Willkommlangea Reticulata

this is the content i'm in the microscopy subreddit for

hi- quick question since I know you're someone who's written several papers- Do you know if you/other people who have written scientific papers are okay with emails about questions about those papers?

I'm someone who studies hyenas- amateurishly -and papers about extinct species of hyenas are really interesting to me but I can't exactly digest them very well because I don't understand the words being used. Like, what in heavens names is a 'metaconid' what does this mean!!!!!

In general authors are happy to receive such questions, but might not have enough time to give you the answer you are looking for. Still, always worth reaching out.

A metaconid is a part of a molar. But I understand this is just an example among of the general issue you are trying to illustrate. What I have learned from years of reading unfamiliar jargon, and listening to podcasts like The Tetrapod Zoology Podcast that use jargon with reckless abandon, is that in general either (a) the words that are encoded in jargon aren't *that* important to understand the grand themes of what is being discussed, or (b) their meaning can be deduced based on context cues. When I come across one that is key but really cannot be deduced, I will google it, and often Wiktionary or similar will have an answer.

The more you read, the more familiar you will get with the jargon, and the less you will need to google or ask. So, I encourage you to read broadly, and chase those interests!

a super macro

Have you ever seen a venus flytrap anemone? Members of the genus Actinoscyphia, these critters resemble their namesake plant but are actually marine invertebrates related to jellyfish. They can be found on the seafloor at depths of up to about 7,000 ft (2,133 m), where they lie in wait for passing food. These anemones use their tentacles to catch and consume detritus (decomposing organic waste) that's carried by the current. Growing as much as 1 ft (0.3 m) in length, their tentacles are lined with stinging nematocysts. 

Photo: NOAA Photo Library, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The shape of a fish's caudal tail can tell you a lot about how fast the fish moves! A rounded tail is the slowest and a lunate tail is the fastest! The lunate tail has the most optimal ratio of high thrust and low draw, making it the fastest.

Ichthyology Notes 2/?

Microbelr

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[You need to equip the 🔬 Microscope to properly view this post.]

A new species of African legless skink, genus Acontias Cuvier, 1816 “1817” (Squamata: Scincidae) from Serra da Neve inselberg, south-western Angola

Mariana P. Marquesa, Diogo Parrinha, Arthur Tiutenko, et al.

ABSTRACT

During a recent survey of the Serra da Neve inselberg in south-western Angola, a population of legless skinks of the genus Acontias was found. Only three species of this genus have been recorded for the country so far – A. occidentalis, A. kgalagadi and A. jappi. Using an integrative approach and combining molecular and morphological data we found that the Serra da Neve population represents a new species, closely related to species such as A. percivali and some members of the A. occidentalis species complex. In this paper, we describe this population as a new species, Acontias mukwando sp. nov. and provide brief comments on its conservation and biogeography.

Read the paper here:

Full article: A new species of African legless skink, genus Acontias Cuvier, 1816 “1817” (Squamata: Scincidae) from Serra da Neve inselberg, south-western Angola (tandfonline.com)

Pterocarpus Angolensis is a tree native to South Africa. It’s also commonly known as the bloodwood tree due to the fact that when it’s chopped or damaged, a deep red sap which looks eerily similar to blood, seeps from the tree. In fact, the purpose of the sap is to coagulate and seal the wound to promote healing, much like blood.

A quick little note about this bacterium, Nocardia! These are fascinating to me as, although they are a rod-shaped bacteria, they can form beaded, perpendicularly branching filaments that are acid-fast. They can appear morphologically similar to a different bacteria, the anaerobic Actinomyces, however Actinomyces does not exhibit beading like Nocardia does.

This is a Gram-stain of a bacterial embolus within a pulmonary vessel of an Australian marsupial species, and we were lucky enough to know what genus we were dealing with before culture was performed, purely based on the bacteria's morphology!