A couple of days ago the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced 60 new African dragonfly species had been described. Dragonflies are freshwater species and indicators of healthy ecosystems and so play a very important role considering freshwater habitats such as wetlands are some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. With these new discoveries, the number of known species of dragonfly in Africa has now risen to 760. However there are likely to be even more than this! It is estimated that only a fifth of all species on the planet are currently known. This includes animals as well as plants. The IUCN predicts there may be up to 9 million species in total on Earth.
The IUCN will now work to assess these newly discovered species for rating on the Red List of Threatened Species so that conservation efforts may be applied.
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One of the new species of Dragonfly, a Robust Sparklewing (Umma gumma).Fun fact: It was named after the 1969 album by Pink Floyd.
Photo by Jens Kipping. |
When people hear that a new species has been described, it is often expected they must have been discovered in the deepest jungle or an inpenetrable forest. However, often new species can be found by finding genetic distinctions between species that were previously thought to be the same.
Even so, it was only in 2013 that an entirely new bird species was discovered in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, with a population of 1.5 million people! The Cambodian Tailorbird
(Orthotomus chaktomuk) is in the warbler family, and became one of only 2 bird species to be found solely in Cambodia.
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The Cambodian Tailorbird.
Photo by James Eaton. |
Discovering new species can be done by anyone with a keen interest but is an incredibly long process. If a person believes they have come across a new species, they must first check that it has not already been described. This could involve genetic testing and studying its DNA as well as studying existing museum collections. Many wonder what the point is, for example, do we really need to find and name the estimated 90% of undiscovered fungi species, or the other 50% of all algae species? But many of these species could turn out to be incredibly useful to us. This could be in the form of food, pollination, water cleaning as well as medicinal benefits. If the variations between species can be identified, it will allow us to find any benefits and preserve these benefits, as well as preserving the natural world.
More information on the 60 new dragonfly species can be found on the IUCN website here:
http://iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/news/?22353/60-new-African-dragonfly-species-described
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