An entirely new genus of shrimp was discovered during an expedition to the Cyclops Mountains in Papua , Indonesia . It was a surprise find for scientists on the parlous 2023 expedition and introduce a whole new habitat for these typically H2O - dwell crustacean .
The expedition was one for the account books , revivify a species that was thought to have been out since the 1960s : Attenborough ’s long - peck anteater , Zaglossus attenboroughi . Named after wildlife broadcaster and natural historiographer Sir David Attenborough , the monotreme made a surprise appearance on photographic camera trap left in the Cyclops Mountains .
“ I ’m not joking when I say it came down to the very last Mount Rushmore State card that we looked at , from the very last camera that we collect , on the very last day of our dispatch , ” expedition moderate Dr James Kempton of Oxford University toldBBC News .
Expedition leader Dr James Kempton and the research team were helped by members of the Yongsu Sapari community who prepared paths and campsites for the expedition.Image credit: Expedition Cyclops
However , while the world was reeling from the reunion , another , arguably more unsung breakthrough went a minuscule more under the radio detection and ranging . You see , on that same expedition , the team find a Modern genus of ground- and tree - dwellingshrimp .
If you ’re retrieve , “ Well that ’s not where shrimp live , ” you ’d normally be right , and the discovery of these typically pee - dwelling crustacean so high up was a surprise for the scientists , too .
“ We were quite shocked to discover this shrimp in the centre of the woodland , because it is a singular departure from the distinctive seaside habitat for these animals , ” say lead story bugologist for the expedition Dr Leonidas - Romanos Davranoglou ( a Leverhulme Trust Postdoctoral Fellow at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History ) , in astatement .
“ We trust that the high level of rainfall in theCyclopsMountains means the humidity is great enough for these creature to survive entirely on body politic . ”
Your stock shrimp breathes using gill to take out O from water and depending on the species will either experience in marine or fresh water environment . To be thrive so far inland must mean this novel genus has adapt a way to breathe without being fully submerged in water , as Davranoglou says , perhaps aid by rain or humidness .
The team were due a few wins following such a precarious and challenging expedition that put them in sometimes life - threatening situations . They faced earthquakes , have them to evacuate cave systems , and follow across manyvenomoussnakes andspiders .
Several of the team suffered illness and injury . Davranoglou ’s arm was cave in in two place while another team fellow member contactedmalaria , and a third had a bloodsucker stuck to their eye for a day and a half before a infirmary squad could remove it . Despite the perils of the Cyclops Mountains , they ’ve lost no love for the landscape painting .
“ Though some might draw the Cyclops as a ‘ Green Hell ’ , I think the landscape painting is witching , at once enchanting and grave , like something out of a Tolkien book , ” said Kempton . “ In this environment , the camaraderie between the expedition fellow member was fantastic , with everyone helping to keep up morale . In the eventide , we commute stories around the fire , all the while surrounded by the hoots and peep of anuran . ”
