New Species

The New Species podcast has been weekly since its inception.  However, at least through September of this year, it will be every two weeks.  Don't worry-- plenty of great content will still be coming, just a bit less frequently for a short while.  Thanks for listening to the New Species podcast!

Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies), like the podcast page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast), and music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom).

If you would like to support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPodcast

Dr. Scott Schneider is a Research Entomologist in the Systematic Entomology Lab at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, MD, USA. He talks to me about his paper published in the June 24 issue of the ZooKeys in which he and his coauthors describe a four new species of armored scale insects! We discuss how these insects can be legless, their economic importance, the possibility that any of us could have inhaled (!!) one of their larvae, why only males can fly, a species who’s nearest relative is found in Africa, how to look at specimens that are 1 mm (or less!) long on microscope slides, and the wise choice to work on a group of organisms that doesn’t interest other people!

The title of the paper is “Four new species of Aspidiotini (Hemiptera, Diaspididae, Aspidiotinae) from Panama, with a key to Panamanian species.” The paper is currently Open Access and available here: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/68409/

To learn more about Dr. Scott Schneider, visit his website or his Research Gate site: https://www.ars.usda.gov/people-locations/person?person-id=52126

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Scott-Schneider

Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies), like the podcast page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast), and music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom).

If you would like to support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPodcast

Dr. Peter Jaeger is the Head of Arachnology at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany. He talks to me about his paper published in the June 10 issue of the Zootaxa in which he describes two new genera and two new species of huntsman spiders! We discuss the large amount of size variation in these spiders, a species named after David Bowie, a specimen collected about the time he was born, the fun of collecting in the jingles of southeast Asia, and why we need to keep looking for new species!

The title of the paper is “Two new enigmatic genera of huntsman spiders from Madagascar (Araneae: Sparassidae).” The paper is currently Open Access and available here: https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4984.1.24

To learn more about Dr. Peter Jaeger, visit his website: https://www.senckenberg.de/en/institutes/senckenberg-research-institute-natural-history-museum-frankfurt/division-terrestrial-zoology/section-arachnology/arachnology_team/

Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies), like the podcast page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast), and music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom).

If you would like to support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPodcast

Dr. Graham Oliver is an Honorary Research Fellow at the National Museum of Wales in the UK. He talks to me about his paper published in the June 15 issue of the ZooKeys in which he and his coauthors describe a new species of reef-building oyster! We discuss oyster-built versus coral=built reefs, cementing bivalves (true oysters), oyster clumps that look like cows, whether this new species is invasive to the Arabian Gulf, the difficulty in identifying oysters, and the reluctance to challenge orthodoxy!

The title of the paper is “Molecular and morphological systematics of a new, reef-forming, cupped oyster from the northern Arabian Gulf: Talonostrea salpinx new species.” The paper is currently Open Access and available here: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/66992/

To learn more about Dr. Graham Oliver, visit his website: https://museum.wales/staff/112/Graham-Oliver/

Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies), like the podcast page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast), and music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom).

If you would like to support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPodcast

Dr. Adam Brunke is a Research Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-food Canada and the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids, and Nematodes. He talks to me about his paper published in the June 3 issue of the ZooKeys in which he and his coauthors describe four new species of aleocharine staphylinid rove beetles! We discuss what a rove beetle is, the hyper diversity of rove beetles, the amazing diversity of habitats in which they are found, synonymies in taxonomy, elementary school students finding new species at school, explaining to police about midnight beetle collecting, and getting lost on mountains!

The title of the paper is “Integrative taxonomy of Nearctic and Palearctic Aleocharinae: new species, synonymies, and records (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae).” The paper is currently Open Access and available here: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/64460/

To learn more About Dr. Adam Brunke, follow him on Twitter, @aj_brunke, or visit his website: https://profils-profiles.science.gc.ca/en/profile/dr-adam-j-brunke

Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies), like the podcast page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast), and music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom).

If you would like to support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPodcast

Dr. Jason Bond is the Schlinger Chair in Insect Systematics at the University of California - Davis. He talks to me about a special topic of concern—something called the taxonomic impediment, which is the shortage of trained taxonomists and curators needed to identify, describe, catalog, curate, and organize species and species collections around the world. We talk about why there’s an impediment, and possible ways to overcome the impediment.

You can follow Dr. Jason Bond on Twitter, @Jason_E_Bond, or visit his faculty page (https://entomology.ucdavis.edu/people/jason-bond) lab’s webpage to learn more about him and the research in his lab: https://www.bondlab.org/

Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies), like the podcast page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast), and music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom).

If you would like to support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPodcast

Dr. Bill Shear is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. He talks to me about his paper published in the May 24 issue of the Zootaxain which he and his coauthor describe three new genera and eighteen new species of millipedes from the US! We talk about the difference between millipedes and centipedes, the “poor man’s rainforest” in temperate leaf litter, chemical defenses in millipedes, the wonderful biodiversity in soil, the wonderful biodiversity waiting to be discovered just in the US, and about problems with humans removing predators of whitetail deer!

The title of the paper is “Three new genera and eighteen new species of miniature polydesmid millipedes from the northwestern United States (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Polydesmidae).” The paper is currently Open Access and available here: https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4975.1.3

Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies), like the podcast page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast), and music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom).

If you would like to support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPodcast

Dr. Noushka Reiter is a Senior Research Scientist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. She talks to me about her paper published in the May 13 issue of Phytotaxa in which she and her coauthors describe two new species of orchids from Australia! We talk about why orchids are so popular, gnats trying to have sex with flowers, why orchids need fungi to grow, how to get small wasps to try to mate with random items in your house, and the challenges of finding orchids in southern Australia!

The title of the paper is “Two new species of Pterostylis (Orchidaceae; Orchidoidea) from the Sunset Country, Victoria, Australia.” The paper is currently available Open Access here: https://www.mapress.com/j/pt/article/view/phytotaxa.500.3.1

Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies), like the podcast page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast), and music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom).

If you would like to support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPodcast

Dr. Tom Giarla is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Siena College in Albany, NY. He talks to me about his paper published in the May issue of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society in which he and his coauthor describe two new species of semi-aquatic mice from Africa! We talk about catching semi-aquatic mice, a possibly extinct species from which he collected DNA, how to prepare a mammal specimen for a museum collection, and species named after the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo who was assassinated!

The title of the paper is “Integrative taxonomy and phylogeography of Colomys and Nilopegamys (Rodentia: Murinae), semi-aquatic mice of Africa, with descriptions of two new species.” The paper is currently available here: https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article-abstract/192/1/206/5918308?redirectedFrom=fulltext

To learn more about Dr. Tom Giarla, follow him on Twitter (@TomGiarla), or visit his website: https://www.tomgiarla.com

Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies), like the podcast page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast), and music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom).

If you would like to support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPodcast

Alireza Zamani is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Turku in Finland. He talks to me about his paper published in ZooKeys on April 27 in which he and his coauthor describe 17 new species of ant spiders from Iran and Turkmenistan! We talk about names derived from the Persian language, collecting spiders in mine fields, names of new species derived from Persian and Kurdish history, and the amazing biodiversity of Iran!

The title of the paper is “Revision of the spider family Zodariidae (Arachnida, Araneae) in Iran and Turkmenistan, with seventeen new species.” The paper is currently available open access in ZooKeys: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/65767/

To learn more about Alireza Zamani, follow him on Twitter (@PersianSpiders), Instagram (alireza.zamani.spider), or visit his website: http://alireza-zamani.com/

Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies), like the podcast page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast), and music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom).

If you would like to support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPodcast