#newspecies

#newspecies

Atolla reynoldsi: New Species of Deep-Sea Crown JellyThe deep-sea crown jelly Atolla is one of the most common residents of the ocean. Its bell has a signature scarlet color and bears one tentacle much longer than the rest. So 15 years ago, when MBARI researchers spotted a jelly that looked like Atolla, but lacked the telltale trailing tentacle, their curiosity was piqued. The new discovery is relatively large compared to other species of Atolla. The largest specimen ever collected was 13 centimeters (5.1 inches) in diameter, making this newly discovered species, called the A. reynoldsi, one of the largest in the genus. The “crown” in A. reynoldsi has warty papillae and spiked ridges. It also has a distinct gut that is shaped like a Greek cross.The new species is named after Jeff Reynolds, the first volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and honors the contributions of Aquarium volunteers to inspiring conservation of the ocean. “This is such an honor to have this new species named after me. It also honors all the fantastic Aquarium volunteers over the decades, I was just the lucky one to be there so early on,” said Reynolds.#CrownJelly #NewSpecies #Atolla #MontereyBayAquarium #MBARI

Spotted Skunks Do Handstand Before They SprayIf you ever see a skunk do a handstand in person, run! It’s not trying to be cute. It’s about to spray you with its deadly weapon.A paper in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution shows that they were able to identify 7 species of skunks upon studying 203 specimens, and they all do handstand before they spray. This is contrary to popular belief that there were only 4 species of skunks.“We expected to either validate the four species hypothesis or invalidate it and make it three, not actually expand it to seven,” says Adam Ferguson, an evolutionary ecologist at Chicago’s Field Museum and one of the paper’s coauthors.Prior to the new study, researchers tended to differentiate spotted skunk species by looking at their morphology—things like differences in spotting patterns, as well as cranial and dental measurements. But those factors are so similar among some of the seven species that they were thought to be the same type of spotted skunk.Image Credit: Jerry W. Dragoo / Smithsonian#skunk #spottedskunk #handstand #newspecies