Post by L Roebuck on May 5, 2006 21:04:15 GMT -5
New Crickets found in Arizona Cave
FLAGSTAFF, AZ, United States (UPI) -- Researchers have discovered a new genus of cave cricket in the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in northwestern Arizona.
J. Judson 'Jut' Wynne, a university graduate student and cave research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey`s Southwest Biological Science Center, and Kyle Voyles from Parashant National Monument, made the discovery.
Crickets provide a valuable ecological service to the environment. Some species are often the primary decomposers in cave ecosystems, Northern Arizona University reported.
At least five new species have been identified from this research, and museum officials believe more new species discoveries will result. The discoveries were made during an ecological inventory of 24 caves in the monument.
Neil Cobb, curator of the Colorado Plateau Museum of Arthropod Biodiversity, said the discovery of a new genus in such a well-known order in North America is rare.
'Because caves are extreme environments, cave arthropods are very specialized and possibly endemic to a single cave system or region,' said Cobb. 'They present interesting and odd evolutionary forms that reflect the extreme environments found in caves.'
M&C Science and Nature
FLAGSTAFF, AZ, United States (UPI) -- Researchers have discovered a new genus of cave cricket in the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in northwestern Arizona.
J. Judson 'Jut' Wynne, a university graduate student and cave research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey`s Southwest Biological Science Center, and Kyle Voyles from Parashant National Monument, made the discovery.
Crickets provide a valuable ecological service to the environment. Some species are often the primary decomposers in cave ecosystems, Northern Arizona University reported.
At least five new species have been identified from this research, and museum officials believe more new species discoveries will result. The discoveries were made during an ecological inventory of 24 caves in the monument.
Neil Cobb, curator of the Colorado Plateau Museum of Arthropod Biodiversity, said the discovery of a new genus in such a well-known order in North America is rare.
'Because caves are extreme environments, cave arthropods are very specialized and possibly endemic to a single cave system or region,' said Cobb. 'They present interesting and odd evolutionary forms that reflect the extreme environments found in caves.'
M&C Science and Nature