[ad_1]
"[It’s] it's like walking in a subterranean wonderland, "said NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, describing his underground experience in Sa Grutta caves in Sardinia, Italy.
Credit: ESA – V. Crobu
An international team of astronauts discovered a new species of blind, colorless and cavernicolous crustaceans – and they did not even have to leave Earth to find it.
The crustacean the size of a nail, named Alpioniscus sideralis after the Latin word "stellar" was discovered, rushing on a black pond in the cave system of Sa Grutta below Sardinia, Italy. The novice astronauts discovered this little cave dweller for six underground nights as part of the European Space Agency's CAVES training program, which encourages applicants to the International Space Station to conduct research together in dangerous underground environments. .
During an underground expedition in 2012, astronaut trainees from Europe, the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and China met tiny translucent crustaceans in a small troglodyte pond. The astronauts drew the creatures out of the water with bait made from liver and rotten cheese, then brought the specimens to the surface. [In Images: Creepy, Crawly Cave Creatures]
Molecular analysis has shown that A. sideralis"Genetics does not correspond to any other species collected in the region, which allowed intrepid astronauts to describe it for the first time in a new study published in December 2018 in the journal ZooKeys.
<Img class = "lazy pure-img" src = great "https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5saXZlc2NpZW5jZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzEwNC85MjMvb3JpZ2luYWwvYWxwaW9uaXNjdXMtY3J1c3RhY2Vhbi5qcGc/MTU1MzcxNzExMw==" data-src = "https://img.purch.com/ Entrenchment of Alpioniscus species, measuring only 8 millimeters long, was found in the caves of Sa Grutta in Italy. “/>
This crustacean from the Alpioniscus species, measuring only 8 millimeters long, was found in the caves of Sa Grutta in Italy.
Credit: ESA – Mr Fincke
A. sideralis It is revealed to be a type of woodlice – tiny crustaceans that have left the water to colonize their lands millions of years ago. Remarkably, A. sideralis seems to have made an evolutionary turn, returning his armor to the ground and returning to groundwater like the troglodyte ponds of Sardinia.
"I would like to think that when humans land on Mars and explore their caves, this experience will help them search for other species, knowing that life has few limitations and that it can grow in the most inhospitable places, "says Paolo Marcia, a zoologist from the University of Sassari and co-author of the study, said in a statement.
Originally published on Science live.
[ad_2]
Source link