2023-04-17 06:27:00
Monday 17 April 2023
House offers shelter, not a home Unknown species of semi-nudibranch discovered
The newly discovered species was named “Microparmarion sallehi”.
(Photo: picture alliance/dpa/M. Schilthuizen)
Only last year was it possible to research the group of semi-slugs – now they are already growing. In the rain forests of Brunei, experts are encountering a new species of snail. Particularly surprising: The previously preferred environment of the animals is somewhere else.
In the tropical rainforest of the Sultanate of Brunei, researchers have discovered a new species of snail with an uninhabitable shell. In a field camp in the middle of the jungle of the Ulu Temburong National Park, investigations, including a DNA analysis, were carried out after the animals were found, according to a study in the journal “Biodiversity Data Journal”.
The result: The five examined specimens are a type of so-called semi-nudibranch that has not yet been described by science. The species was named Microparmarion sallehi baptized. Amateur researchers were also involved in the discovery, who had accompanied experts into the jungle for money.
Houses are too small for retreat
Although semi-nudibranchs – or “semislugs” in English – have houses on their backs, these are too small for the mollusks to retreat into. Still, the shells provide some form of protection without getting in the way of the worm-like physique. On the island of Borneo, where Brunei is located, there are particularly many specimens of the semi-slug type. It is not yet clear why this is so. However, Borneo is famous for its enormous biodiversity.
Most of the approximately ten known semi-slug species of the genus Microparmarion live in cool forests in the mountains. The amateur researchers were therefore surprised to come across animals of this species in the lowland rainforest of the Ulu Temburong National Park. A specimen was sighted for the first time in 2018, but it was only last year that the new species was researched and described in detail. The animals are difficult to find because they are crepuscular and nocturnal and often hidden under leaves, the study says.
Those: ntv.de
spl/dpa
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