False ashoka (Monoon longifolium)

False ashoka (Monoon longifolium) is a plant species in the Annonaceae, a small tree, evergreen, up to more than 20 meters high, symmetrical pyramidal with pendulous branches, hardwood, easy to grow and very adaptive.

M. longifolium has long narrow lanceolate leaves with wavy edges, 25 cm long, 6 cm wide, copper brown pigmentation but over time becomes bright green and finally dark green.

Pale green flowers resemble delicate stars. The flowering period is usually 2-3 weeks. Fruits in 10-20 pieces, round, up to 2 cm wide, green but turn purple or black when ripe.

Trees are used to filter air pollution. Leaves are used for decorative decoration during festivals. Trees are easily pruned into various shapes and maintained in the required size. Flexible, straight and light rods are used in making sailing ship masts. Wood for making pencils, boxes and matches. Seed oil has anti-oxidant, anti-lipooxygenase and antimicrobial activity.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Magnoliales
Family: Annonaceae
Genus: Monoon
Species: Monoon longifolium

Sea stars from sunken woods Caymanostella scrippscognaticausa, Caymanostella davidalani and Caymanostella loresae

NEWS - Three species of sea stars from specimens collected from sunken woods at several locations along the Pacific margin of Costa Rica and near the Gulf of California (Mexico): Scripps sea star ( Caymanostella scrippscognaticausa sp. nov.), David Alan Lewis sea star ( Caymanostella davidalani sp. nov.) and Lores López Gómez sea star ( Caymanostella loresae sp. nov.) Caymanostellidae Belyaev 1974 have been found in logs from sinkholes at depths ranging from ~414 m to 6780 m in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The first described species C. spinimarginata Belyaev 1974 was collected in the Cayman Trench, Caribbean Sea, at depths of 6740-6780 m. Four species of Caymanostellidae are C. spinimarginata Belyaev 1974, C. admiranda Belyaev & Litvinova 1977, C. phorcynis Rowe 1989 and C. madagascarensis Belyaev & Litvinova 1991 which are morphologically identifiable based on the unique shape and arrangement of the abactinal plates, the shape of the abactinal spinelets, t

Two new genera (Paracatenula and Wallaceago) with seven new species from coral reefs of Java and Sulawesi Islands

NEWS - Researchers explored marine benthic diatoms from coral reef areas and reported 2 new genera with 7 new species: Paracatenula porostriata sp. nov., Wallaceago porostriatus sp. nov., Catenula boyanensis sp. nov., Catenula komodensis sp. nov., Catenula decusa sp. nov., Catenula densitystriata sp. nov. and Catenulopsis baweana sp. nov. Catenulaceae was originally described by Mereschkowsky (1902) for Catenula pelagica and later moved Navicula adhaerens Mereschkowsky to Catenula. The name Catenulaceae comes from the Latin words catēna and ula which literally mean small chain. Indonesia is recorded as an area with high marine biodiversity, especially when considering three large tropical ecosystems: seagrass beds, mangrove forests and coral reefs. Samples for this study were taken from remote areas of Bawean Island and Tomini Bay in Central Sulawesi. False catenula diatom (Paracatenula Witkowski, Luthfi & M.Rybak, gen. nov.) gets its name from its resemblance to Catenula.

Purhepecha oak (Quercus purhepecha), new species of shrub oak endemic to the state of Michoacán, Mexico

NEWS - In Mexico, several Quercus shrubby species are taxonomically very problematic including 8 taxa with similar characteristics. Now researchers report the purhepecha oak ( Quercus purhepecha De Luna-Bonilla, S. Valencia & Coombes sp. nov.) as a new tomentose shrubby white oak species with a distribution only in the Cuitzeo basin in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB). Quercus Linnaeus (1753) subdivided into 2 subgenera and 8 sections of which section Quercus (white oaks) has the widest distribution in the Americas, Asia and Europe. This section is very diverse in Mexico and Central America with phylogenomic evidence indicating recent and accelerated speciation in these regions. The number of shrubby oak species in Mexico is still uncertain. De Luna-Bonilla of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and colleagues found at least 3 taxa in the TMVB, specifically Quercus frutex Trelease (1924), Quercus microphylla Née (1801) and Quercus repanda Bonpland (1809). In 2016,

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