Bridging 40 years of otter science and global eco-volunteering, Projeto Lontra and Estuarine Management and Technologies invite research for a topical collection.
Guest blog post by Dr. Oldemar de Oliveira Carvalho Junior
This call is a natural evolution of a story that began in January 1986. On the wild shores of Peri Lagoon in southern Brazil, my father and I stood beneath the canopy of the Atlantic Forest and dreamed aloud: What if we could protect this place by protecting its most elusive guardian, the Neotropical otter?
Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis). Photo credit to Projeto Lontra and Instituto Ekko Brasil
Swimming neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis). Photo credit to Projeto Lontra and Instituto Ekko Brasil
That dream became Projeto Lontra. For forty years, we have walked these shores not as distant scientists, but as neighbors, listening to the water, reading the spraints, and learning from fishers who’ve known these lagoons longer than any journal has existed.
But conservation cannot be a solitary act. And so, in the early 2000s, a quiet revolution began. People of all ages from France, Germany, and beyond started arriving, not as tourists, but as eco-volunteers through different international organizations, such as Cybelle Planète. They came not to “save” us, but to stand with us.
Eco-volunteers installing a trap camera inside an otter cave. Credit to Projeto Lontra and Instituto Ekko Brasil
This is the heart of our partnership: reciprocity, not rescue.
More Than Volunteering. A Model of Shared Stewardship
Cybelle Planète does not sell travel; rather, it cultivates responsibility. Their volunteers spend weeks living alongside our team, collecting spraints at dawn, mapping latrines, teaching in local schools, and planting native trees. They return home not just with photos, but with data that feeds into global assessments, and with a transformed understanding of what it means to care for a shared planet.
As one Cybelle Planète coordinator once told me:
We don’t promote travel. We promote responsibility.
This ethos mirrors our own. In Brazil, conservation has too often been framed as a deficit, something we lack, something others must fix. But Projeto Lontra has always believed that local knowledge is expertise and long-term presence is data. Our 40-year dataset, born from patience, not satellites, is proof.
Eco-volunteers from Australia and New Zealand. Credit to Projeto Lontra and Instituto Ekko Brasil
Playing with the otters. Credit to Projeto Lontra and Instituto Ekko Brasil
Eco-volunteer at an expedition. Credit to Projeto Lontra and Instituto Ekko Brasil
Now, this partnership takes on new scientific weight as a cornerstone of the Scientific Journal Estuarine Management and Technologies and its Topical Collection “Otters as Bioindicators of Estuarine Health.” But rather than spotlight methods or metrics, we want to spotlight people and the relationships that make science meaningful.
Voices of the Collaboration
To truly reflect the spirit of this alliance, we invited key voices to share their vision:
Nosso papel não é promover viagens, mas cultivar a responsabilidade – de longo prazo, recíproca e fundamentada na confiança entre os atores locais da conservação e os cidadãos internacionais.
(Our role is not to promote travel, but to foster responsibility – long-term, reciprocal, and grounded in trust between local conservation actors and international citizens.)
We are reminded that research and materials produced outside traditional commercial or academic sectors can be just as important.
For over 30 years, the Bulletin has amplified voices from the Global South that commercial journals overlook. Projeto Lontra’s legacy reminds us that grey literature is often golden and that true bioindicator science grows from the ground up.
Dr. Arno Gutleb, IUCN Otter Specialist Group Bulletin
A Call to Join the Movement
Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis). Photo credit to: Projeto Lontra and Instituto Ekko Brasil
This isn’t just a story about otters. It’s about a new way of doing conservation:
Municipalities can use tools like the Otter Health Index (OHI) to monitor their estuaries without million-dollar labs.
Researchers can contribute to a truly global bioindicator framework that centers tropical species.
Eco-volunteers can join hands-on programs that generate real data while fostering cross-cultural understanding.
And everyone – scientist, student, and citizen – can engage with the “Otters as Bioindicators” Topical Collection to help shift the narrative from extraction to exchange, from hierarchy to humility.
Because in the end, the otter teaches us this: ecosystems are woven from connection. So too must be our efforts to protect them.
Two new antbird species discovered in the Amazon Basin and described in the open-access journal Vertebrate Zoology.
Scientists have discovered that a widely recognized Amazonian antbird is not one, but five distinct species – including two completely new to science. This revelation of hidden biodiversity was achieved by integrating artificial intelligence, vocal analysis, and traditional museum work, demonstrating how cutting-edge technology can transform our understanding of life in Earth’s richest ecosystems.
The research focused on the Cercomacra cinerascens antbird species complex, a group of small, insect-eating birds widespread across the Amazon Basin. While these birds appear nearly identical in plumage, they produce strikingly different songs.
Birds rely heavily on vocal communication, which are important for species recognition. Their songs act as acoustic signatures, providing a powerful key to unlocking hidden diversity.
the researchers explain
The team named one of the new species (Cercomacra mura) in honor of the Mura people, Indigenous inhabitants of the western Amazon where this bird occurs.
One of the new antbird species, Cercomacra mura, perched on a branch. Credit to Tomaz Melo.
The second new species takes its name from its most diagnostic trait: a song composed solely of two‑note, raspy phrases. From the Latin raucus (hoarse, raspy) and sonus (sound), the scientific name Cercomacraraucisona directly reflects its unique vocal signature.
One of the new antbird species, Cercomacra raucisona. Photo credit to: Fernando Zurdo
To decode these signatures, the team employed BirdNET, an artificial intelligence tool developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This machine-learning algorithm converts sound into numerical data, allowing for the automated comparison of bird recordings collected across the Amazon. The vocal patterns it revealed were then cross-referenced with meticulous analyses of vocalizations, plumage patterns and morphology.
This multidisciplinary approach confirmed that populations separated by major Amazonian rivers, such as the Amazonas, Ucayali, Madeira, and Tapajós, have evolved into distinct species. “These rivers function as long-term natural barriers”, says lead author Cavarzere.
Populations diverged independently over millennia into the unique species we describe today, which are kept isolated by these major rivers.
the researchers explain
The discovery underscores the vast amount of cryptic biodiversity still awaiting discovery in the Amazon, even among seemingly well-known birds. It also highlights a new paradigm for taxonomy, where AI-powered tools work in concert with traditional bioacoustics and specimen-based research.
By merging artificial intelligence with the foundational science of bioacoustics and museum collections, we can uncover diversity that would otherwise remain invisible. Recognizing these species is the first and most critical step toward ensuring their protection in a rapidly changing world.
the researchers conclude
Original study:
Cavarzere V, Breviglieri EL, Silveira LF (2026) Integrative taxonomy of the Cercomacra cinerascens species complex with description of two new species (Aves: Thamnophilidae). Vertebrate Zoology 76: 73-91. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.76.e171834
New Special Issue in Nature Conservation offers an interdisciplinary resource from over 100 European experts for the better restoration of wetlands, coasts and floodplains
Wetlands are key environmental sentinels. These systems offer a plethora of ecosystem services, acting as biodiversity hotspots and carbon sinks while providing natural buffers against the impacts of climate change.
They also benefit our society by ensuring food security, providing clean water, and protecting coastal communities. In fact, they support more than one billion livelihoods worldwide, as well as 40% of all known plant and animal species.
However, in our rapidly changing world, we face a series of complex, overlapping challenges. To address the ongoing loss of wetlands, new, interdisciplinary solutions are needed that match the scale of the problem.
Adopting a ‘source-to-sea’ approach, the collection bridges the gap between riverine and coastal research to foster integrated responses to environmental pressures. Its findings are organized into four key thematic sections:
Section I: Wetland biodiversity in a changing climate: Understanding their vulnerability
Section II: Wetland ecosystem services and nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation
Section III: Wetland restoration in practice: Opportunities, overcoming barriers and scaling up implementation
Section IV: Wetland policy: Enabling a transition towards a resilient future
By synthesizing perspectives from science, policy, and practice across Europe, this collection serves as a transdisciplinary “guide for anyone seeking an integrated understanding of the unique role of European riverine and coastal wetlands in the context of climate change and biodiversity,”.
While the primary scope is from Europe, these findings offer vital insights applicable to restoration efforts worldwide.
For me, riverine and coastal wetlands are vivid examples of how biodiversity, climate, and human well-being depend on one another, yet they often remain out of the spotlight – making their protection and restoration all the more important. This Special Issue brings together accessible science, practical experience, and policy perspectives, and we hope it will help spark real – and urgently needed – progress in restoring Europe’s coasts and floodplains.
comments Dr. Ute Kaden, one of the lead authors of this Special Issue.
Beyond the Special Issue itself, the lead editors organised a free online launch event to present the valuable collection of research publications. On Thursday, 26 February, over 300 participants gained insights into the vulnerability and resilience of riverine and coastal wetlands.
The discussion centered on evaluating the multifunctional benefits of nature-based solutions, sharing restoration lessons from across Europe, and identifying key opportunities аnd challenges in scaling up wetland restoration actions.
Addressing biodiversity climate nexus is important – biodiversity loss and climate change are interconnected and we must strengthen their relationship to develop effective responses to both challenges.
Dr. Kim Grutzmacher, Head of Division International Nature Conservation, BfN
During the launch event, Dr. Flore Lafaye de Micheaux, European Senior Advisor at the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, reflected on how the importance of wetlands extends beyond their ecosystem value.
Wetlands have been part of human existence since the dawn of time, not only because they have provided for our basic needs, but also because they are places of meaning, culture and spirituality. Our message is that it’s time to invest in wetlands as this means investing in future.
Dr. Flore Lafaye de Micheaux, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Research from four major projects, BioAgora, Respin, SpongeBoost, and Rest-Coast, was showcased during the launch event. As an active consortium member in these projects, Pensoft contributes essential expertise in science communication, dissemination, stakeholder engagement, and technological development.
Notably, the lead authors Dr. Kaden (UFZ) and Dr. Scholz (who also serves as the coordinator of SpongeBoost) presented insights from Sections I and II of the new Special Issue. Comprising eight papers from the SpongeBoost consortium, the research tackles pressing ecological challenges, ranging from nutrient retention and floodplain services to the socio-economic valuation of nature-based solutions and the intricacies of EU policy.
Wetland restoration involves human-nature relationships, and wetlands should be treated treated as a social ecological system.
Dr. Mathias Scholz, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
To follow the latest publications, news and highlights from Nature Conservation, we invite you to subscribe for the journal’s newsletter by using the Email alert field on this website’s homepage, and follow the journal on Bluesky and Facebook.
The development of the issue was supported by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) with funds from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety(BMUKN) (Project No. 3521830200).
First spotted in the shallow waters of Nagasaki and Yamaguchi Prefectures, the Malagazzia michelin jellyfish has subsequently been cultured and studied in captivity, providing scientists with a complete look at its entire life cycle from polyp to adult.
Sampling localities of Malagazziamichelin. A. Tabira and Sasebo, Nagasaki Pref. (indicated by black stars); B. Katasoe-ga-hama, Yamaguchi Pref. (by grey star). (Image credit: Izumi et al.).
A Unique Marine Resident
Malagazzia michelin is a small aquatic invertebrate characterised by a hemispherical, transparent umbrella that typically grows to between 12 and 20 millimeters in diameter. While it shares the four-lipped mouth and linear gonads typical of its genus, it is easily distinguished by a peculiar feature: enigmatic brown spots that resemble tiny oil droplets scattered across its reproductive organs and central stomach. DNA analysis has confirmed its status as a unique species, which is distinct from other known members of the Malagazzia family.
Enlarged view of the structures of living Malagazziamichelin. A, B. Closed lips; C. Open lips; D. Tentacles and tentacular bulbs; E–G. Gonads; F. Mature female; G. Mature male. Scale bar: 0.1 mm. (Image credit: Izumi et al.).
The species has been aptly named Malagazzia michelin as a playful nod to the famous Michelin Guide. As the jellyfish matures, the number of its distinctive brown spots increases, a process that researchers likened to a restaurant earning more “stars” for its quality. This celestial theme is also reflected in its new Japanese common name, ama-no-gawa-kurage (Milky Way jellyfish), which compares the white gonads and twinkling brown spots to a starry galaxy.
External view of the living medusae of Malagazzia michelin. A. Lateral view; B. Oral view; C. Lateral view of Kuju-kushima 3 with lighting; D–F. Kuju-kushima 1; D. Aboral view; E. Sketch from aboral side; F. Lateral view. Scale bar: 5 mm. (Image credit: Izumi et al.).Polyps and juvenile–young medusae of Malagazzia michelin. A. Development of juvenile medusae; B–E. Polyps. Scale bar: 1 mm (thick); 200 µm (slender). (Photo credit: Izumi et al.).
Navigating the Confusion of Common Names
The formal scientific description of M. michelin addresses an interesting challenge in Japanese marine biology: the risk of common names. In Japan, ornamental jellyfish are often given descriptive common names, such as “salmon-roe laodicean jellyfish” (tsubuiri-sujiko-yawara-kurage), long before they are scientifically identified. This can lead to confusion – M. michelin, for instance, was previously misidentified in field guides as a member of the Laodicea genus, which is not closely related. Researchers emphasise that formal taxonomic work is essential to ensure that the biodiversity displayed in aquaria is accurately documented.
The discovery of Malagazzia michelin demonstrates the significant role that aquariums play as centres for scientific research and biodiversity discovery. By strengthening ties between public exhibitions and taxonomic research, scientists continue to bring the ocean’s most stellar species to light.
Original source:
Izumi T, Ikeda S, Nozoe Y, Goto S, Imamura N, Kinoshita T, Uchida H, Hamatsu Y, Akiyama H, Okuizumi K (2026) Discoveries from ornamental jellyfish in aquaria—description of Malagazzia michelin sp. nov. (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa, Leptothecata), second species of the genus from Japan. ZooKeys 1268: 13-32. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1268.173354
For more articles on zoology, visit the ZooKeys website and follow the journal on BlueSky and Facebook.
Neotropical otters are key for estuarine health, providing insights into ecosystem integrity and pollution impacts.
Guest blog post by Dr. Oldemar de Oliveira Carvalho Junior
For four decades, we’ve been quietly watching otters along the southern coast of Brazil. Not just because they’re charismatic and playful, but because they are among nature’s most honest diagnosticians. Just like a doctor checks your pulse, blood, and behavior to assess your health, scientists can use otters to monitor the condition of estuaries, those vital transition zones where rivers meet the sea.
Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis). Photo credit to: Projeto Lontra / Instituto Ekko Brasil
Otters sit at the top of the food chain in estuaries. They need clean water, healthy fish populations, connected habitats, and safe denning sites. If any of these elements falter, otters are among the first to respond, with fewer sightings, changes in their diet, or markers of disease.
While a water sample offers only a fleeting snapshot, otters aggregate environmental signals across time and space.
Neotropical otter with a cub. Photo credit to Projeto Lontra / Instituto Ekko Brasil
In fact, their very presence, or absence, tells a story. In regions where Atlantic Forest fragmentation has severed the connection between land and water, otter sightings have plummeted by 30% in just a decade.
This isn’t just a loss of biodiversity; it’s a warning for everyone downstream. Fewer otters mean degraded waterways, disrupted food webs, and weakened natural buffers against floods and erosion.
A “living record” of pollution
Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis) feeding on fish. Video credit to: Projeto Lontra / Instituto Ekko Brasil
The diet of otters consists of 70-80% fish, as well as crabs and other aquatic animals. As they consume prey, they also accumulate pollutants, like heavy metals, microplastics, and industrial chemicals, that have built up in those animals. Their bodies effectively become archives of contamination.
Think of an otter as a biological hard drive: by analyzing its scat (feces), we can reconstruct what pollutants are moving through the estuary, even if they’re invisible to the naked eye.
For instance, in Brazil, we’ve found microplastic fibers in otter droppings from protected lagoons, proof that no coastal system is truly isolated from human impact.
The tropical knowledge gap
Neotropical otter. Photo credit to: Projeto Lontra / Instituto Ekko Brasil
Globally, over 70% of otter research focuses on temperate species like the Eurasian or sea otter. Meanwhile, the Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis) receives less than 4% of scientific attention, despite inhabiting the world’s most biodiverse and threatened estuaries.
This imbalance in the research poses a great conservation risk. Tropical estuaries face unique pressures: rapid urbanization, mangrove deforestation, and climate-driven sea-level rise. Without focused research, we risk managing these ecosystems with tools designed for entirely different environments.
Our work aims to close this divide, establishing the Neotropical otter as a key indicator to drive evidence-based conservation across the Global South.
Land-based diseases in aquatic sentinels
Video from trap camera of two Neotropical otters in a shelter. Video credit to: Projeto Lontra / Instituto Ekko Brasil
One of our most striking findings showed that 66% of otters tested positive for Toxoplasma gondii – a parasite shed only by domestic cats. How does a land-based pathogen end up in an aquatic mammal? The answer is through runoff.
The rain washes cat feces from the streets, gardens, and informal settlements into rivers and lagoons. This reveals a sobering truth: even within protected areas, otters are exposed to threats originating far inland. To protect these sentinels of ecosystem health, we must implement integrated management strategies that address sewage overflow, urban runoff, and domestic animal impact.
What comes next?
Neotropical otter inside a shelter. Video credit to: Projeto Lontra / Instituto Ekko Brasil
We’re finalizing the Otter Health Index (OHI), a low-cost toolkit for municipalities, NGOs, and community groups to monitor estuaries using simple metrics: spraint frequency, habitat connectivity, contaminant screening, and local knowledge. It’s designed for places with limited labs but rich ecological insight.
After 40 years of observing otters, we’ve learned this: protecting them isn’t just about saving a species. It’s about safeguarding the intricate web of processes that sustain clean water, fisheries, flood resilience, and human well-being.
Otters aren’t just inhabitants of our estuaries; they are their guardians. If we listen to what they’re telling us, we’ll know exactly what these ecosystems need to survive and thrive.
Original sources:
Carvalho Junior, O., Bez Birolo, A., Tosatti, M., Haddout, S., Ljubenkov, I. and Jayachandran, P.R. eds., (n.d.). Otters as Bioindicators of Estuarine Health: Innovations in Monitoring and Management from Tropical Coastal Brazil. PEstuarine Management and Technologies. doi:https://doi.org/10.3897/emt.coll.317
Birolo, A.B., Tosatti, M., Junior and Assiya Haddout (2026). Otters as bioindicators of estuarine health: Scientific gaps, field-based insights, and a framework for future research. Estuarine Management and Technologies., 3, pp.65–78. doi:https://doi.org/10.3897/emt.3.185117.
A juvenile great white shark was caught off Spain, prompting further research confirming its elusive presence in the Spanish Mediterranean.
On April 20, 2023, a juvenile great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) measuring approximately 210 cm and weighing between 80-90 kg was incidentally caught by local fishermen off the coast of eastern peninsula. This rare encounter, prompted the researchers to dive deep into past records spanning from 1862 to 2023 compiling an extensive review that is now published in the open-access journal Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria.
The accidentally caught juvenile great white shark. Photo credit to Báez et al., 2026
The accidental capture – contextualized within a review of records spanning 160 years – revealed that while the Mediterranean great white shark remains as an elusive“ghost” population, it maintains a continued presence in these waters. Currently, the species is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, with a declining population trend.
“Determining the presence of juvenile individuals is of particular importance,” says Dr. José Carlos Báez, the study’s lead researcher. “The occurrence of juvenile specimens raises the question whether active reproduction may be occurring in the region.” He further hypothesized.
The fear of Great White Sharks
Through the examination of records, this study confirms the continued, though sporadic, presence of white sharks in Spanish Mediterranean waters. This research highlights a persistent but infrequent occurrence, with sightings remaining an exceptional event.
Citing H.P. Lovecraft’s famous observation that “the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” He emphasizes that scientific clarity is the best remedy. “By shedding light on the biology and ecology of the great white shark, research can help replace unfounded myths with genuine understanding.”
Dismantling the Stigma, One Myth at a Time
Video of the accidentally caught great white shark. Credit to Báez et al., 2026
With Great White Shark populations in decline, researchers emphasize that long-term observation programs are vital to understanding the species’ biology in the Mediterranean. By pairing direct sightings with advanced tracking methods, evidence-based strategies can be developed for the conservation of this iconic apex predator.
“The main idea I want to convey to the public is that these large marine animals have a fundamental role in marine ecosystems. As highly migratory pelagic species, they redistribute energy and nutrients across vast distances. They serve as nature’s scavengers – by consuming carrion, they keep ecosystems clean. Even in death, their descent to the seafloor provides a critical pulse of nourishment for deep-sea communities.
concludes Báez.
Research article:
Báez, J.C., Puerto, M.A., Torreblanca, D., Varela, J.L., Carmona, L. and Macías, D. (2026). New record of white shark, Carcharodon carcharias (Elasmobranchii, Lamniformes, Lamnidae), from the Mediterranean Spanish coast. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 56, pp.27–31. doi:https://doi.org/10.3897/aiep.56.173786.
Australian botanists have newly identified Solanum nectarifolium, or the Tanami Bush Tomato, from historical specimens collected near the northern edge of the Tanami Desert.
Specialized Organs for Feeding Ants are First of Their Kind.
LEWISBURG, Pa. — A recent study led by Bucknell University Professor Chris Martine, biology, the David Burpee Professor in Plant Genetics & Research, has identified and described a new species of bush tomato with a special connection to ants — a taxonomic journey sparked by unusual specimens held in Australian herbarium collections.
The study, co-authored by a set of Australian botanists and Jason Cantley — the former Burpee Postdoctoral Fellow in Botany at Bucknell who is now Associate Professor of Biology at San Francisco State University — was published in the open-access journal PhytoKeys and underscores the critical role that natural history collections play in biodiversity science. The new species, Solanum nectarifolium, or the Tanami Bush Tomato, was named for the location of its original collection area — the northern edge of the Tanami Desert — and for the uniquely conspicuous nectar-producing organs on the undersides of its leaves.
Solanum nectarifolium, a newly-described species of Australian bush tomato. Photo credit: Kym Brennan.
Martine first had an inkling that something was unusual about the plants from that region of the Northern Territory while working on a project with another former Burpee Postdoc, Angela McDonnell, now an Assistant Professor at St. Cloud State University. The pair included DNA extracted from two herbarium specimens representing Solanum ossicruentum, a species known as the Blood Bone Tomato that the Martine Lab described in the same journal in 2016, in an ongoing analysis meant to build a new bush tomato evolutionary tree.
“We couldn’t understand why the two collections of the same species kept showing up in different parts of the tree,” says Martine. “I had collected one of them and was certain that it represented Solanum ossicruentum, so I reached out to the person who collected the other one, David Albrecht, and asked whether he thought the plants he saw in 1996 at a place called Jellabra Rockhole could be something else.”
Albrecht, Senior Botanist at the Northern Territory Herbarium at Alice Springs, suggested that the best way to know would be for botanists to revisit that remote region of the northwestern Tanami Desert and see for themselves. Martine, who had participated in seven collecting expeditions to northern Australia since 2004, wasn’t disappointed.
“I was kind of hoping he’d tell me that,” Martine says. “Because I was already planning some new fieldwork in the Northern Territory and this would give me a great season to visit an area I had never been to before. But to really be prepared for a trip like that, I first needed to understand what other botanists had recorded and collected there in the past – and there is only one surefire way to do that: check what is in the herbarium collections.”
So Martine started by using the Australasian Virtual Herbarium (AVH), a database of every plant specimen held in every herbarium in Australia. He searched for collections made of Solanum ossicruentum and a similar species called Solanum dioicum in the northern Tanami, finding 15 records for specimens gathered as far back as 1971.
Map showing distribution of Solanum nectarifolium sp. nov. and S. ossicruentum based on accessions held at the Northern Territory Herbarium, Palmerston (DNA), the Western Australian Herbarium (PERTH), and the National Herbarium of New South Wales (NSW). Credit: Martine et al., 2025
“It was a really interesting distribution of points on the map, too,” Martine says. “These were far south of the other records for Solanum ossicruentum, with hundreds of miles of ‘empty’ country between the two clusters. I couldn’t wait to get to Australia to see what those Tanami plants looked like.”
In May 2025 Martine headed to Australia to meet his team for the trip: Cantley and paper coauthors Kym Brennan, Aiden Webb, and Geoff Newton, all associated with the Northern Territory Herbarium at Palmerston. But, first, Martine made a stop in another plant collection in the southwestern city of Perth.
“The visit to the Western Australian Herbarium was my first chance to spend a bunch of time with some of the actual specimens that I had earmarked based on the data in AVH,” Martine explains. “And what I saw there legit blew my mind.”
Every specimen looked similar to Solanum ossicruentum, except for a few subtle characteristics – and one thing that Martine had never seen in more than two decades of Outback botanizing.
The veins on the leaf of Solanum nectarifolium, showing the extrafloral nectaries (EFNs). Phtoo credit: Kym Brennan.
“On the backs of the leaves, along the veins, were these visible round disks,” Martine notes. “They were each around a half-millimeter wide, really obvious, and the only bush tomato specimens that had them – we’re talking hundreds and hundreds of collections – were the ones from the northern Tanami.”
Martine thought they could be extrafloral nectaries (EFNs), non-flower organs on a plant that exude sweet liquid, typically as a means to attract ants that might protect the plants from herbivores. These were known to exist in a few Australian bush tomatoes, but those are tiny and have only been confirmed with microscopes. EFNs that could be seen without magnification would be something truly novel.
A few days later, Martine was in the herbarium at Palmerston and found the same pattern: more visible disks and only on plants from that same geographic area. Then he noticed that the most recent collection, from 2021, had been made by Kym Brennan – a renowned field biologist with an expertise in photography who was preparing for their trip in the next room.
“I ran in there and asked whether he remembered anything unusual about that collection – and before I could finish my explanation for why, he was already showing me an incredible photo of the leaves of that same plant. They were positively oozing with shiny, round droplets of nectar. And all from those disks on the veins.”
The oozing extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) on the underside of the Solanum nectarifolium leaf. Photo credit: Kym Brennan
Eight days and more than 1000 kilometers of driving later the team arrived near Brennan’s collection site 50 kilometers southwest of the community of Lajamanu, right along the edge of the unpaved Lajamanu Road.
“This was more-or-less the same place where others had collected it in the early 1970s, so we were cautiously optimistic that we’d not only find it there again, but that the plants would have the flowers and fruits on them that we needed to describe this as a new species,” explains Martine. “But it’s a harsh environment and the abundance of bush tomatoes is often dependent on fire occurrence. Sometimes you get to a place and there is nothing but old gray stems. Other times there are more happy plants than you can count. In this case, it was the latter situation!”
Habitat of Solanum nectarifolium at the type locality. Photo credit: Aiden Webb.
The team got to work taking notes, making measurements, and shooting photographs. And then Cantley called for Martine to come over to the plant he was examining. There were ants all over the leaf undersides, avidly moving from disk to disk and probing them for nectar. Hypothesis confirmed.
The collaborators decided on the scientific name “nectarifolium” – which translates to “nectar leaf,” for obvious reasons – and the English-language name Tanami Bush Tomato. Martine then contacted a few experts about the conspicuous nature of the EFNs and whether that has been seen anywhere else in the genus Solanum, a group of around 1200 species that includes the tomato, potato, and eggplant.
“As far as we know, this is the first Solanum species to be described as having extrafloral nectaries that you can see with your naked eye. That’s a pretty cool finding – and it all started with the examination of specimens that have been waiting in herbaria for as long as a half-century for someone to come along and take a closer look.”
Bucknell’s own Wayne E. Manning Herbarium, which holds approximately 25,000 plant specimens, now includes new samples of the Tanami Bush Tomato. But the official holotype remains at the Northern Territory Herbarium in Palmerston — almost 10,000 miles away from Bucknell’s campus.
Habit and morphology of Solanum nectarifolium. Photo credit: Kym Brennan and Chris Martine.
“The Manning Herbarium may be small, but every specimen is a snapshot of biodiversity,” Martine says. “These collections allow us to study where species occur, how they’ve changed over time, and — in cases like this — even help discover new ones.”
The publication of the new species comes amid broader concern over the fate of natural history collections, such as Duke University’s recently announced closure of its herbarium housing more than 800,000 specimens. Martine and his colleagues agree that such closures could hinder future discoveries and conservation efforts.
Martine, a leading expert on Australian bush tomatoes, was recently elected president-elect of the Botanical Society of America. He will begin his term as president following the organization’s annual meeting in August 2026.
“It still doesn’t feel real and probably won’t until I start my term just after Botany 2026,” Martine says. “But I promise to do my best because plants are awesome and so are botanists.”
Original study:
Martine, C.T., Brennan, K., Cantley, J.T., Webb, A.T. and Newton, G. (2025). A new dioecious bush tomato, Solanum nectarifolium (Solanaceae), from the northern Tanami Desert, Northern Territory, Australia, with reassessment of S. ossicruentum and a change in the circumscription of S. dioicum. PhytoKeys, 268, pp.183–199. doi: https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.268.169893
Just 20 individuals of the unusual species are known to exist in the wild.
Researchers in Malaysia have discovered a new endemic ‘fairy lantern’ species with fewer than 20 individuals known to exist in the wild.
Despite having only just being discovered, the ethereal plant is considered Critically Endangered according to the IUCN Red List due to its tiny population and threatened habitat.
Take a look at the incredible Thismia selangorensis below!
Thismia selangorensis. Credit: Gim Siew Tan.
Thismia selangorensis. Credit: Gim Siew Tan.
Thismia selangorensis. Credit: Gim Siew Tan.
Thismia selangorensis. Credit: Gim Siew Tan.
Described in the open-access journal PhytoKeys, the peach-to-pink Thismia selangorensis joins the expanding Thismia genus, which includes 120 known species of mycoheterotrophic plants. Unlike familiar phytosynthetic plants, mycoheterotrophic species lack chlorophyll and do not get their energy from the sun. Instead, they depend solely on a parasitic relationship with fungi in the soil for their nutrition.
Species from this genus are typically found in undisturbed forests rich in leaf litter, where moist and shaded soils allow them to remain hidden for much of their lives, making their discovery extremely difficult.
Thismia selangorensis was no exception. Standing at only around 10 cm tall, with coral‑like roots and a peach-to-pink flower that develops into a distinctive umbrella‑shaped “mitre” topped by three slender club‑shaped appendages, Thismia selangorensis had gone unnoticed despite decades of human activity in its habitat.
Among the earlier individuals found, one was located in a hole at the base of a tree, as if living in a cave. Later, a few more individuals were found in more open areas near tree buttresses along the riverbanks.
Thismiaselangorensis. A. Young flower that is not yet fully developed ; B. Mature flower living just beside the roots of a tree buttress; C. A clump of T.selangorensis at different stages in its natural habitat (FRI 79182); D. A clump of flowers showing a different stage of mitre. Credit: Gim Siew Tan (A–C) and Mohd Faizal (D).
“This discovery shows that significant scientific finds are not limited to remote jungles; they can also be made in ordinary environments where constant human activity leaves little room for expectation. Protecting Thismia selangorensis will require cooperation among researchers, the forest department, stakeholders, and the public, as its survival depends on how carefully we tread in its habitat.”
Siti-Munirah Mat Yunoh (FRIM), lead author of the research paper.
Naturalist Tan Gim Siew first spotted the elusive species in November 2023 during a routine photography visit to Taman Eko Rimba Sungai Chongkak, part of the Hulu Langat Forest Reserve and a long‑established picnic and camping destination near Kuala Lumpur. A tiny plant was growing among moist leaf litter near the buttress roots of a riverside tree. Follow-up surveys revealed that fewer than 20 individuals were present, with an estimated occupied habitat of only four km².
Video showing the public nature of Thismia selangorensis‘s habitat. Credit: Gim Siew Tan.
The authors highlight that, although part of the Sungai Chongkak forest remains relatively intact, plants growing close to riverside campsites and picnic areas could easily be destroyed unintentionally by trampling or flooding. They recommend careful management of visitor access around known sites, continued monitoring of the population and further botanical surveys to clarify whether the species occurs beyond its currently known locality.
“The most important effort now is to raise awareness about this species so the public realises that it exists – right here, in this small corner of the world, and nowhere else, at least for now. Understanding its presence is the first step towards ensuring that this extraordinary plant is not lost before many people even know it exists.”
Siti-Munirah Mat Yunoh (FRIM), lead author of the research paper.
Original source
Siti-Munirah MY, Gim Siew T, Mat-Tahir MF, Azhar A (2025) Thismia selangorensis (Thismiaceae): a new mitriform fairy lantern species from Selangor, Malaysia. PhytoKeys 267: 9-21. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.267.157968
Inspired by its seemingly doomed fate, the Colombian species was named after the protagonist of Gabriel García Márquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
“There had never been a death so foretold.”
Gabriel García Márquez.
When researchers discovered an unknown orchid species growing in the cloud forests and páramos of Colombia’s Western and Central Andes, they were struck by the iconic first line of Gabriel García Márquez’s 1981 novella Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
Lepanthesnasariana. A. Flower, frontal view; B. Leaf, showing its thick, succulent morphology; C. Habit of the plant, showing the growth form and habitat. Photographs by J.S. Moreno.
Found thriving in lush, humid habitats at altitudes between 2,800 and 3,600 metres, Lepanthes nasariana is currently assessed as “Least Concern” according to IUCN Red List criteria. But its discovery is shadowed by a grim future, and a team of Colombian botanists has issued an urgent wake-up call after projecting its likely extinction within decades due to climate change.
Drawing inspiration from the tragic fate of protagonist Santiago Nasar, the researchers have termed their finding the “Nasar Effect”: a phenomenon where new species are described even as their demise is foretold by the conditions that threaten them. In the novella, Nasar’s impending death is known to everyone but himself, reflecting the fate of this new species.
Gabriel García Márquez.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold cover.
Published in the open-access journal PhytoKeys, the researchers’ models show Lepanthes nasariana could lose up to 96% of its suitable habitat by 2090 under a worst-case climate scenario, shrinking the orchid’s presence to tiny refugia in just two Colombian national parks.
The projected impact of rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns would, under more severe climate projections, qualify it as “Critically Endangered” in less than a century. This trajectory is reflected in numerous high-Andean species, many still unknown to science, whose fates may soon be sealed by global warming.
Projected changes in the potential distribution of Lepanthes nasariana under future climate scenarios. A. scenario for 2070; B. scenario for 2070; C. scenario for 2090; D. scenario for 2090. Blue indicates stable habitat, red indicates habitat loss. Each map represents the ensemble average of multiple GCMs under intermediate (SSP2-4.5) and high (SSP5-8.5) greenhouse gas emission pathways.
“Like the fate of Santiago Nasar, Lepanthes nasariana lives under a prophecy it cannot hear. Its extinction foretold by the warming of the very clouds that cradle it. Yet, in naming it, we hope to break that spell, to remind the world that there is still time to change the ending,” said the research team behind the discovery.
Original source
Moreno JS, Herrera Cobo AT, Palacio RD, Hazzi NA (2025) Chronicle of a death foretold: Lepanthes nasariana (Orchidaceae, Pleurothallidinae), a newly described high-Andean orchid facing a worst-case climate change scenario. PhytoKeys 266: 219-240. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.266.161410
The species is glossy black, reaches up to a meter in length, and is non-venomous. It is believed to be endemic to the island.
A new species of wolf snake was discovered from the Great Nicobar Islands, India.
Photo by Girish Choure.
Researchers R. S. Naveen and S. R. Chandramouli of the Pondicherry University, Zeeshan A. Mirza of the Max Planck Institute for Biology and Girish Choure of Pune published the discovery in the open-access journal Evolutionary Systematics.
Photo by S. R. Chandramouli.
The team named the new species Irwin’s wolf snake, or Lycodon irwini, after the late Stephen Robert Irwin, the renowned Australian zookeeper, conservationist, television personality, and wildlife educator. “His passion and dedication to wildlife education and conservation have inspired naturalists and conservationists worldwide, including the authors of the paper,” they write in their study.
Photo by Girish Choure.
The adults of the new species are glossy black and can grow to a meter in length. The snakes are non-venomous and likely feed on reptiles, amphibians and small mammals. Currently, the species appears to the endemic to the Great Nicobar Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago. Based on the narrow distribution range and potential human threats to the species, the authors suggest that it should be considered Endangered.
“New species continue to be discovered, exemplified by Lycodon irwini, highlighting the ongoing progress in taxonomy and the incomplete understanding of herpetofaunal diversity and distribution in the region,” the researchers write in their paper.
Research article:
Naveen RS, Mirza ZA, Choure G, Chandramouli SR (2025) A ‘Crikey’ new snake: An insular Lycodon Fitzinger, 1826 (Squamata, Colubridae) from the Nicobar Archipelago, India. Evolutionary Systematics 9(2): 221-228. https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.9.170645
