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This is Scientific American 60 Second Science, I am Christopher Intagliata, got a minute.
Scientists discover new species all the time—on the order of 15,000 a year. One of the latest additions to the tree of life is a new type of leopard1 frog. Which might sound unremarkable, except for where it was found: New York City.
But how does a frog go unnoticed in the Big Apple? Well even experts have a hard time telling this new species from its northern and southern cousins on looks alone. But the new guy has a different croak2, which raised ecologists' suspicions. So they tracked down four leopard frog populations with the unique call—including one within view of the Statue of Liberty—and took DNA3 samples.
As they suspected, the odd croakers weren't southern or northern leopard frogs, or even a mix. They had a genetic4 ancestry5 of their own—earning them new species status. Those results appear in the journal Molecular6 Phylogenetics and Evolution.
The frogs are tough New Yorkers—the center of their range appears to be Yankee Stadium. But the researchers say that the urban amphibians7 face threats like pesticides8 and infectious diseases. Not to mention real-life games of Frogger.
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1 leopard | |
n.豹 | |
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2 croak | |
vi.嘎嘎叫,发牢骚 | |
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3 DNA | |
(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸 | |
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4 genetic | |
adj.遗传的,遗传学的 | |
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5 ancestry | |
n.祖先,家世 | |
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6 molecular | |
adj.分子的;克分子的 | |
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7 amphibians | |
两栖动物( amphibian的名词复数 ); 水陆两用车; 水旱两生植物; 水陆两用飞行器 | |
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8 pesticides | |
n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 );除害药物 | |
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