Dr Ruth Barnich, Thomson Unicomarine’s Principal Taxonomist, presented a talk to all staff in the Guildford office earlier this week, explaining her recent discovery of two new species of polychaete.
The species, which are from the genus Malmgrenia, were presented by Ruth at the International Polychaete Conference in Cardiff earlier this month. Several staff were keen to know more about the discovery, and the species, and as this area is very specialised, Ruth was able to talk about a subject which the team were keen to find out more about. Everyone was fascinated.
Ruth said, “Being one of the leading scale worm specialists, it is not unusual for me to find new species. But the discovery of these two new species helps a lot in our understanding of the genus Malmgrenia which is one of the most challenging in scale worm taxonomy. I am very pleased to dedicate one of the two new species to Nancy Thomson, CEO of Thomson Ecology, for her continuous support and interest in our work.”