New Species

May 07 2024 841
New Species Podcast artwork

Just a fraction of the species on our planet are known to science, but more are described and published every day. This podcast talks to the authors of these new species to get the behind-the-scenes stories of how new species are found and named, as well as why these discoveries should matter to everyone, not just scientists. Join us on our journey to better understand the wonderful biodiversity of our planet! Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies), and support the podcast at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod

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Basics 1: Collecting with Evan Waite

May 07 2024 46 mins  
In part 1 of Taxonomy Basics, Evan Waite from Arizona State University teaches us all about collecting entomological specimens. From which traps to use to tips on sharing your collection with others, Evan gives us all of the details with some great stories along the way. Evan is a coleopterist and PhD Candidate at Arizona State University. His work focuses on ground beetles, but he

Three New Red Devil Spiders with Adrià Bellvert and Miquel Arnedo

Apr 30 2024 48 mins  
“Another spider paper?!” you might ask. “More new spiders, what’s so interesting?” Well in addition to a revised genus and three new species, Adrià Bellvert and Miquel Arnedo’s most recent publication highlights some of the unique challenges taxonomists deal with as they work to untangle species relationships. “I think that the important part [of this paper] is it in

Five New Skinks with Ishan Agarwal

Apr 02 2024 28 mins  
Skinks are one of the most diverse families of lizards, and Ishan Agarwal studies skinks in India, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. From the forest to the lab to the museum, Ishan shares his experiences investigating a group of cryptic skinks that had quite a few surprises to share, including biology and behavior. What is it about skinks that makes them so captiva

Tautonyms and Etymology with Mike Stephan

Mar 19 2024 49 mins  
Mike Stephan is a lawyer obsessed with scientific etymology, specifically tautonyms, binomial names in which the generic name and species name are exactly the same. Scientific naming conventions and customs have a rich history, and as Mike says, “[taxonomic names] in some perhaps unintended way tell the greater story of human anthropology and history.” Come along for the ride a

A New Snakeworm Gnat with Thalles Pereira

Mar 05 2024 33 mins  
There are no snakes in Alaska, so what’s that snakelike shape crossing the road? Few people would guess it’s actually thousands of fly larvae moving in a very peculiar pattern that gives the snakeworm gnat their common name. Dr. Thalles Pereira and his coauthors spent lots of time rearing, observing, and sharing their findings with their community in the process of describing t

Community Survey and Updates

Feb 23 2024 3 mins  
This is a short episode to share some thoughts and feedback from this year's New Species community survey, as well as some updates on what is to come for the podcast. Take the community survey here before March 1st: https://forms.gle/ayoZfXzadr2kd3st5 Check out our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod And the Website: www.newspeciespodcast.net

Five New Millipedes with Henrik Enghoff

Feb 13 2024 32 mins  
Who wouldn’t want to receive thousands of millipedes in the mail? When Dr. Henrik Enghoff does it’s through his partnership with FoRCE, the Forest Restoration and Climate Experiment, a group researching tropical forest dynamics and their relationship with things like human disturbance and climate change. They collect millipedes through their field season and Henrik identifies t

A New Scorpion with Prakrit Jain

Jan 30 2024 28 mins  
How many nature enthusiasts can relate to this scenario: you’re watching the landscape go by as you drive, and suddenly you see an area that could be favorable habitat for your target species. Stop the car! That’s what Prakrit Jain did, and it helped him and his coauthors describe a new species of Paruroctonus scorpion from the San Joaquin Valley. So much makes this scorpion in

A New Iris with John Manning

Dec 26 2023 40 mins  
Southern Africa is home to over 1,200 species of irises, and if that number doesn’t blow you away, hearing Dr. John Manning’s speak about his new species certainly will. In this fascinating episode we are taken on a deep dive into Iridaceae’s stunning pollinator-driven diversity, evolution over millions of years and several continents, and the critical role of herbaria as the

A Genus and Five New Species of Pseudoscorpions with Catalina Romero-Ortiz

Dec 13 2023 40 mins  
Dr. Catalina Romero-Ortiz has been fascinated by pseudoscorpions for over a decade, and she wants everyone to understand how amazing they are. But beyond inherent scientific value, Catalina wants to share the importance of taxonomy in and out of the lab. She says, “As scientists, all of us are called to- there are some things that don’t work, you know? I think we [hold] in our