Newly discovered / described species 2015

A new bat species from Arabia and East Africa:
Harrison's Free-tailed Bat Otomops harrisoni

Ref. Revision of Afro-Malagasy Otomops (Chiroptera: Molossidae) with the description of a new Afro-Arabian species. RALPH et al., 2015
Zootaxa 4057 (1): 001–049.
 
A new snake from Sulawesi:
Groves’ Pointed Snake Rabdion grovesi

Ref. Description of a Second Species of the Genus Rabdion Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854 (Colubridae: Calamariinae) from Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Amarasinghe et al., 2015
Herpetologica Sep. 2015, Vol. 71, No. 3: 234-239
 
LaughingDove said:
Not directly related but it's something that just crossed my mind: what is the captive population of Little Blue Penguins made up of?
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in NZ they are NZ rehab birds. In Australia and everywhere else they are Australian birds.
 
LaughingDove said:
Cool, thanks.
So is there a mixture of subspecies in New Zealand zoos then? Do they breed?
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they are not supposed to be bred from (they are mostly the birds which cannot be released - a lot of them have missing limbs, have damaged bills, are blind, etc), but it does happen here and there.

With regards to taxonomy there has always been a lot of dispute. In the 1970s there were deemed to be six subspecies based on distribution and appearance (novaehollandiae in Australia, and five within New Zealand). One of these, the distinctive White-flippered Penguin, was variously treated as a subspecies or as a full species (E. albosignata), and was finally demoted to just a colour morph. Later when DNA testing entered the field it was found that the results did not support the multi-subspecies view, but that the differences were probably simply clinal. For the most part, in Australasia the species has been treated as monotypic for most of the 2000s.

It was noted from the mitochondrial DNA that there were two clades, one in Australia and southeastern NZ (in the Otago area), and the other everywhere else in NZ. However the genetic differences, while clear, were still not considered enough to separate them even as subspecies. Different studies have shown varying opinions on the distinctiveness of their calls and outward appearance.

This current paper ("proving" the two clades are actually two distinct species) is another part of the above. It is from the same start-point (and does include more than just the mtDNA so is more comprehensive), and ends in completely the opposite direction. The current trend in taxonomy is splitting, but it remains to be seen if this split is generally accepted. I'm sticking with one species for now.
 
Chlidonias said:
they are not supposed to be bred from (they are mostly the birds which cannot be released - a lot of them have missing limbs, have damaged bills, are blind, etc), but it does happen here and there.

With regards to taxonomy there has always been a lot of dispute. In the 1970s there were deemed to be six subspecies based on distribution and appearance (novaehollandiae in Australia, and five within New Zealand). One of these, the distinctive White-flippered Penguin, was variously treated as a subspecies or as a full species (E. albosignata), and was finally demoted to just a colour morph. Later when DNA testing entered the field it was found that the results did not support the multi-subspecies view, but that the differences were probably simply clinal. For the most part, in Australasia the species has been treated as monotypic for most of the 2000s.

It was noted from the mitochondrial DNA that there were two clades, one in Australia and southeastern NZ (in the Otago area), and the other everywhere else in NZ. However the genetic differences, while clear, were still not considered enough to separate them even as subspecies. Different studies have shown varying opinions on the distinctiveness of their calls and outward appearance.

This current paper ("proving" the two clades are actually two distinct species) is another part of the above. It is from the same start-point (and does include more than just the mtDNA so is more comprehensive), and ends in completely the opposite direction. The current trend in taxonomy is splitting, but it remains to be seen if this split is generally accepted. I'm sticking with one species for now.
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That is very interesting, thanks.
I usually go off hbw.com when looking at bird subspecies, and they list six subspecies for Little Blue Penguins (Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor) | HBW Alive). However it's nice to hear some further/other information. :)
 
LaughingDove said:
That is very interesting, thanks.
I usually go off hbw.com when looking at bird subspecies, and they list six subspecies for Little Blue Penguins (Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor) | HBW Alive). However it's nice to hear some further/other information. :)
Click to expand...
the HBW/IBC like to have it both ways. They say "Validity of races questioned, and current evidence points to a N–S cline" but also "Six subspecies recognized".

They tend to be pretty conservative/slow when it comes to taxonomy. I usually follow what they say on subspecies, but look at other sources as well to see what seems more valid.
 
A big increase in the number of Xenopus (clawed frog) species:

Ref. Evans BJ, Carter TF, Greenbaum E, Gvoždík V, Kelley DB, McLaughlin PJ, Pauwels OSG, Portik DM, Stanley EL, Tinsley RC, Tobias ML, Blackburn DC. 2015. Genetics, Morphology, Advertisement Calls, and Historical Records Distinguish Six New Polyploid Species of African Clawed Frog (Xenopus, Pipidae) from West and Central Africa.
PLoS One DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142823

The new species are named as Xenopus allofraseri, X. parafraseri, X. eysoole, X. fischbergi, X. kobeli and X. mellotropicalis.
 
A new glassfrog from Brazil:
Vitreorana franciscana

Ref. Santana DJ, Barros AB, Pontes R & Feio RN. 2015
A new species of glassfrog genus Vitreorana (Anura, Centrolenide) from the Cerrado Domain, southeastern Brazil.
Herpetologica 71: 289-298.
 
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