The moment John Bunker saw the 200+ year old tree, he knew it might be special. He had no idea however, that it was one of America’s oldest surviving apple trees, a French ancestor to many of the apple varieties we know and love today. Combining Todd Little-Siebold’s historical research and Cameron Peace’s genetic work, in this special interview the three of them are able to tell a story of this apple tree that is not unlike the story of many new species discoveries.

A transcript of this episode can be found here: Drap d'Or Bretagne

New (Old) Species and cultivar: Drap d'Or Bretagne

Maine Public Radio feature: https://www.mainepublic.org/maine/2025-06-02/on-verona-island-historians-discover-one-of-the-oldest-living-apple-trees-in-north-america

MOFGA press release:

https://www.mofga.org/news/apple-discovery-announcement/

Local news article (paywalled):

https://www.bangordailynews.com/2025/05/04/homestead/gardening/one-of-north-americas-oldest-apple-trees-on-maine-island-joam40zk0w/

Learn more about MOFGA: mofga.org (See you at the Common Ground Country Fair!)

John’s website: outonalimbapples.com

My Fruit Tree Project: myfruittree.org

Be sure to follow New Species on Bluesky (@newspeciespodcast.bsky.social) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and like the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast).

Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)

If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at NewSpeciesPodcast@gmail.com

If you would like to support this podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod

Think butterfly genomics is a simple topic? Think again, but this time think alongside Zac MacDonald and Julian Dupuis. Not only are they answering some of the most interesting contemporary conservation questions, but they’re doing so using a very curious butterfly as their model organism. “One of the difficult things with studying these kinds of butterflies….is we don't really understand fitness or adaptive value as well as we do in cougars or in foxes or in dogs or in other vertebrates that we've studied a lot more.” Julian says. “We don't really have these characteristic signals of, what does inbreeding depression look like? We just don't have that kind of information in butterflies.”

Listen in to learn about cutting edge genomics from certified self-described “crazy butterfly people” and expand your idea of what is possible in conservation.

Zac and Julian’s paper “Genomic and ecological divergence support recognition of a new species of endangered Satyrium butterfly (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae)” is in volume 1234 of Zookeys.

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1234.143893

A transcript of this episode can be found here: Zac Macdonald and Julian Dupuis - Transcript

New Species: Satyrium curiosolus

Episode image credit: MacDonald et. al (2025)

Follow Zac on instagram: @wild_about_the_wild_things

Another paper by Zac and Julian on the future of butterfly conservation: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mec.17657

Be sure to follow New Species on Bluesky (@newspeciespodcast.bsky.social) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and like the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast).

Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)

If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at NewSpeciesPodcast@gmail.com

If you would like to support this podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod

Deep-sea isopods come in all shapes and sizes, and Henry Knauber is excited to see all of them. In this paper, he and his coauthors describe five new species and redescribe another as part of a large expedition to examine the biodiversity of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench region of the northwest Pacific Ocean. These new species are part of what he calls his “god complex,” a cluster of closely-related cryptic species he has spent much of his scientific career distinguishing and naming after Greek gods and mythical characters. Listen along as Henry describes a paper that is a culmination of years of work, and brings you deep into the sea to examine these amazing creatures in a new way.

Henry Knauber’s paper “Across trench and ridge: description of five new species of the Haploniscus belyaevi Birstein, 1963 species complex (Isopoda, Haploniscidae) from the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench region” is in volume 101 issue 2 of Zoosystematics and Evolution.

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.137663

A transcript of this episode can be found here: Henry Knauber - Transcript

New Species: Haploniscus apaticus, Haploniscus erebus, Haploniscus hades, Haploniscus kerberos, and Haploniscus nyx.

Episode image credit: Henry Knauber

Check out Henry’s German Science Communication Platform called "Abyssarium" on Instagram: @abyss.arium

Also take a look at @oceanspecies on instagram for more work like Henry’s

Read part of Henry’s master’s thesis on the delineation of the Haploniscus belyaevi species complex: https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2022.2099477

A joyful deep-sea specimen encounter: coverage of the first footage of a Colossal Squid and an interview by Science Friday: https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/colossal-squid-video/

Be sure to follow New Species on Bluesky (@newspeciespodcast.bsky.social) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and like the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast).

Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)

If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at NewSpeciesPodcast@gmail.com

If you would like to support this podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod

“Serendipity is a real grabbing force of science,” says Léo Laborieux as he shares his experience describing his new species of scorpion. While at a remote research station in the Colombian rainforest, Léo found a handful of scorpions that exhibited a unique venom ‘flicking’ behavior. Armed only with his phone and a few basic supplies, Léo documented the behavior, diagnosed the scorpions as being a new species, and came to fascinating conclusions about venom biomechanics. In this episode he brings us deep into the world of scorpion venoms and shares his love of these creatures and their startling diversity.

Léo Laborieux’ paper “Biomechanics of venom delivery in South America’s first toxungen-spraying scorpion” is in the December 2024 edition of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae161

A transcript of this episode can be found here: Léo Laborieux - Transcript

New Species: Tityus achilles

Episode image credit: Léo Laborieux

Léo’s first new species from a mountain near his hometown: https://doi.org/10.57800/faunitaxys-10(47)

Follow Léo on Instagram @lhommedesboas

Or connect on Bluesky @6legsandup.blsky.socialRead his papers on Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Leo_Laborieux?ev=hdr_xprf

Scrappy Science: https://www.scrappyscience.org

Global Alliance of Community Science Workshops: https://www.communityscienceworkshops.org

Other scorpion episodes from this podcast:

Prakrit Jain

Javier Blasco-Aróstegui

Be sure to follow New Species on Bluesky (@newspeciespodcast.bsky.social) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and like the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast).

Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)

If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at NewSpeciesPodcast@gmail.com

If you would like to support this podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod

Begonias are known around the world as a plant of beauty and diversity. What can they teach us about the world around us? Through his work on Begonias and other flowering plants found in Northeast India, Professor Dipankar Borah sees the world differently. It’s not just for his own benefit though.

“Much of my time is spent making students aware of their surroundings,” He says. “We trek to forests, cook food from the wilderness, and then find joy in the simple yet profound experiences. Through these moments of exploration and laughter, I hope to rekindle their sense of wonder and then help them build the lasting bond with nature.”

In this episode, let Dr. Borah invite you with joy and wonder into the world of Begonias.

Dipankar Borah’s paper “A new species Begonia ziroensis and a new record of Begonia siamensis from Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India” is in volume 63 issue 1 of the New Zealand Journal of Botany.

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2023.2295439

A transcript of this episode can be found here: Dipankar Borah - Transcript

New Species: Begonia ziroensis

Episode image credit: Dipankar Borah

Read more on Dipankar’s Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dipankar-Borah

And Follow him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dipu.borah2/

Be sure to follow New Species on Bluesky (@newspeciespodcast.bsky.social) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and like the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast).

Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)

If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at NewSpeciesPodcast@gmail.com

If you would like to support this podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod

For some people, a box of 100-year-old bee flies might seem daunting, but for Lisa Rollinson and Allan Cabrero, It was an exciting challenge. As part of a Smithsonian-based internship, Lisa worked with Allan to identify the flies, creating a new key for several genera and discovering a new species along the way.

Flies aren’t the most charismatic group, but Lisa sees them as an unexpected opportunity to introduce people to taxonomy. “I think science can be really good for getting people curious and getting them invested in things they don’t think about very often, like flies,” she says. “I think that people are often more scientific than they actually think.” Listen in for a great conversation about bee flies and making accessible taxonomic resources that will hopefully stand the test of time. Plus, learn the sweet naming decision that makes this new species the “Sister Bug.”

Lisa Rollinson and Allan Cabrero’s paper “Species discovery in Southern African bee flies (Diptera, Bombyliidae): A new species in the revised genus Enica (Macquart, 1834)” is in volume 66 Issue 1 of African Invertebrates.

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.3897/afrinvertebr.66.129611

A transcript of this episode can be found here: Lisa and Allan - Transcript

New Species: Enica adelphe

Episode image credit: Lisa Rollinson

Lucid Builder keys: https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v4/enica

Follow Lisa on Twitter/X: @LisaRollinson5

Follow Allan on Instagram: @allan_the_entomologist

Be sure to follow New Species on Bluesky (@newspeciespodcast.bsky.social) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and like the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast).

Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)

If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at NewSpeciesPodcast@gmail.com

If you would like to support this podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod

Shantanu Joshi is fascinated with creatures of all kinds, but especially damselflies, the small quick fliers of the order Odonata. In this episode he takes us deep into the forests of Northeast India, a place of immense beauty and interfering colonial history. Undersampling and poor specimen quality are a few reasons the diversity of this area is not well known, and Shantanu and his coauthors are determined to fill in the gaps. As with his project The Odonata of India, Shantanu shares in incredible detail the morphology, ecology, and even behaviors of these two new species, and discusses what their presence means for two unique and isolated habitats.

Shantanu’s paper “Description of Protosticta khasia sp. nov. and Yunnanosticta siangi sp. nov., with new records of P. samtsensis from Northeast India” is in volume 5448 of Zootaxa.

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5448.3.2

A transcript of this episode can be found here: Shantanu Joshi - Transcript

Check out Shantanu’s amazing website, Odonata of India: https://www.indianodonata.org/

And follow him on Instagram: @odonataofindia

New Species: Protosticta khasia and Yunnanosticta siangi

Episode image credit: Shantanu Joshi

Be sure to follow New Species on Twitter (@PodcastSpecies) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and like the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast)

Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)

If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at NewSpeciesPodcast@gmail.com

If you would like to support this podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod

What if I told you that the oldest known biotic association of arthropods is a piece of Lebanese amber from the Cretaceous period? At the same time that flowering plants were diversifying, astigmatid mites were finding a very convenient way to get around: on the backs of termites. Can mites and termites be friends? How does one identify a tiny mite specimen without damaging its equally-important host? Learn the answers to these questions and more from Dr. Hemen Sendi on this episode of the New Species Podcast.

Hemen’s paper “The oldest continuous association between astigmatid mites and termites preserved in Cretaceous amber reveals the evolutionary significance of phoresy” is in volume 25 of BMC Ecology and Evolution.

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-025-02351-5

A transcript of this episode can be found here: Hemen Sendi - Transcript

New Species: Plesioglyphus lebanotermi

Episode image credit: Hemen Sendi

Be sure to follow New Species on Bluesky (@newspeciespodcast.bsky.social) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and like the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast).

Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)

If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at NewSpeciesPodcast@gmail.com

If you would like to support this podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod