Newly Discovered Retic!

[Ax01]

wow i love the pattern on this thing. it reminds me of DG's Monsoon morph. anyways seems that there have samples of this animal - a large type of Salamander - around for decades but a few new live discoveries has established this as a new species. it's called the Reticulated Siren, a 2foot long, legless and eyelid-less salamander w/ a cool paintjob.




story here: https://weather.com/news/news/2018-1...iculated-siren

Scientists Find New Species of Giant Salamander in Florida

A two-foot long salamander that lives in northern Florida and southern Alabama has been identified as a new species.

Named the reticulated siren, it is the first species of its family described since 1944, according to a paper published in the journal PLOS ONE. It also is one of the largest vertebrates described from the United States in more than 100 years.

Scientists had long suspected the amphibian, known locally as a leopard eel, was another species of the Siren genus of salamanders. However, because so few had ever been caught, there wasn't enough evidence to confirm it.

“It was basically this mythical beast,” David Steen, a wildlife ecologist at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and co-author of the study, told the National Geographic.

Before the reticulated siren, known scientifically as Siren reticulata, there were two known species in the Siren genus.

The lesser siren can grow from 12 to 27 inches and lives throughout the southern United States into Mexico and along the Mississippi River to Michigan.

The greater siren is one of the largest salamanders in the world. It can grow to be three feet long. It is usually found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Maryland to Alabama, including all of Florida.

Examples of what is now known as the reticulated siren have been stored in museums since the 1970s, and their odd features have been described by scientists before.

Sean Graham, a co-author of the study, told the New York Times, “The whole thing was kind of a campfire story. I was hearing rumors about it..., and then years would go by and I would never see a description of the species.”

Graham, now a biologist at Sul Ross State University in Texas, teamed up with Steen at Auburn University in 2008 to pursue the new species.

Finding creatures that live in mucky bottoms of swamps and ponds is no easy task.

While trapping turtles at Florida's Eglin Air Force Base in September 2009, Steen finally captured his first reticulated siren.

Nearly five years later, three more specimens were caught in a freshwater marsh next to Lake Jackson in Walton County, Florida.

DNA testing confirmed the specimens were a new species. Like other sirens, reticulata lost its hind legs over millions of years of evolution. They also don't have eyelids. They do have gills that absorb oxygen. Scientists think they eat insects and mollusks.

David Wake is an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in salamanders. He told the Times that despite the team's lack of specimens, “I am convinced that they have identified a previously unnamed species."

Steen said, “We’re hoping that one of the outcomes of this study getting out there is that it gets on people’s radar screens — funding agencies, state agencies — and they will begin to prioritize the work that is needed to fully understand the biology and conservation of this animal."

and here: http://www.sci-news.com/biology/reti...ren-06694.html

Reticulated Siren: New Salamander Species Discovered

A team of researchers has discovered a new species of salamander living in Alabama and the Panhandle region of Florida, the United States.

The newly-discovered salamander species belongs to Sirenidae (sirens), a family of completely aquatic, eel-like salamanders with an unusual morphology: large external gills and only front limbs.

The ancestors of these amphibians likely branched off from all other salamanders early in the evolution of this group.

Although sirens ranged through North America, South America, and Africa during the Cretaceous period, the family is now largely restricted to the southern United States and northeastern Mexico, where they have been present since the late Eocene epoch.

Named the reticulated siren (Siren reticulata), the new species lives in the vulnerable biodiversity hotspot of southern Alabama and northwestern Florida and is the first new species of siren to be described in 44 years.

“To date this species is only confirmed from three localities,” Sul Ross State University’s Dr. Sean Graham and co-authors.

“The type locality is a shallow freshwater marsh associated with Lake Jackson, a large freshwater limesink lake that straddles the border between Florida and Alabama, near the town of Florala, Alabama.”

“The second site is a beaver-impounded clearwater stream and associated bay swamp on Eglin Air Force Base, Okaloosa County, Florida.”

“Finally, the Fish River locality is a blackwater stream and associated bottomland forest in Baldwin County, Alabama.”

The reticulated siren is genetically distinct from all currently-recognized species and subspecies of sirens.

This amphibian is very large (maximum known size nearly 24 inches, or 60 cm), making it among the largest vertebrates described from the United States in over 100 years.

“It was thrilling to be a part of this discovery team,” Dr. Graham said.

“Not only did we get to meet such an interesting new species, but we got another reminder that the book of life still has a lot of pages for us to fill.”

A detailed description of the reticulated siren appears in the December 5, 2018 online edition of the journal PLoS ONE.

A team of researchers has discovered a new species of salamander living in Alabama and the Panhandle region of Florida, the United States.

The newly-discovered salamander species belongs to Sirenidae (sirens), a family of completely aquatic, eel-like salamanders with an unusual morphology: large external gills and only front limbs.

The ancestors of these amphibians likely branched off from all other salamanders early in the evolution of this group.

Although sirens ranged through North America, South America, and Africa during the Cretaceous period, the family is now largely restricted to the southern United States and northeastern Mexico, where they have been present since the late Eocene epoch.

Named the reticulated siren (Siren reticulata), the new species lives in the vulnerable biodiversity hotspot of southern Alabama and northwestern Florida and is the first new species of siren to be described in 44 years.

“To date this species is only confirmed from three localities,” Sul Ross State University’s Dr. Sean Graham and co-authors.

“The type locality is a shallow freshwater marsh associated with Lake Jackson, a large freshwater limesink lake that straddles the border between Florida and Alabama, near the town of Florala, Alabama.”

“The second site is a beaver-impounded clearwater stream and associated bay swamp on Eglin Air Force Base, Okaloosa County, Florida.”

“Finally, the Fish River locality is a blackwater stream and associated bottomland forest in Baldwin County, Alabama.”

The reticulated siren is genetically distinct from all currently-recognized species and subspecies of sirens.

This amphibian is very large (maximum known size nearly 24 inches, or 60 cm), making it among the largest vertebrates described from the United States in over 100 years.

“It was thrilling to be a part of this discovery team,” Dr. Graham said.

“Not only did we get to meet such an interesting new species, but we got another reminder that the book of life still has a lot of pages for us to fill.”

A detailed description of the reticulated siren appears in the December 5, 2018 online edition of the journal PLoS ONE.

[Skyrivers]

You got me. New discovered retic?