1,000 Hidden Species Revealed in Aussie Outback Underground

The Australian Outback is hot, dry and desolate. But just under the surface it is teeming with life.

A team of researchers in Australia has been looking for invertebrates in small underground cavities beneath the desert. So far the team, including scientists from the University of Adelaide, the South Australian Museum in Adelaide and the Western Australian Museum in Perth, has found more than 1,000 new species. They estimate there are another 3,500 beneath the arid topsoil.

"When the discovery was first made, we didn't really believe it,"said team leader Andy Austin, professor of biology at the Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity at the University of Adelaide. "We thought maybe it was unique to just three or four locations."

Instead, they have found the tiny creatures, including small crustaceans, spiders, beetles and worms, in nearly every bore hole they've looked down.

Read more here ...

Fossil of Giant Ancient Sea Predator Discovered

Anomalocaridids had long, spiny head limbs presumably used to snag
prey, and a series of blade-like filaments in segments across the animal's
back, which scientists think might have functioned as gills.
(Credit: Esben Horn)

ScienceDaily (May 26, 2011) — Paleontologists have discovered that a group of remarkable ancient sea creatures existed for much longer and grew to much larger sizes than previously thought, thanks to extraordinarily well-preserved fossils discovered in Morocco.

The creatures, known as anomalocaridids, were already thought to be the largest animals of the Cambrian period, known for the "Cambrian Explosion" that saw the sudden appearance of all the major animal groups and the establishment of complex ecosystems about 540 to 500 million years ago. Fossils from this period suggested these marine predators grew to be about two feet long. Until now, scientists also thought these strange invertebrates -- which had long spiny head limbs presumably used to snag worms and other prey, and a circlet of plates around the mouth -- died out at the end of the Cambrian.

Now a team led by former Yale researcher Peter Van Roy (now at Ghent University in Belgium) and Derek Briggs, director of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, has discovered a giant fossilized anomalocaridid that measures one meter (more than three feet) in length. The anomalocaridid fossils reveal a series of blade like filaments in each segment across the animal's back, which scientists think might have functioned as gills.

In addition, the creature dates back to the Ordovician period, a time of intense biodiversification that followed the Cambrian, meaning these animals existed for 30 million years longer than previously realized.

"The anomalocaridids are one of the most iconic groups of Cambrian animals," Briggs said. "These giant invertebrate predators and scavengers have come to symbolize the unfamiliar morphologies displayed by organisms that branched off early from lineages leading to modern marine animals, and then went extinct. Now we know that they died out much more recently than we thought."

The specimens are just part of a new trove of fossils from Morocco that includes thousands of examples of soft-bodied marine fauna dating back to the early Ordovician period, 488 to 472 million years ago. Because hard shells fossilize and are preserved more readily than soft tissue, scientists had an incomplete and biased view of the marine life that existed during the Ordovician period before the recent discoveries in Morocco. The animals found in Morocco inhabited a muddy sea floor in fairly deep water, and were trapped by sediment clouds that buried them and preserved their soft bodies.

"The new discoveries in Morocco indicate that animals characteristic of the Cambrian, such as the anomalocaridids, continued to have a considerable impact on the biodiversity and ecology of marine communities many millions of years later," Van Roy said.

The paper appears in the May 26 issue of the journal Nature.

This research was supported by a National Geographic Society Research and Exploration grant and by Yale University.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110525131709.htm

Mass extinction victim survives! Snail long thought extinct, isn't

A view of Choccolocco Creek, Talledega County, Alabama, where a
surviving population of the wicker ancylid limpet Rhodacmea filosa
(insert, not to scale), was recently rediscovered.
Credit: Paul Johnson, Alabama Aquatic Biodiversity Center

June 1, 2011

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Think "mass extinction" and you probably envision dinosaurs dropping dead in the long-ago past or exotic tropical creatures being wiped out when their rainforest habitats are decimated. But a major mass extinction took place right here in North America in the first half of the 20th century, when 47 species of mollusk disappeared after the watershed in which they lived was dammed.

Now, a population of one of those species—a freshwater limpet last seen more than 60 years ago and presumed extinct—has been found in a tributary of the heavily dammed Coosa River in Alabama's Mobile River Basin. Researchers from the University of Michigan, the Alabama Aquatic Biodiversity Center and the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission reported the rediscovery May 31 in the online, open-access journal PLoS One.

The story of Rhodacmea filosa's disappearance and reappearance is both a conservation success story and a cautionary tale for other parts of the world where rivers are being dammed, said Diarmaid Ó Foighil, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and a curator at the U-M Museum of Zoology. It's also an example of how museum specimens collected generations ago can inform scientists of today.

Limpets are snails with shells shaped like caps rather than coils. They make their homes in the riffles and shoals of fast-flowing rivers and streams, where they graze on microscopic algae. When rivers are dammed, shoals and riffles are replaced with reservoirs, and the swiftly-moving water the limpets require is stilled.

The Mobile River Basin, a "global hotspot of temperate freshwater biodiversity," was extensively industrialized throughout the 20th century, and 36 major dams and locks were built. At the time, few thought much about preserving biodiversity. The prevailing attitude was, "What's not to like about getting electricity from a natural source—especially in impoverished, rural areas—and using that to drive industrialization?" Ó Foighil said. "The dams were seen as signs of progress."

But progress came at the expense of mollusks that were found only in that area and nowhere else in the world.

"Their habitat was destroyed in huge chunks," Ó Foighil said. The result: 47 of 139 endemic mollusk species were lost, representing a full one-third of all known freshwater mollusk extinctions worldwide.

Then, about 20 years ago, thanks to increased interest in and funding for conservation projects, biologists began searching patches of the drainage that weren't affected by damming, trying to find remnants of the original, rich fauna and save whatever still could be saved. At the Alabama Aquatic Biodiversity Center (AABC), a former catfish experimental research station has been converted into a captive breeding facility, with the aim of breeding survivors of the mass extinction and reintroducing them into unaffected parts of the watershed.

It was through those efforts that AABC director Paul Johnson discovered the surviving population of what he thought might be Rhodacmea filosa. But how does one definitively identify a species that hasn't been seen in decades? There are no other living members of the group with which to compare specimens.

That's where the U-M Museum of Zoology collection comes in. It just so happens that 100 years ago, biologists collected multitudes of mollusks from the Mobile River Basin—never envisioning the habitat destruction and resulting extinctions that were to come—and those specimens ended up in the U-M collection. Coincidentally, the mollusk portion of that collection was largely established by Bryant Walker, an early authority on—you guessed it—the limpet genus Rhodacmea. Furthermore, the last person to study Rhodacmea was a U-M graduate student, some 50 years ago.

Using century-old reference specimens, Ó Foighil, professor emeritus John Burch, graduate student Jingchun Li and collection coordinator Taehwan Lee were able to confirm the identity in addition to performing detailed morphometric and DNA analyses.

"This is very good news," Ó Foighil said. "With conservation biology, usually it's all gloom and doom, but this is one of those rare events where we have something positive to say."

But just because survivors have been found, does that mean the species can continue to survive?

"I think they can, because of two things," Ó Foighil said. "We have a persistent population in this little tributary, but we also now have in place the infrastructure for their captive breeding and reintroduction to other tributaries."

This snail tale might well serve as an object lesson, Ó Foighil said. "The industrialization of freshwater watersheds that happened across the U.S. in the last century is now happening all over the world. For instance, right now one of the most egregious examples is the ongoing damming of the Mekong, and there are likely thousands of endemic species there. Even though we're now more aware of this—of the negative downsides—when it comes to issues of economic development, freshwater biodiversity almost always loses."

In addition to Ó Foighil, Li, Lee, Johnson and Burch, the paper's authors include Ryan Evans of the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission. Funding was provided by the State Wildlife Grant Program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Science Foundation.

http://ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=8426

Unknown Animals Nearly Invisible Yet There

Individuals of the bryozoan Alcyonidium diaphanum
stretch out their tentacles to filter food particles
out of the water. (Credit: Judith Fuchs.)

ScienceDaily (Mar. 22, 2011) — Bryozoans (moss animals) are a group of aquatic invertebrates that are found in great variety throughout the world, with well over 100 species in Sweden alone. Yet little is known about them. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have now studied Swedish bryozoan species using DNA techniques.

"There are currently over 6 000 known species of Bryozoa. Earlier studies were based on visible characteristics of these animals, which is not sufficient to decide how the species are related to each other. To understand the evolution of bryozoans and how they are related to other animals, it is necessary to use molecular data, that's to say DNA," says Judith Fuchs of the Department of Zoology at the University of Gothenburg.

When Bryozoa were discovered in the 16th century, they were regarded as plants. Later on they were found to have a nervous system, muscles and an intestinal system and were classified as animals. On their own, bryozoans are barely visible to the naked eye, but like coral animals all bryozoans build colonies that reach several centimetres in size and some species build colonies of over 30cm.

In her thesis, Fuchs has studied the evolution and relationships of Bryozoa using molecular data (DNA) from more than 30 bryozoan species, most collected in Sweden. The results show that this animal group developed from a common ancestor that probably lived in the sea. Two groups of Bryozoa evolved from this common ancestor: a group that stayed in the marine environment and another that evolved in freshwater. The DNA studies of the larval stage of Bryozoa can also contribute to a better understanding of the evolution of life cycles and larval stages of other multicellular animals.

Together with her supervisor, Matthias Obst, over a period of four years she has also taken part in the marine inventory of the Swedish Species Project along the west coast of Sweden. The collection of all marine bottom-living animals is based on more than 500 samples from 400 locations.

"We found as many as 120 marine bryozoan species in our waters, and many of them had not been previously known in Sweden. We also found a completely new species of Bryozoa. This is a very small bryozoan with characteristic spikes on its surface, which I have described in my thesis."

To date, 45 per cent of the bryozoans collected in the inventory have been determined.

"Sweden has a very rich bryozoan fauna. On your next trip to the beach you might perhaps take a closer look at seaweed or pebbles. If you see a white covering with small holes in it, you have found a bryozoan colony for yourself."

There are currently over 6 000 known species of Bryozoa. Earlier studies were based on visible characteristics of these animals, which is not sufficient to decide how the species are related to each other. To understand the evolution of bryozoans and how they are related to other animals, it is necessary to use molecular data, that's to say DNA," says Judith Fuchs of the Department of Zoology at the University of Gothenburg.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110322105740.htm

How cockroaches 'talk' about food

Cockroaches "recommend" good food sources to each other by communicating in chemicals, according to scientists.

The much-maligned insects appear to make a collective decision about the best food source.

The study, carried out by a team from Queen Mary, University of London, helps explain why the creatures are often found feeding en masse in our kitchens late at night.

It was published in the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology.

Dr Mathieu Lihoreau from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences led the research. He pointed out that people tend to "kill cockroaches rather than study them".

"I can understand that," he told BBC News. "But it means we don't know very much about their behaviour."

It was generally accepted that the insects foraged individually, "but that's definitely not true," said Dr Lihoreau. "Anyone who has cockroaches in their home will tell you that's wrong - you see them in groups."

To test his suspicion that the creatures were in fact communicating with each other, he and his colleagues gave a group of cockroaches a food choice test.

"We released them into a small arena where there were two identical food sources," he explained. "If they didn't communicate, we would expect that they should just distribute on the two food sources equally."

But the majority of the hungry cockroaches (Blattella germanica) fed solely on one piece of food until it was all gone.

By following individual insects, it also emerged that the more of cockroaches there were on one piece of food, the longer each one would stay to feed.

"We don't know how they communicate, but we know they're using chemicals," Dr Lihoreau explained. "That will be the next step - to find the chemicals involved in the communication.

"These observations coupled with simulations of a mathematical model indicate that cockroaches communicate through close contact when they are already on the food source."

He believes that the insects signal to each other using a "foraging pheromone" - possibly a chemical in their saliva or a hydrocarbon on their bodies.

"We think they encounter another cockroach, touch it and say 'ok, that's another cockroach, its eating good food, I'll stay'," he said.

Once identified, a man-made foraging pheromone could be used to improve pest control, making insecticide gels more effective or be used to create an insecticide-free trap.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10236515.stm

Warm weather is cold comfort

10:41am Thursday 18th February 2010

The heavy snow and cold weather we have been experiencing this winter have come as something of a surprise to many of us. We have become used to mild temperatures and sometimes heavy rainfalls, but a fortnight of snow is something that many only remember from their childhood.

Extreme cold causes living things all sorts of problems.

Freezing temperatures turn water into ice so that animals cannot drink, and plants cannot take up water through their roots.

However, the wildlife that lives in, or visits, the British Isles is well adapted to low temperatures and a shortage of food.

Many species are descendants of the survivors of the last Ice Age. And they also managed to get through the ‘Little Ice Age’ that spanned the 16th to 19th centuries, when even the River Thames would famously freeze over regularly.

So, is this recent spell of cold weather really a threat to them?

When viewed on its own it would seem not to be a problem, but in the context of the erratic weather conditions that we have seen over recent years. a more sinister picture emerges.

Think back to the summer floods of 2006 and 2007, or the scorcher of 2003, and you realise that wildlife is increasingly and rapidly facing unpredictable conditions.

Conditions that are forcing it to change survival techniques developed over thousands of years.

Some animals cannot find enough food during the winter months to sustain them, so they slow their body processes to almost a standstill to survive — a process called hibernation.

The hedgehog, pictured right, is perhaps the most well-known hibernator in Britain. It fattens up on slugs, snails and other minibeasts in the autumn, and spends the cold months curled up in a sleep-like state in a cosy nest of leaves and dry grass.

Other mammals, such as bats and dormice, also rely on hibernation to survive the winter.

But hibernating animals do not stay asleep all through the winter; they will wake up on warmer days and look for food or water. They will also wake up if the temperature drops too low, and start shivering in order to keep their body from freezing.

Every time they wake up, they use a great deal of energy which makes it more difficult to survive when food supplies are low, especially if the warm spell is followed by a particularly deep freeze, like the one we have recently experienced.

Debbie Lewis, reserves ecology manager at BBOWT, said: “The effects of the changing weather patterns can cause additional stress on hedgehog populations that are already affected by loss of habitat due to intensive farming and urban development.

“Many of our reserves may look a little scruffy round the edges in the winter, but these areas have been specifically left with tall vegetation and piles of old wood so that they can provide a great location for hedgehogs to snuggle up in during the winter.”

Cold-blooded animals have developed other ways of survival. Some invertebrates release chemicals into their body fluids which prevent them from freezing, similar to the way anti-freeze works in the radiator of a car. Many caterpillars, some butterflies, slugs, snails, queen wasps and bumblebees spend the winter in this way.

Bumblebees typify the dangers that changing climate conditions pose to wildlife that uses this winter survival technique. Wild bumblebees can be found well into the Arctic Circle and they are able to fly and look for food in lower temperatures than honey bees.

The queen is capable of founding a whole new colony and she is the only one that survives through the winter. If periods of unseasonably mild weather cause her to come out of her dormant state too early, a subsequent cold spell could be devastating for the precious cargo of eggs, thus destroying a potential new colony.

It will take wildlife a long time to adapt to changing conditions, and ironically the changing weather patterns can produce some positive effects.

A particularly warm or wet winter, for example, could result in a wealth of slugs or insects, a vital source of food for many animals. But a return to cold weather could bring with it further problems.

There are two ways in which we can help wildlife cope with these erratic changes in weather patterns, by tackling the cause of the problem and by helping to alleviate its symptoms.

The cause of the problem is well known. There is now ample scientific evidence that changes in weather patterns are closely linked to climate change and the corresponding rise in greenhouse gases caused by human activity.

So, reducing your own carbon footprint is a first step in helping stabilise climate.

The second part of the solution is to keep protecting our best wildlife habitats and species, and to minimise other sources of damage so that there is the maximum diversity as we go into an uncertain future.

BBOWT manages its reserves to include a diversity of habitat structure, which includes graded woodland edges, scrub patches, tall herbs and short turf.

This creates varied habitats and niches for wildlife to thrive in, as well as safe havens from the weather and predators, and areas rich with food sources.

Matt Jackson, head of policy, planning and wider countryside at BBOWT, said: “We are already seeing the effects of a changing climate with new species arriving on nature reserves and others struggling to cope with changes in food supply.

“The real worry is the rate of change. We need to do anything we can to slow down how rapidly our climate changes to give habitats and species as much time as possible to adapt, and as much space as possible to do it in.”

The cold snap might not have hurt wildlife as much as we thought, but it is a sign of greater changes in climate conditions that could have a devastating effect on our local wildlife.

To find out more about how to join or volunteer for BBOWT go to www.bbowt.org.uk
Picture: Mike Taylor/ www.seeing.org

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisure/5014991.Warm_weather_is_cold_comfort/

Rare beetles found at Blakeney National Nature Reserve

RIGHT: A rare type of Rove Beetle has
been spotted at Blakeney Point

Two species of beetle that are new to Norfolk have been discovered as part of 187 different beetle varieties found at Blakeney National Nature Reserve.

Nine experts found a Rove and a Fungus Beetle as part of a survey on "small, but important wildlife".

They also found 41 lichen species, 24 types of spider and five types of ant.

"We are indebted to these wonderful volunteers," said Stuart Warrington, National Trust nature conservation advisor.

"Without them we just would not know how important Blakeney Point is for insects and other invertebrates," he added.

The full names for the new Norfolk beetles are the Red Data Book Rove Beetle called Phytosus nigriventris and a nationally scarce Fungus Beetle called Leiodes ciliaris.

The survey, which took place in September 2009, also unveiled a Sap Beetle Nitidula carnaria, which had not been recorded in Norfolk since the 19th Century, and the Clown Beetle Gnathoncus nanus with only its second appearance in recent history.

Nationally rare ant species Myrmica specioides were also discovered.

Successful summer

The survey rounded off a successful summer for wildlife at Blakeney Point, famously known for its seals, as its breeding birds had a good season with the Sandwich Tern colony growing to 3100 pairs, up from 2400 pairs in 2008.

Other highlights were the 86 pairs of Little Terns that nested on the Point's shingle beaches and produced 52 fledglings and 13 pairs of Ringed Plover, which raised 12 chicks.

"The success of the terns depends on a whole range of factors including a supply of small fish, good weather and tides, and not too much disturbance," said David Wood, National Trust head warden at Blakeney.

"Last summer's successes were thanks to good conditions, the hard work of staff and volunteers and the understanding and support of visitors and the local community," he added.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/norfolk/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8516000/8516903.stm
(Submitted by Lindsay Selby)

Coral Fossils Document Past Sea Life

Posted on: Tuesday, 16 February 2010, 06:39 CST

Scientists may use fossilized coral reefs in the Great Barrier Reefs to understand how sea levels have changed over the past 20,000 years.

An international team of researchers plan to spend 45 days at sea, gathering core samples from about 40 sites.

Coral, which is described as the "tree of the sea", have growth rings that show seasonal variations.

Researchers say that samples taken of the coral will also help show past sea temperatures, as well as other changes to the reef.

Alan Stevenson, team leader of marine geology at the British Geological Survey (BGS), said the fossilized corals' annual growth rings provided an insight to conditions under waves.

"We can then analyze those rings to build up a very detailed picture of what the ocean was like when they were forming, including temperature and salinity, “ he said.

Stevenson told BBC News that the Great Barrier Reef is about half a million years old.

"Over this time, parts have died out... as sea levels change. Basically, corals drown when it becomes too deep for them."

The team plans to collect samples of fossilized corals that were developed between 20,000 to 10,000 years ago.

"We will core into a 'time capsule' of sediments that holds information on the environmental evolution of the reef since the last glaciation some 20,000 years ago," said Dan Evans, a marine geologist at BGS and science manager for the ECORD Science Operator.

Researchers currently believe that there were three periods in which the sea level rise was accelerated: 19,000, 13,800 and 11,300 years ago.

"By understanding more about the past, we can understand a little bit more about the future," said Stevenson.

The team will gather core samples, some of which are 490 ft below the seabed.

Stevenson said that the expedition would not disturb the live coral in the World Heritage site.

"Obviously, it is a national park and we are in there with the permission of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park authority. If they were not happy, then we would not be there."

The European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD) and the forms part of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) all are funding the expedition.

---

On the Net:

British Geological Survey (BGS)
Expedition 325 - Great Barrier Reef Environmental Changes

Source: RedOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1823365/coral_fossils_document_past_sea_life/index.html

Green Sea Slug Is Part Animal, Part Plant

By Susan Milius, Science News January 11, 2010

SEATTLE — It’s easy being green for a sea slug that has stolen enough genes to become the first animal shown to make chlorophyll like a plant.

Shaped like a leaf itself, the slug Elysia chlorotica already has a reputation for kidnapping the photosynthesizing organelles and some genes from algae. Now it turns out that the slug has acquired enough stolen goods to make an entire plant chemical-making pathway work inside an animal body, says Sidney K. Pierce of the University of South Florida in Tampa.

The slugs can manufacture the most common form of chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants that captures energy from sunlight, Pierce reported January 7 at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. Pierce used a radioactive tracer to show that the slugs were making the pigment, called chlorophyll a, themselves and not simply relying on chlorophyll reserves stolen from the algae the slugs dine on.

“This could be a fusion of a plant and an animal — that’s just cool,” said invertebrate zoologist John Zardus of The Citadel in Charleston, S.C.

Microbes swap genes readily, but Zardus said he couldn’t think of another natural example of genes flowing between multicellular kingdoms.

Pierce emphasized that this green slug goes far beyond animals such as corals that host live-in microbes that share the bounties of their photosynthesis. Most of those hosts tuck in the partner cells whole in crevices or pockets among host cells. Pierce’s slug, however, takes just parts of cells, the little green photosynthetic organelles called chloroplasts, from the algae it eats. The slug’s highly branched gut network engulfs these stolen bits and holds them inside slug cells.

Some related slugs also engulf chloroplasts but E. chlorotica alone preserves the organelles in working order for a whole slug lifetime of nearly a year. The slug readily sucks the innards out of algal filaments whenever they’re available, but in good light, multiple meals aren’t essential. Scientists have shown that once a young slug has slurped its first chloroplast meal from one of its few favored species of Vaucheria algae, the slug does not have to eat again for the rest of its life. All it has to do is sunbathe.

But the chloroplasts need a continuous supply of chlorophyll and other compounds that get used up during photosynthesis. Back in their native algal cells, chloroplasts depended on algal cell nuclei for the fresh supplies. To function so long in exile, “chloroplasts might have taken a go-cup with them when they left the algae,” Pierce said.

There have been previous hints, however, that the chloroplasts in the slug don’t run on stored-up supplies alone. Starting in 2007, Pierce and his colleagues, as well as another team, found several photosynthesis-related genes in the slugs apparently lifted directly from the algae. Even unhatched sea slugs, which have never encountered algae, carry “algal” photosynthetic genes.

At the meeting, Pierce described finding more borrowed algal genes in the slug genome for enzymes in a chlorophyll-synthesizing pathway. Assembling the whole compound requires some 16 enzymes and the cooperation of multiple cell components. To see whether the slug could actually make new chlorophyll a to resupply the chloroplasts, Pierce and his colleagues turned to slugs that hadn’t fed for at least five months and had stopped releasing any digestive waste. The slugs still contained chloroplasts stripped from the algae, but any other part of the hairy algal mats should have been long digested, he said.

After giving the slugs an amino acid labeled with radioactive carbon, Pierce and his colleagues identified a radioactive product as chlorophyll a. The radioactively tagged compound appeared after a session of slug sunbathing but not after letting slugs sit in the dark. A paper with details of the work is scheduled to appear in the journal Symbiosis.

Zardus, who says that he tries to maintain healthy skepticism as a matter of principle, would like to hear more about how the team controlled for algal contamination. The possibilities for the borrowed photosynthesis are intriguing though, he says. Mixing the genomes of algae and animals could certainly complicate tracing out evolutionary history. In the tree of life, he said, the green sea slug “raises the possibility of branch tips touching.”

“Bizarre,” said Gary Martin, a crustacean biologist at Occidental College in Los Angeles. “Steps in evolution can be more creative than I ever imagined.”

Image: Nicholas E. Curtis and Ray Martinez

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/01/green-sea-slug/#ixzz0dFNAPGjd
(Submitted by D.R. Shoop)

Octopus snatches coconut and runs

Photo: Jens Petersen

Monday, 14 December 2009

By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC News

An octopus and its coconut-carrying antics have surprised scientists.

Underwater footage reveals that the creatures scoop up halved coconut shells before scampering away with them so they can later use them as shelters.

Writing in the journal Current Biology, the team says it is the first example of tool use in octopuses.

One of the researchers, Dr Julian Finn from Australia's Museum Victoria, told BBC News: "I almost drowned laughing when I saw this the first time."

He added: "I could tell it was going to do something, but I didn't expect this - I didn't expect it would pick up the shell and run away with it."

Quick getaway

The veined octopuses (Amphioctopus marginatus) were filmed between 1999 and 2008 off the coasts of Northern Sulawesi and Bali in Indonesia. The bizarre behaviour was spotted on four occasions.

The eight-armed beasts used halved coconuts that had been discarded by humans and had eventually settled in the ocean.

Dr Mark Norman, head of science at Museum Victoria, Melbourne, and one of the authors of the paper, said: "It is amazing watching them excavate one of these shells. They probe their arms down to loosen the mud, then they rotate them out."

After turning the shells so the open side faces upwards, the octopuses blow jets of mud out of the bowl before extending their arms around the shell - or if they have two halves, stacking them first, one inside the other - before stiffening their legs and tip-toeing away.

Dr Norman said: "I think it is amazing that those arms of pure muscle get turned into rigid rods so that they can run along a bit like a high-speed spider.

"It comes down to amazing dexterity and co-ordination of eight arms and several hundred suckers."

Home, sweet home

The octopuses were filmed moving up to 20m with the shells.

And their awkward gait, which the scientists describe as "stilt-walking", is surprisingly speedy, possibly because the creatures are left vulnerable to attack from predators while they scuttle away with their prized coconuts.

The octopuses eventually use the shells as a protective shelter. If they just have one half, they simply turn it over and hide underneath. But if they are lucky enough to have retrieved two halves, they assemble them back into the original closed coconut form and sneak inside.

The shells provide important protection for the octopuses in a patch of seabed where there are few places to hide.

Dr Norman explained: "This is an incredibly dangerous habitat for these animals - soft sediment and mud couldn't be worse.

"If they are buried loose in mud without a shell, any predator coming along can just scoop them up. And they are pure rump steak, a terrific meat supply for any predator."

The researchers think that the creatures would initially have used large bivalve shells as their haven, but later swapped to coconuts after our insatiable appetite for them meant their discarded shells became a regular feature on the sea bed.

Surprisingly smart

Tool use was once thought to be an exclusively human skill, but this behaviour has now been observed in a growing list of primates, mammals and birds.

The researchers say their study suggests that these coconut-grabbing octopuses should now be added to these ranks.

Professor Tom Tregenza, an evolutionary ecologist from the University of Exeter, UK, and another author of the paper, said: "A tool is something an animal carries around and then uses on a particular occasion for a particular purpose.

"While the octopus carries the coconut around there is no use to it - no more use than an umbrella is to you when you have it folded up and you are carrying it about. The umbrella only becomes useful when you lift it above your head and open it up.

"And just in the same way, the coconut becomes useful to this octopus when it stops and turns it the other way up and climbs inside it."

He added that octopuses already have a reputation for being an intelligent invertebrate.

He explained: "They've been shown to be able to solve simple puzzles, there is the mimic octopus, which has a range of different species that it can mimic, and now there is this tool use.

"They do things which, normally, you'd only expect vertebrates to do."

See video at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8408233.stm

Octopus snatches coconut and runs

Photo: Jens Petersen

Monday, 14 December 2009

By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC News

An octopus and its coconut-carrying antics have surprised scientists.

Underwater footage reveals that the creatures scoop up halved coconut shells before scampering away with them so they can later use them as shelters.

Writing in the journal Current Biology, the team says it is the first example of tool use in octopuses.

One of the researchers, Dr Julian Finn from Australia's Museum Victoria, told BBC News: "I almost drowned laughing when I saw this the first time."

He added: "I could tell it was going to do something, but I didn't expect this - I didn't expect it would pick up the shell and run away with it."

Quick getaway

The veined octopuses (Amphioctopus marginatus) were filmed between 1999 and 2008 off the coasts of Northern Sulawesi and Bali in Indonesia. The bizarre behaviour was spotted on four occasions.

The eight-armed beasts used halved coconuts that had been discarded by humans and had eventually settled in the ocean.

Dr Mark Norman, head of science at Museum Victoria, Melbourne, and one of the authors of the paper, said: "It is amazing watching them excavate one of these shells. They probe their arms down to loosen the mud, then they rotate them out."

After turning the shells so the open side faces upwards, the octopuses blow jets of mud out of the bowl before extending their arms around the shell - or if they have two halves, stacking them first, one inside the other - before stiffening their legs and tip-toeing away.

Dr Norman said: "I think it is amazing that those arms of pure muscle get turned into rigid rods so that they can run along a bit like a high-speed spider.

"It comes down to amazing dexterity and co-ordination of eight arms and several hundred suckers."

Home, sweet home

The octopuses were filmed moving up to 20m with the shells.

And their awkward gait, which the scientists describe as "stilt-walking", is surprisingly speedy, possibly because the creatures are left vulnerable to attack from predators while they scuttle away with their prized coconuts.

The octopuses eventually use the shells as a protective shelter. If they just have one half, they simply turn it over and hide underneath. But if they are lucky enough to have retrieved two halves, they assemble them back into the original closed coconut form and sneak inside.

The shells provide important protection for the octopuses in a patch of seabed where there are few places to hide.

Dr Norman explained: "This is an incredibly dangerous habitat for these animals - soft sediment and mud couldn't be worse.

"If they are buried loose in mud without a shell, any predator coming along can just scoop them up. And they are pure rump steak, a terrific meat supply for any predator."

The researchers think that the creatures would initially have used large bivalve shells as their haven, but later swapped to coconuts after our insatiable appetite for them meant their discarded shells became a regular feature on the sea bed.

Surprisingly smart

Tool use was once thought to be an exclusively human skill, but this behaviour has now been observed in a growing list of primates, mammals and birds.

The researchers say their study suggests that these coconut-grabbing octopuses should now be added to these ranks.

Professor Tom Tregenza, an evolutionary ecologist from the University of Exeter, UK, and another author of the paper, said: "A tool is something an animal carries around and then uses on a particular occasion for a particular purpose.

"While the octopus carries the coconut around there is no use to it - no more use than an umbrella is to you when you have it folded up and you are carrying it about. The umbrella only becomes useful when you lift it above your head and open it up.

"And just in the same way, the coconut becomes useful to this octopus when it stops and turns it the other way up and climbs inside it."

He added that octopuses already have a reputation for being an intelligent invertebrate.

He explained: "They've been shown to be able to solve simple puzzles, there is the mimic octopus, which has a range of different species that it can mimic, and now there is this tool use.

"They do things which, normally, you'd only expect vertebrates to do."

See video at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8408233.stm

Strange creatures of the deep found in underwater 'twilight zone'

Thousands of strange ceatures which exist in perpetual darkness miles below the surface of the oceans have been catalogued for the first time by scientists.

Published: 8:00AM GMT 23 Nov 2009

The Census of Marine Life, a major international project surveying the oceans, recorded 5,722 species living at depths greater than 0.62 miles where the sun never shines.

Many inhabited icy cold black realms as deep as three miles where the pressure would crush a human.

In total, 17,650 species were identified living deeper than 200 metres, the ''twilight zone'' where light barely penetrates and photosynthesis ceases to be possible.

Scientists were surprised by the diversity of life in the deepest reaches of the oceans.

Even the mud at the bottom of the ocean abyss was teeming with living things.

Among the bizarre creatures encountered by the researchers were a six foot long cirrate octopod - nicknamed ''Dumbo'' because of the large ear-like fins it uses to swim - discovered more than a mile deep on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Another was a ''wildcat'' tubeworm caught in the act of dining on crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico. When the worm was extracted by a robot arm from the sea bed, oil gushed both from the animal's body and the hole in which it was found.

Also recovered from the Atlantic was an ''indescribable'' catch of multi-coloured invertebrates, including corals, sea cucumbers and sea urchins living a kilometre below the surface.

At more than 1.7 miles down, in the northern Gulf of Mexico, scientists videoed an odd-looking transparent sea cucumber creeping forward on its many tentacles.

Dr Robert Carney, from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, US, one of the Census scientists, said: ''Distribution is pretty straightforward for animals in the deep sea. The composition of faunal populations changes with depth, likely a consequence of physiology, ecology and the suitability of sea-floor habitat condition for certain animals.

''Diversity is harder to understand. Although the mud on the deep sea floor appears monotonous and poor in food, that monotonous mud has a maximum of species diversity on the lower continental margin. To survive in the deep, animals must find and exploit meagre or novel resources, and their great diversity in the deep reflects how many ways there are to adapt.''

The vast majority of creatures collected in mud from the abyssal plain were new to science, said the researchers.

Of some 680 specimens of copepods collected from the south-eastern Atlantic, for example, just seven could be identified.

Among the hundreds of species of earthworm-sized macrofauna found at different sites, 50% to 85% were unrecognised.

British expert Dr David Billett, another member of the team from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, said: ''The abyssal fauna is so rich in species diversity and so poorly described that collecting a known species is an anomaly. Describing for the first time all the different species in any coffee cup-sized sample of deep sea sediment is a daunting challenge.''

The scientist used a range of high and low-tech hardware including robot submersibles and sea-floor rovers, coring drills, dredges and trawling nets.

The Census, which is also surveying life at shallower depths, is due to complete its work in October 2010.

Dr Chris German, one of the project leaders from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, US, said: ''The deep sea is the Earth's largest continuous ecosystem and largest habitat for life. It is also the least studied.''

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6628299/Strange-creatures-of-the-deep-found-in-underwater-twilight-zone.html

Strange creatures of the deep found in underwater 'twilight zone'

Thousands of strange ceatures which exist in perpetual darkness miles below the surface of the oceans have been catalogued for the first time by scientists.

Published: 8:00AM GMT 23 Nov 2009

The Census of Marine Life, a major international project surveying the oceans, recorded 5,722 species living at depths greater than 0.62 miles where the sun never shines.

Many inhabited icy cold black realms as deep as three miles where the pressure would crush a human.

In total, 17,650 species were identified living deeper than 200 metres, the ''twilight zone'' where light barely penetrates and photosynthesis ceases to be possible.

Scientists were surprised by the diversity of life in the deepest reaches of the oceans.

Even the mud at the bottom of the ocean abyss was teeming with living things.

Among the bizarre creatures encountered by the researchers were a six foot long cirrate octopod - nicknamed ''Dumbo'' because of the large ear-like fins it uses to swim - discovered more than a mile deep on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Another was a ''wildcat'' tubeworm caught in the act of dining on crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico. When the worm was extracted by a robot arm from the sea bed, oil gushed both from the animal's body and the hole in which it was found.

Also recovered from the Atlantic was an ''indescribable'' catch of multi-coloured invertebrates, including corals, sea cucumbers and sea urchins living a kilometre below the surface.

At more than 1.7 miles down, in the northern Gulf of Mexico, scientists videoed an odd-looking transparent sea cucumber creeping forward on its many tentacles.

Dr Robert Carney, from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, US, one of the Census scientists, said: ''Distribution is pretty straightforward for animals in the deep sea. The composition of faunal populations changes with depth, likely a consequence of physiology, ecology and the suitability of sea-floor habitat condition for certain animals.

''Diversity is harder to understand. Although the mud on the deep sea floor appears monotonous and poor in food, that monotonous mud has a maximum of species diversity on the lower continental margin. To survive in the deep, animals must find and exploit meagre or novel resources, and their great diversity in the deep reflects how many ways there are to adapt.''

The vast majority of creatures collected in mud from the abyssal plain were new to science, said the researchers.

Of some 680 specimens of copepods collected from the south-eastern Atlantic, for example, just seven could be identified.

Among the hundreds of species of earthworm-sized macrofauna found at different sites, 50% to 85% were unrecognised.

British expert Dr David Billett, another member of the team from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, said: ''The abyssal fauna is so rich in species diversity and so poorly described that collecting a known species is an anomaly. Describing for the first time all the different species in any coffee cup-sized sample of deep sea sediment is a daunting challenge.''

The scientist used a range of high and low-tech hardware including robot submersibles and sea-floor rovers, coring drills, dredges and trawling nets.

The Census, which is also surveying life at shallower depths, is due to complete its work in October 2010.

Dr Chris German, one of the project leaders from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, US, said: ''The deep sea is the Earth's largest continuous ecosystem and largest habitat for life. It is also the least studied.''

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6628299/Strange-creatures-of-the-deep-found-in-underwater-twilight-zone.html

The bizarre lives of bone-eating worms

9 November 2009

The females of the recently discovered Osedax marine worms feast on submerged bones via a complex relationship with symbiotic bacteria, and they are turning out to be far more diverse and widespread than scientists expected. Californian researchers investigating the genetic history of Osedax worms have found that up to twelve further distinct evolutionary lineages exist beyond the five species already described. The new findings about these beautiful sea creatures with unusual sexual and digestive habits are published today in the online open access journal BMC Biology.

Geneticists placed the new Osedax genus in the polychaete annelid family Siboglinidae when it was first discovered on whalebones in Monterey Bay, California in 2004. Siboglinidae or 'beard worms' are among the few known animals that, as adults, completely lack a mouth, gut and anus, and rely entirely on endosymbiotic bacteria for their nutrition. Found to date in the eastern and western Pacific and the north Atlantic, Osedax are unique because they penetrate and digest bones using bacteria housed in a complex branching "root" system. Sexual inequality is also part of daily life for Osedax: harems of dwarf males live inside the tubes of the much larger female.

Robert Vrijenhoek and Shannon Johnson from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, together with Greg Rouse from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, both in California, US looked at two mitochondrial genes and three nuclear genes from Monterey Bay Osedax worms. Their study revealed 17 distinct evolutionary lineages, clustered into five clades (groups including a single common ancestor and all its descendants). The researchers could tell these clades apart based on the anatomy of the worms as well as their genetics.

Precisely when these Osedax boneworms split from their other beard worm relatives depends whether researchers pick a 'molecular clock' calibrated for shallow or deep-sea invertebrates (Osedax have been found at depths ranging from 30 to 3000 metres). Based on the shallow invertebrate scenario Osedax probably branched off about 45 million years ago when archeocete cetaceans first appeared and then diversified during the late Oligocene and early Miocene when toothed and baleen whales arrived. Using the slower, deep-sea invertebrate clock model Osedax evolved during the Cretaceous and began to diversify during the Early Paleocene, at least 20 million years before the origin of large marine mammals.

Research to settle the evolutionary age of Osedax might examine fossil bones from Cretaceous marine reptiles and late Oligocene cetaceans to find possible trace fossils left by Osedax roots, suggest the authors. "Regardless, the present molecular evidence suggests that the undescribed Osedax lineages comprise evolutionarily significant units that have been separate from one another for many millions of years, and provide a solid foundation for their future descriptions as new species," concludes Vrijenhoek.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/bc-tbl110609.php

The bizarre lives of bone-eating worms

9 November 2009

The females of the recently discovered Osedax marine worms feast on submerged bones via a complex relationship with symbiotic bacteria, and they are turning out to be far more diverse and widespread than scientists expected. Californian researchers investigating the genetic history of Osedax worms have found that up to twelve further distinct evolutionary lineages exist beyond the five species already described. The new findings about these beautiful sea creatures with unusual sexual and digestive habits are published today in the online open access journal BMC Biology.

Geneticists placed the new Osedax genus in the polychaete annelid family Siboglinidae when it was first discovered on whalebones in Monterey Bay, California in 2004. Siboglinidae or 'beard worms' are among the few known animals that, as adults, completely lack a mouth, gut and anus, and rely entirely on endosymbiotic bacteria for their nutrition. Found to date in the eastern and western Pacific and the north Atlantic, Osedax are unique because they penetrate and digest bones using bacteria housed in a complex branching "root" system. Sexual inequality is also part of daily life for Osedax: harems of dwarf males live inside the tubes of the much larger female.

Robert Vrijenhoek and Shannon Johnson from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, together with Greg Rouse from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, both in California, US looked at two mitochondrial genes and three nuclear genes from Monterey Bay Osedax worms. Their study revealed 17 distinct evolutionary lineages, clustered into five clades (groups including a single common ancestor and all its descendants). The researchers could tell these clades apart based on the anatomy of the worms as well as their genetics.

Precisely when these Osedax boneworms split from their other beard worm relatives depends whether researchers pick a 'molecular clock' calibrated for shallow or deep-sea invertebrates (Osedax have been found at depths ranging from 30 to 3000 metres). Based on the shallow invertebrate scenario Osedax probably branched off about 45 million years ago when archeocete cetaceans first appeared and then diversified during the late Oligocene and early Miocene when toothed and baleen whales arrived. Using the slower, deep-sea invertebrate clock model Osedax evolved during the Cretaceous and began to diversify during the Early Paleocene, at least 20 million years before the origin of large marine mammals.

Research to settle the evolutionary age of Osedax might examine fossil bones from Cretaceous marine reptiles and late Oligocene cetaceans to find possible trace fossils left by Osedax roots, suggest the authors. "Regardless, the present molecular evidence suggests that the undescribed Osedax lineages comprise evolutionarily significant units that have been separate from one another for many millions of years, and provide a solid foundation for their future descriptions as new species," concludes Vrijenhoek.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/bc-tbl110609.php

Camden Research Team Names New Species of Leech for South Jersey Family

September 29, 2009

CAMDEN – Beware, New Jerseyans: A rare foot-long terrestrial leech – potentially the longest of its kind in North America – has been living undetected for centuries right here in the Garden State.

Most folks might be inclined to squash their stealthy neighbor. Not the Otts of Alloway. When Mr. Ott nearly mowed over this gargantuan creepy crawly six years ago, Mrs. Ott didn’t shudder at all. She brought the creature inside, patiently figured out what it needed to eat (worms), and swiftly located the right person to identify the specimen: Rutgers–Camden leech specialist Dan Shain.

Because the rare find now has a proper home at Rutgers-Camden, it has an official name: Haemopis ottorum.

In a recent edition of the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Shain, an associate professor of biology at Rutgers–Camden, with then-graduate student Beth Wirchansky, detail the geographical journey of this newly reported specimen, the third known terrestrial leech in North America. Shain, who has been featured on the Discovery Channel and funded by NASA, has travelled the globe looking for all living relatives of the leech. Little did he know this species was just 20 miles from his home in Pennsville, Salem County.

Carol Ott emailed an incredulous Shain describing what she had found: “As soon as I saw it I thought it was a leech, because of the way it would scrunch up like a slinky,” she says. “But I never saw anything like it before.”

Before Haemopis ottorum could be officially recognized by the scientific community though, Shain, with Wirchansky and a team of researchers, had to identify more samples and properly notate the differences with other known terrestrial leeches. They do have reproductive organs of both sexes and could self-fertilize to create offspring, but unfortunately this process has never been observed in the lab for these particular leeches. Looking for all of these specimens though, also took time, and patience.

“It was by far the hardest to find,” says Wirchansky, who worked in the field studying threatened swift fox species in Utah; how roadways impact whitetail deer populations in South Carolina; and a plague affecting prairie dogs in Wyoming.

“We found about one leech for every 60 days we spent looking for them,” adds the Rutgers–Camden alumna, who now works for the Institute for Personalized Medicine at Fox Chase Cancer Center. It took approximately three years to find all of the specimens needed.

While New Jersey’s habitat can be ideal for Haemopis ottorum, which can be found under swampy logs, in soggy leaves, or in cedar bogs, there is a limited field season. Researchers had just five months to find specimens that in the cold go undetectable in inches of mud for months.

“The times we were most successful was when there was a nice steady drizzle in the middle of the woods,” adds Wirchansky, who earned her master’s degree in biology from Rutgers-Camden in 2009. “Carol’s home is actually the exception to where we typically found them.”

According to Shain, this new terrestrial leech originated from aquatic leeches in the Great Lakes millions of years ago.

“As a consequence of glacial ice moving down it forced leeches out of water and onto land,” notes Shain of the leech’s likely geological journey from the Midwest, down south, past the Appalachians, and up the coast into New Jersey.

Once the group located more samples of Haemopis ottorum, with help from community members motivated by a $20 bounty, Shain and his team then traveled to North Carolina to find samples of its closest living relative – Haemopis septagon - for necessary molecular comparisons.

Documented in the 1960s, there haven’t been any living samples of this species reported in decades. Preliminary molecular and morphological analyses confirm that the team did find this second species.

You can see for yourself the differences between the three North American terrestrial leeches, currently on view in the Science Building lobby at Rutgers–Camden. While this display could be of interest for those looking for a fright this Halloween season, Shain is quick to point out the playfulness of the creatures – all are housed with marbles they use for recreation. And despite popular opinion, most known leeches aren’t even bloodsuckers.

“They’d make far better pets than hermit crabs,” says Shain, who thinks Haemopis ottorum would be a great state annelid.

The leech’s namesake plans on a future visit to the Rutgers–Camden display and maintains her original reaction when finding it years ago. Notes Carol Ott, “This is a living creature. It’s here for a purpose and I want to find out more about it.”

Shain is currently in California on an expedition to find the earliest living relative of aquatic worms that secrete tubes, similar to leech cocoons. At some point in time worms started making cocoons and his research seeks to determine what would have caused this phenomenon.

Watch Shain with the New Jersey leech in this video.

Camden Research Team Names New Species of Leech for South Jersey Family

September 29, 2009

CAMDEN – Beware, New Jerseyans: A rare foot-long terrestrial leech – potentially the longest of its kind in North America – has been living undetected for centuries right here in the Garden State.

Most folks might be inclined to squash their stealthy neighbor. Not the Otts of Alloway. When Mr. Ott nearly mowed over this gargantuan creepy crawly six years ago, Mrs. Ott didn’t shudder at all. She brought the creature inside, patiently figured out what it needed to eat (worms), and swiftly located the right person to identify the specimen: Rutgers–Camden leech specialist Dan Shain.

Because the rare find now has a proper home at Rutgers-Camden, it has an official name: Haemopis ottorum.

In a recent edition of the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Shain, an associate professor of biology at Rutgers–Camden, with then-graduate student Beth Wirchansky, detail the geographical journey of this newly reported specimen, the third known terrestrial leech in North America. Shain, who has been featured on the Discovery Channel and funded by NASA, has travelled the globe looking for all living relatives of the leech. Little did he know this species was just 20 miles from his home in Pennsville, Salem County.

Carol Ott emailed an incredulous Shain describing what she had found: “As soon as I saw it I thought it was a leech, because of the way it would scrunch up like a slinky,” she says. “But I never saw anything like it before.”

Before Haemopis ottorum could be officially recognized by the scientific community though, Shain, with Wirchansky and a team of researchers, had to identify more samples and properly notate the differences with other known terrestrial leeches. They do have reproductive organs of both sexes and could self-fertilize to create offspring, but unfortunately this process has never been observed in the lab for these particular leeches. Looking for all of these specimens though, also took time, and patience.

“It was by far the hardest to find,” says Wirchansky, who worked in the field studying threatened swift fox species in Utah; how roadways impact whitetail deer populations in South Carolina; and a plague affecting prairie dogs in Wyoming.

“We found about one leech for every 60 days we spent looking for them,” adds the Rutgers–Camden alumna, who now works for the Institute for Personalized Medicine at Fox Chase Cancer Center. It took approximately three years to find all of the specimens needed.

While New Jersey’s habitat can be ideal for Haemopis ottorum, which can be found under swampy logs, in soggy leaves, or in cedar bogs, there is a limited field season. Researchers had just five months to find specimens that in the cold go undetectable in inches of mud for months.

“The times we were most successful was when there was a nice steady drizzle in the middle of the woods,” adds Wirchansky, who earned her master’s degree in biology from Rutgers-Camden in 2009. “Carol’s home is actually the exception to where we typically found them.”

According to Shain, this new terrestrial leech originated from aquatic leeches in the Great Lakes millions of years ago.

“As a consequence of glacial ice moving down it forced leeches out of water and onto land,” notes Shain of the leech’s likely geological journey from the Midwest, down south, past the Appalachians, and up the coast into New Jersey.

Once the group located more samples of Haemopis ottorum, with help from community members motivated by a $20 bounty, Shain and his team then traveled to North Carolina to find samples of its closest living relative – Haemopis septagon - for necessary molecular comparisons.

Documented in the 1960s, there haven’t been any living samples of this species reported in decades. Preliminary molecular and morphological analyses confirm that the team did find this second species.

You can see for yourself the differences between the three North American terrestrial leeches, currently on view in the Science Building lobby at Rutgers–Camden. While this display could be of interest for those looking for a fright this Halloween season, Shain is quick to point out the playfulness of the creatures – all are housed with marbles they use for recreation. And despite popular opinion, most known leeches aren’t even bloodsuckers.

“They’d make far better pets than hermit crabs,” says Shain, who thinks Haemopis ottorum would be a great state annelid.

The leech’s namesake plans on a future visit to the Rutgers–Camden display and maintains her original reaction when finding it years ago. Notes Carol Ott, “This is a living creature. It’s here for a purpose and I want to find out more about it.”

Shain is currently in California on an expedition to find the earliest living relative of aquatic worms that secrete tubes, similar to leech cocoons. At some point in time worms started making cocoons and his research seeks to determine what would have caused this phenomenon.

Watch Shain with the New Jersey leech in this video.

Secret Lives of Spiders

Photo: Chris Morgan

Wildwood is running a day on Sunday 27th September when visitors can meet and get to know more about spiders.

These misunderstood and often feared invertebrates are fascinating and Steve Kirk Wildwoods very own spider expert will be explaining about their secret lives and be leading visitors around the park on a spider hunt.

There will be an opportunity to make spider crafts and the whole day has different activities.

"Spiders are fantastic creatures" commented Anne Riddell Head of Education at Wildwood Trust "These events are always very popular and it allows people to get to know more about them".

There are about 650 different species of spiders in the UK ranging from the tiny money spider - Minute Maro to the huge Cardinal Spider with a leg span of more than 10cm.

This event takes place on Sunday September 27th with two sessions 11am-1pm & 2-4pm places are £2* per person with one adult per family free, places are going fast so to book please call 01227 712111.

Wildwood's 'Wildlife Conservation Park' is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here, like the wolf, beaver, red squirrel, wild boar and many more.

Wildwood is situated close to Canterbury, just off the A291 between Herne Bay and Canterbury. 01227 712111, http://www.wildwoodtrust.org/.

Photo: Neil Mallett

More Spider Facts

Spiders are invertebrates, which means they don't have backbones. These small creatures help plants reproduce by pollinating them. They also help recycle dead trees and animals back into the earth. They are also a vital source of food for birds, fish, and small mammals. Without invertebrates, like spiders and insects, many other living things would not survive.

Spiders are not insects. Insects have three body parts and six legs.

Spiders have eight legs and two body parts, the abdomen and the thorax.

Spiders have silk spinning glands called spinnerets, at the tip of their abdomen.

Not all spiders spin webs. Spiders belong to the Arachnid family.

There are more than 30,000 species of spiders.

Spiders are oviparous, which means their babies come from eggs.

Most spiders have either six or eight eyes.

Most spiders have fangs, through which venom is ejected.

Opiliones are commonly called shepherd spiders, harvest spiders or harvestmen.

The term harvestmen or harvest spiders was a result of them being seen only during harvesting time. They are also referred to as daddy long legs but should not be confused with similarly named spiders, the Pholcidae.

Opiliones are not spiders and have no spinning organs, fangs or venom glands and are harmless to man.

Spider bites can be quite painful, and a select few can be fatal.

Fear of spiders is called Arachnophobia. It is one of the most common fears among humans.

Tarantulas shed their furry skin as they grow, leaving behind what looks just like another tarantula.

Spiders eat many types of harmful insects, helping to keep your garden free of pests.

Spiders are creatures that have 8 legs, have no wings or antennae. They have 2 distinct body parts called the thorax or head and the abdomen. Spiders have an exoskeleton, meaning that their skeleton is on the outside.

Spiders have as many as 8 eyes, but some spiders have only 6 eyes and several spiders have fewer or even none. All spiders have fangs through which venom is ejected. The tip of the abdomen has silk spinning glands called spinnerets by which a spider can spin a web. However, not all spiders spin webs.

Most spiders are very nearsighted. To make up for this, they use the hair on their body to feel their way around and to sense when other animals are near.

Webs get dirty and torn, so lots of spiders make a new one every day. They don't waste the old one, though--they roll it up into a ball and eat it!

Young spiders resemble adults. Only their size and coloration differ.

Male spiders are usually smaller than female spiders.

Secret Lives of Spiders

Photo: Chris Morgan

Wildwood is running a day on Sunday 27th September when visitors can meet and get to know more about spiders.

These misunderstood and often feared invertebrates are fascinating and Steve Kirk Wildwoods very own spider expert will be explaining about their secret lives and be leading visitors around the park on a spider hunt.

There will be an opportunity to make spider crafts and the whole day has different activities.

"Spiders are fantastic creatures" commented Anne Riddell Head of Education at Wildwood Trust "These events are always very popular and it allows people to get to know more about them".

There are about 650 different species of spiders in the UK ranging from the tiny money spider - Minute Maro to the huge Cardinal Spider with a leg span of more than 10cm.

This event takes place on Sunday September 27th with two sessions 11am-1pm & 2-4pm places are £2* per person with one adult per family free, places are going fast so to book please call 01227 712111.

Wildwood's 'Wildlife Conservation Park' is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here, like the wolf, beaver, red squirrel, wild boar and many more.

Wildwood is situated close to Canterbury, just off the A291 between Herne Bay and Canterbury. 01227 712111, http://www.wildwoodtrust.org/.

Photo: Neil Mallett

More Spider Facts

Spiders are invertebrates, which means they don't have backbones. These small creatures help plants reproduce by pollinating them. They also help recycle dead trees and animals back into the earth. They are also a vital source of food for birds, fish, and small mammals. Without invertebrates, like spiders and insects, many other living things would not survive.

Spiders are not insects. Insects have three body parts and six legs.

Spiders have eight legs and two body parts, the abdomen and the thorax.

Spiders have silk spinning glands called spinnerets, at the tip of their abdomen.

Not all spiders spin webs. Spiders belong to the Arachnid family.

There are more than 30,000 species of spiders.

Spiders are oviparous, which means their babies come from eggs.

Most spiders have either six or eight eyes.

Most spiders have fangs, through which venom is ejected.

Opiliones are commonly called shepherd spiders, harvest spiders or harvestmen.

The term harvestmen or harvest spiders was a result of them being seen only during harvesting time. They are also referred to as daddy long legs but should not be confused with similarly named spiders, the Pholcidae.

Opiliones are not spiders and have no spinning organs, fangs or venom glands and are harmless to man.

Spider bites can be quite painful, and a select few can be fatal.

Fear of spiders is called Arachnophobia. It is one of the most common fears among humans.

Tarantulas shed their furry skin as they grow, leaving behind what looks just like another tarantula.

Spiders eat many types of harmful insects, helping to keep your garden free of pests.

Spiders are creatures that have 8 legs, have no wings or antennae. They have 2 distinct body parts called the thorax or head and the abdomen. Spiders have an exoskeleton, meaning that their skeleton is on the outside.

Spiders have as many as 8 eyes, but some spiders have only 6 eyes and several spiders have fewer or even none. All spiders have fangs through which venom is ejected. The tip of the abdomen has silk spinning glands called spinnerets by which a spider can spin a web. However, not all spiders spin webs.

Most spiders are very nearsighted. To make up for this, they use the hair on their body to feel their way around and to sense when other animals are near.

Webs get dirty and torn, so lots of spiders make a new one every day. They don't waste the old one, though--they roll it up into a ball and eat it!

Young spiders resemble adults. Only their size and coloration differ.

Male spiders are usually smaller than female spiders.