400,000-year-old Hominin bones from cave in Spain

Excavations in caves in northern Spain have revealed hominin fossils that range in age from the early Pleistocene to the Holocene.The caves are in the Sierra de Atapuerca.

One site was found to contain the world’s largest collection of Middle Pleistocene hominin fossils, from at least 28 individuals4 dated to over 300,000 years ago.

The DNA has baffled scientists as the bones share a number of morphological features with fossils classified as Homo heidelbergensis and also show distinct Neanderthal-derived traits. This Sima de los Huesos hominin seems closely related to the lineage of Denisovans, an eastern Eurasian sister group to Neanderthals, from southwest Siberia.

The fossils were found in the 1990s but this news only came out in Dec 2013.

Info from Nature letter.See another write up in Nature .

Brazil cave snail Habeas

In Brazil, a new genus of snails has been found in a limestone cave threatened by quarrying. Three new species were found and Luiz Ricardo Simone of the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo has named the genus Habeas.

One of the snails is Habeas corpus. A Habeas corpus in legal terms is a writ requiring a person to be brought before a judge or into court, mainly to investigate lawfulness of his restraint.

In the case of the snail it is an attempt to conserve the cave and surroundings from quarrying. The cave is in the Caatinga, which is a type of desert vegetation, in Bahia, northeast Brazil.


See photos on this snail blog .

Reference:
Simone, L.R.L. (2013). Habeas, a new genus of Diplommatinidae from Central Bahia, Brazil (Caenogastropoda), with description of three new species. — Journal of Conchology 41: 519–525.
Abstract.

Cave invertebrates in Texas on endangered species act

The news items describes how 3 species of cave invertebrates in a cave in Texas have had their habitat saved, by being listed on the Endangered Species act. This is important news for caves/cavers worldwide.

Also it is relevant in our fight to  save Gunung Kanthan in Malaysia from being destroyed by Lafarge. Kanthan hill and cave are home to endemic species, in particular the trapdoor spider Liphistius kanthan. See also letters to the media.


The Texas news item can be seen on Commondreams.org , 22 Oct 2013. I've reproduced it here in case the original source goes.

Rare Cave-dwelling Creatures in Texas Hill Country Gain Protected Habitat Under Endangered Species Act

SAN ANTONIO - October 22 - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized “critical habitat” protection today for three rare invertebrates in Comal and Hays counties, Texas. The designation protects 169 acres of habitat for the cave-dwelling animals, which include two beetles and a crustacean. The protected habitat includes subsurface areas that scientists have identified as critical to the animals’ survival.
“Protecting aquatic habitat for these tiny animals will help safeguard the special natural history of Texas for generations to come,” said Tierra Curry, a conservation biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity.
The animals — Comal Springs riffle beetles, Comal Springs dryopid beetles and Peck’s cave amphipods — were protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1997, after which the Center and allies filed a series of lawsuits to gain protected habitat for the animals, including subsurface areas.
The habitat areas set aside for the animals overlap, consisting of 39 acres of surface habitat and 139 acres of subsurface habitat for the Comal Springs dryopid beetle; 38 surface acres and 138 subsurface acres for the Peck’s cave amphipod; and 54 acres of protected surface habitat for the Comal Springs riffle beetle.

All three of the freshwater invertebrates are found nowhere in the world except four Texas springs, where they are threatened by groundwater pumping from the Edwards Aquifer.
Groups that filed suit to gain habitat protection for the species were the Center for Biological Diversity, Citizen’s Alliance for Smart Expansion and Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas.