Discussion: New species found in Harriman State Park!
in: Orienteering; General
Feb 7, 2006 11:37 PM
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Here's a few paragraphs from an article in Tuesday's NY Times Science Section:
"Dr. Siddall has been making a careful study of North American medicinal leeches in recent years, figuring out which genes do the best job of revealing the variations between different populations of leeches. It turns out that some populations may actually represent entirely new species.
"We think we've found a new species in Harriman State Park here in New York," he said. But the biggest surprise came when Dr. Siddall applied the new techniques to the best-known leech of all, the European medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis.
In ancient Rome, physicians used that species to bleed patients to treat maladies like headaches and obesity. The tradition continued for 2,000 years. In the 1860's, London hospitals used seven million medicinal leeches a year."
"Dr. Siddall has been making a careful study of North American medicinal leeches in recent years, figuring out which genes do the best job of revealing the variations between different populations of leeches. It turns out that some populations may actually represent entirely new species.
"We think we've found a new species in Harriman State Park here in New York," he said. But the biggest surprise came when Dr. Siddall applied the new techniques to the best-known leech of all, the European medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis.
In ancient Rome, physicians used that species to bleed patients to treat maladies like headaches and obesity. The tradition continued for 2,000 years. In the 1860's, London hospitals used seven million medicinal leeches a year."
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