NewCritters.com

Scientists have discovered a new species of bat that has large flat adhesive suckers attached to its thumbs and hind feet.

The researchers say this is a remarkable find because the new bat belongs to a Family of bats endemic to Madagascar–and one that was previously considered to include only one rare species.

The new species, Myzopoda schliemanni, occurs only in the dry western forests of Madagascar, while the previously known species, Myzopoda aurita, occurs only in the humid eastern forests of Madagascar, according to new research recently published online in the journal Mammalian Biology: The description of a new species of Myzopoda (Myzopodidae: Chiroptera) from western Madagascar (abstract). The new species is different from the known species based on coloration, measurements and cranial characteristics.

Due to the physical similarities between M. schliemanni and M. aurita, the researchers concluded that one species probably evolved from the other, most likely after the bat dispersed across the island from east to west.

Myzopoda are often found in association with broad-leaf plants, most notably Ravenala madagascariensis or the Travelers’ Palm, a plant that is endemic to Madagascar but has been introduced to numerous tropical countries. Myzopoda are found in association with such plants because they can use their suckers to climb and adhere to the leaves’ flat, slick surface. It is thought that they roost in the leaves during the day.

Myzopoda were considered endangered because of their limited distribution and the notion that the family included only one species. The new research, however, modifies both of these ideas.

The researchers determined that Myzopoda is not endangered by the loss of the moist tropical forests because the bat appears to have adapted very well to the large broad-leaf Ravenala that are often pioneering plants in zones where the original forests have been cleared and burned.

“For now, we do not have to worry as much about the future of Myzopoda,” said Steven M. Goodman, Field Museum field biologist and lead author of the study. “We can put conservation efforts on behalf of this bat on the backburner because it is able to live in areas that have been completely degraded”

The other co-authors of the research are Félix Rakotondraparany, lecturer in the Animal Biology Department at the University of Antananarivo, and Amyot Kofoky, graduate student at the University of Mahajanga.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Suborder Microchiroptera
Superfamily: Nataloidea
Family: Myzopodidae

An exciting new species discovery, especially for Harry Potter fans, is officially on the books. It’s called Dracorex hogwartsia and is a plant eating pachycephalosaur.
Paleontologist, Dr. Robert Bakker, explains how he came up with the name:

“The creature is a very special dinosaur that seems at home in a “Harry Potter” adventure. It was a plant-eater, only about as heavy as the war horse of a medieval knight. And it carried an armor-plated head of almost magical configuration, covered with knobs and spikes, horns and crests. I was staring at the skull last summer, and the name just popped into my head, hogwartsia.”

The full name, Dracorex hogwartsia, comes from the Latin words draco (meaning dragon), rex (meaning king), and hogwartsia (after the fictional Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry created by J.K. Rowling)

Author J.K. Rowling was delighted by the naming and wrote: “The naming of Dracorex hogwartsia is easily the most unexpected honour to have come my way since the publication of the Harry Potter books! I am absolutely thrilled to think that Hogwarts has made a small (claw?) mark upon the fascinating world of dinosaurs … I am very much looking forward to reading Dr. Bakker’s paper describing ‘my’ dinosaur, which I can’t help visualising as a slightly less pyromaniac Hungarian Horntail.”

The nearly complete pachycephalosaur skull was donated to The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis by Steve Saulsbury, Patrick Saulsbury and Brian Buckmeier, all from Sioux City, Iowa. The three friends found the fossil during a fossil collecting trip in the Hell Creek Formation in central South Dakota, and agreed the museum would be the perfect home for the specimen. Brought to the museum’s Paleo Prep Lab for cleaning and studying, it was little more than a box of parts, shattered by erosion before its discovery. It took Victor Porter, the vertebrate paleontologist at The Children’s Museum, two years to patiently glue together the many fragments.

Fierce debates have raged about whether the pachy’s butted each other, but since no good neck bones had been found, conclusive evidence was lacking. The Children’s Museum Paleo Lab personnel scored a cretaceous triumph when they pieced together four nearly complete neck vertebrae for D. hogwartsia. Special anti-twist joints and enlarged muscle attachments seem to show that these dinosaurs indulged in violent kinetic exercises. “They were head-bangers!” said Bakker.

If you’d like to get a peek at this dino critter visit the The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis where it is on display. The museum has also kindly hosted the scientific paper describing D. hogwartsia online and you can read it yourself here: Dracorex hogwartsia, n. gen., n. sp., a spiked, flat-headed pachycephalosaurid dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota. [pdf]

Don’t forget to check out thier page dedicated to D. hogwartsia, there’s a video of the unveiling and lots of pictures. (best viewed in IE) and you can also buy a cool t-shirt.

Ichthyologist, Pablo Lehmann, honors the caped crusader by naming a new species after him. Otocinclus batmani aka “The Batman Fish” is a catfish from Colombia and Peru. It’s small and measures under 2 inches so put those recipes away!

HINT: If you are wondering why this little critter was named after Batman take a closer look at the tail.

You can read Lehmann’s paper published in the journal Neotropical Ichthyology online here: Otocinclus batmani, a new species of hypoptopomatine catfish (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from Colombia and Peru [pdf].

On a side note, if you have a fresh water aquarium and need help with algae problems keep an eye out for O. batmani’s cousins for sale at your local aquarium. They are often sold as “oto cats” or “dwarfed sucking catfish” and are fantastic algae eaters. They do much better than the commonly sold chinese algae eaters who actually tend to stop eating algae as they get older.

Da nuh nuh nuh na nuh nuh na nuh … BATFISH!