The World's Rarest Whale and Evidence for a recent origin of Penguins

Principal Investigator Craig Millar has co-authored two recently published papers which have received a lot of attention:

 The World's Rarest Whale and Evidence for a recent origin of Penguins
 Subramanian et al 2013 Biol Letters

An Interspecific Fungal Hybrid Reveals Cross-Kingdom Rules for Allopolyploid Gene Expression Patterns

The results of a major study by AWC Associate Investigator Murray Cox and colleagues was published in March in the prestigious open access journal PLoS Genetics.The article, entitled 'An Interspecific Fungal Hybrid Reveals Cross-Kingdom Rules for Allopolyploid Gene Expression Patterns' investigates the genetic consequences of a merger of previously separate species into a single new organism carrying both sets of the parental genomes.

Further information
An Interspecific Fungal Hybrid Reveals Cross-Kingdom Rules for Allopolyploid Gene Expression Patterns

What do we stand to gain from a healthy environment? Could restoration efforts include having special species like tuatara in your backyard? And what does sex determination have to do with conservation?

Nicky Nelson, a Principal Investigator with the Allan WIlson Centre based at Victoria University of Wellington will challenge you to think about the implications of having a sex determining system influenced by temperature and how that might affect conservation efforts in a warming climate. Her case study on tuatara will demonstrate why efforts to restore the mainland allow us to improve the long-term outlook for populations of treasured species like tuatara, as part of functioning ecosystems in healthy landscapes where people thrive because they are connected to their environment and culture.

Free public talk: Lawson Field Lecture Theatre, Gisborne, Thursday 20 March, 7-8pm, email: awc-lectures@massey.ac.nz

Further information
Healthy Environment, Healthy People and Tuatara for Future Generations

The "game changer" for pest control

AWC Principal Investigator, Professor Neil Gemmell, University of Otago, could have the "game changer" for pest control, eliminating the need for traps and poisons.

Further information
 Trojan females 29Jan14.docx
Fertility strategy could revolutionise pest management
Researchers turn to Greek mythology for 'Trojan female' pest control solution

Congratulations to Allan Wilson Centre Principal Investigator Richard Newcomb!

Congratulations to Allan Wilson Centre Principal Investigator Richard Newcomb, who has been promoted to Professor of Evolutionary Genetics at The University of Auckland and to Chief Scientist at Plant and Food Research.

Further information
Dr Richard Newcomb Profile

A newly discovered species of deep-water snail

AWC Director, Hamish Spencer, maintains a website listing the most up-to-date names for all the species of molluscs recorded from New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) (www.molluscs.otago.ac.nz). Each species has a reference to the part of scientific literature recording the species from NZ, a reference for its latest taxonomic treatment and a roughguide to its geographical distribution. Keeping such a list current means keeping abreast of a wide range of journals. This work was honoured recently, when a team of scientists, one Russian and three French, named a new species of deep-water snail after Hamish. Hortia spenceri Kantor, Lozouet, Puillandre & Bouchet, 2014 occurs off the coast of the North and South Islands in water depths from ~170m to ~450m and belongs to a group that was previously known only from fossils.

Photo credit:
Kantor, Lozouet, Puillandre and Bouchet, 2014 Zootaxa 3754 (3): 239–276.