Monthly Archives: February 2017

by | February 28, 2017 · 10:33 pm

New Species: February 21 to 28

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Here is a list of species described from February 21 to February 28. It certainly does not include all described species. Most information comes from the journals Mycokeys, Phytokeys, Zookeys, Phytotaxa, Zootaxa, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, and Systematic and Applied Microbiology, as well as journals restricted to certain taxa.

nyctibatrachus_manalari

Nyctibatrachus manalari is a new tiny frog described in the past 8 daysdescribed in the past 8 days.

Bacteria

Plants

Fungi

Sponges

Annelids

Nematods

Arachnids

Crustaceans

Hexapods

Cartilaginous fishes

Ray-finned fishes

Lissamphibians

Mammals

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by | February 24, 2017 · 8:00 am

Friday Fellow: B. coli

by Piter Kehoma Boll

It’s time to give more space for parasites, including human parasites! So today our fellow comes right from the stool of many mammals, including humans. Its name is Balantidium coli, or B. coli for short.

B. coli is a ciliate, i.e., a member of the phylum Ciliophora, a group of protists that have their cells covered by cilia, which are nothing more than very short and numerous flagella. Most ciliates are free-living organisms, and in fact B. coli is the only ciliate known to be harmful to humans, but not only to humans. Many other mammals are also known to host this fellow, especially pigs.

balantidium_coli

The red elongate macronucleus of B. coli makes it look like a bad guy, don’t you think? Photo extracted from http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~ceb/Diagnosis/Vol2.htm

The typicall habitat of B. coli is the large intestine of mammals. The protist lives there in an active phase called trophozoite (seen in the image above) and feeds on the natural bacteria that live in the gut. When facing dehydration, which happens in the final portion of the intestine or after the organism is released with the feces, B. coli changes to an inactive phase called cyst, which is smaller than the trophozoite and covered by a thick wall. The cysts released in the environment may be ingested by a new host and reach their intestine, where they will return to the trophozoite form.

balantidium_coli2

A cyst of B.coli. Photo extracted from http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~ceb/Diagnosis/Vol2.htm

Symptoms of infection by B. coli, also known as balantidiasis, include explosive diarrhea every 20 minutes and, in acute infections, it may cause perforation of the colon and become a life-threatening condition.

Fortunately, infection in humans is not that common. The most affected country nowadays are the Philippines, but you may get infected anywhere. The best way to reduce the infection risks is by having good sanitary conditions and personal hygiene. However, as pigs are the most common vectors of the disease, it will likely continue to exist as long as humans raise pigs.

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ResearchBlogging.orgReferences:

Schuster, F., & Ramirez-Avila, L. (2008). Current World Status of Balantidium coli Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 21 (4), 626-638 DOI: 10.1128/CMR.00021-08

Wikipedia. Balantidium coli. Available at <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balantidium_coli&gt;. Access on February 23, 2017.

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by | February 20, 2017 · 8:56 pm

New Species: February 11 to 20, 2017

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Here is a list of species described from February 11 to February 20. It certainly does not include all described species. Most information comes from the journals Mycokeys, Phytokeys, Zookeys, Phytotaxa, Zootaxa, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, and Systematic and Applied Microbiology, as well as journals restricted to certain taxa.

pseudomacrochenus_wusuae

Pseudomacrochenus wusuae is a new longhorn beetle described in the past 10 days.

SARs

Plants

Fungi

Nematodes

Arachnids

Myriapods

Crustaceans

Hexapods

Tunicates

Ray-finned  fishes

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by | February 17, 2017 · 8:00 am

Friday Fellow: Brown-gutted Mud Roundworm

by Piter Kehoma Boll

If you have your face buried in the mud at the bottom of a European lake, you may end up finding some of those tiny little roundworms known as Monhystera stagnalis. As usual, there is no common name for this species, but I decided to call it brown-gutted mud roundworm. Why? Because it lives in the mud and has a reddish-brown gut.

monhystera_stagnalis

An individual of Monhystera stagnalis. Photo by Marco Spiller.*

The brown-gutted mud roundworm is a widely distributed roundworm species, being common especially throughout Europe. It inhabits the fine sediments at the bottom of freshwater bodies, both stagnant and flowing, where it feeds on the organic material deposit in this medium, having a special taste for bacteria. It is able to survive in moderate organic pollution, but is sensitive to low oxygen levels.

It is one of the most common nematode species in its environment and it is very small, measuring around 1 mm in length, females being slightly longer than males. They are found in all depths of the sediment and seem to have a preference for staying closer to the surface during winter and deeper in the mud during summer.

Females are ovoviviparous, meaning that they retain the egg inside their bodies until they hatch, so they are pregnant with eggs. Although we are used to think that invertebrates produce hundreds or thousands of eggs at once, this is not the case with the brown-gutted mud roundworm. Females are usually pregnant of a single egg, sometimes with two or three. They are modest worms.

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ResearchBlogging.orgReferences:

Pehofer, H. (1989). Spatial Distribution of the Nematode Fauna and Production of Three Nematodes (Tobrilus gracilis, Monhystera stagnalis, Ethmolaimus pratensis) in the Profundal of Piburger See (Austria, 913 m a.s.l) Internationale Revue der gesamten Hydrobiologie und Hydrographie, 74 (2), 135-168 DOI: 10.1002/iroh.19890740203

Traunspurger, W. (1996). Autecology of Monhystera paludicola De Man, 1880 – Seasonal, Bathymetric and Vertical Distribution of a Free-living Nematode in an Oligotrophic Lake Internationale Revue der gesamten Hydrobiologie und Hydrographie, 81 (2), 199-211 DOI: 10.1002/iroh.19960810205

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by | February 10, 2017 · 8:59 pm

New Species: February 1 to 10, 2017

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Here is a list of species described from February 1 to February 10. It certainly does not include all described species. Most information comes from the journals Mycokeys, Phytokeys, Zookeys, Phytotaxa, Zootaxa, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, and Systematic and Applied Microbiology, as well as journals restricted to certain taxa.

heliconia_berguidoi

Heliconia berguidoi is a new plant species from Panama. Photos by R. Flores and C. Black, seen in the lower picture beside one specimen. (License CC BY 4.0)

Archaeans

Bacteria

SARs

Plants

Fungi

Cnidarians

Flatworms

Annelids

Nematodes

Arachnids

Myriapoda

Crustaceans

Insects

Ray-finned fishes

Reptiles

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by | February 10, 2017 · 8:00 am

Friday Fellow: Paraná pine

by Piter Kehoma Boll

As the first conifer Friday Fellow, I decided to choose one of my beloved ones, the Paraná pine, Araucaria angustifolia, also known as Brazilian pine or candelabra tree.

The Paraná pine can reach up to 50 m in height, although most trees are smaller than that. They have a very particular shape and are easily distinguished from the surrounding forest where they occur, the so-called Mixed Ombrophilous Forest or Araucaria Moist Forest, in southern Brazil. The trees have a cylindrical trunk with a dark and thin bark that detaches in large and flexible pieces, being gray on the outer surface and reddish on the inner one. The crown changes its appearance during the development, being conical in young trees and with a candelabrum-like shape in mature specimens. Mature trees usually stand with their crowns above the forest canopy, which gives the Araucaria moist forest its particular look. The leaves grow in a spiral pattern around the stem and are very hard with a sharp point that can easily pierce through the human skin.

araucaria_angustifolia

A group of Paraná pines in Campos de Jordão, Brazil, close to the northernmost distribution of the species. Photo by Vinícius Ribeiro.*

The species current distribution is almost restricted to Brazil, from northern Rio Grande do Sul to southern São Paulo, with some small populations occurring in neighboring areas of Argentina and Paraguay. Once an abundant species, its population has been drastically reduced due to the heavy logging until the middle of the 20th century and the exploitation for the use of its seeds, called pinhão in Portuguese. As a result, it is currently considered as Critically Endangered by IUCN.

araucaria_angustifolia2

An adult tree in the municipality of Colombo, Paraná, Brazil. Photo by Mauro Guanandi.*

The paraná pine is a dioecious species, i.e., males and females are separate plants. As most conifers, it is pollinated by the wind. The large cones, which take two years to become ripe, contain a number of large and edible seeds used as food by many animals, as well as by humans. Pinhões cooked in salty water is a typical dish in southern Brazil during winter. One of the main seed dispersers of the Paraná pine is the azure jay, Cyanocorax caeruleus, which buries the seeds for future use.

araucaria_angustifolia3

A cone and lose seeds of Araucaria angustifolia in a market. Photo by Marcelo Träsel.**

As most (if not all) conifers, the Paraná pine forms mutualist associations with fungi, such as the glomeromycete Glomus clarum. Thus, in order to preserve this amazing tree, it is also necessary to guarantee the preservation of all its partner species, such as mycorrhizal fungi and seed dispersers.

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ResearchBlogging.orgReferences:

Angeli, A. (2003). Araucaria angustifolia (Araucaria). Departamento de Ciências Florestais – ESALQ/USP. Available at: <http://www.ipef.br/identificacao/araucaria.angustifolia.asp&gt;. Access on January 26, 2017.

IUCN (2016). Araucaria angustifolia The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T32975A2829141.en

Soares, T. S. (2004). Araucária – o pinheiro brasileiro. Revista Científica Eletrônica de Engenharia Florestal, 2 (3).

SOUZA, A. (2007). Ecological interpretation of multiple population size structures in trees: The case of Araucaria angustifolia in South America Austral Ecology, 32 (5), 524-533 DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2007.01724.x

Zandavalli, R., Dillenburg, L., & de Souza, P. (2004). Growth responses of Araucaria angustifolia (Araucariaceae) to inoculation with the mycorrhizal fungus Glomus clarum. Applied Soil Ecology, 25 (3), 245-255 DOI: 10.1016/j.apsoil.2003.09.009

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by | February 3, 2017 · 8:00 am

Friday Fellow: Northern Plaited Radiolarian

by Piter Kehoma Boll

Some weeks ago I introduced a diatom here and mentioned that, despite the fact that they are a very abundant group, little information on species is available. Today our species is a radiolarian and, just as with the diatoms, they are abundant but little known.

I struggled to find an extant species that also had a good and available photo to share. And the winner was a species known as Cleveiplegma boreale, or Rhizoplegma boreale perhaps. I’m not sure what is the currently accepted name. Anyway, it does not have a common name, but I decided to create one, so let’s call it “northern plaited radiolarian”.

Radiolarians are unicelular organism that have an intricate mineral skeleton that contains a central capsule that typically divides the cell into two portions: an inner one and an outer one. Our fellow today looks like this:

cleveiplegma_boreale

A living specimen of the northern plaited radiolarian. Photo by John Dolan.*

The northern plaited radiolarian has from 6 to 10 spines growing out of it and there is a complex plaited pattern of the skeleton that surrounds them and the inner shell. Measuring anout 20µm in diameter, it is a rather large radiolarian.

Although it is known from fossils along the Quaternary, from at least 10 thousand years before present, the northern plaited radiolarian is still a living species. Currently it is known to occur in the Nordic Seas, around Scandinavia, Iceland and Greenland, in the North Pacific, including the Bering Sea, and in the Southern Ocean, around Antarctica. We can see, therefore, that this species likes cold waters.

Ah, and they feed on diatoms… I guess.

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ResearchBlogging.orgReferences:

Dolven, J., & Bjørklund, K. (2001). An early Holocene peak occurrence and recent distribution of Rhizoplegma boreale (Radiolaria): a biomarker in the Norwegian Sea Marine Micropaleontology, 42 (1-2), 25-44 DOI: 10.1016/S0377-8398(01)00011-1

Dumitrica, P. (2013). Cleveiplegma nov. gen., a new generic name for the radiolarian species Rhizoplegma boreale (Cleve, 1899) Revue de Micropaléontologie, 56 (1), 21-25 DOI: 10.1016/j.revmic.2013.01.001

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