MOTHER NATURE Mother Nature September 2017 | Page 26

Mother Nature Aug /Sep 2017
25
'Yoda' fruit bat officially recognised as new species
'Yoda' fruit bat officially recognised as new species. A bat
from the rainforests of Papua New Guinea affectionately
known as 'Yoda' has been given official recognition as a
new species.
The mammal gained its nickname due to a likeness to the
Star Wars character, but a University of York biologist has
named it the hamamas tube-nosed fruit bat after the Papuan
word for 'happy'.
'happy' bat belonged to a group that had been known since
1769, but was not officially recognised.
Dr Nancy Irwin, who named the bat and led a research group that visited 18 museums around the world, said:
"Most of the morphological characteristics that separate this bat from other species are associated with a broader,
rounder jaw which gives the appearance of a constant smile. It has a rounder jaw than similar fruit bats, giving the
impression of a grin. The recognition follows a study of 3,000 specimens by a team of experts.
The bat's scientific name, Nyctimene wrightae, honours the conservationist Dr Deb Wright who worked in
conservation in Papua New Guinea.
The University of York said the Nyctimene family of bat is characterised by its odd protruding tubular nostrils.
Scientists have discovered a glow-in-the-dark shark
species that has an unusually large nose, weighs a little
less than a kilo and measures less than a foot.
It has taken scientists more than
17 years to identify this new spe-
cies (Etmopterus lailae ) since it
was first discovered.
More about the new glow-in-
the-dark shark species
The new species is a member of
the lanternshark family, and has
been named Etmopterus lailae
It lives 1,000 feet below the
Pacific Ocean off the coast of the northwestern
Hawaiian Islands
Like other lanternsharks, the Etmopterus lailae is
bio-luminescent and the flanks on the bottom of its
belly glow in the dark. The markings on its belly and
tail also were specific to this new species
Some of its distinctive characteristics include its flank
markings that go forward and backward on their bel-
lies and a naked patch without scales on the under-
side of its snout
It also has some of the internal differences such as the
Glow-in-the-dark shark
species
number of vertebrae they have as well as fewer
teeth than the other sharks
Some of the other distinctive characteristics
include its flank markings that go forward and
backward on their bellies and a naked patch with-
out scales on the underside of its snout.
Like other lanternsharks, the Etmopterus lailae is
bio-luminescent and the flanks on the bottom of
its belly glow in the dark. The markings on its
belly and tail also were specific to this new
species, researchers said in a journal