Biodiversity Blog

Monday, 21 June 2021

The Delicate Unseen World

A small example of groundwater species. (Gilbert & Culver, 2009, Freshwater Biology) When we think about biodiversity, we often imagine life on ground, in the sea and air. Rarely do we think about biodiversity being in places we can’t see. Beneath our feet, there are water sources with vast amounts of life, species being discovered, and spec...

Thursday, 08 October 2020

Members of Hillis Lab Receive NSF Grant

 Eurycea latitans embryo (F1) from Honey Creek Cave (Photo: Ruben Tovar) Central Texas salamanders of the Eurycea clade are enigmatic amphibians that live in dark underground water systems. This sort of habitat has given rise to a number of phenotypes of these salamanders, one of which is the focus of a new National Science Foundation ...

Wednesday, 23 September 2020

IB Researchers to Lead Three-Year Groundwater Salamander Survey

 Undescribed species from New Braunfels. (Photo: Tom Devitt) Pale-skinned predators swimming about in dark underground caves sounds like something from a horror film, but they do exist. The reality is probably much less frightening once you know these creatures are groundwater salamanders of the Eurycea genus. Members of David Hillis’ lab i...