Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #collectionsareessential
Most recents (7)
💥 New species alert!💥
Meet Cambarus ectopistes, the Cataloochee Crayfish, which as of this weekend became the newest addition to North Carolina and Tennessee's named crayfish fauna. Described by me & Dr. Zachary Loughman (@westlibertyu) this species represents sooo much. 1/7
Meet Cambarus ectopistes, the Cataloochee Crayfish, which as of this weekend became the newest addition to North Carolina and Tennessee's named crayfish fauna. Described by me & Dr. Zachary Loughman (@westlibertyu) this species represents sooo much. 1/7
The species epithet 'ectopistes' may seem familiar; it's the genus of the extinct passenger pigeon. We chose this name for two reasons: 1. one of the 3 disjunct populations of C. ectopistes occurs in the Pigeon River (PR), which was a major flyway for the passenger pigeon. 2/7
and 2. we wanted to emphasize the need for broader education about the conservation concerns and needs of crayfishes in general. DYK, despite the critical role crayfishes play in aquatic ecosystems, they are one the most imperiled groups of freshwater organisms? 3/7
Some quick tips on making specimen loan requests! A lot of museums are on aggregators like @GBIF, @Vertnet, Seinet @iDigBio and SCAN, which you can search for an initial inquiry. Check out the original database for the most updated information. For us, that's @arctosdb /1
Even if you think you've found what you need, email the staff and tell them about your project and what your looking for (i.e. I'm doing a project on the phylogenetics of Grayia, and I'm looking for any XX). It helps if you give a geographic area if that matters! Why? /2
Collections managers and curators know their collections best! There may be uncatalogued material that fits your project or we may be able to suggest things for your project that you're not aware of and haven't found in your search query. /3
FIRST UP: No. 2 seed Midgardia Seastar (Midgardia xandaros) vs No. 6 seed Ammonite (Didymoceras nebrascense) #2021MMM
Sea Beasties should be TERRIFYING based on the origins of their names: fabulous sea monster of middle earth (Midgardia Seastar) & paired horns (Ammonite). But Round 1 & 2 action has been, well, NOT TERRIFYING. Maybe this round will be different??? #2021MMM
What IS Midgardia Seastar, anyway? Seastars also go by the name starfish, but starfish are not fish! They are echnioderms along with sand dollars, sea urchins & sea cucumbers. Midgardia Seastar belongs to the order Brisingida, which are primarily deep-sea animals #2021MMM
NEXT UP: No. 2 seed Midgardia Seastar (Midgardia xandaros) vs No. 7 seed Yeti Crab (Kiwa hirsuta). This battle is #TeamWork between myself & @Mammals_Suck #2021MMM
In Norse mythology, Migard (Migardia) Serpent was the child of LOKI! Our Seastar's species name, xanderos, is Greek for fabulous sea monster. More about deep-sea starfish from #ActualLivingScientist @echinoblog here: echinoblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/brisin… [gif is Loki flipping knives] #2021MMM
Unfortunately, little is known about our long-legged creature of the deep. There are less than 20 specimens in natural history collections, most at the @TAMU Biodiversity Research & Teaching Collections #BRTC #CollectionsAreEssential #2021MMM
Why do tropical bird & avian-malaria communities vary from place to place?
In PNAS, @SabrinaMcnew et al. answered this by modeling diversity across Peru, based on years of field, lab, & museum work.
(📸:@UrSchmittinMe et al.)
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pnas.org/content/118/12…
In PNAS, @SabrinaMcnew et al. answered this by modeling diversity across Peru, based on years of field, lab, & museum work.
(📸:@UrSchmittinMe et al.)
1/
pnas.org/content/118/12…
We explained 'species turnover' among communities as having resulted from environmental differences and/or hosts/parasites.
Generalized dissimilarity modeling (GDM) was key.
For both birds & avian malaria, *rainfall* had the strongest influence on species turnover.
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Generalized dissimilarity modeling (GDM) was key.
For both birds & avian malaria, *rainfall* had the strongest influence on species turnover.
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Temperature, net primary productivity, and elevation were also important drivers of bird species turnover...
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NEXT UP: #8 seed PINK VENT FISH (Thermarces cerberus) vs #9 seed LATHE ACTEON SNAIL (Acteon tornatilis) #2021MMM
Pink Vent Fish is a predator associated w/ deep sea hydrothermal vents fed by volcanos in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, hence our combatant is named in honor of Cerberus, the 3-headed hound in Greek mythology who guards the entrance to the underworld alongside Hades #2021MMM
Pink Vent Fish feed on vent snails, limpets, and the amphipod crustaceans (Micheli et al 2002) #WatchOutSnailTheyllChewYouUp #2021MMM
FIRST UP: #8 seed Springhare (Rodentia: Pedetes capanesis) vs #9 seed Jackrabbit (Lagomorpha: Lepus californicus) #2019MMM
Why are these 2 species in the Jump Jump division? They're highly adapted for saltatorial, or jumping, locomotion. In fact, Springhares belong to the rodent family Pedetidae, which is Greek for "leaper or dancer" #2019MMM
Although rodents & lagomorphs are closely related (last shared a common ancestor ~80 million years ago; timetree.org), the adaptations that Springhares & Jackrabbits have for jumping evolved independently #2019MMM
