A species new to science! Katie Mortimer-Jones, 17 Medi 2013 A new species of marine bristleworm (polychaete) has just been described in a collaboration between Amgueddfa Cymru and the East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Shanghai. The species is a type of shovelhead worm, a group that get their name from the flattened head region used to burrow within sand. The new species was discovered in the Jiangsu Province of the Yellow Sea. The new species is called Magelona parochilis Zhou & Mortimer, 2013 and was published this month in the scientific publication, The Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.For more information on the museum’s research into this fascinating group of worms, see the following Rhagor article here and this web page.Kate Mortimer
Haf ystlumaidd yn Sain Ffagan! Hywel Couch, 12 Medi 2013 Wel, ma gwyliau haf arall wedi hedfan heibio, ac mae hi bron yn amser eto i groesawu grwpiau ysgol yn ôl i Sain Ffagan ar ddechrau flwyddyn ysgol newydd! Mae’r haf eleni wedi bod bach yn wahanol i mi yma yn Sain Ffagan. Oherwydd y gwaith ail-ddatblygu da ni di colli’r Tŷ Gwyrdd fel adeilad, felly mae’r gweithgareddau natur wedi bod bach mwy nomadig nai’r arfer! Roedd hi’n gyfle neis i mi ddefnyddio ardaloedd gwahanol o’r amgueddfa ac i edrych ar ba fywyd gwyllt sydd i’w ffeindio o amgylch y lle. Dros fis Awst, ddaeth tua 1000 o bobl i gymryd rhan mewn amrywiaeth o weithgareddau natur o amgylch yr amgueddfa, o archwilio yn y goedwig am fwystfilod bach i’n teithiau ystlumod gyda’r nos. Mae’r teithiau ystlum eleni wedi bod yn hynod o boblogaidd! Ar ddechrau’r haf naethon ni ail-agor y guddfan adar yn ei leoliad newydd ger ysgubor Hendre Wen. O’n i’n poeni falle byse dim cymaint o adar i’w weld yn yr ardal newydd, ond ar ôl treulio hanner awr yn gwylio’r adar nes i weld 11 rywogaeth wahanol. Gobeithio neith niferoedd tebyg parhau i ymweld â’n bwydwyr o amgylch y guddfan. Mae’r guddfan nawr ar agor bob dydd, felly ar eich ymweliad nesa i’r amgueddfa byddwch yn siŵr i bipio draw i weld be welwch chi! Ym mis Awst cawsom bach o fraw ar ôl tan fach yn y Tanerdy. Mae’r Tanerdy yn gartref i grŵp o ystlumod Pedol Lleiaf prin iawn. Torrodd tan drydanol bach allan un bore yn yr ystafell islaw ble mae’r ystlumod yn clwydo fel arfer. Diolch byth, nath y tan ddim cydio diolch i ymateb cyflym gan Wasanaeth Tan ac Achub De Cymru. Yn ystod y digwyddiad nath yr ystlumod hedfan i ardal o’r adeilad yn bell o’r tan. Nath y stori hyd yn oed cyrraedd tudalennau wefan y BBC! Diolch i Anwen am y llunie!Mae’r ystlumod nawr wedi dychwelyd i’w ardal clwydo arferol ac i’w weld yn iawn. Yn anffodus, nid yw’r un peth yn wir am y camera ystlumod a oedd yn yr adeilad. Mae cyfuniad o ddifrod dwr a mwg yn golygu bydd angen camera newydd arnom, gobeithio cyn gynted â phosib! Mae ystlumod Sain Ffagan i’w weld yn mynd o nerth i nerth! Mae gennym ni 11 o’r 18 rhywogaeth sy’n byw ym Mhrydain yn clwydo yn yr amgueddfa, yn cynnwys yr ystlum Nathusius Pipistrelle sy wedi bod yn clwydo yn 2 o’n hadeiladau. Cyn hyn, dim ond 2 clwyd o’r ystlum yma sy ‘di cael ei ffeindio yng Nghymru. Dyma stori arall eleni nath newyddion! Eleni cynhaliwyd 3 Taith Ystlum gyda’r Cyfnos yn yr amgueddfa, a bob un yn llawn! Diolch i bawb ddaeth ac ymddiheuriadau i bawb nath trio bwcio ond oedd methu cal lle! Da ni’n bwriadu cynnal 4 taith mis Awst nesa gyda phosibilrwydd o fwy os oes galw! Os daethoch ar un o’n teithiau eleni ac os oes gennych unrhyw adborth, rhowch wybod i ni yma neu trwy anfon e-bost i’r amgueddfa! Un peth arall, hoffwn roi diolch mawr i’n tîm newydd o wirfoddolwyr sy ‘di bod yn helpu dros yr haf! Trwy gael pâr ychwanegol o ddwylo i helpu gyda digwyddiadau a gweithgareddau, mae’n bosib i ni gynnig gwell profiad ac ymweliad i’n hymwelwyr. Diolch yn fawr i chi gyd!
Kunstformen der Natur Jennifer Evans, 23 Awst 2013 Step into a wonderland of colour, a celebration of the natural world in all its artistic and symmetrical glory... Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) was an eminent German zoologist who specialized in invertebrate anatomy. He named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many now ubiquitous terms in biology. A popularizer of Charles Darwin, Haeckel embraced evolution not only as a scientific theory, but as a worldview. He outlined a new religion or philosophy called monism, which cast evolution as a cosmic force, a manifestation of the creative energy of nature. Haeckel’s chief interests lay in evolution and life development processes in general, including the development of nonrandom form, which culminated in the beautifully illustrated Kunstformen der Natur - Art Forms of Nature, a collection of 100 detailed, multi-colour illustrations (lithographic and autotype) of animals and sea creatures prints. Originally published in sets of ten between 1899 and 1904, and as a complete volume in 1904. The overriding themes of the Kunstformenplates are symmetry and organization, central aspects of Haeckel's monism. The subjects were selected to embody organization, from the scale patterns of boxfishes to the spirals of ammonites to the perfect symmetries of jellies and microorganisms, while images composing each plate are arranged for maximum visual impact. Kunstformen der Natur played a role in the development of early twentieth century art, architecture, and design, bridging the gap between science and art. In particular, many artists associated with the Art Nouveau movement were influenced by Haeckel's images, including René Binet, Karl Blossfeldt, Hans Christiansen, and Émile Gallé. Our copy of Kunstformen der Natur [photographed here] is a complete bound volume of all ten fascicules and sits in our folio section. It was donated to us in 1919 by the first Director of the National Museum of Wales [from 1909 to 1924], William Evans Hoyle. Hoyle’s trained as a medical anatomist and developed a life long interest in 'cephalopods'. Our BioSyB Department now holds Hoyle's cephalopod collection [over 400 of them] along with many other specimens and publications. Haeckel biographical information: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ernst_Haeckel Hoyle biographical information: http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/2756%20/ All photographs in this post taken by the author.
They're flying reptiles ... (not dinosaurs!) Grace Todd, 23 Awst 2013 Our penultimate family activity has gone down really well, with grown ups and children really getting into this simple activity. Hundreds of visitors have been very creative with pipecleaners, cards and pegs as these photos show. And even more satisfying is that everyone has gone home with the clear learning message that while pterosaurs were alive at the same time as dinosaurs they were a different species entirely!For even more photos of all our family activities visit our flickr pagehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/88072847@N05/Next week is the activity I'm most looking forward to, designing our own pop art inspired record sleeves. My only fear is that some visitors might not know what a record is so I'll be bringing in a record player and some of my records!
Barents 4 : The Sea of Mud Graham Oliver, 20 Awst 2013 You have not heard from me for a while because there has been little to report in the way of spectacular finds. The Barents Sea, at least the sector we are in, is a plain of muddy sediments at depths of 210 to 350 metres. That is not say that there is no life down there most of it is hidden in the mud and most are rather small and beyond the ability of my camera.I thought that I should review where and what has been going on. Two images to remind you of where we are [1, 2]; in the second the oval area is the study area. The coloured images show the water depths from brown-yellow-green-blue from shallow to deep. Geologists also survey the area using a type of penetrating sonar that gives a picture of the structures in the seabed. This data is combined with the bathymetry and using this the geologists and biologists decide where to make their investigations [3] .Two interesting features on the these images [4] : - first the long groove (top and middle left) is the trough made by a massive iceberg grinding into the seafloor probably not long after the end of the last ice age; secondly (middle and bottom rows) all the dots represent pock-marks made by methane gas flowing out through the mud and leaving a depression. It is thought the gas was trapped by the pressure of the ice during the ice age and when the ice retreated this gas was released all over the Barents Sea.The animals that I am interested in often live around pockmarks but unfortunately most are now inactive. We did visit an area where active gas seepage has been found but we found no specialised fauna from our sampling. This area consists of two mounds [5] created by the slow upward movement of salt layers deep in the underlying rocks, called salt diapirs [6] these sites are often associated with gas seepage and unusual faunas.Many thanks to Valerié Bellec for the multibeam images.Having set the sampling grid the geologists using the multicorer [7, 8] take sediment samples and these are also used by a geochemist that looks for contaminants such as heavy metals. Here [9] Stepan (geochemist) washes down the tubes while in the background Sigrid and Valerie discuss what to do next.You have already seen the video (CAMPOD) and beam trawl in action but the bulk of the quantitative data is gathered by the grab [10] . Andrey washes out the sediment through a 1 mm mesh in the auto-siever [11]; all animals are kept to be counted and identified later back at base.All this data is combined in a GIS (geographical information system) system and maps of the seabed produced. These maps can show bathymetry, sediments, and geochemistry but here is one for the area off Tromsø showing a combination of sediments and faunas [12] . The faunas are recognised by the dominant species seen by the video combined with data from the trawl and grab. These maps are interactive and can be viewed on the MAREANO web site.The MAREANO project is very ambitious but it will provide both scientists and decision makers with the information needed to manage the Norwegian Seas. The Barents Sea data will help decide how to manage the cod fishery and the coming oil exploration.Finally its midnight through my porthole [13]
