New to science, found in Singapore!

Can you find species new to science in Singapore? Along the boardwalk? YES!

This new species of cricket was found along the Chek Jawa boardwalk! It was named after Chek Jawa too! It is called Svistella chekjawa. More critters new to science and given names associated with Singapore in the latest issue of the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 60(2): 241–598. 31 August 2012

Here's another new species of cricket that was found along the mangrove boardwalk at Pasir Ris! It's also named after the Singapore: Ornebius tampines. Sungei Tampines is one of the small streams that run through the Pasir Ris mangroves.

Read more about these new crickets in "Two new cricket species (Orthoptera: Gryllidae And Mogoplistidae) from the mangrove areas of Singapore." Tan Ming Kai and Tony Robillard. Pp. 411-420. [pdf, 11,517 KB]

There's also a new species of water bug from Singapore, named after Singapore, Ochterus singaporensis!

It was described from specimens found in MacRitchie Catchment Reservoir and Bukit Timah forest, Lower Jungle Falls stream. This species is described as part of the Guide to the Aquatic Heteroptera of Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia which includes keys to these fascinating water bugs:

"Guide to the aquatic Heteroptera of Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia. VIII. Leptopodomorpha, families Saldidae, Leptopodidae, and Omaniidae." John T. Polhemus and Dan A. Polhemus. Pp. 329-341. [pdf, 5,325 KB]

"Guide to the aquatic Heteroptera of Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia. IX. Infraorder Nepomorpha, families Ochteridae and Gelastocoridae." Dan A. Polhemus and John T. Polhemus. Pp.  343-359. [pdf, 9,603 KB]

There is even a gecko new to science in our forests! It is also given a distinctively Singaporean name.

Cyrtodactylus majulah is a new species of bent-toed gecko from the Central Catchment Nature Reserve of Singapore. It is also found in Pulau Bintan in the Riau Archipelago of Indonesia. The authors discovered that it had been masquerading under the nomen C. quadrivirgatus.

Read more in "Cyrtodactylus majulah, a new species of bent-toed gecko (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Singapore and the Riau Archipelago." L. Lee Grismer, Perry L. Wood, Jr. and Kelvin K. P. Lim. Pp. 487-499. [pdf, 5,805 KB]

There's also a paper about Singapore's Banded Leaf Monkeys in "Low genetic variability in the recovering urban banded leaf monkey population of Singapore." A. Ang, A. Srivasthan, B. M. Md.-Zain, M. R. B. Ismail and R. Meier. Pp. 589-594. [pdf, 329 KB]

And lots more in the latest issue of the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 60(2): 241–598. 31 August 2012