Being Australian, it’s wonderful to have bloggers reflect the diversity of species that I am fortunate enough to observe around me. I hope you enjoy the range available in these posts for the Linnaeus’ Legacy Blog Carnival!
Do you relate to a story all about trying to find records on a particular Lycopersicon species… in what can best be described as a simulacrum of Dante’s Inferno of databases? Find out at ‘Lost in genebank database hell’ at the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog!
GrrlScientist of ‘Living the Scientific Life‘ gets into sex, mysteries, dearest deer species and even the Seychelles (damn, why I don’t I ever get holidays with postcards like that…) – with several great reads submitted: check out Love, Sex and War in the Seychelles and Rare Okapi Photographed in the Rainforests of Africa! Ooh, especially Today’s Mystery Bird for you to Identify. Hint – not ‘dodo’.
I have to thank Christopher Taylor of Catalogue of Organisms blog for forwarding all these posts, by the way – have a look at his writings for yourself at A New Stem-Bird and Publication in the Digital Age, which has quite a story behind it:
A few days ago, a new entry was loaded on Nature Precedings by Zhang et al. describing a decidedly interesting new dinosaur species, complete with attached name. Officially, this taxon is not yet published. Because of the interest that surrounds any new dinosaur discovery, you can bet your ass that that won’t stand in the way of its becoming widely known.
As he wrote – ‘…and it wasn’t until after I’d written that post that I discovered that it was a bungle – a manuscript that was supposed to be submitted to Nature ended up being leaked to Nature Precedings!’ In addition, it’s ants, ants, ants, ants and more ants with his next item – the very enjoyable Eureka! It’s an Ant!
Stand back and let rip - Mike Keesey of A Three-Pound Monkey Brain has written on the PhyloCode -
What is it that you hate about the PhyloCode? Go on, reveal all – he has given it a great go:
This is not to say that all critiques are uninformed. But of those that are, I find that they fall into two camps. They either raise points that have since been addressed in later drafts, or they are simple matters of taste.
Amphidrome is a newcomer in the blog-o-sphere but certainly not lacking in content – do check out these fascinating posts on using DNA barcoding to identify fish being sold as more expensive varieties – DNA Barcoding Reveals Fishmonger Fraud. You should also check out the rather tragic tale of the marine-related taxa from a hypersaline spring in northern Texas that has since disappeared: Crabs and Barnacles of the Texas Panhandle.
A DC Birding Blog discusses the wonder of a goose ancestor, found in England:
‘“Imagine a bird like an ocean-going goose, almost the size of a small plane! By today’s standards these were pretty bizarre animals, but perhaps the strangest thing about them is that they had sharp, tooth-like projections along the cutting edges of the beak” explains Gerald Mayr, expert palaeornithologist at the German Senckenberg Research Institute and author of the report.’
Tao of Simplicity alerts us to an issue in Indonesia: apparently the Komodo dragons are killing a number of locals on some remote islands of Indonesia, and the locals are blaming the Nature Conservancy, reported in Environmentalist Meddling Causes Uneasy Existence Between Humans and Komodo Dragons?
By the way, sorry for the slight delay in posting this – was dying my husband’s hair blonde. No, that isn’t a joke… neither was the final result. But be prepared for a surprise by the fabulous Kate at Life Photo Meme Blog who will be the host for the next round – and we still need hosts for after that!
Check out the Linnaeus’ Legacy site for more details and keep on submitting!
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{ 2 comments }
Great collection and writeup! That koala walk always makes me chuckle too.
But where’s the picture of the dye job?
Heh, some things we just don’t do for science… but just to amuse ourselves.
I think you’ll have to settle for sniggering at the koala ramble. 
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