Let's Talk About The Glowing Australian Fauna

[goliathusdavid]

Just started a genetic sequencing project in an advanced biology class, studying evolutionary links between marsupials and monotremes. There's geography of course, development of rudimentary placentas, and then there's the glowing. As I am sure you are probably aware, the past year has brought about the fascinating discovery that a significant portion of Australia's mammals glow under UV light. Platypuses (who are already weird enough being venomous, egg laying, stomach lactating, and possessing of FIVE PAIRS of sex chromosomes compared to everybody elses one) were the beginning. Then the Tasmanian Devils at the Toledo Zoo showcased their fluorescent abilities. And then the scientific world was greeted with the delightful image of scientists walking through natural history collections with black lights, shining them on stuff, and finding A LOT of glowing animals including bilbies, echidnas, and wombats.

"When he heard about the platypus discovery, Kenny Travouillon, curator of mammals at the Western Australian Museum, borrowed a black light lamp from the arachnology department. (They normally use the lamps to find scorpions, which also fluoresce.)

After confirming that their preserved platypuses glowed, he and his colleagues moved on to the rest of the collection. 'We just went around for a bit of fun,' he said. 'Putting the torch on all of them and let’s have a look.'” - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/...t the beginning,green color under black light.

We didn't have a thread to discuss these fascinating (and somewhat hilarious) discoveries. We have one now.

 

[The Snark]

If you keep posting, I'll keep reading.

Platypuses (who are already weird enough being venomous, egg laying, stomach lactating, and possessing of FIVE PAIRS of sex chromosomes compared to everybody elses one) were the beginning.

I forget the term, word or phrase, that was used for the Platypus. It was a reference to an apparent 'crossroads' in the evolutionary time line. In the paper I read it was analogously described as "Imagine a three dimensional cloverleaf highway interchange - all three axis represented.". Quantum genetics?

 

[viper69]

We didn't have a thread to discuss these fascinating (and somewhat hilarious) discoveries. We have one now.

Yes we did!

I posted previously about the recent developments in the UV discoveries. You didn’t search thoroughly enough.

From lizards to monotremes, among others , it’s all rather interesting and the most surprising is that it wasn’t discovered SOONER.

 

[goliathusdavid]

Yes we did!

I posted previously about the recent developments in the UV discoveries. You didn’t search thoroughly enough.

From lizards to monotremes, among others , it’s all rather interesting and the most surprising is that it wasn’t discovered SOONER.

I am so sorry about this! I searched platypuses before posting but did not find any thread about the UV discoveries. Could you send a link? Again, my sincere apologies.

 

[viper69]

I am so sorry about this! I searched platypuses before posting but did not find any thread about the UV discoveries. Could you send a link? Again, my sincere apologies.

I’m not upset haha. I posted within past month.

 

[schmiggle]

@viper69 is it this thread? https://arachnoboards.com/threads/uv-gex-and-amphibians-wild.341888/

 

[Rhino1]

This makes perfect sense to me, those animals are primarily nocturnal and under low light conditions those reflective areas assist in animals identifying each other whether it's a rival or a mate or mom etc.
Similar as to why alot of nocturnal animals have a white tip on the tail, white inside the ears and white chest and chin, or how some deer species can size up an opponent in darkness by looking at the span of white antler tips in relation to the white chin, it's evolution for facial recognition in extremely low light.

Its simple reflection, like a spiffy shirt at a disco.
Man, saying that they actually "glow" is sorta, kinda, really pushing the truth, Ive spent a lot of time in the Australian bush at night with all sorts of lights, including UV looking for scorps and also I very regularly use thermal and infra red optics and the only thing I can say I've ever seen glow without twisting the truth, is fungi.
There are some fantastic articles on flowers under different lights, including UV that have patterns totally invisible to the naked eye, apparently insects can see these.