A team of scholars has discovered 17 new species of millipedes in a park in Tennessee, one of which was dedicated to Taylor Swift as a tribute to the singer who lived for several years in this American state, another bears the name of the wife of one. of the experts
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
In the eastern state of Tennessee, a group of scientists and entomologists from Virginia Tech made a very interesting discovery in a forest park: as many as 17 new millipedes from the wilsoni group have been identified, bringing the number of so far known species of the aforementioned group to 24 and those of the genus Nannaria at 78. The study results were shared in the journal ZooKeys.
One of these species has been given the name of Nannaria swiftae, a personal dedication by entomologist Derek Hennen to singer Taylor Swift who occupies a special place in his career.
I'm a huge fan of Taylor's music and have listened to her a lot throughout graduate school. She brought me joy and she helped me through some difficult times, so I wanted to show my appreciation. Since this new species comes from Tennessee and she has lived in Tennessee for a while, I thought it was a good choice "
said the expert that he hopes that the singer appreciates this gesture.
The Nannaria swiftae is a brownish-orange millipede and has been found in the forests of Cumberland, Monroe and Van Buren counties in Tennessee. Hennen could not fail to dedicate one to his wife who supported him in his research and so one of the species was named for the occasion Nannaria marianae.
All 17 millipedes from the wilsoni group were discovered and distinguished from each other by observing the leg morphology these invertebrates use to reproduce, Dr. Hennen explained in a Twitter post.
How do we identify each species? We look at the morphology of the male's modified legs (they use them for sex!) and also examine their genetics by extracting DNA and building phylogenies. Here's what their characteristic gonopods look like. pic.twitter.com/4dBUKLXTpp
- Derek Hennen, Ph.D. (@derekhennen) April 15, 2022
Over time, the wilsoni species group has shown great adaptability to different microhabitats and climates and in fact these millipedes were found in a state park, frequented by everyone, while it was known that they tended to inhabit the high altitudes of North America.
This finding bodes well for the conservation of these invertebrate arthropods that are reproducing even in areas highly frequented by humans. At the same time thanks to this unexpected discovery, it is not difficult to believe that so many other species can be identified in the southern regions of America.
Fonte: Zookeys
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