Scientists Discover a New Crustacean Species in One of the Hottest Places on Earth
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Scientists discover a new crustacean species in one of the hottest places on Earth:
[...] The lake in which this delicate crustacean was found is a temporary thing. Shallow pools of water are formed in parts of the desert by seasonal floods after spring rainfall. Annual precipitation in the region never exceeds more than 30 mm [~1.2 in] per year, and there are no bodies of water that are there year-round.
[...] Co-author Dr. Martin Schwentner, a crustacean specialist from the Natural History Museum of Vienna, explained that these species are designed for this.
"These Crustaceans are able to survive for decades in the dried-out sediment and will hatch in an upcoming wet season, when the aquatic habitat refills," he said in the press release. "They are perfectly adapted to live in desert environments. Their ability to survive even in the Lut desert highlights their resilience."
[...] Recently, that temperature has risen, with the most recent satellite temperature measurements clocking in at 80.8 degrees Celsius [~177 F] on the surface.
[...] The air temperature in the region, while not as scorching as the ground itself, is also up there, reaching more than 50 degrees Celsius [122 F] in the summer.
The larger female of the new species is around three centimetres [~1.2 in] long, while the male specimen is around 2.25 cm [~0.9 in]. Its lack of pigmentation makes it appear almost like a ghost.
Journal Reference:Martin Schwentner, Alexander V. Rudov & Hossein Rajaei. Some like it hot: Phallocryptus fahimii sp. n. (Crustacea: Anostraca: Thamnocephalidae) from the Lut desert, the hottest place on Earth, (2020) Zoology in the Middle East, DOI: 10.1080/09397140.2020.1805139
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