Sea Creature With 20 Arms, Strawberry-Like Body Discovered In Antarctic Ocean

The scientific name of the species is 'Promachocrinus fragarius' and according to the study, the name Fragarius is derived from the Latin word "fragum," which means "strawberry."

Desert Botanical Garden on Instagram: "How is the extreme heat wave from this past month affecting saguaros? This week, the Garden is doing a series of videos with horticultural tips, highlighting our research and answering some of your questions about saguaros. Drop a comment with a question, and we’ll do our best to offer advice and support and additional resources. . Although the heat has killed some of the Garden’s plants. Only one out of our more than 1,000 saguaros lost an arm tied to the monsoon storms. The saguaro in the first clip collapsed for other reasons not related to the heat. . #desertbotanicalgarden #dbgphx #phoenix #Arizona #sonorandesert #extremeheat #heat #saguaro #deadsaguaro #fallensaguaro #saguarocactus #extremeheatwarning #phoenix #phoenixheat"

2,164 likes, 57 comments - dbgphx on August 1, 2023: "How is the extreme heat wave from this past month affecting saguaros? This week, the Garden is d..."

Meet the Persian Gold Tarantula: a new species discovery just on time for Tarantula Appreciation Day 2023

The Persian Gold Tarantula is a newly described species recently discovered in northwestern Iran. In fact, the “woolly, golden hairs” the scientists examined on a single specimen, were one of the features so unique that it was not necessary for additional individuals to be collected and physically studied. It was clear enough that it was a species previously unknown to the scientific community. The new spider was described in the peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal ZooKeys on the observance of the Tarantula Appreciation Day: 8th August.

Prince of Songkla University finds 2 new species in custard apple family

Researchers from Prince of Songkla University (PSU) recently found two new species of the Annonaceae family of flowering plants at the Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary in Betong district of Yala province. The family includes custard apples.

Amazing structural diversity of giant virus-like particles in forest soil

Large DNA viruses of the phylum Nucleocytoviricota infect diverse eukaryotic hosts from protists to humans, with profound consequences for aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. While nucleocytoviruses are known to be highly diverse in metagenomes, knowledge of their capsid structures is restricted to a few characterized representatives. Here, we visualize giant virus-like particles (VLPs, diameter >0.2 μm) directly from the environment using transmission electron microscopy. We found that Harvard Forest soils contain a higher diversity of giant VLP morphotypes than all hitherto isolated giant viruses combined. These included VLPs with icosahedral capsid symmetry, ovoid shapes similar to pandoraviruses, and bacilliform shapes that may represent novel viruses. We discovered giant icosahedral capsids with structural modifications that had not been described before including tubular appendages, modified vertices, tails, and capsids consisting of multiple layers or internal channels. Many giant VLPs were covered with fibers of varying lengths, thicknesses, densities, and terminal structures. These findings imply that giant viruses employ a much wider array of capsid structures and mechanisms to interact with their host cells than is currently known. We also found diverse tailed bacteriophages and filamentous VLPs, as well as ultra-small cells. Our study offers a first glimpse of the vast diversity of unexplored viral structures in soil and reinforces the potential of transmission electron microscopy for fundamental discoveries in environmental microbiology. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.