SUNDAY 4TH OCTOBER, 2015 – UWI TODAY
11
DISCOVERY
In June 2012 I was in Charlotteville
, Tobago with several
friends and colleagues carrying out research on land snails
and reptiles. We were spending a lot of our time walking
forest trails and searching for any interesting animals, which
involved raking through leaf litter, rolling over rotting logs
and generally delving into all sorts of nooks and crannies.
One trail in particular, heading north past Pirate’s Bay,
provided many good sites for study as it was a mix of forest
and agricultural land. It was on this path that I made my
discovery.
I was looking at a large fallen tree, which had been
slowly rotting away, and noticed several tiny creatures in
amongst some soil and bark. I knew they were some sort of
myriapod (an arthropod with a long body andmultiple pairs
of legs) but beyond that I wasn’t sure if they were millipedes
or centipedes. I collected a few specimens to take back to
our base for a closer look.
Under the microscope it was soon obvious that they
were millipedes as they had two pairs of legs on each body
segment, unlike centipedes which only have one pair per
segment. Beyond that though they were quite unlike any
other millipede I had seen in Tobago or anywhere else for
that matter. The pairs of legs were not of the same length
with a short one and a long one on each side and the whole
of the animal’s body was covered in a fine layer of sand
which looked like it had been carefully cemented onto
every segment. I cleaned one up and found they were a
pale translucent colour underneath. I didn’t think much
more of it and just carried on with our main research for
the rest of the trip.
When I got back to the St. Augustine Campus I emailed
Rowland Shelley, an international expert onmillipedes at the
North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences. We had
already corresponded on other research matters so he was
happy to look at some photos I had taken of the millipede.
He got back to me very quickly as he had not seen anything
like it before, he contacted Sergei Golovatch at the Russian
Academy of Sciences inMoscow and he was excited as well.
The only other species that they could find that was close
to my one was collected from central Guyana many years
ago but it had no mention of being covered in sand. They
both wanted more specimens to study; males in particular
(the genitals of male millipedes are a key feature in species
identification!).
I didn’t get a chance to visit Tobago for research until
June 2013 and I found more specimens in the same site as
well as two other sites near Charlotteville and Speyside. I
sent some specimens to Rowlandwho did some very delicate
dissectionwork to look at key features and then started work
on describing the new species. He asked me if I would like
to write up the paper with him or if I would prefer that he
did it himself in which case he would name the millipede
after me – it didn’t take me long to choose the latter! On
September 11, 2015 the paper was finally published naming
the new species Pandirodesmus rutherfordi.
Years ago when I was an undergraduate student at
Glasgow University in Scotland a friend made a cartoon
birthday card showing me traveling to far off countries and
discovering new species, it was a great feeling to have that
story finally come true.
Discovering more about the nature that surrounds us is
not just the preserve of scientists it is something that anyone
can do. To help people do this the UWI Zoology Museum
along with partners the Trinidad&Tobago FieldNaturalists’
Club, will be running the first ever Tobago Bioblitz on
October 24-25. Since 2012 there has been an annual Bioblitz
in Trinidad.The first event was in Tucker Valley, then Arima
Valley in 2013 and Nariva Swamp in 2014 so it is about
time to head over to Tobago. Charlotteville was the ideal
choice as within a short distance you can find a wide range
PRESERVED FOREVER: Mike and the Millipede
Pandirodesmus rutherfordi
.
PHOTO: ATIBA CUDJOE
of habitats from coral reefs and seagrass beds to rainforests
and rivers. Many other scientists and researchers have made
interesting discoveries in and around Charlotteville and
hopefully some of this year’s bioblitzers will do the same.
Other groups getting involved in the Bioblitz include the
Trinidad & Tobago Eco Divers, Environment Tobago and
Trinibats.
On Saturday 24 various experts and volunteers will
gather to record every species of plant, bird, mammal,
reptile, amphibian, fish, invertebrate and fungus that they
can find. Starting at noon they will cover the forests, streams,
rivers, coral reefs and beaches looking for potential species.
As well as taking photographs and making notes some
specimens will be collected and brought back to the Bioblitz
basecamp for further identification. The basecamp will be
at the Environmental Research Institution, Charlotteville
(ERIC) where the Bioblitz teams will bring back their
records, get food and drinks and then head back out to
survey some more - many of them going through the night!
On Sunday 25 the public is invited to drop in and see
what the experts have been up to. From the basecamp there
will be guided walks along the trail from Charlotteville
past Pirate’s Bay and into the forest (6am, 8am and 10am);
guided snorkelling in Man of War Bay (8am, 9am and
10am); displays of specimens and information about the
biodiversity of the area and fun activities for families (from
6am to 1pm). The recording stops after 24 hours at noon
on the Sunday and the final total of species recorded will be
announced around 12.30pm at the basecamp.
That Millipede from Charlotteville
B Y M I K E R U T H E R F O R D
“Years ago when I
was an undergraduate
student at Glasgow
University in Scotland
a friend made a
cartoon birthday card
showing me traveling
to far off countries
and discovering new
species, it was a great
feeling to have that
story finally come
true.”
For more information about this event and past
Bioblitzes
you can visit the website
or the Facebook page -
TandTBioblitz
or email
or call
Mike Rutherford on 329 8401
