Top Ten New Species 2011 - Part 1
BY ALPER ÖZKAN (MBG/IV)
d_ozkan@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
It's finally 2011! As usual, I didn't have much of a holiday to enjoy, and waiting for responses to graduate school applications proved to be quite stressful (I'm far from a good student, and checking your inbox daily and seeing no interview invitations wrecks your morale quite fast), so I'd like to open the spring season with a rather easy topic. The International Institute for Species Exploration releases an annual list for the most interesting new species described in the previous year, but the 2011 list is not yet done - in fact, you can still nominate species until March 15, and I certainly will do so. Before the list gets completed, though, I decided to go ahead and beat them to the punch. So here's what I think to be the highlights of the past year's new species bounty. By the way, having Google Image Search would be handy to see what they look like.
10. Squidworm, Teuthidodrilus samae
The squidworm is a free-swimming annelid, terrifying to behold and related to the green bomber worm described in 2009. The green bomber is called so because the worm in question detaches parts of it that flare into bright green flashes, effectively confusing its predators with luminescent bombs. The squidworm doesn't resort to such fancy tricks, merely being content with lazily swimming using its paddle-shaped extensions (which bring the extinct Anomalocaris to mind) and eating organic detritus that finds its way into the deep sea. The tentacles around the head are the main attraction (or perhaps it's more appropriate to call them the main repulsion?) - the eight short ones are for breathing, while the two longer tentacles are used to feed.
9. Anoxic loriciferans of genera Spinoloricus, Rugiloricus, Pliciloricus
As far as we know, all animals breathe oxygen, or at least it was thought so, until three microscopic exceptions were found in the Mediterranean basin, lacking mitochondria entirely and living in an environment completely devoid of oxygen. What those tiny animals do have are called hydrogenosomes, probably derived from mitochondria and taking a similar role (except without oxygen, of course). While I'm talking about them (you see, I don't get the chance to talk about loriciferans every day), I may as well note that the phylum is tiny, with only 22 described species. For comparison, arthropods constitute another phylum and have some 1,170,000 species known, or so says Wikipedia.
8. Flycatcher maggot, Ocyptamus genus
I don't know if this one can make it into the ASU IISE list, since it wasn't formally described by the authors, but it nonetheless is an interesting find. Ocyptamus maggots are no strangers to a predatory life, and many hoverflies are known to be predatory (some even possessing venom). This undescribed species, located within whitefly (despite the name, those aren't flies) aggregations, takes things a step further and eats adult flies attracted to the sweet honeydew exuded by the whiteflies. It isn't unusual at all for an adult insect to be eaten by its young - it may happen coincidentally, as in the case of antlions, or the larvae may devour their mother from within - gall midges, twisted-wing parasites, and telephone pole beetles show the most striking examples.
I'm getting quite close to the word limit, so that's it for this week. I suppose this list may take a while to finish. Next column will be #7 to #4, I suppose, and the top three will take the column after that (and of course, you don't get to know ahead of time which animals those will be!). Expect an intermezzo or two, too. Anyhow, have a nice semester!