A group of researchers have identified several new species of sunbirds, whose range spans from Africa in the west and Australia in the east, in the tropical Wakatobi Islands in central Indonesia. The paper, published Oct. 25 by scientists from Ireland and Indonesia, has described the physical and genetic distinctness of the Wakatobi sunbird (Cinnyris […]
Tag: new species
Newly-Described Bird Species is Endemic to Indonesian Island
Zosterops is a genus of passerine birds containing the typical white-eyes in the family Zosteropidae. First introduced in 1827, the genus comprises over 100 species distributed in the Afrotropical, Indomalayan, and Australasian regions. These birds are supreme island colonizers, which is why so many different white-eye species have evolved so rapidly, as different island populations […]
Himalayan Forest Thrush: Scientists Discover New Species of Bird
A group of scientists led by Dr. Per Alström of Uppsala University has described a new species of bird from the northeastern India and adjacent parts of China. Dr. Alström and his Chinese and European colleagues named the new species Zoothera salimalii. “The scientific name honors the great Indian ornithologist Sálim Ali, in recognition of […]
Scientist under attack after he kills bird that took decades to find
For Christopher Filardi of the American Museum of Natural History, there is nothing like the thrill of finding a mysterious species. Such animals live at the intersection of myth and biology – tantalising researchers with the prospect that they may be real, but eluding trustworthy documentation and closer study. Indeed, last month, Filardi waxed poetic […]
New species of ‘hog-nosed’ rat discovered in Indonesia
Victorian scientists have discovered a new mammal, the hog-nosed rat, with features not been seen by science before. Hyorhinomys stuempkei was previously undocumented in any scientific collection. The rodent was found by a team of scientists from Museum Victoria, Louisiana State University and the Dutch Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense in a remote, mountainous forest of Mount […]
‘Golden jackals’ of East Africa are actually ‘golden wolves’
Despite their remarkably similar appearance, the “golden jackals” of East Africa and Eurasia are actually two entirely different species. The discovery, based on DNA evidence and reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on July 30, increases the overall biodiversity of the Canidae—the group including dogs, wolves, foxes, and jackals—from 35 living species to […]
Two new iguanid lizard species from the Laja Lagoon, Chile
A team of Chilean scientists discover two new species of iguanid lizards from the Laja Lagoon, Chile. The two new species are believed to have been long confused with other representatives of the elongatus-kriegi lizard complex, until recent morphological analysis diagnosed them as separate. The study was published in the 500th issue of the open […]
Recently rediscovered hummingbird faces extinction
The blue-bearded helmetcrest (Oxypogon cyanolaemus) is a spectacular hummingbird. It is aptly named for the blue streak of feathers on its chin and a pointed crest on its head resembling a knight’s helmet. Equally spectacular to the species’ physical appearance is its physical disappearance and reappearance. No one had seen a single living blue-bearded helmetcrest […]