Latest Materpiscis Stories

TEMPE, Ariz., May 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and an international committee of taxonomists - scientists responsible for species exploration and classification - today announce the top 10 new species described in 2008. On the list are a pea-sized seahorse, caffeine-free coffee and bacteria that live in hairspray. The top 10 new species also include the very tiny (a snake just a slither longer than 4 inches or...

State of Observed Species reports 18,516 species new to science in 2007The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and an international committee of taxonomists "“ scientists responsible for species exploration and classification "“ today announce the top 10 new species described in 2008.On the list are a pea-sized seahorse, caffeine-free coffee and bacteria that live in hairspray. The top 10 new species also include the very tiny (a snake just a...

New research published Wednesday shows that sex has been around for much longer than many scientists had previously believed, with internal fertilization prevalent among prehistoric fish living on tropical reefs during the Devonian period 380 million years ago.The study reveals new insight on the reproductive history of all jawed vertebrates, including humans."It shifts how we think about how reproduction evolved. You're a jawed vertebrate and I'm a jawed vertebrate, so this is our own...

Scientists in Australia reported Thursday they had discovered the remains of the oldest vertebrate mother ever found. The fossilized 375-million-year-old placoderm fish, preserved with an embryo still attached with an umbilical cord, was found in the Gogo area of northwest Australia.      The fossil fish is the oldest-known example of a mother giving birth to live young, and pushes back the emergence of this reproductive technique by some 200 million years. Prior to the...