Fish and Amphibians

An exuberant dinosaur with a parrot-like beak, bony frills, a huge horn on its nose and a 'star-like' skull has been named in honour of British rock musician David Bowie . US palaeontologists have given the dinosaur genus the name Stellasaurus, meaning 'star lizard', based on a fossilised skull found in Montana.  The creature roamed the badlands of Montana 75 million years ago and belonged to the ceratopsians – plant-eaters that included the iconic Triceratops  Stellasaurus was as big as a bus, reaching more than 20 feet long and weighing more than two tons.  The genus name Stellasaurus, or 'star lizard', is derived from 'stella', which is Latin for star, and 'saurus', which is Greek for lizard.  The name is a reference to the overall 'star-like appearance' of the skull, and a homage to Bowie's hit 1972 single 'Starman'.   Stellasaurus ancellae is a member of the plant-eating horned ceratopsid dinosaurs, which live...

E nvironmental DNA has become the ecologist’s shiny new tool, unraveling mysteries about endangered and elusive aquatic species in recent years. The novel biomonitoring method looks for traces of DNA shed by fish and other organisms in water bodies. Now, scientists are adapting the technique to search for the presence of land-dwelling creatures. Scientists have recently sampled eDNA from streams and rivers in the UK and in the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest in Brazil to assess local mammal communities, and their results surprised them. Published in two separate studies, the team detected 20 wild mammal species, some of which are difficult-to-survey animals, including red deer, mountain hares, pine martens, red foxes, and badgers in the UK, according to findings published March 20 in The Journal of Applied Ecology . The group also found evidence of endangered animals such as water voles. In another study, published in Mammal Review   in January, the team identified 17 species, inc...

It’s not just about the jaguar. When the federal government finishes building nearly 240 miles of new border wall across much of Southern Arizona, damaging impacts on a wide range of mammals, birds, fish and insects are expected, say environmentalists, researchers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials. Both endangered and nonendangered animals are likely to take a hit, as far west as the Sonoran Desert’s remote reaches on the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and as far east as the wetlands of the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge near the New Mexico border, they say. Impacts are predicted to fall upon “charismatic megafauna” as visible as the endangered Sonoran pronghorn and the common black bear and mountain lion — and on obscurities such as the endangered San Bernardino springsnail and the Sonoyta mud turtle. The concerns come as U.S. Customs and Border Protection builds 63 miles of 30-foot-high border wall in Pima and Cochise counties for $1.3 bill...

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Wildlife conservation is a type of work without end. It's ongoing. It revolves around time—while racing against it. Pausing amid a global pandemic isn't an option, because that could mean the difference between saving endangered species or not. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed so much in so little time. Preventing the spread of this coronavirus has required a collective commitment to shutdowns and social distancing . For conservationists, it's just yet another time where they must adapt. FIU's Institute of Environment researchers are stuck in this strange new reality of unknowns. During the past several months, Hong Liu has been closely monitoring China's response to the outbreak, including the recent ban of the trade and consumption of wild animals. A conservation ecologist, Liu has spent the greater part of her career in China. Although she works primarily with endangered orchids, she said successful conservation efforts are cl...

A newly discovered reptile that lived 250 million years ago even before the dinosaurs has been named after a Lord of the Rings character. The new species, called Elessaurus gondwanoccidens, was discovered among rocky deposits not far from the Argentina border.  E. gondwanoccidens is named after the Elvish name (Elessar) of Aragorn from Lord of the Rings, also known as strider, in reference to the animal's long legs.   It had a mostly terrestrial lifestyle during the Triassic time period – between 252 million and 201 million years ago. E. gondwanoccidens, which is also part of a new genus, is a close cousin of the mysterious tanystropheids, noted for their 9.8 feet (3 metre) long necks.   Life restoration of Elessaurus gondwanoccidens, from the Sanga do Cabral Formation (Lower Triassic), Brazil The new specimen was collected atrock formations at the locality Bica São Tomé, Sango do Cabral Formation municipality of of São Francisco de Assis, Rio...

Increased daylight hours and spring warmth mean that now is the time to think about plants for your pond. Pond plants can provide a refuge for wildlife, provide spawning sites for fish and amphibians, purify water and even help prevent algae.  Types of pond plants Pond plants can be divided into five main groups – moisture-loving, marginal, deepwater, oxygenating and floating. All can be grown in the same pond but all have different planting requirements. Moisture-loving Moisture-loving plants are any garden plants that prefer wet soils including Gunnera, Hostas, ferns, and Primula. The ideal is a bog garden which is part of the main pond and lined but filled with aquatic compost. To create this dig out the main pond as normal but have a lip covered with a large overlap of pond liner at one end. Fill the pond up and water will naturally spill over to the boggy section, providing a perfect wet, soil habitat for moisture-loving plants. Very shallow wet areas are also great for w...

Photos: youtube.com/SciTech Daily In the Northern part of Canada found a skeleton that could belong to an ancient fish with fingers, said “Peace 24”. According to paleontologists, the creature was a transitional link between fish and amphibians. It turned out that the front fins of this fish were fingers. According to experts, the remains are not the fish, but not amphibian. during observations it became known that the bone structure of the fingers similar to the fingers of modern animals. In the end, scientists assumed that the length of the fish reached approximately half a meter. While the skeleton was of the forearm and wrist, giving them a resemblance to the vertebrate inhabitants of the land. In March, it became known that archaeologists have found in China the most ancient sewer system. see also In Egypt, found more than 80 zahoroneniya ancient Egypt, found the cemetery of the Neolithic https://ift.tt/2XhrZ3q