Rentep fern (Drynaria propinqua)

Rentep fern or Polypodium propinquum (Drynaria propinqua) is a plant species in Polypodiaceae, epiphytes, growing in sunny places, compound leaves with 6-18 minor leaves per strand, dark green and hard texture, smooth edges and orderly two linear sori under leaf.

D. propinqua have roots fibrous, adventitious and dark brown. Rhizome long creeping, up to 1 cm diameter, very densely scaly throughout. Scales persistent, narrowing from round peltate base to long-tailed apex, about 8 by 1.5 mm, pale brown with dark centre, the margin bearing long white downy hairs.

Nest-leaves sessile, ovate, about 20 cm in both length and width, deeply lobed more than half-way to midribs. Lobes narrowly subtriangular, acute at apex, entire, up to 7 by 2.5 cm, small scales with downy hairs more or less dense on main axes. Foliage-leaves stipes stramineous, up to 15 cm long, narrowly winged at least on the upper part.

Laminae oblong to oblong-lanceolate, up to 40 by 25 cm, deeply lobed almost to rachis, remaining wings of rachis less than 2 mm in breadth. Lobes 8-16 pairs, lanceolate, acute to acuminate at apex, slightly narrowing towards base, more or less ascending, up to 15 by 2.5 cm, entire.

Veins distinct on both surfaces, anastomosing, 2-4 rows of anastomosis between main veins, with included free veinlets, papyraceous, light green. Sori round, one row along each side and close to costa, one between adjacent main veins, a little raised on upper surface.

Rentep fern is commonly attached on trunks of trees, sspecially mossy tree trunks in dense evergreen forests. Sometimes they can be found terrestrially on exposed places and under canopy of trees at an altitude of 500-2000 meters above sea level.

Kingdom Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Subclass: Polypodiidae
Order: Polypodiales
Suborder: Polypodiineae
Family: Polypodiaceae
Subfamily: Drynarioideae
Genus: Drynaria
Species: Drynaria propinqua

A deep-sea isopod Bathyopsurus nybelini adapted to feed submerged Sargassum algae

NEWS - Incredible footage shows a marine species, Bathyopsurus nybelini , feeding on something that sinks from the ocean’s surface. Researchers using the submersible Alvin found the isopod swimming 3.7 miles down using its paddle-like legs to catch an unexpected food source: Sargassum. Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Montana, SUNY Geneseo, Willamette University and the University of Rhode Island found the algae sinking, while the isopod waited and adapted specifically to find and feed on the sinking nutrient source. The Sargassum lives on the surface for photosynthesis. The discovery of a deep-sea animal that relies on food that sinks from the waters miles above underscores the close relationship between the surface and the deep. “It’s fascinating to see this beautiful animal actively interacting with sargassum, so deep in the ocean. This isopod is extremely rare; only a handful of specimens were collected during the groundbreaking Swedis

Ngamugawi wirnagarri reveals evolution of coelacanth fish and history of life on earth

NEWS - An ancient Devonian coelacanth has been remarkably well preserved in a remote location in Western Australia linked to increased tectonic activity. An international team of researchers analysed fossils of the primitive fish from the Gogo Formation of Ngamugawi wirngarri , which straddles a key transition period in the history of coelacanths, between the most primitive and more modern forms. The new fish species adds to the evidence for Earth’s evolutionary journey. Climate change, asteroid strikes and plate tectonics are all key subjects in the origins and extinctions of animals that played a major role in evolution. Is the world’s oldest ‘living fossil’ the coelacanth still evolving? “We found that plate tectonic activity had a major influence on the rate of coelacanth evolution. New species are more likely to have evolved during periods of increased tectonic activity when new habitats were divided and created,” says Alice Clement of Flinders University in Adelaide. The Late Dev

Species going extinct every day and without warning

NEWS - The current rate of human-caused extinction is up to 700 times higher than it was in the past. Extinctions are no different for plants, animals and fungi, although the extinctions of botanicals and invertebrates have been far worse than those of vertebrates. The mass extinctions increased from 1890 to 1940, but a decline in extinctions was only recorded after the 1980s, likely due to taxonomic bottlenecks and the pre-1800 extinction rates being affected by a lack of data. The number of species varies from 2-8 million to 1 trillion, and estimates suggest that most species, especially microbes and fungi that may be key to healthy ecosystems, are still undiscovered. The biodiversity crisis is therefore extremely difficult to measure. “If we don’t know what we have, it’s impossible to measure how much we’re losing. This taxonomic gap urgently needs to be addressed,” say Maarten Christenhusz and Rafaël Govaerts of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Yet taxonomy is in decline. Misunderst

Dlium