A New Iris with John Manning
12/26/23 • 40 min
Southern Africa is home to over 1,200 species of irises, and if that number doesn’t blow you away, hearing Dr. John Manning’s speak about his new species certainly will. In this fascinating episode we are taken on a deep dive into Iridaceae’s stunning pollinator-driven diversity, evolution over millions of years and several continents, and the critical role of herbaria as the backbone of science past, present, and future. “They look static, and they look like dead plant specimens,” John says, “but they represent a great deal of life.”
Dr. John Manning’s Paper, “Moraea saxatilis, a new montane species from the Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area of the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa” is in volume 165 of the South African journal of Botany.
It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2023.12.008
A transcript of this episode can be found here: John Manning - Transcript
New Species: Moraea saxatilis
Episode image courtesy of John Manning
Learn more about the Compton Herbarium here:
https://www.sanbi.org/biodiversity/foundations/biosystematics-collections/compton-herbarium/
Learn more about the CREW program here:
https://www.sanbi.org/biodiversity/building-knowledge/biodiversity-monitoring-assessment/custodians-of-rare-and-endangered-wildflowers-crew-programme/
Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and like the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast)
Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)
If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at [email protected]
If you would like to support this podcast, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod
Southern Africa is home to over 1,200 species of irises, and if that number doesn’t blow you away, hearing Dr. John Manning’s speak about his new species certainly will. In this fascinating episode we are taken on a deep dive into Iridaceae’s stunning pollinator-driven diversity, evolution over millions of years and several continents, and the critical role of herbaria as the backbone of science past, present, and future. “They look static, and they look like dead plant specimens,” John says, “but they represent a great deal of life.”
Dr. John Manning’s Paper, “Moraea saxatilis, a new montane species from the Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area of the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa” is in volume 165 of the South African journal of Botany.
It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2023.12.008
A transcript of this episode can be found here: John Manning - Transcript
New Species: Moraea saxatilis
Episode image courtesy of John Manning
Learn more about the Compton Herbarium here:
https://www.sanbi.org/biodiversity/foundations/biosystematics-collections/compton-herbarium/
Learn more about the CREW program here:
https://www.sanbi.org/biodiversity/building-knowledge/biodiversity-monitoring-assessment/custodians-of-rare-and-endangered-wildflowers-crew-programme/
Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and like the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast)
Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)
If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at [email protected]
If you would like to support this podcast, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod
Previous Episode
A Genus and Five New Species of Pseudoscorpions with Catalina Romero-Ortiz
Dr. Catalina Romero-Ortiz has been fascinated by pseudoscorpions for over a decade, and she wants everyone to understand how amazing they are. But beyond inherent scientific value, Catalina wants to share the importance of taxonomy in and out of the lab. She says, “As scientists, all of us are called to- there are some things that don’t work, you know? I think we [hold] in our shoulders much of the social responsibility... we are agents of change. And we need it.”
In this episode, Catalina speaks with conviction about the role taxonomy plays in changing the world for the better. She and her coauthors name their new genus using the prefix ‘pax,’ meaning peace, to commemorate the Havana Peace Talks in 2012 which brought together participants in Colombia’s civil war with the goal of uniting towards a more peaceful future.
Catalina Romero-Ortiz’s paper “A new genus and five new species of pseudoscorpions from Colombia” is in issue 1184 of Zookeys.
It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1184.106698
A transcript of this episode can be found here: Catalina Romero-Ortiz - Transcript
New Species: Cystowithius florezi, Parawithius bromelicola, Oligowithius achagua, Paciwithius valduparensis, Paciwithius chimbilacus
Episode image courtesy of Catalina Romero-Ortiz
Visit Catalina’s ResearchGate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Catalina-Romero-Ortiz
Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and like the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast)
Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)
If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at [email protected]
If you would like to support this podcast, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod
Next Episode
A New Scorpion with Prakrit Jain
How many nature enthusiasts can relate to this scenario: you’re watching the landscape go by as you drive, and suddenly you see an area that could be favorable habitat for your target species. Stop the car! That’s what Prakrit Jain did, and it helped him and his coauthors describe a new species of Paruroctonus scorpion from the San Joaquin Valley. So much makes this scorpion interesting, from the unique and at-risk habitat it occupies to the fascinating story of its description. Why describe new species? Prakrit says it best: “Because if this scorpion can get conservation attention then it doesn’t just save the scorpion it saves everything that lives alongside it, and that might be thousands of different species.”
Prakrit Jain’s paper “A new species of alkali-sink Paruroctonus Werner, 1934 (Scorpiones, Vaejovidae) from California’s San Joaquin Valley” is in issue 1185 of Zookeys.
It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1185.103574
A transcript of this episode can be found here: Prakrit Jain - Transcript
New Species: Paruroctonus tulare
Episode image courtesy of Prakrit Jain
Follow Prakrit on Instagram: @bothrops_et_al
Connect with Prakrit on iNaturalist: @prakrit
iNaturalist records of this new species: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/192661164
News coverage of this species description:
https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/new-species-scorpion-california-san-joaquin-18537552.php
Take the community survey: https://forms.gle/y7utvaRuxeCQVMJy9
Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and like the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast)
Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)
If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at [email protected]
If you would like to support this podcast, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/new-species-180821/a-new-iris-with-john-manning-40457159"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to a new iris with john manning on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy