Tosia Times TWO! Discovering NEW CRYPTIC species of Australian Biscuit Stars!

(Image courtesy of Kate M. Naughton!)

Today, some neat science with a cool Australian starfish!

Today's blog comes from my colleagues Kate Naughton and Tim O'Hara at the Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia! who have JUST published a spankingly fresh paper describing a NEW species of the familiar Australian biscuit starfish, Tosia!

(one is Kate and one is Tim-can you guess which one?)

I have mentioned Tosia before on the blog...It is a starfish in the family Goniasteridae and its genus name is the Latin word for "Inestimable" which alludes, of course, to the animals' incredible natural beauty!

Tosia, as I define it, is found ONLY in Australia, where it is quite abundant and relatively well-known to the people who study marine biology thereabouts. One species in particular, Tosia australis, occurs widely throughout the temperate southern part of Australia.

(Image courtesy of Kate M. Naughton!)

Taxonomists have been noticing T. australis for YEARS and describing a myriad of species. Over the years, some FOURTEEN species have been described-but refinement of species concepts (and removal of unecessarily redundant species) have whittled down the total number to three.

It has led to the identification of what's called the Tosia australis species complex!! That's what happens when you have a lot of closely-related populations that all may or may not be different species.

These populations usually show tenuous morphological differences between different "species" in the related network which are typically spread out over a relatively large geographic region. The North Pacific 6-rayed starfish Leptasterias, which I've written about here, is also a species complex.

Something NEW! Brooding Discovered!
So, for an animal that occurs so close to shore, surprisingly little was known about it. In the 90s it was discovered that Tosia australis was a SPECIAL kind of starfish!! It showed an unusual reproductive behavior: BROODING juveniles! That is to say, its offspring live on the adults.
Not too unusual in vertebrates, but VERY unusual in starfish!

Also, Tosia australis has been known since 1840-so it took over 150 years for them to discover that it brooded juveniles!! So, this led to some close observation.

(Image courtesy of Kate M. Naughton!)

So, the investigative talents of Ms. Naughton and Dr. O'Hara were applied towards the question!

Did the difference in larvae mode also translate into further biological differences??

During a museum visit to Melbourne, I was talking shop with Kate and Tim. I was pretty sure that all the morphological variation in the species complex would translate into regional or environmental differentiation VS. Tim who believed that they would split out by larval type.

Larvae in several other species is highly variable but often did not translate into phylogenetic differences..so I figured it would probably do the same here.

And in fact, I was SO confident I was right, that I wagered a gentlemen's bet with Dr. O'Hara that I would be right!

So-I said: "Go get the DNA and prove me wrong!"

And so they did (and had started before I had made the bet!)

Oops! Guess I just lost 10 bucks!
The final analysis following a survey of many specimens from Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia supported three different species, including something NEW that hadn't been observed before!!!

(Phylogenetic Tree inferred from COI and 16S RNA-and redrawn here by the Echinoblog Art Department!)

Several specimens from Tasmania and Victoria were supported on a separate clade as a NEW SPECIES. Kate came to call it Tosia neossia. The species epithet neossia is Greek for "nest" in reference to this species' brooding habit.

And here it is!

(Image courtesy of Kate M. Naughton!)

T. neossia is very similar to the well-known T. australis but, aside from a bunch of external morphological features, one important feature sets them apart....

The difference is in the Larvae (i.e., juvenile starfish)!

One of the fundamental differences here is that of the difference in larvae between Tosia australis and T. neossia!

The new species Tosia neossia had BOTTOM larvae with large yolky eggs (this kind of egg is called lecithotrophic)!!

(Image courtesy of Kate M. Naughton!)

Unlike more "typical" larvae, these tiny guys were negatively buoyant (that is to say, they sink rather then float)!

They are emitted from the mother and crawl along the bottom using little lobes to get around until they fully develop into larval adults. These little BOTTOM larvae (shown here as early stage larvae) can be seen here (courtesy of Kate Naughton!)

(Image courtesy of Kate M. Naughton!)

Here is where the larvae begin to change into what Kate calls the "tripod phase". These utilize a large lobe that helps move the larvae around before it begins to attach someplace on the ground after developing to the right stage....

(Image courtesy of Kate M. Naughton!)

....And finally, here is the settled larvae (oral view-looking up into the mouth). Note the tiny red dots, which will eventually become the eyespots!

This little fellow will develop into what will eventually become

(Image courtesy of Kate M. Naughton!)

....the adult!

This is in direct CONTRAST to Tosia australis which has SWIMMING juveniles that emerge from the aboral surface (via gonopores on the top surface).
In contrast to the larval juveniles of T. neossia, T. australis has eggs that are postively buoyant and are covered with small CILIA!! That is, they have little beating hair-like threads that can keep them swimming before they settle out somewhere.

Summary Time!

In addition to the DNA and morphological evidence (you can go to the paper for details) the larval story goes like this:

Tosia neossia! Gonopores open on ORAL surface (i.e., DOWN) where the juveniles sink to the bottom. They are bottom-living and non-ciliated until they grow into juvenile adults!

Tosia australis! Gonopores open on ABORAL surface (i.e., UP) where the juveniles float and can sustain a swimming stage until they settle to the bottom and grow into juvenile adults

TWO species. VERY similar looking! but with DISTINCT juveniles growing into adults that are hiding right in plain sight!

Best 10 bucks I ever lost.

Thanks to Kate Naughton for helping me with images!

Maaf untuk sementara blog ini akan di unactive selama waktu yang sesuai.

Terima kasih

Amal yang diBenci dan diCintai oleh Allah SWT

Wanita Ja'zhariyah(Sombong dan Kasar) Bag. 1
Abu Hurairah ra. mengatakan bahwa Rasulullah saw telah bersabda, yang artinya : " Sesungguhnya Allah SWT membenci setiap orang Ja'zhariah(sombong dan kasar), jawwazh (yang banyak makan dan pelit), Sakhkab (yang suka teriak-teriak dipasar), yang tidur seperti bangkai dimalam hari, dan yang (laksana) keledai disiang hari. " (HR Ibnu Hibban)
Wanita Ja'zhariyah adalah wanita yang berakhlak buruk, pembenci, dan marah-marah diwaktu makan. Dia adalah wanita sombong yang membanggakan dirinya, dia juga wanita yang keras dan kasar, gemuk karena cinta kemewahan dan banyak makannya.
Orang sombong adalah makhluk yang sangat dibenci oleh Allah SWT. Dengan kesombongan yang di milikinya ia hidup dalam lingkungan amal yang dibenci.
Allah SWT sangat mencela orang-orang yang sombong. Allah SWT juga menyatakan bahwa orang yang sombong tidak akan sampai pada pengenalan terhadap ayat-ayat-Nya dan pikirannya tidak dapat sampai pada perenungan dan tafakur atas rangkaian makna ayat-ayat tersebut.Allah SWT telah berfirman dalam QS al-a'raf ayat 146 yang artinya :
" Aku akan memalingkan orang-orang yang menyombongkan dirinya di muka bumi tanpa alasan yang benar dari tanda-tanda kekuasaan-Ku. Mereka jika melihat tiap-tiap ayat(Ku), mereka tidak beriman kepadanya. Dan jika mereka melihat jalan yang membawa kepada petunjuk, mereka tidak mau menempuhnya, tetapi jika mereka melihat jalan kesesatan, mereka terus memenempuhnya. Yang demikian itu adalah karena mereka mendustakan ayat-ayat Kami dan mereka selalu lalai dari padanya." (QS al-a'raf : 146)
Wanita yang sombong, sebenarnya melakukan amal perbuatan orang kafir dan orang-orang jahat dan meninggalkan sifat tawadlu yang merupakan akhlak para Nabi dan orang-orang saleh karena Allah SWT telah menifati orang orang-orang kafir dengan kesombongannya, sebagaimana firman-Nya " Sesungguhnya mereka dahulu apabila dikatakan kepada mereka, ' Laa Ilaaha Illallah (tiada tuhan selain Allah), ' mereka menyombongkan diri." (QS ash-shaaffat : 35)
Mereka berbeda dengan wanita-wanita mukminah. Wanita mukminah adalah wanita yang tawadlu (merendahkan diri) dan lemah-lembut sebagaimana dikatakan oleh Allah SWT dalam firman-Nya
" Dan hamba-hamba Tuhan Yang Maha Penyayang itu (adalah) orang-orang yang berjalan diatas bumi dengan rendah hati dan apabila orang-orang jahil menyapa mereka, mereka mengucapkan kata-kata (yang mengandung) keselamatan." (QS al-furqan : 63)
Maka jelaslah bahwa wanita yang sombong memiliki sifat orang kafir karena kibriya 'kesombongan' itu hakikatnya hanyalah milik Allah SWT. Demikian tak layak untuk seorang muslimah untuk sombong terhadap Rabb sebagai khaliqnya.
Karena kibr itu merupakan amal yang paling dibenci oleh Allah SWT, oranng yang memiliki sifat itu akan menjadi bahan bakar api neraka, sebagaimana dalam sabda Rasulullah saw yang artinya :
" Tiadakah kamu beri tahu tentang sifat penghuni neraka?"Abu Hurairah ra. menyahut, "Tentu,wahai Rasulullah!"Rasul berkata,"Yakni setiap Ja'zhari(yang sombong lagi keras),yang banyak makan lagi pelit dan sombong/congkak." Abu Hurairah ra. berujar,"Kami bertanya kepada Rasulullah,apakah yang dimaksud dengan ja'zhari?Beliau menjawab,'yang membanggakan diri.' Aku kembali bertanya,'lantas apa yang dimaksud dengan jawwah (yang banyak makan lagi pelit) itu?' Beliau menjawab,'yaitu mereka yang gemuknya berlebihan.'"(HR Abu Hurairah ra.)
Wanita yang sombong mengira bahwa dirinya lebih baik daripada kawan-kawannya. Mereka lupanuthfah (air mani) yang darinya mereka diciptakan. Sebaiknya mereka memikirkan firman Rabb yang diakibatkan oleh kesombongan itu,
" Maka hendaklah manusia memerhatikan dari apakah ia diciptakan?Dia diciptakan dari air yanng terpancar, yang keluar antara tulang sulbi dan tulang dada." (QS ath-thaariq : 5-7)
" Binasalah manusia; alangkah amat sangat kekafirannya? Dari apakah Allah menciptakannya? Dari setetes mani, Allah menciptakannya lalu menentukannya." (QS 'Abasa : 17-19)
" Sesungguhnya Kami telah menciptakan manusia dari setetes mani yang bercampur yang Kami hendak mengujinya (dengan perintah dan larangan), karena itu Kami jadikan dia mendengar dan melihat. " (QS al-insaan : 2)