New Species News

April 19, 2024

Top Headlines

Leptanilla Voldemort, a Ghostly Slender New Ant Species from the Dark Depths of the Underground

Apr. 12, 2024 — In the sun-scorched Pilbara region of north-western Australia, scientists have unearthed a mysterious creature from the shadows -- a new ant species called Leptanilla ...

Twisted Pollen Tubes Induce Infertility

Apr. 16, 2024 — Plants with multiple sets of chromosomes, known as polyploids, are salt-tolerant or drought-resistant and often achieve higher yields. However, newly formed polyploid plants are often sterile or have reduced fertility and are unsuitable for breeding ...

Digging Up New Species of Australia and New Guinea's Giant Fossil Kangaroos

Apr. 15, 2024 — Palaeontologists have described three unusual new species of giant fossil kangaroo from Australia and New Guinea, finding them more diverse in shape, range and hopping method than previously thought. The three new species are of the extinct genus ...

Oxidant Pollutant Ozone Removes Mating Barriers Between Fly Species

Apr. 11, 2024 — Researchers show that ozone levels, such as those found in many places on hot summer days today, destroy the sex pheromones of fruit fly species. As a result, some natural mating boundaries maintained by species-specific pheromones no longer exist. ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:51pm EDT

Four in Five Bird Species Cannot Tolerate Intense Human Pressures

Apr. 5, 2024 — In a recent study, researchers found that 78% of the world's bird species do not thrive in the most modified human-dominated environments. These species are also most likely to have declining ...

New Sunflower Family Tree Reveals Multiple Origins of Flower Symmetry

Apr. 3, 2024 — A new sunflower family tree used skimmed genomes to increase the number of species sampled, revealing that flower symmetry evolved multiple times independently, a process called convergent evolution, ...

We've Had Bird Evolution All Wrong

Apr. 1, 2024 — Genomic anamolies dating back to the time of the dinosaurs misled scientists about the evolutionary history of ...

Melting Glaciers in a Warmer Climate Provide New Ground for Invasive Species

Apr. 1, 2024 — In 2022 and 2023, biologists from research institutes in the UK and the Falkland Islands led two expeditions to South Georgia to study the impacts of ...

Scientists Link Certain Gut Bacteria to Lower Heart Disease Risk

Apr. 2, 2024 — Changes in the gut microbiome have been implicated in a range of diseases including type 2 diabetes, obesity, and inflammatory bowel disease. Now, a team of researchers has found that microbes in the ...

These Plants Evolved in Florida Millions of Years Ago: They May Be Gone in Decades

Apr. 2, 2024 — Scrub mints are among the most endangered plants you've probably never heard of. More than half of the 24 species currently known to exist are ...

North American Cities May See a Major Species Turnover by the End of the Century

Mar. 27, 2024 — Climate change may dramatically affect the animal species observed in North American cities, according to a new ...

'Winners and Losers' as Global Warming Forces Plants Uphill

Mar. 25, 2024 — Some plant species will 'win' and others will 'lose' as global warming forces them to move uphill, new research ...

Rays Were More Diverse 150 Million Years Ago Than Previously Thought

Mar. 21, 2024 — Scientists have explored the puzzling world of rays that lived 150 million years ago and discovered a previously hidden diversity -- including a new ray species. This study significantly expands the ...

Species Diversity Promotes Ecosystem Stability

Mar. 21, 2024 — What maintains stability within an ecosystem and prevents a single best competitor from displacing other species from a community? Does ecosystem stability depend upon the presence of a wide variety ...

Biologists Uncover New Species of Tiger Beetle: Eunota Houstoniana

Mar. 27, 2024 — Evolutionary biologists have unearthed a new species of tiger beetle, deemed Eunota houstoniana, honoring the Houston region where it predominantly ...

Sap Beetles Vs Wind: What Pollinates Screw Pines?

Mar. 27, 2024 — Researchers have discovered the first species pollinated by sap beetles in the genus Pandanus, a group of palm-like plants native to the tropics and subtropics of Africa and Eurasia. The discovery ...

Citizen Scientists Contribute Vital Information About 35 Seahorse Species

Mar. 25, 2024 — Thanks to diligent observers, seahorses, those enigmatic and charismatic fish, are not only being discovered in new habitats and expanded geographic ranges, they are also being found at new ocean ...

Decoding the Easter Bunny -- An Eastern Finnish Brown Hare to Represent the Standard for the Species' Genome

Mar. 20, 2024 — Biologists have published a chromosomally assembled reference genome for the European brown hare. The genome consists of 2.9 billion base pairs, which form 23 autosomal chromosomes, and X and Y sex ...

Gene Flow in Giraffes and What It Means for Their Conservation

Mar. 12, 2024 — Giraffes, with their bizarre body plan, have always held a special place in the minds of evolutionary biologists and non-experts alike. In a new study whole-genome sequencing data was used to ...

Anemonefish Are Better Taxonomists Than Humans

Mar. 11, 2024 — Scientists reveal new lineages of giant sea anemones in Japan and their surprising associations with ...

Reptile Roadkill Reveals New Threat to Endangered Lizard Species

Mar. 7, 2024 — The chance sighting of a dead snake beside a sandy track in remote Western Australia, and the investigation of its stomach contents, has led researchers to record the first known instance of a ...

New Study Reveals Insight Into Which Animals Are Most Vulnerable to Extinction Due to Climate Change

Mar. 7, 2024 — In a new study, researchers have used the fossil record to better understand what factors make animals more vulnerable to extinction from climate change. The results could help to identify species ...

Eight New Deep-Sea Species of Marine Sponges Discovered

Mar. 7, 2024 — Despite marine sponges being widespread on our planet, their biodiversity and distribution is still poorly known. Even though the Mediterranean Sea is the most explored sea on Earth, a study reveals ...

New Deep-Sea Worm Discovered at Methane Seep Off Costa Rica

Mar. 6, 2024 — Marine biologists have discovered a new species of deep-sea worm living near a methane seep some 50 kilometers (30 miles) off the Pacific coast of Costa ...

A New Plant's Name That Tells a Story

Mar. 1, 2024 — A new species and genus of fairy lantern, tiny glass-like white plants that feed on fungi, has been discovered in Japan. In the country renowned for its extensive flora research, the discovery of a ...

Bottlenecks and Beehives: How an Invasive Bee Colony Defied Genetic Expectations

Mar. 1, 2024 — An invasive Asian honeybee colony in northern Australia has defied expectations, displaying emergent genetic variation in a short period of time. While bad news for biosecurity agencies, it could be ...

Genetic Research Revealed Several New Fern Species in Tropical America

Feb. 29, 2024 — Researchers have clarified the evolutionary history of a previously poorly known group of ferns from the tropical rainforests of America using DNA methods. The study discovered many new fern species, ...

Birds and Bee Lessons as Pacific Field Trips Also Solve 'Michener's Mystery'

Feb. 29, 2024 — Eight new Pacific bee species and new insights into Fijian bird behaviour on Viti Levu Island have been described in new scientific studies. The research highlights the potential for species ...

Butterflies Mimic Each Other's Flight Behavior to Avoid Predators

Feb. 26, 2024 — Researchers have shown that inedible species of butterfly that mimic each others' color patterns have also evolved similar flight behaviors to warn predators and avoid being ...

Mice Surprise: Researchers Discover New Native Species

Feb. 22, 2024 — Australia can lay claim to two new species of native rodent thanks to a new study. The aptly named delicate mouse was previously thought to be a single species spanning a massive stretch of the ...

Scientists May Have Cracked the 'Aging Process' in Species

Feb. 20, 2024 — Research shows the relationship between a species' age and its risk of going extinct could be accurately predicted by an ecological model called the 'neutral theory of ...

Bat 'Nightclubs' May Be the Key to Solving the Next Pandemic

Feb. 20, 2024 — Researchers are studying how bats can carry deadly viruses, but not develop symptoms. They found that what happens during swarming behavior -- like social gatherings for bats -- may hold the key to ...

Giant New Snake Species Identified in the Amazon

Feb. 20, 2024 — A team of scientists on location with a film crew in the remote Amazon has uncovered a previously undocumented species of giant ...

Giant Antarctic Sea Spiders Reproductive Mystery Solved

Feb. 18, 2024 — Instead of carrying the babies until they hatched, as in most species of sea spiders, one parent (likely the father) spent two days attaching the eggs to the rocky bottom where they developed for ...