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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/taxonomy/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Taxonomy</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/taxonomy/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Three new gecko species described in Nepal: Interview with herpetologist Santosh Bhattarai</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/three-new-gecko-species-described-in-nepal-interview-with-herpetologist-santosh-bhattarai/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/three-new-gecko-species-described-in-nepal-interview-with-herpetologist-santosh-bhattarai/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Mar 2025 17:56:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/21174235/2.-Karans-Bent-toed-gecko-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296280</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Herps, New Discovery, Protected Areas, Reptiles, Species Discovery, Taxonomy, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As Nepal’s reptiles are one of the least studied among the country’s diverse flora and fauna, researchers have long been saying that it could be home to numerous species waiting to be discovered by science. Herpetologist Santosh Bhattarai, a PhD student at Federation University Australia, is one of the handful of scientists who have dedicated [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As Nepal’s reptiles are one of the least studied among the country’s diverse flora and fauna, researchers have long been saying that it could be home to numerous species waiting to be discovered by science. Herpetologist Santosh Bhattarai, a PhD student at Federation University Australia, is one of the handful of scientists who have dedicated their careers to studying smaller herps such as lizards, geckos and frogs across Nepal. He has been actively involved in raising awareness about the dark sitana (Sitana fusca), a critically endangered lizard endemic to Nepal. Bhattarai and his team recently discovered three new-to-science species of bent-toed geckos (Cyrtodactylus genus). According to a study documenting the discovery published in the journal Zootaxa, the nocturnal lizards, known for their camouflaging abilities, were found in the forests and rocky terrains of the Chitwan Annapurna Landscape. The newly identified species have been named Cyrtodactylus chitwanensis (Chitwan bent-toed gecko), Cyrtodactylus annapurnaensis (Annapurna bent-toed gecko) and Cyrtodactylus karanshahi (Karan’s bent-toed gecko) — the last one in honor of Nepal’s renowned herpetologist Karan Bahadur Shah. Mongabay’s Abhaya Raj Joshi spoke with Bhattarai, who is currently based in Australia, over the phone to discuss the new findings and their implications. The following interview has been translated from Nepali and edited for clarity. Mongabay: Could you please tell us how you discovered these new species? Santosh Bhattarai: Well, we made the discovery during my PhD field research in the Chitwan Annapurna Landscape in Nepal. My research focuses on amphibians and reptiles in the landscape,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/three-new-gecko-species-described-in-nepal-interview-with-herpetologist-santosh-bhattarai/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/three-new-gecko-species-described-in-nepal-interview-with-herpetologist-santosh-bhattarai/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296280</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Experts see red over Indonesia’s planned green investment label for coal plants</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/experts-see-red-over-indonesias-planned-green-investment-label-for-coal-plants/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/experts-see-red-over-indonesias-planned-green-investment-label-for-coal-plants/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Sep 2023 15:07:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/02/13104308/pelabuhand-ratu-coal-Nathalie-Bertrams-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272986</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[charcoal, Climate Change, Coal, Electric Cars, Environment, Finance, Forests, Fossil Fuels, Fossils, and Taxonomy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s move to categorize coal-fired power plants for industry as sustainable has sparked criticism from energy and finance observers, who say it goes against the scientific evidence. The country’s financial regulator, the OJK, is in the process of revising the country’s Green Taxonomy, a framework defining what kinds of investments may be considered [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s move to categorize coal-fired power plants for industry as sustainable has sparked criticism from energy and finance observers, who say it goes against the scientific evidence. The country’s financial regulator, the OJK, is in the process of revising the country’s Green Taxonomy, a framework defining what kinds of investments may be considered environment-friendly, and thus eligible for various incentives. Among the proposed revisions is giving a green label to new coal-fired power plants that exclusively serve the metal-processing industry. Such a label, the cleanest on the Green Taxonomy’s green-yellow-red scale, would effectively define these so-called captive coal plants as projects that “protect or improve the environment,” the same as renewable energy projects. “It is extremely concerning that now, new coal-powered generation could be seen as protecting or improving the environment,” Christina Ng and Putra Adhiguna, researchers at the U.S.-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), wrote in a commentary. “This simply goes against scientific evidence.” They warned this will relegate Indonesia to the bottom of the pack of global green or sustainable finance taxonomies. The Suralaya coal-fired power plant in Indonesia. Image courtesy of Trend Asia. ‘State-sanctioned greenwashing’ There are at least 10 green or sustainable finance taxonomies that have been published globally. None recognize coal power as green, including markets like China and Russia, where, like in Indonesia, coal still has a heavy presence and new coal-fired power plants are in the pipeline. “If the country goes ahead with the latest idea, of using the aim&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/experts-see-red-over-indonesias-planned-green-investment-label-for-coal-plants/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/experts-see-red-over-indonesias-planned-green-investment-label-for-coal-plants/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272986</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous knowledge settles question of a Bornean tree species: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/indigenous-knowledge-settles-question-of-a-bornean-tree-species-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/indigenous-knowledge-settles-question-of-a-bornean-tree-species-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2022 05:04:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/17045519/sabah_RAB-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257406</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Cryptic Species, Culture, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Rainforests, Science, Species, Species Discovery, Taxonomy, Traditional Knowledge, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When plant systematist Elliot Gardner first began collecting samples of a fruit-bearing tree in Malaysian Borneo, he thought he was looking at just one species. Western taxonomists had long considered both the cultivated and wild types of Artocarpus odoratissimus, a close relative of breadfruit and jackfruit, as a single species. But time and again, Indigenous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When plant systematist Elliot Gardner first began collecting samples of a fruit-bearing tree in Malaysian Borneo, he thought he was looking at just one species. Western taxonomists had long considered both the cultivated and wild types of Artocarpus odoratissimus, a close relative of breadfruit and jackfruit, as a single species. But time and again, Indigenous Iban and Dusun field botanists told him they recognized the two types as completely separate species. In a new study published in Current Biology, Gardner and his Indigenous and academic colleagues from Malaysia, the U.S., and Europe analyzed DNA samples from the two types of tree growing in Malaysian Borneo and from herbarium specimens. The results of their genetic tests confirm that the trees are indeed two distinct species. The finding is the latest in a growing body of research that demonstrates the value of Indigenous and local knowledge to conservation science and sustainable land management. The fruit of the tree known to the Iban as lumok (Artocarpus odoratissimus) are large and juicy, similar to jackfruit. Image by Elliot Gardner According to Gardner, from Florida International University and lead author of the study, the fact that Iban and Dusun Indigenous knowledge-derived classification of the trees was more accurate than Linnean taxonomy emphasizes how Indigenous knowledge holds key insights and should be recognized as complementary to modern science. “The two kinds of knowledge can really complement one another if you have equal engagement,” Gardner told Mongabay. “Scientific taxonomy brings a broad, synthetic approach so that we&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/indigenous-knowledge-settles-question-of-a-bornean-tree-species-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/indigenous-knowledge-settles-question-of-a-bornean-tree-species-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257406</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Prospect of existence’: Nameless grasshopper sparks taxonomic debate</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/prospect-of-existence-nameless-grasshopper-sparks-taxonomic-debate/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/prospect-of-existence-nameless-grasshopper-sparks-taxonomic-debate/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Mar 2022 10:33:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rachel Teng Ruiqi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/07101000/grasshopper-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=253444</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Peru and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Fellows, Insects, New Discovery, Research, Science, Species Discovery, Taxonomy, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[What’s in a name? The curious case of a nameless grasshopper will tell you that there is more to a name than meets the eye. To declare a species as new to science, scientists name and describe the plant, animal or other organism in a journal. But researchers say photographs were not enough for the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[What’s in a name? The curious case of a nameless grasshopper will tell you that there is more to a name than meets the eye. To declare a species as new to science, scientists name and describe the plant, animal or other organism in a journal. But researchers say photographs were not enough for the scientific community to allow them to declare a new grasshopper in the Scaria family, a genus of groundhopper or pygmy grasshopper native to South America. The scientists in Croatia and Italy have since published a thought-provoking paper in the Journal of Orthoptera Research on the species’ name — or rather, its lack thereof — calling on the scientific community to reconsider current taxonomic practices, especially in an age of mass extinction and rapid habitat loss. This debacle dates back to 2008. That was when Roberto Sindaco, a professor at Italy’s Institute for Wood Plants and the Environment (IPLA by its Italian acronym), photographed an elusive yellow-and-green grasshopper deep in the rainforest of northern Peru. His remarkable shots stayed buried within his photo archives for more than a decade before he uploaded them onto species data- and image-sharing platform iNaturalist. Besides its unique and handsome morphology, the nameless Scaria is a unique example of a formal description without a name, says researcher Niko Kasalo. Image by Roberto Sindaco/iNaturalist. It wasn’t until Josip Skejo, researcher at the University of Zagreb, chanced upon the photos on the site that this unassuming creature finally received due attention. It was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/prospect-of-existence-nameless-grasshopper-sparks-taxonomic-debate/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-253444</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Malaysia’s white-handed gibbons may be two subspecies, not one, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/malaysias-white-handed-gibbons-may-be-two-subspecies-not-one-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/malaysias-white-handed-gibbons-may-be-two-subspecies-not-one-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Feb 2022 15:21:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sheryl Lee Tian Tong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sheryl Lee Tian Tong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/06/28150055/Gibbon_-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=252505</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Malaysia and Peninsular Malaysia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, DNA, Ecology, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Fragmentation, Gibbons, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Taxonomy, Technology, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The article has been significantly amended in light of challenges to both the research itself and Mongabay&#8217;s coverage of the journal article. If you get yourself a map of Peninsular Malaysia and color in all the areas in which white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) live, you’ll find a blank spot across southern Kedah and northern Perak. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The article has been significantly amended in light of challenges to both the research itself and Mongabay&#8217;s coverage of the journal article. If you get yourself a map of Peninsular Malaysia and color in all the areas in which white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) live, you’ll find a blank spot across southern Kedah and northern Perak. Here, in this stretch of land between the Muda and Perak rivers, an entirely different species dominates: black-handed gibbons (Hylobates agilis). Their presence keeps out white-handed gibbons, which are otherwise scattered across the whole peninsula. Recent research from scientists sequencing the genes of white-handed gibbons has raised questions, and controversy, about whether this geographic interruption could have resulted in two distinct white-handed gibbon populations evolving in isolation. The researchers, whose study was published in ZooKeys, sequenced a section of mitochondrial DNA each from 12 captive white-handed gibbons from Peninsular Malaysia’s National Wildlife Rescue Centre in a routine genetic assessment conducted before animals are released back into the wild. For scientists looking to translocate and reintroduce captive gibbons into the forest, knowing the finer details like which subspecies and population a particular animal originated from can help reduce interbreeding and ensure the different populations stay healthy in the long run, co-author Jeffrine Rovie-Ryan, a researcher at the University of Malaysia, Sarawak, told Mongabay. “Separate populations should be managed separately,” Rovie-Ryan said. “If you mix animals from different populations, that will contaminate the gene pool, making the animals more susceptible to diseases.” The researchers had expected a straightforward&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/malaysias-white-handed-gibbons-may-be-two-subspecies-not-one-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-252505</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sex organs reveal new jumping spider species in the Philippines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/sex-organs-reveal-new-jumping-spider-species-in-the-philippines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/sex-organs-reveal-new-jumping-spider-species-in-the-philippines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2020 21:08:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Leilani]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/06/15210421/spiders3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=231425</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biology, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Insects, New Discovery, Species Discovery, Spiders, and Taxonomy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — It took a closer look at the male jumping spiders’ reproductive organ – the shape of it, to be precise — for two Filipino scientists to declare three new species in the Philippines. The father-and-daughter team of Alberto Barrion, an entomologist, and Aimee Lynn Barrion-Dupo, an arachnologist, described the three new species from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MANILA — It took a closer look at the male jumping spiders’ reproductive organ – the shape of it, to be precise — for two Filipino scientists to declare three new species in the Philippines. The father-and-daughter team of Alberto Barrion, an entomologist, and Aimee Lynn Barrion-Dupo, an arachnologist, described the three new species from the main island of Luzon and published their findings in the Philippine Journal of Systematic Biology. The new species belong to the genus Lepidemathis; before the publication of their paper, there were only four known species from the genus, all of them found only in the Philippines. Though these spiders are common in agricultural and natural ecosystems, only a few people study them, researchers say. Map of the main collection site, Cavinti in Laguna province. Image courtesy of Barrion-Dupo and Barrion The Barrions found each of the three spiders — Lepidemathis cavinti, Lepidemathis dogmai and Lepidemathis lipa — in three different provinces   in southern Luzon in 2014 through the animal biodiversity survey program of the University of the Philippines Los Baños’ Museum of Natural History. During the survey, they collected samples of jumping spiders from Cavinti in Laguna province, and the overlapping areas of Mauban in Quezon province. Back in their laboratory, they compared the spiders they collected and realized that the male reproductive organs of some differed from already described species. It was then that they realized the spiders they’d collected might be new species. “Much of the uniqueness of these spiders are due&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/sex-organs-reveal-new-jumping-spider-species-in-the-philippines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-231425</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bold project hopes to DNA barcode every species in Costa Rica</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/bold-project-hopes-to-dna-barcode-every-species-in-costa-rica/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/bold-project-hopes-to-dna-barcode-every-species-in-costa-rica/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Apr 2020 12:15:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/04/24172157/BioAlfaLogo.Feature-e1587764256727-768x349.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=229406</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Costa Rica, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Conservation Technology, DNA, Environment, Genetics, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Insects, Science, Solutions, Taxonomy, Technology, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Let’s be honest: many conservationists may start their careers with big ambitions. But as they, and their careers, age, those ambitions — especially in light of the Anthropocene — understandably shrink. Saving one forest or one species begins to look like a large enough legacy — and for many it is. Not for Daniel Janzen [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Let’s be honest: many conservationists may start their careers with big ambitions. But as they, and their careers, age, those ambitions — especially in light of the Anthropocene — understandably shrink. Saving one forest or one species begins to look like a large enough legacy — and for many it is. Not for Daniel Janzen and Winifred Hallwachs. As they’ve aged, and their careers with them, their ambitions have grown. Janzen and Hallwachs are now in the midst of kicking off something no one has gotten remotely close to since Carl Linnaeus began the systematic describing of species in the mid-1700s. In a project they call BioAlfa, they will attempt to identify every single species in a nation. And not a temperate, low-biodiversity nation, but a life-teeming, bio-rich, jungle country: Costa Rica. Such a wild endeavor is only imaginable because of advances in gene technology. Now, Janzen and Hallwachs argue, all they need is funding, resources, and human power to begin to know every species in the Central American nation, from dragonflies to fungi, from caterpillars to lichen. BioAlfa has chosen the beautiful machaca (Fulgora laternaria) for its logo, a type of planthopper. Photo courtesy of Daniel Janzen. “No tropical country even begins to understand what is in its remaining wild areas, be they formal national parks … or wild for other reasons,” Janzen wrote to me, noting that BioAlfa is short for BioAlfabetizado, which in English means “to be bioliterate.” Janzen, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Pennsylvania,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/bold-project-hopes-to-dna-barcode-every-species-in-costa-rica/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-229406</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Three new species of chameleons emerge from centuries-old entanglement</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/three-new-species-of-chameleons-emerge-from-centuries-old-entanglement/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/three-new-species-of-chameleons-emerge-from-centuries-old-entanglement/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Mar 2020 03:05:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/03/20023301/C_radamanus_Vohimana-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=228059</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Endangered Species, Herps, Lizards, Rainforests, Rediscovered Species, Reptiles, Species Discovery, and Taxonomy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For more than 180 years, several soft-nosed chameleons from Madagascar sat together in a single species complex (Calumma nasutum) until scientists decided to take a closer look. They disentangled the chameleons into 16 distinct species and, in the process, described three new ones. Calumma emelinae from the east coast of Madagascar, C. tjiasmantoi from the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For more than 180 years, several soft-nosed chameleons from Madagascar sat together in a single species complex (Calumma nasutum) until scientists decided to take a closer look. They disentangled the chameleons into 16 distinct species and, in the process, described three new ones. Calumma emelinae from the east coast of Madagascar, C. tjiasmantoi from the southeast, and C. ratnasariae from the north officially joined the ranks of more than 90 species of chameleon that are endemic to Madagascar, according to a recent paper published in Vertebrate Zoology. Chameleons are best known for their ability to change colors. Sometimes it’s for camouflage, but it can also be a display to dazzle a female or reflect a mood change. They also have a wicked sense of sight — uncoupled eyeballs that can rove independent of each other — and sticky tongues that can stretch to lengths longer than their bodies. A Parson’s chameleon (C. parsonii). Image by Rhett A.Butler On Madagascar, the oldest island in the world, there is such a variety of them that scientists are still scratching their heads over where to put them. The island hosts not just the largest chameleon, the Parson’s chameleon (C. parsonii), but also the tiniest, Brookesia micra. Those two are easy to tell apart, but distinguishing others in between can prove tricky, which is why specimens collected from decades ago, sometimes centuries, remain taxonomically tangled. “In the last 15 years several expeditions to Madagascar have been organized, and in the last five years we focused on the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/three-new-species-of-chameleons-emerge-from-centuries-old-entanglement/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-228059</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>There’s a new fin whale subspecies in the North Pacific</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/theres-a-new-fin-whale-subspecies-in-the-north-pacific/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/theres-a-new-fin-whale-subspecies-in-the-north-pacific/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Nov 2019 14:50:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/11/01144023/fin-whale_1210px-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=224078</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Genetics, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Research, Taxonomy, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new subspecies of fin whale, the second-largest species on Earth after the blue whale, has been discovered by scientists in the Pacific Ocean. There are currently three recognized subspecies of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus): the northern fin whale (B. p. physalus), the southern fin whale (B. p. quoyi), and the pygmy fin whale (B. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new subspecies of fin whale, the second-largest species on Earth after the blue whale, has been discovered by scientists in the Pacific Ocean. There are currently three recognized subspecies of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus): the northern fin whale (B. p. physalus), the southern fin whale (B. p. quoyi), and the pygmy fin whale (B. p. patachonica). The northern fin whale subspecies was previously believed to include populations in the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, but a recent genetic analysis of more than 150 fin whale samples from both ocean basins and the Southern Hemisphere showed that the two populations actually qualify as two separate subspecies. Though they are the second-largest whale species on Earth, fin whales are the fastest swimmers. They are known to primarily roam the open ocean, away from coastlines where they would be easier to study, which is why they are also one of the large whale species that scientists know the least about. Another factor in how little we know about the species is that fin whales’ sheer size makes them difficult to study in a laboratory environment. Scientists traditionally compare characteristic parts of an animal’s skeleton, such as the skull, in doing taxonomic work, but that’s not entirely feasible with fin whales. The whales can reach 60 to 70 feet long. Their skulls alone can measure 15 feet in length, and their skeletons can weigh hundreds of pounds. Research institutions would be hard-pressed to attain and store a large enough collection to allow&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/theres-a-new-fin-whale-subspecies-in-the-north-pacific/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-224078</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A fishy translocation highlights dangers of ‘taxonomic inflation’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/a-fishy-translocation-highlights-dangers-of-taxonomic-inflation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/a-fishy-translocation-highlights-dangers-of-taxonomic-inflation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Apr 2019 07:55:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/04/16072516/4-Natural-Habitat-of-Rasboroides-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=217517</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquariums, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Fish, Research, and Taxonomy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[2018SEFD]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A tiny fish described in 2013 from a stream in Sri Lanka was apparently a known species that had been moved there years earlier, according to a study that underscores the importance of due diligence when it comes to the translocation of species. A taxonomic review that year of the freshwater fish genus Rasboroides, from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A tiny fish described in 2013 from a stream in Sri Lanka was apparently a known species that had been moved there years earlier, according to a study that underscores the importance of due diligence when it comes to the translocation of species. A taxonomic review that year of the freshwater fish genus Rasboroides, from the Cyprinidae family, recognized three of the already established species in the genus: Rasboroides vaterifloris, R. nigromarginatus and R. pallidus. It also described a new species, R. rohani, from a localized population in the Walawe River Basin in southern Sri Lanka. In 2018, a team of researchers led by Hiranya Sudasinghe, a molecular biologist at Sri Lanka’s University of Peradeniya, carried out a taxonomic assessment of the country’s cyprinids, and began asking questions about R. rohani. “We tested by using genetics, morphology, morphometrics and statistical analysis and concluded that R. rohani was not distinct,” Sudasinghe said, adding: “If new, it should have been distinct from other species, and molecular evidence did not establish such distinction.” A phylogram, a haplotype networks for two genes and their distribution – https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6084 In their findings, published in December 2018, Sudasinghe and colleagues Jayampathi Herath, Rohan Pethiyagoda and Madhava Meegaskumbura revealed that there had been two undocumented translocations of Rasboroides, one of them into the Walawe Basin, and that the species described as new in 2013 was in fact the already known R. Pallidus. The translocation in question took place in 2003 near a monastery in the Suriyakanda area of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/a-fishy-translocation-highlights-dangers-of-taxonomic-inflation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-217517</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>50% of world’s natural history specimens may have wrong names</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/11/50-of-worlds-natural-history-specimens-may-have-wrong-names/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/11/50-of-worlds-natural-history-specimens-may-have-wrong-names/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Nov 2015 14:23:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/11/03131726/1024px-Insect_Safari_-_beetle_36-440x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Plants, Science, Species, Taxonomy, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Most of us expect museum specimens to be accurately labelled and meticulously catalogued. But up to half of the world’s natural history specimens could have wrong names, according to a new study published in Current Biology. And this could be a big problem. “Without accurate names on specimens, the records held in collections around the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Most of us expect museum specimens to be accurately labelled and meticulously catalogued. But up to half of the world’s natural history specimens could have wrong names, according to a new study published in Current Biology. And this could be a big problem. “Without accurate names on specimens, the records held in collections around the world would make no sense, as they don&#8217;t correspond to the reality outside,” Robert Scotland, co-author from the Department of Plant Sciences at Oxford, said in a statement. To see how prevalent mislabeling and misidentification is within natural history specimens, Scotland and his colleagues from the University of Oxford and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, evaluated accuracy of specimen names at three stages, for three groups of plants. First, they checked names given to more than 4,500 specimens of the African ginger (genus Aframomum) &#8212; flowering plants that occur in Tropical Africa and some islands of the Indian Ocean. Herbarium sheet with the oldest conserved tomato plants of Europe. Italian collection, 1542-1544. Photo by Naturalis &#8211; Tomato project Naturalis Biodiversity Center CC BY-SA 3.0. Typically, specimen names can change over the years as scientists learn more about the species. For the African ginger, scientists completed a detailed monograph in 2014, in which they reviewed all species &#8212; and their names &#8212; within Aframomum. When the researchers scanned through names given to the African ginger specimens from the time they were collected, until their current names in the monograph, the team found that at least 58 percent&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/11/50-of-worlds-natural-history-specimens-may-have-wrong-names/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-161276</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Giant clams are easy to recognize, but genetics proves there is more than meets the eye</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/12/giant-clams-are-easy-to-recognize-but-genetics-proves-there-is-more-than-meets-the-eye/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/12/giant-clams-are-easy-to-recognize-but-genetics-proves-there-is-more-than-meets-the-eye/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Dec 2013 08:18:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nika Levikov]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/12/giant-clams-are-easy-to-recognize-but-genetics-proves-there-is-more-than-meets-the-eye/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Islands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Genetics, Green, Invertebrates, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, and Taxonomy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Giant clams are among the more easily spotted invertebrates of the marine realm. However, some are actually quite cryptic and distinct species are often difficult to identify, claims a study recently published in PlosOne. Much attention has been focused on charismatic species in research, but the scientists who authored the study argue that giant clams [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Giant clams are among the more easily spotted invertebrates of the marine realm. However, some are actually quite cryptic and distinct species are often difficult to identify, claims a study recently published in PlosOne. Much attention has been focused on charismatic species in research, but the scientists who authored the study argue that giant clams also deserve the spotlight because of the potential threats and present misunderstandings regarding their taxonimical classifications. Giant clams are used for a variety of purposes, including tool-making, as a meat source and for the pet trade. The study discusses eight species, with particular focus on two: the unfortunately named boring clam (Tridacna crocea) and the small giant clam (Tridacna maxima). Both the boring clam and small giant clam are native to waters surrounding Indo-Pacific islands, and although extensive genetic sampling has been done in the past, the relatedness of these two species is still something of a mystery. This study attempted to fill in these gaps – and came away with some surprising findings. A photo of the new species. Photo courtesy of E. A. Treml. The study sampled populations of both species from the Solomon Islands, Australia, New Guinea and Wallacea. Scientists carried out their collection by carefully snipping small pieces of the clams&#8217; tissue in a way that would not harm them. They then analyzed their genetic similarities by looking at portions of the clams&#8217; mitochondrial DNA that are used to trace evolutionary relationships. Their results, coupled with those of previous studies, showed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/12/giant-clams-are-easy-to-recognize-but-genetics-proves-there-is-more-than-meets-the-eye/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25898</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The neglected giraffe: world&#8217;s tallest animal in need of conservation assistance</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/06/the-neglected-giraffe-worlds-tallest-animal-in-need-of-conservation-assistance/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/06/the-neglected-giraffe-worlds-tallest-animal-in-need-of-conservation-assistance/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jun 2013 17:52:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/06/the-neglected-giraffe-worlds-tallest-animal-in-need-of-conservation-assistance/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Giraffes, Green, Habitat Loss, In-situ Conservation, Interviews, Mammals, Overpopulation, Population, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Taxonomy, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th&#8212;July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&#38;As with presenters. For more interviews, please see our ZACC feed.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference runs from July 8th&#8212;July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by the Blank Park Zoo. Ahead of the event, Mongabay.com is running a series of Q&amp;As with presenters. For more interviews, please see our ZACC feed.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/06/the-neglected-giraffe-worlds-tallest-animal-in-need-of-conservation-assistance/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-28787</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists describe over 100 new beetles from New Guinea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/06/scientists-describe-over-100-new-beetles-from-new-guinea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/06/scientists-describe-over-100-new-beetles-from-new-guinea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jun 2013 15:17:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/06/scientists-describe-over-100-new-beetles-from-new-guinea/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia, New Guinea, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Beetles, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Deforestation, DNA, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Genetics, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Islands, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Species Discovery, Taxonomy, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a single paper, a team of researchers have succinctly described 101 new species of weevils from New Guinea, more than doubling the known species in the beetle genus, Trigonopterus. Since describing new species is hugely laborious and time-intensive, the researchers turned to a new method of species description known as &#8216;turbo-taxonomy,&#8217; which employs a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a single paper, a team of researchers have succinctly described 101 new species of weevils from New Guinea, more than doubling the known species in the beetle genus, Trigonopterus. Since describing new species is hugely laborious and time-intensive, the researchers turned to a new method of species description known as &#8216;turbo-taxonomy,&#8217; which employs a mix of DNA-sequencing and taxonomic expertise to describe species more rapidly. &#8220;When faced with a large number of morphologically similar, undescribed species, it is not an option to carry on &#8216;business as usual&#8217; and prepare very detailed descriptions with an output of only few species per year,&#8221; the researchers write in a the paper describing the new species in ZooKeys. &#8220;Such a strategy will not achieve a sustained success within this century.&#8221; As New Guinea&#8217;s rainforest habitats disappears to a sudden rash of monoculture plantations, logging, roads, mining, and big industrial projects, scientists are racing to describe and document species that could quickly vanish altogether. Lead author, Alexander Riedel, notes that the new method of taxonomy made the process around five times faster than traditional species description. New species: Trigonopterus moreaorum. Photo by: Alexander Riedel. &#8220;A portion of each weevil species&#8217; DNA was sequenced, which helped to sort out and diagnose species efficiently. Besides, we have taken high-resolution photographs of each weevil that will be uploaded to Species ID, along with a short scientific description,&#8221; he explains in a press release. While many of the new species&#8217; morphology (physical appearance) is very similar, they are&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/06/scientists-describe-over-100-new-beetles-from-new-guinea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-28901</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Three new species of carnivorous snails discovered in endangered habitat in Thailand  (photos)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/three-new-species-of-carnivorous-snails-discovered-in-endangered-habitat-in-thailand-photos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/three-new-species-of-carnivorous-snails-discovered-in-endangered-habitat-in-thailand-photos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 May 2013 15:18:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jemma Smith]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/05/three-new-species-of-carnivorous-snails-discovered-in-endangered-habitat-in-thailand-photos/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carnivores, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Invertebrates, Predators, Species Discovery, Strange, and Taxonomy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok and the Natural History Museum, London recently discovered three new species of carnivorous snails in northern Thailand. However, the celebration of these discoveries is tainted by the fact that the new snails are already threatened with extinction due to the destruction of their limestone habitat. The new snail species named [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok and the Natural History Museum, London recently discovered three new species of carnivorous snails in northern Thailand. However, the celebration of these discoveries is tainted by the fact that the new snails are already threatened with extinction due to the destruction of their limestone habitat. The new snail species named Perrottetia aquilonaria, P. dermapyrrhosa and P. phuphamanesis were collected during surveys throughout Thailand between 2008 and 2012 and are described in the open access journal Zookeys. Identified by their genital organs and shell characteristics, these are the first snails in their genus Perrottetia to be described in over a century. The snails belong to the family Streptaxidae which is a terrestrial carnivorous group of snails known to feed on insect larvae, earthworms, and even other snails. These tiny snails less than 1 centimeter in size are found living within rock crevices, endemic to a single or few limestone mountain ranges in north and north-eastern Thailand, adopting a &#8220;one hill one species&#8221; endemism. Members of the Streptaxidae family can be recognized by their cylindrical shells, bright yellow to red or orange colored bodies and external hook-like structures on their penis. Close anatomical examination of these snails during the study identified them as new species. Differences in there anatomy is noted in the journal. For Example, &#8220;P. aquilonaria has a club shaped distal penis and large penial hooks are present and penial papillae cover almost the entire penial hook portion.&#8221; Whilst P. dermapyrrhosa is described as having&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/three-new-species-of-carnivorous-snails-discovered-in-endangered-habitat-in-thailand-photos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-28968</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Looking beyond the hundred legs: finding new centipedes in India requires many tools</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/04/looking-beyond-the-hundred-legs-finding-new-centipedes-in-india-requires-many-tools/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/04/looking-beyond-the-hundred-legs-finding-new-centipedes-in-india-requires-many-tools/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Apr 2013 16:53:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sandhya Sekar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/04/looking-beyond-the-hundred-legs-finding-new-centipedes-in-india-requires-many-tools/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Asia, India, and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cryptic Species, DNA, Environment, Genetics, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Rainforests, Science, Species Discovery, Strange, Taxonomy, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A small, boneless creature, that lives underground, with a &#8220;hundred&#8221; legs, and a rather powerful sting; some of these creatures are drab, but some are so beautiful and brightly colored that they can startle. Centipedes. There is more to a centipede than its many legs, and its habit of darting out of dark places. One [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A small, boneless creature, that lives underground, with a &#8220;hundred&#8221; legs, and a rather powerful sting; some of these creatures are drab, but some are so beautiful and brightly colored that they can startle. Centipedes. There is more to a centipede than its many legs, and its habit of darting out of dark places. One of the first lifeforms to turn up on land, some centipede fossils date back to about 450 million years ago. They have been evolving steadily since, with some estimates showing about 8,000 species today. Not even half of these species have been taxonomically described. Jahnavi Joshi and Praveen Karanth from the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science have been working on describing Indian centipedes. The distinctive evolutionary history of the Indian subcontinent, the rich diversity of habitats, and the nature of centipedes to not move around too much have resulted in an incredible diversity of centipedes in India. To understand the issue better, we need to go back to about 300 million years ago, when all the landmasses in the world were joined together to form a &#8220;supercontinent&#8221; called Pangaea. When Pangaea split up, it formed two sub continents: Laurasia, made of the more northern continents of today, North America and Eurasia; and Gondwana, which was an amalgam of the more southern continents – Africa, Madagascar, South America, Australia, Antarctica, the Arabian peninsula and the Indian subcontinent. Well, Gondwana ended up splitting as well, rather violently with massive volcanic eruptions, 184&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/04/looking-beyond-the-hundred-legs-finding-new-centipedes-in-india-requires-many-tools/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-29263</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists discover new wasp species in a field box from the 1930s (photos)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/04/scientists-discover-new-wasp-species-in-a-field-box-from-the-1930s-photos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/04/scientists-discover-new-wasp-species-in-a-field-box-from-the-1930s-photos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2013 17:12:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/04/scientists-discover-new-wasp-species-in-a-field-box-from-the-1930s-photos/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Islands, Species Discovery, Strange, and Taxonomy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Searching through materials at the Natural History Museum in Paris, Simon van Noort recently came across a long-neglected field box of wasp specimens. Collected 80 years earlier by André Seyrig in Madagascar, the box contained several specimens of wasp in the Paramblynotus genus. The big surprise: wasps in this genus had never before been seen [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Searching through materials at the Natural History Museum in Paris, Simon van Noort recently came across a long-neglected field box of wasp specimens. Collected 80 years earlier by André Seyrig in Madagascar, the box contained several specimens of wasp in the Paramblynotus genus. The big surprise: wasps in this genus had never before been seen in Madagascar. &#8220;Discovering the field box full of unusual wasps was reminiscent of excitement around opening presents as a child,&#8221; says can Noort with the Natural History Department, Iziko South African Museum. &#8220;There is a huge diversity of undiscovered species in Africa and Madagascar and every new sample contains species unknown to science. [André] Seyrig was a prolific collector of wasps. It was a privilege to be able to work on some of his specimens that had not been examined by specialist taxonomists since they were collected in the 1930&#8217;s.&#8221; The discovery of the field box has led to the description of two new species of wasp for Madagascar, including one named after Seyrig, and the first ever wasps in this genus for the island-country. A recent paper in the open-access Journal of Hymenoptera Research describes these new Malagasy species, as well as six other new Paramblynotus wasps. Found only in tropical Africa, Paramblynotus wasps are tiny, but look something like gall wasps. Researchers believe that the wasps are parasites of wood-boring beetle larvae, but that has yet to be confirmed. Collected in the 1930s in Madagascar this wasp has finally been described and named&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/04/scientists-discover-new-wasp-species-in-a-field-box-from-the-1930s-photos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-29285</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists could name every species on Earth in 50 years</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/01/scientists-could-name-every-species-on-earth-in-50-years/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/01/scientists-could-name-every-species-on-earth-in-50-years/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jan 2013 15:35:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/01/scientists-could-name-every-species-on-earth-in-50-years/</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Extinction, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Science, Species Discovery, and Taxonomy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[New species of agama lizard discovered in remote rainforest in Vietnam: Calotes bachae. Photo by Peter Geissler. A bold new paper in Science argues that the world&#8217;s species could be named and described before they vanish into extinction, though the threat of eventual extinction will remain for many, especially as climate change worsens. The scientists [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[New species of agama lizard discovered in remote rainforest in Vietnam: Calotes bachae. Photo by Peter Geissler. A bold new paper in Science argues that the world&#8217;s species could be named and described before they vanish into extinction, though the threat of eventual extinction will remain for many, especially as climate change worsens. The scientists say that contrary to popular belief, there are more taxonomists working than ever before and there are likely less species on Earth than often reported, making finding and naming the world&#8217;s species within reach this century. &#8220;Our findings are potentially good news for the conservation of global biodiversity,&#8221; said lead author Mark Costello from The University of Auckland&#8217;s Leigh Marine Laboratory. Over the last decade researchers have described 17,5000 new species a year on average, most of which were insects (especially beetles). But every year, scientists still find new mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. However, predictions that there are up to 100 million species on Earth made it appear hopeless that scientists would ever describe them all, especially before they vanished. However, the new paper argues that most likely there are between 2-8 million species on Earth. &#8220;Previous estimates of 30 to 100 million based on potential deep-sea diversity and estimates of insect host specificity now seem highly unlikely,&#8221; the researchers write. Costello says such estimates may have actually hurt conservation efforts. New species of mouse lemur announced last year: Microcebus gerpi. Photo by Blanchard Randrianambinina. &#8220;Over-estimates of the number of species on Earth are&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/01/scientists-could-name-every-species-on-earth-in-50-years/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-29675</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Noel Rowe: all the world&#8217;s primates &#8220;in one place&#8221;</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/05/noel-rowe-all-the-worlds-primates-in-one-place/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/05/noel-rowe-all-the-worlds-primates-in-one-place/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2012 13:53:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2012/05/noel-rowe-all-the-worlds-primates-in-one-place/</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, In-situ Conservation, Interviews, Mammals, Monkeys, Orangutans, Primates, Species Discovery, Taxonomy, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) in Madagascar. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Spanning the gamut from mouse lemurs to mountain gorillas, All The World’s Primates is a comprehensive database of primate species. Founded in 2004 by Noel Rowe and Marc Myers and designed primarily to aid scientists and college students in primatology research, ATWP is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) in Madagascar. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Spanning the gamut from mouse lemurs to mountain gorillas, All The World’s Primates is a comprehensive database of primate species. Founded in 2004 by Noel Rowe and Marc Myers and designed primarily to aid scientists and college students in primatology research, ATWP is also readily accessible to anyone who would like to know a little more about primates. The database is continually updated when new species are discovered; from its inception in 2004 until 2010, 58 new species had been added to the site. In addition to discoveries made by primatologists in the field, All The World’s Primates compiles information from the latest genetic studies. The site also includes photos and videos of many species, and was recently expanded to include a visual key for identification. A trivia game is also in the works. The goal of the ATWP is to inspire interest in primate conservation by increasing awareness of the plights many primates are facing today. Donations to the site are used by Primate Conservation Inc. to fund research into the planet’s most imperiled and least-known species. In April, Mongabay.com caught up with ATWP co-founder Noel Rowe to discuss the database, primate conservation, and how he came to devote his life to this intriguing order of animals. Morgan Erickson-Davis: When did you first become interested in primates? Noel Rowe with a Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvannus). Photo by: Marc Myers. Noel Rowe: My mother took me to the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2012/05/noel-rowe-all-the-worlds-primates-in-one-place/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-30929</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Coral reef biodiversity may be vastly underestimated</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/11/coral-reef-biodiversity-may-be-vastly-underestimated/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/11/coral-reef-biodiversity-may-be-vastly-underestimated/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Nov 2011 21:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2011/11/coral-reef-biodiversity-may-be-vastly-underestimated/</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Climate Change, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Invertebrates, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Taxonomy, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers with the Smithsonian have catalogued almost as many crab species on tropical coral reef bits measuring just 20.6 square feet (6.3 square meters) as in all of Europe&#8217;s seas, finds a new paper in PLoS ONE. The team used DNA barcoding to quickly identify a total of 525 crustaceans (including 168 crab species) from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers with the Smithsonian have catalogued almost as many crab species on tropical coral reef bits measuring just 20.6 square feet (6.3 square meters) as in all of Europe&#8217;s seas, finds a new paper in PLoS ONE. The team used DNA barcoding to quickly identify a total of 525 crustaceans (including 168 crab species) from dead coral chunks taken from seven sites in the tropics, including the Indian, Pacific and Caribbean oceans. &#8220;Given the complexity and extent of the world&#8217;s coral reefs, the survey covered only a very limited depth and habitat range,&#8221; said Laetitia Plaisance lead author with of the Smithsonian and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. &#8220;And yet we have so many more species than we ever expected.&#8221; Highlighting the diversity of life found in coral ecosystems, over a third of the species encountered by researchers were only found once, while 81 percent were only found in one location. Top: the coral reef crustacean, Sadayoshia edwardsii. Bottom: coral reef crustacean, Pilumnus tahitensis. Photos by: Smithsonian. &#8220;The finding of such large numbers of species in a small total area suggests that coral reef diversity is seriously under-detected using traditional survey methods, and by implication, underestimated,&#8221; the authors write, adding that extrapolating from coral and fish diversity may have pushed scientists to underestimate the full biodiversity of coral reefs. In their case, DNA barcoding allowed the researchers to quickly determine diversity. &#8220;DNA barcoding provides a standardized, cost-effective method of coming to grips with the staggering diversity of the world&#8217;s oceans,&#8221;&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2011/11/coral-reef-biodiversity-may-be-vastly-underestimated/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-31786</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Humanity knows less than 15 percent of the world&#8217;s species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/08/humanity-knows-less-than-15-percent-of-the-worlds-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/08/humanity-knows-less-than-15-percent-of-the-worlds-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Aug 2011 20:58:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2011/08/humanity-knows-less-than-15-percent-of-the-worlds-species/</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Marine, Marine Animals, Mass Extinction, Species Discovery, Strange, Taxonomy, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Unidentified butterfly in Sumatra. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Scientists have named, cataloged, and described less than 2 million species in the past two and a half centuries, yet, according to an new innovative analysis, we are no-where near even a basic understanding of the diversity of life on this small blue planet. The study [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Unidentified butterfly in Sumatra. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Scientists have named, cataloged, and described less than 2 million species in the past two and a half centuries, yet, according to an new innovative analysis, we are no-where near even a basic understanding of the diversity of life on this small blue planet. The study in PLoS Biology, which is likely to be controversial, predicts that there are 8.7 million species in the world, though the number could be as low as 7.4 or as high as 10 million. The research implies that about 86 percent of the world&#8217;s species have still yet to be described. The question of how many species exist has intrigued scientists for centuries and the answer, coupled with research by others into species&#8217; distribution and abundance, is particularly important now because a host of human activities and influences are accelerating the rate of extinctions,&#8221; said lead author Camilo Mora of the University of Hawaii and Dalhousie University said in a press release. Estimates for life on Earth have varied widely, jumping from 3 million in total to 100 million, but the authors of the paper argue theirs is the most certain estimate to date. &#8220;We discovered that, using numbers from the higher taxonomic groups, we can predict the number of species. The approach accurately predicted the number of species in several well-studied groups such as mammals, fishes and birds, providing confidence in the method,&#8221; says co-author Dr. Sina Adl at Dalhousie University. The team came&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2011/08/humanity-knows-less-than-15-percent-of-the-worlds-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-32101</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Not enough data on world&#8217;s tropical plants to predict impact of warming world</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/02/not-enough-data-on-worlds-tropical-plants-to-predict-impact-of-warming-world/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/02/not-enough-data-on-worlds-tropical-plants-to-predict-impact-of-warming-world/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Feb 2011 20:49:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2011/02/not-enough-data-on-worlds-tropical-plants-to-predict-impact-of-warming-world/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Asia, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Green, Impact Of Climate Change, In-situ Conservation, Mass Extinction, Plants, Rainforests, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Taxonomy, Threats To Rainforests, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[How many tropical plant species are threatened by climate change? Which plants have big enough ranges to survive a warming world, not to mention deforestation? How likely is it that the tropics are undergoing a current mass extinction? These questions may appear straight forward, but a new study in Global Change Biology finds that researchers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[How many tropical plant species are threatened by climate change? Which plants have big enough ranges to survive a warming world, not to mention deforestation? How likely is it that the tropics are undergoing a current mass extinction? These questions may appear straight forward, but a new study in Global Change Biology finds that researchers lack the hard data necessary to come to any confident conclusions. According to the study, nine out of ten tropical plants from Africa, Asia, and South America lack the minimum number of collections needed (at least 20) to determine the species&#8217; range, and therefore predict the impact of climate change. &#8220;The problem isn&#8217;t that there are so few records—there are about a millions records—the problem is that the species diversity is so high. When you look at the way those records are distributed among the species, you find that most species are known from 1 or 2 collections,&#8221; co-author Miles Silman of Wake Forest University told mongabay.com. For its part, mongabay.com has hundreds of photos of tropical plants that it has been unable to identify such as this unidentified flower in Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Sabah, Malaysia. Photo by: Jeremy Hance. Silman&#8217;s co-author, Kenneth Feeley of the Florida International University and the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden explains says in order to confidently map a plant&#8217;s distribution researchers needs more than 20 collections, i.e. plant specimens collected from the field and referenced geographically. &#8220;Estimates put the total plant diversity for the Neotropics at more than 85,000 species.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2011/02/not-enough-data-on-worlds-tropical-plants-to-predict-impact-of-warming-world/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/02/not-enough-data-on-worlds-tropical-plants-to-predict-impact-of-warming-world/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-32959</doi>				</item>
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