pte20210322019 Media / communication, research / development
Previously unknown arachnid only deciphered thanks to a tweet from a hobby fisherman
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Tobias Pfingstl: Mite discovered via Twitter (Photo: uni-graz.at, Tzivanopoulos) |
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Graz (pte019 / 22.03.2021 / 11: 30) – Researcher at the University of Graz http://uni-graz.at have deciphered a previously unknown arachnid via the microblogging platform Twitter. The study published today, Monday, in the specialist journal “Species Diversity” on the new species of mite with the name Ameronothrus twitter is actually due to the lack of angling luck of a hobby fisherman and photographer.
Port wall photographed
“Since the fisherman’s prey did not want to bite, he walked along the harbor wall, photographed and filmed the animals and then published it on Twitter,” reports the Graz biologist Tobias Pfingstl. His Japanese colleague became aware of the posting, contacted the author and actually found several individuals at the same location – about 100 kilometers east of Tokyo. Pentecost identified this as a new representative of a family that he himself first discovered in Japan in 2019.
“It is a horn mite that is less than 0.5 millimeters in size and whose relationship is well adapted to the cold. It is surprising that this type can be found almost in the subtropical climate,” says Pfingstl. So far, the arachnids have not yet been found in their natural habitat, only on the harbor wall. The researchers assume, however, that the mite usually inhabits rocks.
Social web as a research tool
Without the tweet and the dissemination on the social web, the researchers might never have been able to identify the new mite species. “Ameronothrus twitter is one of only a handful of species discovered on social media around the world,” said the researcher. In recent years, experts have identified a parasitic fungus on Twitter, a carnivorous plant on Facebook and two new flies on the Flickr photo platform and Instagram. “Our work shows that these platforms can make a contribution to science and that networking will play an even greater role in the future.”
(The End)
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