As far as anyone can tell, the cold-water crayfish Faxonius eupunctus makes its home in a 30-mile stretch of the Eleven Point River and nowhere else in the world. According to a new study, the animal is most abundant in the middle part its range, a rocky expanse in southern Missouri -- with up to...
Smallest monkey's evolutionary secret
Evolutionary biologists have now discovered that the Pygmy Marmoset -- the world's smallest monkey -- is not one species but two.
Weighing in at just 100 grams -- roughly the size of a large tomato -- the insect-eating primate was first described scientifically in 1823 by German naturalist Johann Spix as Cebuella pygmaea, with a sub-species...
Scientists use forensic technology to genetically document infanticide in brown bears
Scientists used a technology designed for the purposes of human forensics, to provide the first genetically documented case of infanticide in brown bears, following the murder of a female and her two cubs in Trentino, the Italian Alps, where a small re-introduced population has been genetically monitored for already 20 years.
The study, conducted and authored...
To build up mussels, you need to know your fish
Times are tough for 31 of Michigan's 45 varieties of freshwater mussels. Sporting evocative names like wavy-rayed lampmussel and round pigtoe, these residents of the state's rivers are imperiled by habitat disruption and pollution and are also threatened by climate change.
Michigan State University (MSU) scientists' recommendation to figure out the best places to focus conservation...
Voice control: Why North Atlantic right whales change calls as they age
Former Syracuse postdoctoral researcher Holly Root-Gutteridge has always been a good listener -- a trait that has served her very well in her bioacoustic research of mammals, both aquatic and landlocked. Most recently her ears have tuned-in to vocal stylings of the North Atlantic right whale.
Through extensive listening and analysis of whale calls -- which...
Fossil turtle species, 5.5 million years old, sheds light on invasive modern relatives
A University of Pennsylvania paleontologist has described a 5.5 million-year-old fossil species of turtle from eastern Tennessee. It represents a new species of the genus Trachemys, commonly known as sliders, which are frequently kept as pets today.
Steven Jasinski, author of the new study, is a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania and acting curator...