When a scientist comes on the podcast, we always ask them how they named their new species. It’s a privilege that comes with a species description, and we’ve seen firsthand how different that answer can be. For some it’s a straightforward geographic name, for others it’s about morphology, and still others name after collectors, celebrities, or loved ones. Dr. Stefano Mammola wants to know why. Beginning in 2020 he and a team of researchers from all over the world analyzed 48,464 etymologies...

Amanda Grunwald is fascinated by arthropods, by reptiles, pretty much anything that creeps or crawls. But what about the creatures that fly? Here we dive into her work on bats in the genus Pseudoromicia, simple-nosed bats that are relatively less known. She takes us from the mountains of Cameroon to a genetics lab in Chicago, and we discuss what responsible science looks like and why it’s important.  A review of bats of the genus Pseudoromicia (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) with the...

Dr. Ángel Valdés has known since childhood that he would study sea slugs, and several years ago that dream took him to New Caledonia to work with a large international research team. While divers and other collectors swept the shoreline and beyond for marine life, Ángel diligently photographed every sea slug, including some unexpected finds. Were those hours worth it? Definitely, in part because he and his team have described seven new species of Nudibranchs, in the family...

Muy a menudo, los científicos que entrevistamos en el podcast hablan inglés como su segundo, tercer o cuarto idioma. Y muchos de los oyentes también son multilingües. Me parece muy importante hacer que estas entrevistas sean accesibles en los idiomas que hablan los científicos, y estoy muy agradecida de que me hayan ayudado a grabar este episodio y espero hacer más de lo mismo en el futuro. This episode is a Spanish translation of our previous interview with Cristian Pertegal. To listen to...

Where there is a unique ecosystem to be studied, for example, a patch of tropical evergreen forest 1,000 meters up a mountain, sometimes it’s best to be pushy. Michael Curran had done his master’s research in altitudinal patterns and species richness in rural Mozambique, and when he heard about an expedition back to the area, he wrote to the researcher in charge and asked them to let him come along and catch a few bats. That risk certainly paid off, because he and his coauthors have now...

Trapdoor spiders are a relative mystery to arachnologists - they’re a small group that is not well known despite their often bold coloration and their unique burrows. But for Cristian Pertegal they are a passion and a fascination, even if they are occasionally also a literal pain. Listen in as Cristian shares his love for these spiders, their unique morphology, their fascinating trapdoors, and what they can tell us about our world.  Cristian Pertegal’s paper “Description of a new trapdoor...

Did you know that there are still new species of tree to discover? Wei Harn does, and in this episode he tells us all about his trip surveying Malaysian Royal Belum State Park and an unexpected new species discovery. How does one collect a tree, this entomologist host would like to know! (there certainly aren’t any vials big enough). We learn all about the stunning diversity of the park including its unique assemblages and history, and the importance of studying and valuing natural areas like...

How do you continue your research when the harsh climate makes collecting impossible most of the year, or when much of your focal area is contained within a Buddhist community which prevents the harm of any animal? What if it’s also a remote area that is difficult and costly to access? Oh, and don’t forget the trap-destroying monkeys and wild hogs! But once you are able to navigate all of these obstacles, the nature you find is well worth the trouble. In this episode, Dibyajyoti Ghosh shares...

Meet Dr. Marshal Hedin. He’s an arachnologist fascinated with Nesticidae, a group of cave-dwelling spiders found in the southern Appalachian mountains, an area of tremendous beauty and biodiversity. In this interview he describes the joy of discoveries of new and interesting species, the struggles of collecting in rock piles and other dangerous terrain, as well as a few adventures along the way. What can we learn from Nesticus? Marshal says: “I just think generally if you live in some hollow...

For some, roadkill is just roadkill. For one researcher, it was the start of a brand new career path. Did you know that there is a group of animals that are legless like snakes and burrow through the ground like worms? Meet Caecilians, an amazing group of amphibians that just received 3 new species courtesy of Dr. Juan David Fernández and his team from Bogotá, Colombia. They examined specimens from the Cordillera Oriental to help piece together the story of Caecilian biodiversity in the...

'When it comes to ants,' Dr. Kiko Gómez says, 'it’s important to know what you don’t know.' The ant genus Pheidole contains over 1,000 species, and is found across the world. But what does it mean to find a new species in this genus? In this episode, Kiko shares his experience collecting and identifying Pheidole ants in the Ivory Coast. He tells us what it’s like to visit the amazing Taï National Park, how myrmecologists differentiate between worker, soldier, and other ant designations, and...

Have you ever heard of Mud Dragons? They’re actually a group of marine invertebrates that can be found in oceans across the globe. And, as Dr. María Herranz tells us in this interview, collecting and processing them is a unique challenge. Listen in to find out how a piece of copy paper and Madonna in the early 90s are connected to these fascinating creatures! María Herranz’s paper “Expanding the Echinoderes coulli group (Kinorhyncha: Cyclorhagida) with a new species from the Chuuk Islands,...

The frogs are back! In a year of episodes rich in amphibians, New Species rounds out 2022 with Dr. Mark Scherz and his paper describing 20 new species of frogs from Madagascar. This paper has everything! Barcode fishing, large-scale scientific collaboration, and plenty of fascinating frog facts. The real question I should have asked Mark is how he became an expert in Brygoomantis calls - as you’ll hear in this episode, he’s very accomplished. Do you want to share your thoughts on the...

It’s possible that you’ve heard about a new species of bee from Western Australia that has a snout like a dog. But did you know it specializes on just a few species of plant from the Fabaceae (legume) family? And how did it get named L. zephyr? And what does it mean to be a “plasterer bee?” Hear about all of this and more as we get a behind the scenes look into the wonderful world of native bees with Dr. Kit Prendergast. Kit Prendergast’s paper “Leioproctus zephyr, an oligolectic new bee...

Imagine this: you’re hiking in the savannah of western Angola when you spot the silhouette of a gecko in the brush. You pick it up, expecting to find your old friend Kolekanos plumicaudus, a little brown patterned gecko with a feather-like tail. But when you look at this gecko, its tail is entirely different, spines instead of feathery plumes. When his colleague brought him the first four specimens, Javier Lobon Rovira knew immediately that they had found a new species. Listen in as he shares...

You’ve probably seen these organisms before. They’re green, shiny, and “quite nervous” according to Dr. Marc Pollet, who has been studying Dolichopodidae, long-legged flies, for decades. But there’s so much more to this group than what meets the eye. Take a deep dive into the fascinating world of flies with Marc, and learn a secret or two about the beauty of taxonomy, the importance of names, and what might be waiting to be discovered in your own backyard. Dr. Marc Pollet’s paper “Discovery...

Many parts of the world are celebrating all things spooky this time of year, and spiders are getting their time to shine. Whether you’re a spider lover or not, you have to admit that spiders have some stunning diversity and fascinating natural history. To celebrate that, this is a re-release of an episode we originally published on February 9th of 2021. It’s a wonderful interview with Dr. Rosemary Gillespie who studies “Happy Face Spiders,” spiders from the Hawaiian Islands with unique...

Mud snakes may not look as exciting as some of their other snake relatives, but in this episode Dr. Justin Bernstein tells us just a few of the fascinating details he and his team have uncovered while studying them. How do you compare the genetic makeup of snake populations? Why should you turn off your headlamp while collecting in Mangrove forests? Learn all of this and more as Justin tells us stories from his travels and helps us unravel the mysteries of these fantastic snakes. Justin...

Have you heard of snakes in the genus Atractus? They’re the largest snake genus in the world, and recently they received three new members found in an unexpected place. In this episode, Alejandro Arteaga shares the story of how he and his team found three new species of fossorial snakes in the Andes mountains of Ecuador, and what this discovery has to say about the conservation of biodiversity in this unique region of the world. Alejandro Arteaga’s paper “Leaving no stone unturned: three...

New Species: Jakapil kaniukura Did you know that there are still new dinosaurs being identified? In this episode, hear from Facundo Riguetti, a PhD student of the Universidad Maimónides-CONICET and a fellow of the Fundación de Historia Natural Félix de Azara, both in Buenos Aires. He'll tell us how his new species of dinosaur was collected, what makes it different from others of its clade, and even some theories on key morphological features which make it unique from other similar genera....

 What's an ambrosia beetle? How do you go about finding one? Learn all of this and more as we interview Dr. Rachel Osborn of the A.J. Cook Arthropod Research Collection at Michigan State University. She'll take us on an adventure with a tribe of beetles about the size of a grain of rice, and reveal a newly-discovered clue to their evolutionary history. Dr. Rachel Osborn’s paper “New Xyleborine (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) Genus With an Afrotropical-Neotropical Distribution” is...

Dilian Georgiev is an Associate Professor in the department of Ecology and Environmental Protection at The Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv. In this episode, he tells Zoe about his recent paper in volume 44 of Historia naturalis bulgarica, in which he and his coauthors describe a new species of spring-snail from the Belasitsa Mountains in South-West Bulgaria. He describes spring-snail evolution, tells us some stories about caving, and shares some wise words about the importance of...

Dr. Derek Hennen works for the Virginia Department of Agriculture as the Slow the Spread Coordinator monitoring the spongy moth populations in the state. He talks to co-host Brian Patrick about his paper inthe April 15th issue of ZooKeys in which he and his coauthors describe 17 new species of millipedes from the eastern United States. We discuss this massive work on millipedes from eastern US, and particularly the group restricted to the Appalachians, how to find millipedes, and how a...

Kaila Pearson just graduated with her Master’s from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. She’s here today to talk to me about her paper in the April 22nd issue of Zootaxa in which she and her coauthor describe three new species of deep sea vampire worms. We discuss how life exists without any sunlight, how to collect worms that are a mile (or two!) deep in the ocean, the difference between a deep ocean vent and a seep, why they’re called vampire...

Brogan Pett is our guests and he talks about his recent paper in which he and his coauthor describe a new species of spider from Madagascar in the March 14th issue of Zootaxa. Brogan is a doctoral researcher in the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter in the UK. Additionally, Brogan serves as the research director of SpiDervERse, a workgroup of the Belgian nonprofit organization Biodiversity Inventory for Conservation (BINCO). We discuss these unique spiders, their...