Höchst im Odenwald describe a new species of Spongefly from Eocene Baltic Amber.

The new species is placed in the genus Paleosisyra, which includes two previous species described from Baltic Amber, and given the specific name minor, meaning 'small' in Latin, due to the small size of the specimen, which has a forewing length of only 3.5 mm (compared to 4.0-5.2 for other members of the genus. The species is described from a single well preserved male specimen preserved in a piece of almost clear Baltic Amber.

Paleosisyra minor. Male in dorsal view; right forewing apically distored, left forewing length 3.5 mm. Wichard et al. (2016).

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Butterflies of the Jurassic: Convergent evolution between Mesozoic Kalligrammatid Lacewings and modern Butterflies. Kalligrammatid Lacewings first appeared in the fossil record in the Middle Jurassic, about 160 million years ago, and disappeared in the Early Cretaceous about 115 million years ago. They were...

Glenochrysa minima: A new species of Green Lacewing from Western Australia.   The Neuroptera, or Net-winged Insects, first appeared in the Permian and reached their maximum diversity in the Permian, when they were the most numerous Insects...

A Silky Lacewing from the Eocene of Washington State.                                       Silky Lacewings (Psychopsidae) are a group of Neuropteran Insects that are rare today, with only...

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Melicope oppenheimeri: A new species of Citrus from West Maui, Hawaii.

Citrus Trees and Shrubs of the genus Melicope are found across tropical Asia and the Islands of the Pacific to Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. They are variously known as Corkwoods, Doughwoods, Euodoias, Alani, Melicopes or Peleas. The plants are hosts to many species of Insects and other invertebrates, including many species of Butterfly and Moth Caterpillars, and Beetles and their larvae, making them an important part of the ecosystems in which they are found. However many species in Hawaii are threatened by habitat loss and competition from invasive plants.

In a paper published in the journal PhytoKeys on 25 August 2016, Kenneth Wood of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, Marc Appelhans of the Department of Systematic Botany at the University of Göttingen and the Department of Botany at the Smithsonian Institution, and Warren Wagner, also of the Department of Botany at the Smithsonian Institution, describe a new species of Melicope from Wailuku District in West Maui, Hawaii.

The new species is named Melicope oppenheimeri, in honour of Hank Oppenheimer of the Maui Nui Plant Extinction Prevention Program, who collected the first specimens of the plant. The new species is a small tree reaching 3-4 m in height, producing flowers and fruit more-or-less year round.

Melicope oppenheimeri. (A) Flowering branch, (B) Inflorescence, (C) Undehisced fruit, showing beaked carpels, (D) Fruit, partly open, (E) Fruit, fully opened (F) Fruit endocarp showing venation and hairs. Alice Tangerini in Wood et al. (2016).

Only seven trees of Melicope oppenheimeri were found, growing in the upper part of the Waihe‘e Valley at an elevation of about 770 m. Only three of these trees currently survive, and no further trees have been found, though the site where the trees were growing was accessable only by helicopter. The area is considered to be degraded by ferral Pigs, Sus scrofa, which have been introduced to the island, and which modify their environement by their foraging in ways which are highly detrimental to native Hawai'ian plants, as well as by numerous non-native plants which survive well in Pig-modified environments.

Habit of Melicope oppenheimeri. Hank Oppenheimer in Wood et al. (2016).

Due to the very low number of Melicope oppenheimeri specimens known and the disturbance to the ecosystem in which the plants were found, the species is cosidered to be Critically Endangered under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.

 

Melicope oppenheimeri (A) Flowers (B) Fruit, showing beaked carpels. Hank Oppenheimer in Wood et al. (2016).

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Coprosma cordicarpa: A new species of Pilo from Hawai‘i.                                             Pilos, Comprosma spp., are fruiting plants related to the Coffees, Coffea spp., found on Pacific islands from Borneo to the Juan Fernández Islands, with the maximum diversity occuring in New Zealand, where there are 55 recorded species. Pilos range from trailing woody shrubs to small trees, and produce a...

A new species of Burr Marigold from Rapa in the Austral Islands, French Polynesia.           The Austral Islands are a group of eight volcanic islands to the south of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. Rapa is the second largest of these, covering about 40 km², and reaching...

A new species of Hibiscus from Maui Island, Hawaii.                                                   Hibiscus trees of the genus Hibiscadelphus are known only from the Hawaiian Islands, to which they are endemic. Like many Hawaiian plants and animals...

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Periophthalmus pusing: A new species of Mudskipper from the Lesser Sunda Islands,

Mudskippers, Periophthalmus spp., are highly specialized Goby Fish, Gobiidae, are highly specialized amphibious Fish found across the tropical and sub-tropical Indo-Pacific and Eastern Atlantic Oceans. The Fish have eyes high on their heads, and modified pectoral girdles which enable them to move about on land, and are often seen foraging on mudflats and in Mangrove forests.

In a paper published in the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology on 25 August 2016, Zeehan Jaafar of the Division of Fishes at the National Museum of Natural History and the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore, Gianluca Polgar of the Environmental and Life Sciences Programme at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam, and Yuliadi Zamroni of the Biology Study Programme at Mataram University, describe a new species of Mudskipper from Palau Sumba (Sumba Island) in the Lesser Sundas.

The new species is named Periophthalmus pusing, which derives from the local name for the species 'Ikan Pusing' ot 'Dizzy Fish'; the local people claim that eating the Mudskippers causes headaches and giddyness. The Fish were originally mistaken for members of another species, the widespread Periophthalmus gracilis, which they resemble very closely in size, morphology, colouration and markings, but careful examination revealed that the two species differ in the structure of their fins. As such Periophthalmus pusing is considered to be a cryptic species (cryptic species are species that closely resemble other species, and cannot be separated by simple, non-invasive examination); at the current time the species is known only from a single location, the Kawangu Mangrove Forest on Sumba Island, but it is quite possible that other known populations of Periophthalmus gracilis are in fact members of the new species.

Live specimen of Periophthalmus pusing, approximately 35 mm SL, collected in Sumba Island, Indonesia. Jaafar et al. (2016).

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A new species of freshwater Goby from Sulawesi.                                                                      Gobies are small, benthic (bottom dwelling) members of the Perch Order, found in marine and freshwater environments around the world, but most numerous and diverse in the Indo-Pacific region. There are...

A new species of Goby from the southwest Indian Ocean.                                           Gobies are small, elongate Fish related to Perches. They are a highly successful group with other 2000 species and are found across the globe. There are...

New species of Whitecap Shrimp Goby from the Western Pacific.                                  Gobies are small, elongate Fish related to Perches. They are a highly successful group with other 2000 species and are found across the globe. There are...

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