SOS and Inverts in the the Top 10

The International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) released their first ever State of Species report on Friday (to be issued annually on May23rd, the birthdate of Linnaeus). Pouring through the journal reports and monographs from 2006, the IISE found 16,969 new species (not counting any new microbes) described in that year. Invertebrates accounted for 13,900 of the 14,912 new animal species. That's 93% of new animal species and 82% of total new species described in 2006. (And, yes, insects accounted for over half the new species by themselves)

They also announced their Top Ten new species described in 2007. Three inverts made the cut of the selection committee of 12 experts from around the world headed by Dr. Janine Caira of UCONN.

The selected inverts in the top ten are:

At #9 there is Megaceras briansaltini, a rhinoceros beetle from Peru described as being a case of nature imitating art, as this beetle bears a "striking resemblance" (save the color) to Dim from Pixar's animated hit "A Bug's Life".

Ratcliffe, B.C. 2007. A remarkable new species of Megaceras from Peru (Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Oryctini). The “Dim Effect”: Nature mimicking art. The Coleopterists Bulletin 61(3): 463-467. DOI:10.1649/0010-065X(2007)61[463:ARNSOM]2.0.CO;2

The deadly Malo kingi appears at #8, this Irukandji (a type of Cubozoan jelly) is named after one of its most famous fatal encounter victims, Robert King. So exactly how does one study a tiny, highly lethal, almost transparent marine jelly anyway??? Any cubozoa experts out there?

Gershwin, L.A. 2007. Malo kingi: A new species of Irukandji jellyfish (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Carybdeida), possibly lethal to humans, from Queensland, Australia. Zootaxa 1659: 55-68.

Crawling in at #3 is Desmoxytes purpurosea (a.k.a. shocking pink dragon millipede), showing Diplopoda's brighter side in a bright coral pink. It doesn't hide it either, resting in the open and on vegetation during the day in its native Thailand.

H. Enghoff, C. Sutcharit & S. Panha. 2007. The shocking pink dragon millipede, Desmoxytes purpurosea, a colourful new species from Thailand (Diplopoda: Polydesmida: Paradoxosomatidae). Zootaxa 1563: 31-36.

Hopefully this annual release will continue. Considering the various Census of Life projects under way, the job of the compilers will not be easy! Of course, the top ten list is highly subjective, as they readily admit. Marine life, in addition to inverts in general, seem woefully under represented with one marine invert (malo kingi) and one marine vertebrate, the electric ray (representing an entirely new genus, named after a vacuum cleaner - Electrolux addisoni).

Maybe we should team up with DSN and pick a top ten new marine species at some point. Kevin?

Coloring Books for Grad Students

Today is my son's birthday and one of his presents (found through Kevin's comic book posting - Johann says "Thanks Kevin!") is The Marine Biology Coloring Book by Tom Niesen. I hadn't seen this one before, and it is definitely not a run of the mill coloring book!

The illustrations are far more anatomically correct with wonderful details such as the reproductive cycle of sacculinid barnacle. The text that accompanies it is both explanatory and accessible. It is very specific and aimed generally at students or very serious beachcombers. While accessible to advanced middle school, high school, or early college students, some professors use the book as a quick orientation to marine biology for students coming to the marine biology graduate program from other fields.

The book starts with a general overview of oceanographic currents, weather, tides and proceeds into 14 page spreads covering major habitats including zonation concepts, the photic zone and a page spread each covering deep sea and hydrothermal vent habitats. Spreads on biological diversity and reproduction are organized taxonomically. Special topic pages follow on migrations, symbiosis, competition, defense, feeding strategies and oceanographic technology.

The book does a very good job covering the balance of verts to inverts despite the cover focus. After taking out the 17 page spreads on physical oceanography and habitats, there are 4 page spreads on plants and algae. Invertebrates are represented by 54 page spreads while fish, reptiles, birds and mammals by total 37 spreads. Some of those are overlap such as the spread "Symbiosis: Parasitism" which highlights three parasitic relationships: copepods parasitizing fish, fish parasitizing sea cucumbers and barnacles parasitizing crabs.

A Highly recommended book for junior marine biologists, or maybe for all the family members.

(edit 5/22 - added author information (doh!) after noticing I forgot it after three of his former students - including authors of the Brine Queen and Echinoblog - checked in with wonderful comments.)