Dos interesantes trabajos publicados en ZOOTAXA

El primer trabajo publicado es sobre un reptil descubierto en cuevas de la Península de Malasia, y que se ha denominado Lycodon cavernicolus. El trabajo se ha titulado: "A diminutive new species of cave-dwelling Wolf Snake (Colubridae: Lycodon Boie, 1826) from Peninsular Malaysia".

El resumen del trabajo lo podéis ver aquí: RESUMEN.

ABSTRACT:

A newly discovered, diminutive, cave-dwelling, lowland species of the colubrid snake genus Lycodon Boie is described from a limestone cave along the Thai-Malaysian border in the state of Perlis, northwestern Peninsular Malaysia. Lycodon cavernicolus sp. nov. is most closely related to L. butleri Boulenger, an endemic, upland, forest-dwelling species from Peninsular Malaysia of the fasciatus group but is separated from L. butleri and all other species of the L. fasciatus group and the closely related L. ruhstrati group by having the combination of 245 (male) and 232 (female) ventral scales; 113 (male) and 92 (female) paired, subcaudal scales; a single precloacal plate; nine or 10 supralabials; 10 or 11 infralabials; a maximum total length of 508 mm (female); a relative tail length of 0.25–0.27; an immaculate venter in juveniles and darkbrown, posterior, ventral scale margins in adults; and dorsal and caudal bands in juveniles white. The discovery of L. cavernicolus sp. nov. adds to a rapidly growing list of newly discovered reptiles from karst regions and limestone forests of Peninsular Malaysia, underscoring the fact that these areas should be studied before they are quarried as they harbor a significant portion of the Peninsular Malaysia’s herpetological diversity.

El segundo trabajo es sobre anfipodos subterráneos de Brasil. El trabajo se ha titulado "A new troglobiotic species of Hyalella (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Hyalellidae) with a taxonomic key for the Brazilian species".

El resumen del trabajo lo podéis ver aquí: RESUMEN.

ABSTRACT:

The freshwater crustaceans from the order Amphipoda occur mainly in cold and temperate climates. However, in the tropics, these animals can be more abundant in subterranean environments, where the temperatures are milder than in surface. Despite being accepted that the number of species of freshwater amphipods in South America is lower when compared to other regions, recent descriptions have shown that its diversity is certainly underestimated. In this study, a new species of the genus Hyalella is described for Brazil, the fourth troglobiotic species of Hyalella for the country and the sixth in the world. The new species was found on the epikarst of a cave in São Paulo state, Southeastern Brazil. Besides, the new species shows typical characteristics from organisms adapted to the subterranean environments, a pattern also observed in the other troglobiotic species of the genus.

Enhorabuena por estos dos fascinantes trabajos.

Microorganismos de una cueva de Mallorca (España)

En la revista International Journal of Speleology nº 43 (2), se ha publicado recientemente un artículo muy interesante titulado "Microbial communities in a coastal cave: Cova des Pas de Vallgornera (Mallorca, Western Mediterranean)" y firmado por Antoni Busquets, Joan J. Fornós, Freddy Zafra, Jorge Lalucat y Antoni Merino.

En este trabajo se describe el trabajo que han estado llevando en esta cavidad respecto al estudio de los microorganismos encontrados en su interior. A continuación tenéis el resumen en inglés por si es de vuestro interés:

ABSTRACT:

As a part of an ongoing project on the role of microbes in the biogeochemistry of Majorcan caves, the species diversity of microbial communities present in cave pools of anchialine waters in the Cova des Pas de Vallgornera (Mallorca, western Mediterranean) is investigated by a culture-dependent method. Two-hundred and forty-eight strains isolated from this characteristic cave environment of the littoral karst are identified by whole-cell-MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and phylogeneticaly by 16S rRNA gene sequences. Total cell counts and species diversity of the bacterial communities decreas with the distance to the entrance of the cave and to the sea. Strains are mainly identified as members of the Gammaproteobacteria and Actinobacteria. Around 20% of the isolates are able to precipitate carbonates. Calcite is the predominant phase, growing in all the precipitates, although struvite is also found in one Pseudomonas and in one Aspergillus cultures. Differences in crystal characteristics of external shape (habit) and growth are observed according to the bacterial species promoting the precipitates. Bacteria associated with multicolored ferromanganese deposits, present in several parts of the cave, are also studied and are identified as Pseudomonas benzenivorans and Nocardioides luteus. The preponderance of Pseudomonas species and the possible contribution of bacteria in calcite deposition are discussed.

Podéis descargar el trabajo completo PINCHANDO AQUÍ.

Enhorabuena a los autores de este interesante trabajo.

Imagen extraída del trabajo anteriormente citado.

Diplópodos de cuevas de Portugal

Dentro del mundo de los miriápodos, tenemos a los diplópodos. En las cuevas de la Península Ibérica son muy comunes, y hay una variedad de familias, géneros y especies increíbles. Esto es lo que pasa exactamente en nuestra vecina Portugal. En un reciente trabajo de nuestra amiga y bioespeleóloga Ana Sofia Reboleira y el especialista en diplópodos Henrik Enghoff, titulado "Millipedes (Diplopoda) from caves of Portugal", publicado en Jorunal of Cave and Karst Studies volumen 76 (1), se presentan una diversidad increíble.

Podéis descargar el trabajo completo PINCHANDO AQUÍ, y a continuación os pongo el resumen en inglés para que vayáis haciendo boca:

ABSTRACT:

Millipedes play an important role in the decomposition of organic matter in the subterranean environment. Despite the existence of several cave-adapted species of millipedes in adjacent geographic areas, their study has been largely ignored in Portugal. Over the last decade, intense fieldwork in caves of the mainland and the island of Madeira has provided new data about the distribution and diversity of millipedes. A review of millipedes from caves of Portugal is presented, listing fourteen species belonging to eight families, among which six species are considered troglobionts. The distribution of millipedes in caves of Portugal is discussed and compared with the troglobiont biodiversity in the overall Iberian Peninsula and the Macaronesian archipelagos.

Tengo que dar la enhorabuena por el excelente trabajo que está realizando Ana Sofia Reboleira, así como Henrik Enghoff.

Imagen extraída del trabajo citado y comentado anteriormente.

Nuevos anfípodos subterráneos de Brasil

"Two new subterranean species of Hyalella Smith, 1874 (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Hyalellidae) from Brazil", así se titula el nuevo trabajo publicado en la prestigiosa revista taxonómica ZOOTAXA, firmado por Giovanna Monticelli Cardoso, Paula Beatric Araujo, Alessandra Angélica de Pádua Bueno y Rodrigo Lopes Ferreira.

Las especies se han denominado Hyalella veredae y H. fornosa. Aquí tenéis el resumen en inglés y a continuación el enlace donde descargar el resumen de la página taxonómica.

ABSTRACT:

Two new species of Hyalella from Brazil are described. Hyalella veredae sp. n. shows the following characters: eyes reduced or absent in some specimens; antenna 1 and antenna 2 of similar size, and a curved seta on the inner ramus of male uropod 1. Hyalella formosa sp. n. is characterized by the absence of eyes, antenna 1 longer than antenna 2 and a curved seta on the inner ramus of male uropod 1. The species were found on caves located in two private properties, both under the impact of agricultural activities, which demonstrates a potential threat to these subterranean environments

http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2014/f/z03814p368f.pdf

Enhorabuena a los autores y descubridores de estas especies.

Nuevo anfípodo en el medio subterráneo

SUBTERRANEAN BIOLOGY publica un nuevo trabajo sobre el medio subterráneo, concretamente el firmado por Igor Hudec y Andrej Mock, titulado "Niphargus plurispinosus sp. n. (Crustacea, Amphipoda), a stygophile and hypotelminorheic representative from Central Europe".

Podéis ver el resumen en inglés de este trabajo en aquí:

ABSTRACT:

The detailed description of the morphology of Niphargus plurispinosus sp. n. from Slovakia is presented. Over 300 specimens were collected from a permanent seepage spring on repeated visits between May 2011 and May 2013. The type locality is located in the foothills of the Zemplínske vrchy mountains in the East Slovakian Lowland (NE part of Pannonian Lowland) - small, low and isolated hills formed during Neogene volcanic activity. Volcanic rocks draw together fragments of massives of Palaezoic and Mesozoic age as same as Neogene sediments. The new species can be classified as stygophile, living in the shallow subterranean habitat. The species has small subequal gnathopods, sexually dimorphic uropod III, sexually non-dimorphic uropod I in juveniles, dimorphic uropod 1 in adults. They are extremely different in the post-reproductive stage, when they have 2-4 dorsal spines (arranged in a transverse row) on the telson and supporting dorsal spines.

El trabajo completo en el siguiente enlace:

http://www.pensoft.net/journals/subtbiol/article/6531/niphargus-plurispinosus-sp-n-crustacea-amphipoda-a%C2%A0stygophile-and-hypotelminorheic-representative-from%C2%A0central-europe

Esperamos que os guste.

Imagen extraída del trabajo publicado y mencionado anteriormente.