The beetle family Staphylinidae, better known as rove beetles, is currently the largest group of beetles known. It contains about 60000 species in thousands of genera. Most rove beetles are predators of insects and other kinds of invertebrates, living in forest leaf litter and similar kinds of decaying plant matter. They are also commonly found under stones, and around freshwater and oceanic margins.Today's new species is a cave dwelling representative found in the Grotta Monello…

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Plant hoppers are insects of the infraorder Fulgoromorpha, which consists of some 12,500 described species worldwide. The name comes from their resemblance to leaves and other plant parts and from the fact that they often jump in a similar way to that of grasshoppers. These animals are feeding on plant sap and are therefore often vectors for plant diseases which are transmitted in the process.The new species was found at La Selva Biological Station in Costa…

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Yes, I do like fish which is why this blog is lightly skewed towards new fish species. However, I do what I can to showcase other lifeforms.With about 450 species the Serranidae represent a large family of perches. Many of them are brightly coloured, and many are caught for food. They are usually in tropical to subtropical waters along the coasts. Chances are that you've seen many of them in photos or videos of coral…

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Pygmy seahorses are known to science only since 1969 and they were discovered by chance. A researcher was collecting  specimens of Muricella sea fans and he noticed some tiny seahorses while dissecting the coral. Six more species were described after 2000. This one is the first pygmy seahorse ever discovered in African waters. it grows to a maximum size of just 2cm. The scientific name has several meanings. First of all, the seahorse was named after…

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Nyctaginaceae, better known as the four o'clock family, is a plant family with about 300 species. Several species in this group have flowers which open during the late afternoon, hence the name four o'clock family. During fieldwork in northern Brazil, colleagues founds this new member of the genus Belemia which was so far considered monotypic (only one member).The species was named for it heart-shaped leaves (cordate leaves).For the experts: Investigations following the discovery of an unusual…

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Here in Canada we are having a long weekend which means for some there is even more time to read. No worries, I won't add more than usual to this blog post although there have been quite a few new papers that were published over the past two weeks. Here we go: Large-scale metabarcoding analysis of epipelagic and mesopelagic copepods in the Pacific.A clear insight into the large-scale community structure of planktonic copepods is critical to…

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Jasminum is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family (Oleaceae). About 200 species are known for this group, among them are the common Jasmine (Jasminum officinale) which is used as perfume, and the Arabic Jasmine (Jasminum sambac) which is the main flavouring ingredient in jasmine tea.This new species was found in Mengla County and Jinghong City, Yunnan Province, China. The specific name refers to the fact that it has fewer flowers in comparison…

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This little (< 4 cm) guy belongs to one of the most diverse genera of geckos (>100 species). Most of the species in this group live in South East Asia and so does our newcomer, found in the Nakhon Si Thammarat Province in southern Thailand. Unlike many other geckos, members of the genus Cnemaspis are active during the daytime.The species name of our newcomer is quite a mouthful and it is a combination of the latin…

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Planthoppers are insects of the infraorder Fulgoromorpha, which consists of some 12,500 described species worldwide. The name comes from their resemblance to leaves and other plant parts and from the fact that they often jump in a similar way to that of grasshoppers.Planthoppers are feeding on plant sap and are therefore often vectors for plant diseases which are transmitted in the process.The new species was named in reference to Dr. Doug Walsh at Washington State…

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Livebearing fish are quite famous among people with aquariums. The most known are guppies, platys, swordtails, and mollies. Livebearing means that the female provisions for the fertilized yolked eggs and gives birth to live young, which have a higher chance of survival than eggs. Fertilization is achieved internally with the male's gonopodium, a modified anal fin used for sperm transfer.The genus Limia contains 21 species, most of them are endemic to Hispaniola and so is our…

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