http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7149799.stm - In pictures: Lost world finds

A giant rodent five times the size of a common rat has been discovered in the mountainous jungles of New Guinea.

The 1.4kg Mallomys giant rat is one of two species of mammal thought to be new to science documented on an expedition to an area described as a "lost world".

Conservationists also found a pygmy possum - one of the world's smallest marsupials - on the trip to the remote north of Papua province, Indonesia.

Both are currently being studied to establish whether they are new species.

Scientists on the trip, organised by Conservation International (CI), also recorded the mating displays of several rare birds for the first time.

"It's comforting to know that there is a place on Earth so isolated that it remains the absolute realm of wild nature," said Bruce Beehler, who led the expedition.

Old friends

The trip was the second time that CI had visited the Foja Mountains, part of the Mamberamo Basin, the largest pristine tropical forest in the Asia Pacific region.

Scientists are studying the possum to confirm if it is new to science

In 2005, the area was dubbed a "lost world" after scientists discovered dozens of new plants and animals in the dense jungle.

During the most recent trip, in June of this year, scientists accompanied by a film crew managed to capture courtship displays of the golden-fronted bowerbird (Amblyornis flavifrons) and of the black sicklebill bird of paradise (Epimachus fastuosus).

They also recorded the wattled smoky honeyeater (Melipotes carolae), documented for the first time on the 2005 expedition and known only from the Foja Mountains.

The bird, with a bright orange patch on its face, was then the first new bird species to be sighted on the island of New Guinea in more than 60 years.

The team also captured an old friend on film - the "lost" Berlepsch's six-wired bird of paradise (Parotia berlepschi).

The iridescent gold-breasted bird was "rediscovered" in 2005 by CI experts after 20 years without a confirmed sighting by a western scientist.

However, the most surprising finds of the trip were the two new species of mammal - the Cercarteus pygmy possum and Mallomys giant rat.

"The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat," said Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

"With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip."

New species of butterfly discovered by Andes expedition

By Amol Rajan

Published: 20 December 2007

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/sci_nat_enl_1139310060/html/1.stm"> The expedition rediscovered a bird of paradise javascript:%20void%20window.open%28http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/sci_nat_enl_1139310060/html/1.stm,%201139310187,%20toolbar=0,scrollbars=0,location=0,statusbar=0,menubar=0,resizable=1,width=600,height=478,left=312,top=100%29;">Enlarge Image

An international team of scientists says it has found a "lost world" in the Indonesian jungle that is home to dozens of new animal and plant species.

"It's as close to the Garden of Eden as you're going to find on Earth," said Bruce Beehler, co-leader of the group.

The team recorded new butterflies, frogs, and a series of remarkable plants that included five new palms and a giant rhododendron flower.

The survey also found a honeyeater bird that was previously unknown to science.

It's beautiful, untouched, unpopulated forest; there's no evidence of human impact or presence Dr Bruce Beehler, Conservation International

The researchers spent nearly a month in the locality, detailing the wildlife and plant life from the lower hills to near the summit of the Foja range, which reaches more than 2,000m in elevation.

"It's beautiful, untouched, unpopulated forest; there's no evidence of human impact or presence up in these mountains," Dr Beehler told the BBC News website.

FOJA MOUNTAINS SURVEY See more of the plants and animals found by the team http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/sci_nat_papua0s_0lost_world0_/html/1.stm">In pictures

He said that even two local indigenous groups, the Kwerba and Papasena people, customary landowners of the forest who accompanied the scientists, were astonished at the area's isolation.

"The men from the local villages came with us and they made it clear that no one they knew had been anywhere near this area - not even their ancestors," Mr Beehler said.

Unafraid of humans

One of the team's most remarkable discoveries was a honeyeater bird with a bright orange patch on its face - the first new bird species to be sighted on the island of New Guinea in more than 60 years.

The researchers also solved a major ornithological mystery - the location of the homeland of Berlepsch's six-wired bird of paradise.

On only the second day of the team's expedition, the amazed scientists watched as a male Berlepsch's bird of paradise performed a mating dance for an attending female in the field camp.

It was the first time a live male of the species had been observed by Western scientists, and proved that the Foja Mountains was the species' true home.

"This bird had been filed away and forgotten; it had been lost. To rediscover it was, for me, in some ways, more exciting than finding the honeyeater. I spent 20 years working on birds of paradise; they're pretty darn sexy beasts," Dr Beehler enthused.

The team also recorded a golden-mantled tree kangaroo, which was previously thought to have been hunted to near-extinction.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/sci_nat_enl_1139310496/html/1.stm"> The area seems to be very important for its frogs javascript:%20void%20window.open%28http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/sci_nat_enl_1139310496/html/1.stm,%201139310597,%20toolbar=0,scrollbars=0,location=0,statusbar=0,menubar=0,resizable=1,width=600,height=478,left=312,top=100%29;">Enlarge Image

Two long-beaked echidnas, primitive egg-laying mammals, even allowed scientists to pick them up and bring them back to their camp to be studied, he added.

The December 2005 expedition was organised by the US-based organisation Conservation International, together with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences.

The team says it did not have nearly enough time during its expedition to survey the area completely and intends to return later in the year.

The locality lies within a protected zone and Dr Beehler believes its future is secure in the short term.

"The key investment is the local communities. Their knowledge, appreciation and oral traditions are so important. They are the forest stewards who will look after these assets," Dr Beehler told the BBC.

A summary of the team's main discoveries:

• A new species of honeyeater, the first new bird species discovered on the island of New Guinea since 1939
• The formerly unknown breeding grounds of a "lost" bird of paradise - the six-wired bird of paradise (Parotia berlepschi)
• First photographs of the golden-fronted bowerbird displaying at its bower.
• A new large mammal for Indonesia, the golden-mantled tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus pulcherrimus)
• More than 20 new species of frogs, including a tiny microhylid frog less than 14mm long
• A series of previously undescribed plant species, including five new species of palms
• A remarkable white-flowered rhododendron with flower about 15cm across
• Four new butterfly species.

Another new species to look at and enjoy..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7213571.stm - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7213571.stm

Brazil finds fossil of "missing link" to crocodile

Undated image of newly discovered prehistoric crocodile released by the Federal University...

Fri Feb 1, 1:19 AM EST

Brazilian paleontologists said on Thursday they had found the fossil of a new species of prehistoric predator that represented a "missing link" to modern-day crocodiles.

The well-preserved fossil of Montealtosuchus arrudacamposi, a medium-sized lizard-like predator measuring about 5 1/2 feet (1.7 meters) from head to tail, dates back about 80 million years to the Late Cretaceous period.

"This is scientifically important because the specimen literally is the link between more primitive crocodiles that lived in the era of the dinosaurs 80-85 million years ago and modern species," said paleontologist Ismar de Souza Carvalho of Rio de Janeiro Federal University.

Montealtosuchus arrudacamposi, an agile terrestrial predator of the Peirosauridae family, had different habits from today's crocodiles but it was similar in form and structure despite having longer limbs, scientists said.

The fossil was found near the town of Monte Alto in Sao Paulo state and is named after the place and the local scientist who dug up the fossil in 2004 -- Arruda Campos.

The new species is one of a number of important finds by paleontologists in Brazil and Argentina over the past few years.

(Reporting by Leonardo Teixeira and Andrei Khalip; Editing by David Storey)

(c) Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/sci_nat_enl_1203381667/html/1.stm"> Artist's impression of the "frog from hell" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/sci_nat_enl_1203381667/html/1.stm">Enlarge Image

A 70-million-year-old fossil of a giant frog has been unearthed in Madagascar by a team of UK and US scientists.

The creature would have been the size of a "squashed beach ball" and weighed about 4kg (9lb), the researchers said.

They added that the fossil, nicknamed Beelzebufo or "frog from hell", was "strikingly different" from present-day frogs found on the island nation.

Details of the discovery are reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The team from University College London (UCL) and Stony Brook University, New York, said the frog would have had a body length of about 40cm (16 inches), and was among the largest of its kind to be found.

"This frog, a relative of today's horned toads, would have been the size of a slightly squashed beach-ball, with short legs and a big mouth," explained co-author Susan Evans, from UCL's Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.

"If it shared the aggressive temperament and 'sit-and-wait' ambush tactics of [present-day] horned toads, it would have been a formidable predator on small animals.

"Its diet would most likely have consisted of insects and small vertebrates like lizards, but it's not impossible that Beelzebufo might even have munched on hatchling or juvenile dinosaurs."

The researchers added that the discovery of the fossil supported the theory that Madagascar and the Indian and South American land masses could have been linked until the Late Cretaceous Period (75-65 million years ago).

The distinctive spider, dubbed the tiger huntsman for its orange and black markings, was found by museum staff on a collecting trip to north Queensland.

Live exhibits co-ordinator and self-confessed spider nut Alan Henderson said he knew he was on to something special when he spotted the spider in a rainforest outside Cairns.

"I've always been excited about spiders, but to see something that I've never ever seen before and never even seen a photograph of is pretty exciting," Mr Henderson said. "Up until that moment I didn't think anything that colourful existed in Australia."

After the team returned to Melbourne, photographs of the female huntsman — which has a 35-millimetre body and a legspan of about 90 millimetres — were sent to spider experts around the country, but none recognised it.

But confirmation it is a new species of huntsman will not be possible until it dies and scientists can examine it under a microscope.

The huntsman lives for about two years, and this one is believed to be about a year old. It feasts on live crickets and cockroaches.

It was added this month to the museum's Bugs Alive! exhibit, where it can show off what Mr Henderson describes as excellent climbing and jumping skills.

"Once she jumped and then in mid-air turned and landed on the opposing surface," he said. "I held up the 10-card for that."

Its eye isn’t ringed in a band of white feathers like its cousins who flock in other remote tropical islands of Indonesia. Still, it has many features in common with the black-crowned white-eye Zosterops atrifrons of Sulawesi, which is clearly its closest relative, said MSU’s Pamela Rasmussen, an internationally known ornithologist specializing in Asian birds.

“What this discovery highlights is that in some parts of the world there are still virtually unexplored islands where few ornithologists have worked,” Rasmussen said. “The world still holds avian surprises for us.”

The Togian white-eye first was spotted by Mochaamad Indrawan, an Indonesian field biologist at the Depok Campus of the University of Indonesia, and Sunarto (some Indonesians use a single name), who is now working on a doctorate at Virginia Tech, 12 years ago during their first trip to the Togian Islands.

Those first sightings were fleeting, but Indrawan and Sunarto returned and made several more observations of these active little green birds, and obtained the type specimen upon which the species’ description is now founded. The type specimen was then sent on loan to Rasmussen at the MSU Museum, so she could make detailed comparisons between it and related species at museums such as Britain’s Natural History Museum, the American Museum in New York and the Smithsonian Institution.

The new bird is believed to be endangered. The white-eye has been seen only near the coasts of three small islands of the Togian Islands in central Sulawesi. Unlike most white-eye species, it is evidently quite uncommon even in its very limited range. Considering its limited numbers and distribution, it falls into the World Conservation Union category of endangered. This finding also establishes the Togian Islands as an endemic bird area.

“This finding shows that equal opportunities are beneficial for the development of science and in particular that international cooperation can boost capacities in addressing poorly known biology in the tropics,” Indrawan said. “This finding of the bird is only the beginning given the vast opportunities with Indonesian landscapes and seascapes of endemic flora and fauna.”

The species is named for Soekarja Somadikarta, Indonesia’s leading taxonomist and mentor to Indrawan. Somadikarta was recently appointed honorary president for International Ornithological Congress XXV.

Rasmussen noted that the Togian white-eye is distinctive not only in appearance, but its lilting song, which Indrawan recorded and Rasmussen committed to sonogram, sounds higher pitched and is less varied in pitch than its close relatives.

It is perplexing how organisms have adapted to such enviorments, and how creatures depend on one another for survival. The article below is about a new species, of its own new subspecies of jellyfish.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0505_030505_tvnewjellyfish.html -  

The creature is described as the first member of a new subfamily of jellyfish.

The massive jelly is particularly unusual because it lacks tentacles. From its giant, red, bell-shaped body protrude between four and seven short, thick arms.

"The discovery of Big Red is a little like finding the first member of the cat family," says Larry Madin, a marine biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. "It is a pretty interesting find."

"We know almost nothing about it. What it does. What it eats. What eats it," says George Matsumoto, a jelly specialist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, who named the species.

"It's very large, it's a predator, and we assume that it must play an important role in the deep sea," says Matsumoto. It's also pretty common. It has been spotted more than two dozen times off the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.

"When I first saw a picture of Big Red, it was just a matter of seconds before I realized that this was something very different," says Matsumoto. He and his colleagues have published their discovery and description of the new species online in the journal Marine Biology.

New Life Forms

In the last 20 years, using scuba, manned and unmanned submersibles, scientists have discovered more than 50 new species of jellies. Madin, an expert on jellies, has discovered more than half a dozen species.

When scientists discover a new life form they assign it a formal scientific name which describes how closely it is related to other creatures. Each name has seven components: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. Kingdom is the broadest category; species is the most specific. Animals within each of these categories share certain characteristics. All domestic housecats, for example, are members of the same species. Lions and tigers each belong to different species, but share enough similarities that they belong to the same genus: Panthera.

But more differences imply that a new specimen may belong to a new category altogether.

Brazil finds prehistoric "Sea Warrior" crocodile

Wed Mar 26, 5:08 PM EDT

A fossil of a new marine crocodile species found in Brazil shows the reptiles survived the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago, researchers said on Wednesday.

Brazilian paleontologists said the discovery of the fossil of Guarinisuchus munizi, dubbed "Sea Warrior," also engendered a new theory on the migration of prehistoric crocodiles from Africa to South and then North America.

The 62-million-year-old fossil, described in the London-based Proceedings of Royal Society B research journal, is part of the Dyrosauridae group, which replaced mosasaurs, or serpentine marine lizards, as the dominant marine predators in the Paleocene epoch.

"Based on the discovery, we know that's what happened near the Brazilian coast. Now the question is whether the same happened worldwide. We believe it did," said Alexander Kellner of the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro.

Guarinisuchus is derived from the word "warrior" in Brazil's Tupi Indian language. Munizi is a tribute to Brazilian paleontologist Geraldo da Costa Barro Muniz.

With the skull, jaw and vertebrae, the fossil is the most complete of its group found in South America.

"One of the reasons we called it a warrior is because it survived the phenomenon that made dinosaurs extinct ... And they were the dominant predators even though this one was relatively small, at 3 meters in length. But we know the size isn't always important, just take the piranha fish," Kellner told Reuters.

The fossil was found in the coastal Mina Poty area in northeastern Brazil.

(Reporting by Andrei Khalip; editing by Angus MacSwan and Philip Barbara)

(c) Reuters 2008.

In order for new species to thrive, they need to evolve to occupy their own niche in the ecosystem, relying on certain foods and habitats for survival that are sufficiently different from those of other closely related species.

Competition between closely related species for food and habitat becomes more intense the more species there are, and researchers believe this could be the reason for the drop-off in the appearance of new species over time.

Dr. Albert Phillimore, from Imperial College London's NERC Centre for Population Biology, lead author on the paper, explains: "The number of niches in any given region is finite, and our research supports the idea that the rate of speciation slows down as the number of niches begins to run out.

"In essence, it seems like increased competition between species could place limits on the number of species that evolve."

The new study used detailed analysis of the family trees, or phylogenies, of 45 different bird families. By examining the rate at which new species have arisen in each of these trees over a period of millions of years, scientists saw that the rate of appearance of new species seemed to be much higher in the early stages of the family tree, compared to more recent lower rates.

For example, when the researchers examined the phylogeny of tit birds they found that some 10 million years ago, species formed rapidly but this rate has slowed over time to perhaps a quarter of the initial rate.

The Caspian/Persian Tiger was used in Roman gladiatorial games. The fight was not even, the tiger became blinded when it was released into the coliseum, the sudden burst of light decided the battle.

And many of the beasts died before they ever set their foot in the arena. The majority of the animal care takers did not know how much to feed the animal, what to feed it, how to keep it in captivity etc.

World's smallest snake is as thin as spaghetti

Handout photo of Leptotyphlops carlae resting on US quarter

By Will Dunham, Reuters
Sun Aug 3, 9:07 AM EDT

Scientists have identified the world's smallest snake -- a reptile about 4 inches long and as thin as spaghetti that was found lurking under a rock on the Caribbean island of Barbados.

The new species, named Leptotyphlops carlae, is smaller than any of the other 3,100 previously known snake species, according to Pennsylvania State University biologist Blair Hedges, who also had helped find the world's smallest frog and lizard.

It is one of about 300 different species of threadsnake and is a dark brownish gray with two yellow stripes, Hedges said. It was determined to be a newly identified species due to genetic differences from other snakes and its unique color pattern and scales, he said.

The snake, which is not venomous, eats termites and termite larvae but little is known about its behavior, including whether it is nocturnal, Hedges said. It was found in 2006 in a forest on the eastern side of Barbados.

"It was under a rock. We got two of them," Hedges said in a phone interview. "It's about as wide as a spaghetti noodle."

The snake is about 0.2 inches (5 mm) shorter than another species from the Caribbean island of Martinique.

"When you get down that small, every millimeter counts," said Hedges, whose findings were published in the scientific journal Zootaxa on Sunday.

The biggest and smallest types of animals often are found living on islands where species over time can fill ecological niches in habitats without competition from other creatures not living in the isolated locations.

The world's longest snake is the reticulated python, which grows to 33 feet long and lives in Southeast Asia.

Snakes have lived since the time of the dinosaurs. The oldest known fossil snakes date from around 100 million years ago. The first snakes -- thought to have evolved from lizards -- actually had very small limbs.

Hedges thinks the new one may be at or near the minimum possible size for snakes. It lays a single slender egg that takes up a major part of the mother snake's body, he said.

(Editing by Julie Steenhuysen and Mohammad Zargham)

(c) Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

The expedition was sponsored by two mining companies hoping to excavate the area for bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum, and it was unknown how the findings would affect their plans.

Scientists discovered the species during a 2005 expedition led by the U.S.-based nonprofit Conservation International in rainforests and swamps about 80 miles (128 kilometers) southeast of Paramaribo, the capital of the South American country, organization spokesman Tom Cohen said.

The expedition was sponsored by two mining companies hoping to excavate the area for bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum, and it was unknown how the findings would affect their plans.

Scientists discovered the species during a 2005 expedition led by the U.S.-based nonprofit Conservation International in rainforests and swamps about 80 miles (128 kilometers) southeast of Paramaribo, the capital of the South American country, organization spokesman Tom Cohen said.

The expedition was sponsored by two mining companies hoping to excavate the area for bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum, and it was unknown how the findings would affect their plans.

Scientists discovered the species during a 2005 expedition led by the U.S.-based nonprofit Conservation International in rainforests and swamps about 80 miles (128 kilometers) southeast of Paramaribo, the capital of the South American country, organization spokesman Tom Cohen said.

London (PTI): Palaeontologists claim to have unearthed 48 new prehistoric species including dinosaurs, from cliffs of the Isle of Wight dubbed as Britain's Jurassic Park.

A team at the Portsmouth University, led by Dr Steve Sweetman, actually made the discovery during their painstaking search of what has been nicknamed the "Dinosaur Island" over a period of four years.

Their haul includes eight dinosaurs, six mammals and 15 different types of lizard dating back to 130 million years, all taken from cliffs of Isle of Wight, 'The Daily Telegraph' newspaper reported.

Highlights include the remains of a creature similar to a giant velociraptor -- similar in size to those portrayed in the 'Jurassic Park' film -- and pterosaurs and long-necked Sauropods like the massive Brachiosaurus, seen in the movie.

"It has taken me just four years of hard graft to make my discoveries. In the very first sample I found a tiny jaw of an extinct newt-sized, salamander-like amphibian and then new species just kept coming.

"Although we knew a lot about the larger species that existed on the island during the early Cretaceous, no-one had ever filled in the gaps.

"With these discoveries I can paint a really detailed picture of the creatures that scurried at the feet and in the shadows of the dinosaurs," the leading British daily quoted Dr Sweetman as saying.

In fact the Jurassic Island is thought to be one of the top five in the world for concentrations of dinosaurs remains.

Published November 11, 2011| FoxNews.com

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/11/11/super-strong-mighty-mouse-created-by-swiss-scientists/ - http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/11/11/super-strong-mighty-mouse-created-by-swiss-scientists/

ahem...quite possible but alas where I would have given credit to Striving Corset.....