Florida Museum Pressroom

New bone survey method could aid long-term survival of Arctic caribou

Joshua Miller, assistant scientist at the Florida Museum of Natural History and Fenneman assistant research professor at the University of Cincinnati, measures a shed caribou antler in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Photo by Eric Wald, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A study co-authored by a University of Florida scientist adds critical new data for understanding caribou calving grounds in an area under consideration for oil exploration in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The research may be used to create improved conservation strategies for an ecologically important area that has been under evaluation for natural resource exploration since enactment of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980.

By studying bone accumulations on the Arctic landscape, lead author Joshua Miller discovered rare habitats near river systems are more important for some caribou than previously believed. The study appearing online today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows bone surveys conducted on foot provide highly detailed and extensive data on areas used by caribou as birthing grounds.

“The bone surveys are adding a new piece of the puzzle, giving us a way of studying how caribou use the landscape during calving and providing a longer perspective for evaluating the importance of different regions and habitats,” said Miller, an assistant scientist at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus and a Fenneman assistant research professor at the (more…)

UF fossil bird study on extinction patterns could help today’s conservation efforts

Florida Museum of Natural History ornithologist David Steadman displays fossils of an undescribed, extinct new species of woodcock from Hispaniola.
Florida Museum of Natural History photo by Kristen Grace

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A new University of Florida study of nearly 5,000 Haiti bird fossils shows contrary to a commonly held theory, human arrival 6,000 years ago didn’t cause the island’s birds to die simultaneously.

Although many birds perished or became displaced during a mass extinction event following the first arrival of humans to the Caribbean islands, fossil evidence shows some species were more resilient than others. The research provides range and dispersal patterns from A.D. 600 to 1600 that may be used to create conservation plans for tropical mountainous regions, some of the most threatened habitats worldwide. Understanding what caused recent extinctions – whether direct habitat loss or introduction of invasive species – helps researchers predict future ecological impacts. The study was published (more…)

Florida Museum to unpack fossils of new 30-foot-long giant crocodile relative from Colombia Friday at 11 a.m.

Media Advisory

What: Newly arrived fossils from the Cerrejon coal mine in Colombia will be unloaded and opened at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

When: 11 a.m. Friday March 22

Where: Florida Museum of Natural History rear loading dock, 3215 Hull Road, Gainesville, University of Florida Cultural Plaza

Media: Museum employees will unload and open plaster jackets containing fossils of an unnamed crocodile relative recently received from Colombia. The fossils are from the same Cerrejon coal mine where the 48-foot-long “Titanoboa: Monster Snake” was discovered. The fossils will be brought into the “Titanoboa” exhibit prep lab, where visitors have the opportunity to observe “science in action” and speak with researchers and volunteers working on the fossils.

Florida Museum vertebrate paleontology curator Jonathan Bloch, who led the international team that discovered Titanoboa, will be available for interviews.

“This is extremely exciting because we’ll be unpacking the first lower jaw discovered of this giant, 30- to 40-foot-long crocodile relative we believe may have actually battled Titanoboa,” Bloch said.

Bloch and other researchers are currently preparing a journal article describing the new species.

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UF researcher describes new 5-million-year-old saber-toothed cat from Florida

Florida Museum of Natural History paleontologist Richard Hulbert Jr. measures fossil teeth of a saber-toothed cat. In the foreground, the lower jaw of Rhizosmilodon fiteae, is pictured between a modern Florida panther, left, and the famous Smilodon fatalis from about 15,000 years ago.
Florida Museum photo by Jeff Gage

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida researcher has described a new genus and species of extinct saber-toothed cat from Polk County, Fla., based on additional fossil acquisitions of the animal over the last 25 years.

The 5-million-year-old fossils belong to the same lineage as the famous Smilodon fatalis from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, a large, carnivorous apex predator with elongated upper canine teeth. Previous research suggested the group of saber-toothed cats known as Smilodontini originated in the Old World and then migrated to North America, but the age of the new species indicates the group likely originated in North America. The study appeared online in the journal PLOS One Wednesday.

“Smilodon first shows up on the fossil record around 2.5 million years ago, but there haven’t been a lot of good intermediate forms for understanding where it came from,” said study co-author Richard Hulbert Jr., vertebrate paleontology collections manager at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus. “The new species shows that the most famous saber-toothed cat, Smilodon, had a New World origin and it and its ancestors lived in the southeastern U.S. for at least 5 million years before their extinction about 11,000 years ago. Compared to what we knew about these earlier saber-toothed cats 20 or 30 years ago, we now have a much better understanding of this group.” (more…)

UF study shows spiders, not birds may drive evolution of some butterflies

A jumping spider, Phidippus pulcherrimus, feeds on a moth.
Florida Museum of Natural History photo by Andrei Sourakov

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Butterflies are among the most vibrant insects, with colorations sometimes designed to deflect predators. New University of Florida research shows some of these defenses may be driven by enemies one-tenth their size.

Since the time of Darwin 150 years ago, researchers have believed large predators like birds mainly influenced the evolution of coloration in butterflies. In the first behavioral study to directly test the defense mechanism of hairstreak butterflies, UF lepidopterist Andrei Sourakov found that the appearance of a false head – a wing pattern found on hundreds of hairstreak butterflies worldwide – was 100 percent effective against attacks from a jumping spider. The research published online March 8 in the Journal of Natural History shows small arthropods, rather than large vertebrate predators, may influence butterfly evolution.

“Everything we observe out there has been blamed on birds: aposematic coloration, mimicry and various defensive patterns like eyespots,” said study author Andrei Sourakov, a collection coordinator at the Florida Museum of Natural History’s McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity on the UF campus. “It’s a big step in general and a big leap of faith to realize that a creature as tiny as a jumping spider, whose brain and life span are really small compared to birds, can actually be partially responsible for the great diversity of patterns that evolved out there among Lepidoptera and other insects.”

Sourakov’s behavioral experiments at the McGuire Center showed the Red-banded Hairstreak butterfly, Calycopis cecrops, whose spots and tail imitate a false head, successfully escaped all 16 attacks from the jumping spider, Phidippus pulcherrimus. When 11 other butterfly and moth species from seven different families were exposed to the jumping spider, they were unable to escape attack in every case. Sourakov videotaped the experiments and analyzed the results in slow motion. (more…)