Date:         Wed, 27 May 2009 07:38:40 -0700
Reply-To:     Conchologists List <CONCH-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sender:       Conchologists List <CONCH-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Ross Mayhew <specimenshells@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      "Top 10 new species" list for 2008 includes Snail and slug!
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Molluscs are kicking butt on the New Species Frontier....... the "Top 10 new species" list for 2008 includes both a shell-dweller and one of the Mollusca's many nudists (who has "razor sharp teeth", according to this article......). Most folks who don't follow such things are unaware that we are currently in the greatest period of scientific discovery EVER, with new wonders popping up everywhere we look, on all scales from the sub-atomic (sure would be cool if the Higg's boson were found by CERN this year!!!) to the immense "largest object in the universe" which was reported on a few weeks ago.  Despite vast funding deficiencies, the task of cataloguing and finding out the bare bones facts about the 10 to 20 million species with which we share this planet, is also zipping along at almost 20,000 "new" species per year - which means that at this rate in 500 to a thousand years we'll have found all the species which haven't gone extinct by then :-+(.  That
 said, to put things into another perspective, Linnaeus described about 9,000 species and estimated the total to be around 20,000. 
Incidentally, can anyone describe in terms the "mathematically challenged" (such as myself....) can understand, exactly how a snail's shell could twist around four axes???
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/05/22/top.ten.new.species.2009/

Scientists parade top 10 new species

    * Story Highlights    * Scientists publish the top 10 species discovered and named in 2008    * List includes a tiny seahorse, ghost slug, old fossil, caffeine-free coffee beans    * More than 18,500 new species were discovered worldwide in 2007    * New species found in Indonesia, Borneo, Madagascar, Malaysia and Wales
updated 12:14 p.m. EDT, Fri May 22, 2009
By Hilary WhitemanCNN
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A year ago, they were complete unknowns, living a peaceful existence far away from the glare of the international media. Not any more.A tiny seahorse found in waters off Indonesia mades the top ten list of new species in 2008.
A tiny seahorse found in waters off Indonesia mades the top ten list of new species in 2008.more photos »
Once again, scientists have hauled ten previously unknown plant and animal species into the spotlight of humanity in their annual list of top 10 new species.
Step forward, a freak show of pea-sized seahorses, ghostly slugs and pint-sized snakes, the best of thousands of new species discovered in 2008.
They were selected from thousands of nature's newcomers by the International Institute for Species Exploration at the Arizona State University (ASU) and an international committee of taxonomists, scientists tasked with discovering and classifying new species.
"Most people do not realize just how incomplete our knowledge of Earth's species is or the steady rate at which taxonomists are exploring that diversity," says Quentin Wheeler, an entomologist and director of ASU's International Institute for Species Exploration.
"We are surrounded by such an exuberance of species diversity that we too often take for granted."
The list is dominated by tiny creatures, which may go some way to explain why they've gone undetected for so long. The smallest entry comes courtesy of Japanese scientists who discovered bacteria that lives in hairspray (Microbacterium hataononis).Don't Miss
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Slightly larger and more consumer-friendly is the tiny seahorse (Hippocampus satomiae) found near off Derawan Island off Kalimantan, Indonesia which measures just over a centimeter in height and length.
The world's smallest snake also makes an appearance. Discovered in St. Joseph Parish, the Barbados Threadsnake (Leptotyphlops carlae) is just ten centimeters from tip to tail.
At the other end of the creepy-crawly scale is what could be the world's longest insect, a stick-like creature (Phobaeticus chani) found in Borneo which can grow up to 56 centimeters long.
Two entries on the list are fish. While one is alive and swimming, the other is a fossil of a fish giving birth some 380 million years ago. It was found by John Long who nicknamed his discovery "Josie," as a tribute to his mother.
New species found lurking in the garden include the ghost slug (Selenochlamys ysbryda), which despite its bright white appearance and "blade-like teeth" has been evading the locals in Cardiff, Wales for years.
Scientists say a species of snail (Opisthostoma vermiculum) found in Malaysia represents a "unique morphological evolution." Its shell twists around four axes.
Plants to have made the list include a gigantic new species and genus of palm (Tahina spectablilis) which produces an abundance of flowers then promptly dies. Fewer than 100 of the palms have been found in a small area of northwestern Madagascar.
The first recorded species of a caffeine-free coffee plant found in Central Africa (Coffea charrieriana) also makes the grade.
Competition for the top 10 spots was stiff. In 2007 alone, more than 18,500 new species were discovered. It's safe to assume just as many were found in 2008, if not more.
Wheeler says he expects the rate of new species discovered and named to accelerate as new tools come online.
"Charting the species of the world and their unique attributes are essential parts of understanding the history of life," Wheeler said. "It is in our own self-interest as we face the challenges of living on a rapidly changing planet."
From a sunny spring-like day in good old New Scotland,Ross Mayhew.http://www.schnr-specimen-shells.com/




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