Blog archive: AMRI

AMRI

2023 Sydney Science Trail: A record-breaking time!

For the fourth year running, the Australian Museum hosted the Sydney Science Trail (August 14-19) – and with record-breaking numbers! Learn how our scientists, education and programming teams took part in this jam-packed program with primary and secondary students, teachers and families.

AMRI

The Norfolk Island puzzle: Identifying new insect and spider species

The ongoing identification of insect and spider specimens collected during the Australian Museum-led Norfolk Island expedition is throwing up a host of new family and species records & plenty of puzzles. The AM Arachnology & Entomology team tell us about these exciting finds and the work ahead.

AMRI

Smooth operators: Introducing a tiny new smooth frog from southern Victoria

Hidden in plain sight in the forests of Victoria’s Otway Plains and Ranges, we describe a new smooth frog to science, with an unusual reproductive mode.

AMRI

A new global update on amphibians reveals species threatened with extinction

The first global update on amphibians in almost two decades reveals the emerging threat of climate change, and a continuing decline in the status of frogs and other amphibians. The study finds 1 in 5 Australian species, and 2 in 5 global species, threatened with extinction.

AMRI

Funnier than the original: Introducing the Western Laughing Tree Frog

Citizen scientists across Australia have helped uncover a frog species new to science in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and western Queensland. Find out more about this funny Aussie frog, which has a longer ‘laugh’ than the original tree frog species.

AMRI

When an ancient amphibian fossil met a 12-year-old Palaeo-fan

Arenaerpeton supinatus was a predatory amphibian that lived over 240 million years ago – the fossil of which was found whilst building a retaining wall in 1996. A few months later, this impressive fossil inspired me, a budding 12-year-old palaeontologist.

AMRI

Six new species of Western Australian trilobites

Six new species of trilobites have been found deep underground in the Canning Basin, Western Australia. Dr Patrick Smith at the Australian Museum and Heidi Allen from Geological Survey of WA tell us how this discovery has reshaped our understanding of ancient life and geological time in the region.

AMRI

Australia’s dazzling flasher wrasses!

Flasher wrasses are a group of dazzling, colourful little fishes. Of the twenty or so species found globally, three are known to occur in Australia – or so we thought! A new study re-examines this group, and includes a species new to science, named after an Australian Museum superstar.

AMRI

Can farm dams help support frog conservation?

With the help of tens of thousands of citizen scientists across Australia, scientists from Deakin University and the Australian Museum explored the value of farm dams to frogs and determined what features of dams support more frog species.

AMRI

The fish that devoured the moon

Public wet markets and trawl surveys unveil a new species of razor wrasse from the Philippines and Western Australia, adding to a group of fishes that live curious lives away from the megadiverse coral reefs.

AMRI

Faded out: What environments did Australian frog populations disappear from due to disease?

By looking at historical and recent frog records across Australia, including from FrogID, we reveal how Australian frog distributions have changed in response to the introduction of a deadly pathogen.

AMRI

The ultimate hide & seek champion: Pygmy blue-tongues can stay hidden in flooded burrows

Did you know that endangered pygmy blue-tongues are champions at holding their breath? These lizards can temporarily suspend their breathing for almost 40 minutes in rain flooded burrows. Kim Michael, recipient of the 2022/23 Peter Rankin Trust Fund for Herpetology, tells us more.

AMRI

Citizen scientists help date fossil sites

Date a Fossil allows you to be a palaeontologist from home! Scientists engaged 271 citizen scientists in the Date a Fossil project, and in doing so, uncovered hundreds of microfossils in a unique iron-rich fossil site located in McGraths Flat, central New South Wales, Australia.

AMRI

Mammalian milestone reached

A major update to THE reference book for Australian mammals is out now! “Strahan’s Mammals of Australia” provides accessible and up-to-date information on our unique mammal fauna.

AMRI

Bats, rats and cats – oh my!

To gain a holistic biological and historical picture of an area, both native and introduced species should be studied over time. Recently, our mammalogy team surveyed bats, rats and cats on the Australian Museum-led expedition to Norfolk Island.