Top Ten New Species 2011 - Part 3
BY ALPER ÖZKAN (MBG/IV)
d_ozkan@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
As usual, I have a dozen tasks piled up in my ever-expanding to-do list, so naturally I am in a rush. I rather want to write on mythology (after Japan, India, and China, I suppose I should next cover the folklore of Southeast Asia, which I am quite fond of), but I've been postponing the species list for far too long now. So let us quickly finish what remains of it and move on!
4.Nectocaris pteryx
Those who remember the Cambrian life article would be familiar with Anomalocaris, the meter-long dinocaridid that was thought to be a shrimp, jellyfish, and sponge at once, parts of the creature having been identified as different animals. Such mistakes are quite common when it comes to fossils, since morphological features are quite difficult to discern when the animal has been dead for millions of years, and DNA analysis is obviously out of question (except for relatively recent extinctions such as mammoths and Neanderthals, both of which have genome projects associated with them). Nectocaris constitutes another example; originally described from a single specimen and thought to be a swimming arthropod or chordate, new specimens indicate the creature may yet have secrets to reveal. It is still uncertain what exactly it was. While a cephalopod affinity was suggested and Nectocaris was reconstructed as a squid-like animal with a pair of tentacles in 2010, its distinct lack of a shell makes its classification problematic.
Though, if you want to nitpick, that's a reclassification instead of a discovery sensu stricto (the initial description was made in 1976), so you can say it has no place in this list. (I have no valid reply to that, I'm just preempting objections!)
3. Myanmar snub-nosed monkey, Rhinopithecus strykeri
This is the first vertebrate in the entire list! As you may have deduced, I am not very fond of writing on vertebrates (mostly because I don't know much about them, and I don't like writing about what I don't know). Needless to say, discovery of megafauna is quite rare, and the snub-nosed monkey has only eluded scientists by virtue of living in the middle of nowhere. Local hunters, though, are very well aware of the creature, noting that the animal tends to sneeze in rainy weather thanks to the upturned nose that gives it its name. Incidentally, that's how they locate the monkeys, as the animal's sneezes and generally passive attitude makes it easier to hunt during rain. For this reason, the local villagers played a great part in the preparation of the relevant article, since they supplied the specimens and described their behavior too. Unfortunately, even though the species was recently discovered, very few of the animals remain, and conservation efforts seem to be necessary for their preservation.
2.Pitcher-dwelling microhylid frog, Microhyla nepenthicola
Pitcher plants of the genus Nepenthes are an entire world on their own; their pools often contain ants, spiders, fly larvae and even a species of crab. Yet other animals benefit from the pitchers. Monkeys have been observed drinking from them, and birds and shrews feed at their nectaries. This tiny frog, slightly over 1 cm in length, is one such species, living in the pitchers of Nepenthes ampullaria. While the frogs themselves were known for decades, they were thought to be juveniles of another species due to their tiny size. The fact that they were indeed adults was revealed only recently upon the observation of croaking males - croaking being an activity juveniles do not partake in. The frog was thus described as a new species.
Oh, and what of the the number one new discovery? Well, let's say that in due time it will get its own dedicated column.