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Forest creatures
During a 2009 expedition to the Pau-Rosa National Forest in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, biologist Pedro Peloso and his colleagues found clown tree frogs singing along the banks of the Paraconi...
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Ants and bromeliads
Odontomachus hastatus ant carries prey to its nest: its debris nourishes the Quesnelia arvensis bromeliad, commonly found on Cardoso Island Some ant species contribute nutrients to their host...
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Earth’s unknown biodiversity
Grand Prismatic Spring, in Yellowstone National Park: water rich in as-yet-unidentified microorganisms For each species of known living things on the planet, there are 100,000 yet to be identified,...
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The silent attack of the fungi
Candida sp. in a Petri dish: infecting almost three million people per year in Brazil It’s not a freezer, it’s a cage full of dangerous creatures. In metal boxes inside, at negative 80 degrees...
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Dead waters
One of the banks of the Gualaxo do Norte River: the brown area marks the highest point reached by the slurry from the tailings dam Researchers from the Independent Environmental Impact Analysis...
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Food thieves
A trap, but not for me: fly larva glides across tentacles of Drosera graomogolensis With their tiny red tentacles covered in sticky goo, the carnivorous plants of the genus Drosera hunt small...
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A flower blooms in the stone
In the stony aridity of the Espinhaço Mountains in the state of Minas Gerais, life emerges even amid the rocks. Minasia alpestris is found in only a small area there, where more than 20 years ago,...
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Collective flights
Ruby-crowned Tanager Collaborative efforts between academic and non-academic researchers studying the geographic distribution of birds in Brazil have yielded fruitful results. Through WikiAves, a...
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From the fields to the courts
As a teenager in the 1970s, Appellate Judge Elton Leme used to hide in the woods of his father’s farm, in the Gaviões district of Rio de Janeiro in search of bromeliads and orchids. “I wanted to...
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Understated beauty
At the depths of the Lapa do Baixão, a cave only recently explored in the Luiú municipality of southwestern Bahia State, tiny insects live without ever seeing the light of day. Literally, many of...
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Two new Brazilian minerals described
Two forms of parisite: in an aggregate of crystals (at left) and inside one crystal (yellow-green mineral at right) The list of type minerals—minerals described for the first time—from Brazil grew...
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Bryophytes in amber
Rarity: 52-million-year-old leaves of moss found in India In the Cambay region of northwestern India, amber—fossilized tree resin—has been found to contain preserved ants, bees and other insects...
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Copies that make a difference
Genes in movement: The figure above relates the points of origin and destination of the 8,000 retrocopies in the 24 human chromosomes. Each colored line represents one gene, copied in its original...
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Worms that light up
Buried in sand and hidden in tubes they make themselves from a material that looks like parchment, marine worms of the Chaetopterus variopedatus species have an odd strategy for emergencies: they...
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The foxes of the Americas
Pampas fox and hoary fox (photo) procreate in the state of São Paulo There are species of fox scattered across every continent except the Antarctic, but foxes enjoy little popularity in Brazil. It’s...
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Valuable cargo
When visiting flowers, solitary bees of the genus Tetrapedia are not looking only for pollen. They are specialized in collecting floral oil, which they carry in the bristles of paw structures known...
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Three times as many viruses in the oceans
A broad international study, led by researchers from The Ohio State University, has found the DNA of 15,000 more viruses in 104 deep- and surface-water samples taken from all oceans across the globe...
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Elevated C02 makes for drought-resistant plant
Chrysolaena obovata: Cerrado species adapts better to drought with carbon dioxide level of 760 ppm If the coming decades bring the doubling of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (C02) –...
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Regenerating salamander
Axolotl: gene activation at certain points in development may be key to limb regeneration A rare biological trait has sparked scientists’ interest in the salamander of the species Ambystoma...
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Obama crosses the Atlantic
Now found in gardens and greenhouses in Europe, the species Obama nungara was mistaken for Obama marmorata until recently. Planarians of this genus, such as Obama fryi (above), look like leaves The...
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