New Species, a podcast

27/05/2025

“Serendipity is a real grabbing force of science,” says Léo Laborieux as he shares his experience describing his new species of scorpion. While at a remote research station in the Colombian rainforest, Léo found a handful of scorpions that exhibited a unique venom ‘flicking’ behavior. Armed only with his phone and a few basic supplies, Léo documented the behavior, diagnosed the scorpions as being a new species, and came to fascinating conclusions about venom biomechanics. In this episode he brings us deep into the world of scorpion venoms and shares his love of these creatures and their startling diversity.

https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/zS4ns5K2HTb

Léo Laborieux’ paper “Biomechanics of venom delivery in South America’s first toxungen-spraying scorpion” is in the December 2024 edition of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae161

“Serendipity is a real grabbing force of science,” says Léo Laborieux as he shares his experience describing his new species of scorpion. While at a remote research station in the Colombian rainforest, Léo found a handful of scorpions that exhibited a unique venom ‘flicking’ behavior. Arme...

13/05/2025

Begonias are known around the world as a plant of beauty and diversity. What can they teach us about the world around us? Through his work on Begonias and other flowering plants found in Northeast India, Professor Dipankar Borah sees the world differently. It’s not just for his own benefit though.

“Much of my time is spent making students aware of their surroundings,” He says. “We trek to forests, cook food from the wilderness, and then find joy in the simple yet profound experiences. Through these moments of exploration and laughter, I hope to rekindle their sense of wonder and then help them build the lasting bond with nature.”

Listen to this episode: https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/FgVv35mHkTb

In this episode, let Dr. Borah invite you with joy and wonder into the world of Begonias.

Dipankar Borah’s paper “A new species Begonia ziroensis and a new record of Begonia siamensis from Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India” is in volume 63 issue 1 of the New Zealand Journal of Botany.

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2023.2295439

Episode image credit: Dipankar Borah

Begonias are known around the world as a plant of beauty and diversity. What can they teach us about the world around us? Through his work on Begonias and other flowering plants found in Northeast India, Professor Dipankar Borah sees the world differently. It’s not just for his own benefit though....

29/04/2025

Shantanu Joshi is fascinated with creatures of all kinds, but especially damselflies, the small quick fliers of the order Odonata. In this episode he takes us deep into the forests of Northeast India, a place of immense beauty and interfering colonial history. Undersampling and poor specimen quality are a few reasons the diversity of this area is not well known, and Shantanu and his coauthors are determined to fill in the gaps. As with his project The Odonata of India, Shantanu shares in incredible detail the morphology, ecology, and even behaviors of these two new species, and discusses what their presence means for two unique and isolated habitats.

https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/X4H3hOrwXSb

Shantanu’s paper “Description of Protosticta khasia sp. nov. and Yunnanosticta siangi sp. nov.,
with new records of P. samtsensis from Northeast India” is in volume 5448 of Zootaxa.

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5448.3.2

Listen to this episode and more at www.newspeciespodcast.net or wherever you get your podcasts.

Shantanu Joshi is fascinated with creatures of all kinds, but especially damselflies, the small quick fliers of the order Odonata. In this episode he takes us deep into the forests of Northeast India, a place of immense beauty and interfering colonial history. Undersampling and poor specimen quality...

01/04/2025

What if I told you that the oldest known biotic association of arthropods is a piece of Lebanese amber from the Cretaceous period? At the same time that flowering plants were diversifying, astigmatid mites were finding a very convenient way to get around: on the backs of termites. Can mites and termites be friends? How does one identify a tiny mite specimen without damaging its equally-important host? Learn the answers to these questions and more from Dr. Hemen Sendi on this episode of the New Species Podcast.

Listen to the episode: newspeciespodcast.net/episodes
(or wherever you get your podcasts)
Read the paper BMC : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-025-02351-5

Photos in order: the new mite species (Hemen Sendi), the holotypic termite with associated mites highlighted (Enrico Bonino), an illustration of both the mites and termite (Júlia Káčerová), and a photo of Hemen in the field (Hemen Sendi)

18/03/2025

A new "woolly devil" sunflower from Big Bend National Park!

Park volunteer Debra Manley and park naturalist Cathy Hoyt were hiking in the rocky limestone of the Chihuahuan desert when they came across a small, odd flowering plant. It was the start of an amazing collaboration across international borders that included taxonomists and community scientists of many disciplines, and which demonstrates how important collaboration is and how much we have to protect in National Parks and other designated natural areas.

“I think this particular discovery has inspired a lot of people outside of the world of biodiversity science to recognize that we still have a lot of work to do in terms of just describing the biodiversity in environments as iconic as the US National Parks” says Isaac Lichter Marck, one of the taxonomists involved in the description. “We assume that because it's found within a US national park that it'll be within an environment that's preserved into the future. That's been the ideal of national parks. But I think in the current reality we have to be cautious about that assumption.”

Listen in to learn more about Isaac and his work, the tremendous effort that went into this discovery, and what the future might look like for this little plant and its neighbors.

Sunflowers come in all shapes and sizes, and the group has gained a new member. Nicknamed the “woolly devil,” Ovicula biradiata is the product of the amazing bi-national collaboration between taxonomists, conservationists, and community scientists in Big Bend National Park. But it comes at a tim...

24/12/2024

What is the role of a scientist in explaining their work? How do we communicate unfamiliar scientific topics to people who already might have preconceived notions about them?

Ethan Tapper works to manage Vermont forests sustainably and help them thrive, which often includes practices that might seem destructive or contrary to a forest’s best interests. Science is about communicating, and Ethan has worked hard to use communication as a tool to make caring for forests a community issue. In this episode he talks about how he does it, the role of social media in science communication, and why it's important to share the work that scientists do with nuance and clarity.

Someone who identifies as a nature lover might not be excited to see trees cut down or large machines rolling across the forest floor. Science doesn’t always align with everyone’s expectations, and often scientists have to explain their work to audiences that aren’t interested or who don’t a...

10/12/2024

And, a little tuesday treat!

I'm doing a new bonus series! This episode is on the main feed, but head over to Patreon.com/newspeciespod for future episodes. Today Amanda and I rate the movie Bats! (1999)

All bonus episodes are and will remain free, but any monetary support is really appreciated.

https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/qYlN1ZnpdPb

Amanda and I discuss and review Bats! (1999) Our ratings: Enjoyability: 🦇 🦇 🦇 🦇 Accuracy: 🦇🦇 🦇 🦇 🦇 This episode is the first in a new bonus series where I watch B-list horror movies with scientists and we rate them on accuracy and enjoyability. All episodes are free, for f...

10/12/2024

On an expedition to Madagascar, Matjaž Gregorič of Biološki inštitut Jovana Hadžija ZRC SAZU and his research team came upon a damaged termite nest that had a few other invertebrate visitors. When they experimentally damaged the nest again, they found two unexpected things: spiders ballooning in to prey on the termites as they rebuilt, and hopeful ants standing by to steal termites from those spiders. It created what the authors called “a perilous Malagasy triad”, a three-way predator-prey-kleptoparasite interaction that tells a very interesting story about chemical signaling and arthropod behavior.

As a bonus, they identified the spider involved as a brand new genius and species, named Vigdisia praesidens to honor Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Iceland’s first female president. Listen in as researcher Matjaž Gregorič gives us the full story, as well as his thoughts on why it’s important to pursue science for science’s sake.

https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/0bZRBqlldPb

Read the paper: https://doi.org/10.1080/03014223.2024.2373185

On an expedition to Madagascar, Matjaž Gregorič and his research team came upon a damaged termite nest that had a few other invertebrate visitors. When they experimentally damaged the nest again, they found two unexpected things: spiders ballooning in to prey on the termites as they rebuilt, and h...

26/11/2024

What could tiny freshwater snails in remote Brazilian caves possibly have to do with the Lord of the Rings? The person to answer this question is Dr. Rodrigo Salvador, author of two brand new snail species. In this episode he explains what makes cave-dwelling creatures unique, how these snails share a genetic link with others across the world, and how invoking the names of fantasy characters in science can be powerful acts of resistance and joy in difficult times.

Rodrigo’s paper “Idiopyrgus Pilsbry, 1911 (Gastropoda, Tomichiidae): a relict genus radiating into subterranean environments” is in the November 8th issue of Pensoft Publishers's Zoosystematics and Evolution. You can find him on X and Bluesky respectively & .bsky.social. And be sure to follow Journal of Geek Studies for more geek science!

Rodrigo’s paper “Idiopyrgus Pilsbry, 1911 (Gastropoda, Tomichiidae): a relict genus radiating into subterranean environments” is in November 8th issue of Zoosystematics and Evolution It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.100.136428 A transcript of this episode can be found here: Ro...

20/11/2024

New Species is finally on Bluesky!

newspeciespodcast.bsky.social