Amgueddfa Cymru scientists discover new species from South Africa and the UK

We’ve recently been working on an exciting project between Amgueddfa Cymru and scientists from Iziko Museums of South Africa and Cape Peninsula University of Technology, and we’ve uncovered several new species of marine bristle worms.

The project started in 2023, funded by a Royal Society International Exchanges Grant which enabled us to collaborate on this important, but less well-known, group of animals.

Of all the life in our oceans, marine bristle worms, or polychaetes to give them their scientific name, may not be the first that spring to mind. However, they play a vital role in the health of our oceans, and are an important food source for many other animals. So, while many people might not know much about them, it’s important that we discover more about them - and how many species there are. Whilst the name ‘worm’ doesn’t necessarily conjure images of beautiful species, we like to think that many marine bristle worms are genuinely ornate and magnificent.

Sadly, despite their importance, we don’t even know how many species are out there, although globally, there are at least 12,000 different species! That’s where Amgueddfa Cymru scientists step in. We, Dr Teresa Darbyshire and Katie Mortimer-Jones, are specialists in marine bristle worms and have been working with two scientists, Dylan Clarke and Dr Jyothi Kara, from South Africa on a project to try and untangle the identity of some of the marine bristle worms.

Although surveys have been done for the last two centuries, you may be surprised to know that we’re still finding new species in the UK. Similarly, whilst there was much work done around South Africa in the 1950s and 1960s by the University of Cape Town, recent evidence suggests that there may be in excess of five hundred unnamed, and yet-to-be discovered, marine bristle worm species in the region. With this in mind, we as a team of scientists embarked on a project to investigate marine bristle worms in both regions to see if some of this underestimated biodiversity could be uncovered. Dylan and Jyothi travelled over to National Museum Cardiff in May 2023 and we visited Iziko Museum of South Africa in June.

Museum collections are an essential part of work like this, as they’re an unique record of species and habitats present at any particular time. They enable scientists to be able to compare similar specimens to see if they’re from one or more species. So, as a team, we didn’t have to stray far from our museums to find what we were looking for. 

We were busy throughout 2023 taking images, making drawings, and describing the new species that we’d uncovered. One of the most exciting parts of the project was to decide on names for the new species. We settled on: 

1) Magelona ekapa, a species of shovel head worm from the Western Cape, which gets its name from the Xhosa word eKapa, meaning ‘coming from the Cape’
2) Arabella ampulliformis, from Devon, which gets its name from the word ampulliform, describing a flask-shaped part of the worm and 
3) Arabella umgazanae, which were collected from the coast south of the Mngazana (formerly known as the Umgazana) river in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

We enjoyed sharing initial results at the 14th International Polychaete Conference in Stellenbosch in July 2023, and the full results have just been published in two peer-reviewed scientific papers in the journal African Zoology. The papers provide identification keys for several groups of marine bristle worms in Southern Africa, and in-depth descriptions of multiple species. Hopefully this will mean further new species can be uncovered by providing detailed comparisons of animals, as well as promoting accurate identification of animals in both countries. 

One of the important reasons that Welsh scientists study species, both at home and further afield, is to understand the distribution of each species. It also helps us to recognise that if a new species is discovered in a region, is it truly new to science, or perhaps a non-native species which has been artificially transported around the world? If these are invasive species, they can cause a detrimental effect, so we need to know as early as possible. This will be especially important with climate change. 

So, next time you step on to the beach, think about the wonderful marine bristle worms beneath your feet and the important role they play in keeping our oceans healthy – and also remember the scientists at Amgueddfa Cymru working hard to help discover and protect them.

By Kate Mortimer-Jones and Teresa Darbyshire

To find out more, visit:

Untangling the Magelonidae (Annelida: Polychaeta) of southern Africa, including the description of a new species: African Zoology: Vol 0, No 0 (tandfonline.com)

Redescription of Arabella iricolor (Montagu, 1804) with descriptions of two new species from the United Kingdom and South Africa: African Zoology: Vol 0, No 0 (tandfonline.com)

Hi Bulb Buddies,

I want to say a big thank you to all the schools who sent entries in for our new video competition. It was extremely hard to choose between them, but everyone involved with the project voted and the results were:

Winners:

Clare Primary School

Runner up:

St Mary’s Church in Wales Primary (@StMarysCIWBJ)

Special Recognition:

Kirkmichael Primary

Our Lady’s RC Primary

Fantastic work Bulb Cast Buddies!

Professor Plant

Hi Bulb Buddies,

I want to say a big thank you to all the schools who took part in this year's Spring Bulbs for Schools Investigation. 

Participating schools planted bulbs in October and then monitored and cared for these until they flowered. Pupils shared the heights of their plants and the dates that they flowered with us. They also took temperature and rainfall readings every day that they were in school from 1 November to 31 March, and uploaded this information to the Amgueddfa Cymru website. This data feeds into our nationwide study investigating the effects of a changing climate on the flowering dates of spring bulbs. 

Here are the schools who helped us this year: 

Winners

Wales: St. Mary's CiW Primary

England: Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary School

Scotland: Gavinburn Primary School

N. Ireland: Portadown Integrated Primary School

Runner’s up

Wales: Cornist  Park  C.P

England: Roseacre Primary Academy 

Scotland: Our Lady's RC Primary School

N. Ireland: Sacred Heart Primary School - Omagh

Special Recognition:

Wales: 

Ysgol Gymraeg Tonyrefail

Ysgol Pennant

Ysgol San Sior

Ysgol Tycroes

England:

Fleet Wood Lane Primary 

Stanford in the Vale 

N. Ireland: 

Irvinestown Primary School

St Joseph and St James's Primary 

St Patrick's Primary School - Eskra

Highly Commended 

Wales:

Bedlinog Community Primary

Churchstoke CP School

Forden CiW Primary

Hafod Primary

Henllys CiW Primary

Llanfaes CP School

Peterston Super Ely CiW Primary

Pil Primary School

Raglan VC CiW Primary

Rhayader Primary

Upper Rhymney Primary

Ysgol Bryn Pennant

Ysgol Casmael (Sir Benfro)

Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth

Ysgol Gymraeg Dewi Sant

Ysgol Gynradd Llandegfan

Ysgol Tir Morfa

England: 

Anchorsholme Academy

Eaton Valley Primary School

Educational Diversity

Ferndale Primary School

Kidgate Primary Academy

St John's CE Primary School

Sylvester Primary Academy

Scotland:

Abbey Primary School

Blacklands Primary School

Clare Primary School

Cortamlet Primary School

Cuthbertson Primary School

Doonfoot Primary School

Kirkhill Primary School

Kirkmichael Primary School

Langbank Primary School

Milton Primary School

Newmains Primary School

Newton Primary School

St Peter's Primary School

Whatriggs Primary School

Northern Ireland:

Carrick Primary School

Clonalig Primary School

St John's Primary School

St Mary's Primary School - Maguiresbridge

St Peter Primary School - Plumbridge

St Teresa's Primary - Craigavon

Tandragee Primary School

Super Scientists

Wales: 

Albert Primary

Blaendulais Primary

Creigiau Primary

Eveswell Primary

Hay on Wye CP School

Mount Street Junior School

Neyland Community School

NPTC Newtown College

Pembroke Dock Community School

St. Mary’s CiW School - Wrexham

St. Michael's RC Primary

Trelai Primary

Waldo Williams Primary

YGG Bronllwyn 

Ysgol Deiniol

Ysgol Glan Morfa (Conwy)

England: 

Halsnead Primary School

Hamstead Junior School

Northwood Community Primary School

Old Park Primary School

Phoenix Primary Schoo

Prescot Primary School

Rowley Hall Primary School

Temple Meadow Primary School

Waterloo Primary Academy

Scotland: 

Alloway Primary School

Bishopton Primary School

Elmvale Primary - Glasgow

Leslie Primary School

Livingston Village Primary School

Lochwinnoch Primary School

Logan Primary School

Our Lady and St Francis Primary School

Our Lady of Peace Primary

Underbank Primary School

Windyknowe Primary School

N. Ireland:

Grange Primary School Kilkeel

St Mary's Primary - Craigavon

St Mary's Primary School - Newry

Contributors 

Wales:

Alaw Primary

Bryn Celyn Primary

Ffynnon Taf Primary 

Glyncoed Primary

Hafod y Wern Community Primary

Johnston C.P. School

England: 

Childwall C of E Primary School

Cronton CE Primary School

Grange Primary School

Marton Primary Academy and Nursery

Roby Park Primary School

Shireland Technology Primary School

St Kentigern's Primary School

St Paul's C of E Academy

Summerhill Primary Academy

Scotland: 

Fordbank Primary School

Meldrum Primary School

St Conval's Primary School

St Cuthbert's Primary School

St John Ogilvie Primary School

St Patrick's Primary - Troon

St Vincent's Primary School

Northern Ireland:

St Paul's Primary School

Willowbridge Special School

by Sam, Mark, Hannah and Caitlin Amguedfa Cymru-Museum Wales volunteers

We are four volunteers who answered the volunteering opportunity advert on the Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales website, organised by Elizabeth Walker, Principal Curator at the Museum. The opportunity was to help sort through and catalogue a collection of prehistoric stone tools.

The tools are from the substantial collection made by Henry Stopes, a private collector, in the late 19th Century. There are estimated to be between 50,000 to 70,000 artefacts, with half a million years of history, mostly British, but the collection also contains some mysterious overseas objects.

Each Thursday, with Elizabeth, we spend three hours sorting through the boxes, numbering and categorising each item. It is exciting work and is often stopped when someone finds something so unusual, they want to share it with the group. Such as a Neolithic polished axe head, broken and then clearly recycled or even a Neolithic carved ball. Elizabeth will always help us identify and assist with interesting facts about the stone tools. As we work we also hold interesting discussions which have so far ranged from Beyonce to Boer War; Neanderthals to Korean horror films! Who knows what next weeks’ topics will be.

We, as volunteers, feel fortunate to have this opportunity to be involved in this hands-on museum work, to offer our time and to be part of the recording of the Henry Stopes collection which will help with future stone tool research. Not only is this opportunity an interesting way to see how the behind the scenes works at a museum, the knowledge gained is incredibly useful to our future careers in archaeology. The amount we have all learned from just 3 hours a week is much larger than we would have thought.

So far we have sorted, repackaged and documented 4,659 tools and entered 2,265 new entries into the collection database. 

“March brings breezes, loud and shrill, 
To stir the dancing daffodil.” Sara Coleridge, The Garden Year 

March is Most Likely the Gardener's Busiest Month!

This month has consisted of sowing, sowing, and more sowing! We've sown different varieties of tomatoes, aubergines, runner beans, chilies, watermelons, salad leaves, herbs, and roots (to name a few!). Most have started life in propagators in the orange container (more on that later) or in the polytunnel, as most seedlings prefer a warm environment to germinate. Hardier seeds like spinach have been directly sown outside.

Move Over, Marvin Gaye!

Ani and Laurence expertly pruned the grapevine in the polytunnel. This is the time to cut back the vine to encourage new growth. Don't be afraid to cut back more than you think. The rule of thumb is to choose a few of the strongest canes to leave and prune the rest. Typically, people choose 10 to 12 good canes and shorten them to four or five buds each.

The Hügelkultur Method

We tried the Hügelkultur method with our raised beds alongside the glass panels of the colonnade. In Hügelkultur, you layer different organic materials together, which will slowly release nutrients into the soil for years to come. To try it yourself, simply add a base layer of cardboard, wood such as logs and smaller dried twigs, and hay or grass cuttings, followed by green organic material. Then layer a lot of compost and topsoil, and you're ready to plant. Please note that the soil level will fall as the layers decompose. In this case, simply add another layer of soil to the top.

Bye-Bye, Orange!

This month has seen us update one of the staples in the GRAFT garden: the orange container. Over the years, the vibrant orange container has, well, become a bit tired and showed its age. So we decided to give it a facelift and employed the expertise of brothers Hassan and Kareem, who designed and painted the container. It's turned some heads and really given the garden a new lease on life! The design reflects the important elements of the garden and connects to nature.

A Cockleshell Pathway

We took delivery of some Penclawdd cockles to build a cockleshell pathway, making the garden more accessible, especially on rainy days. This will be an ongoing project, so watch this space!

Natural Dyes Workshop

On Thursday, March 14th, GRAFT volunteers visited the National Wool Museum in Drefach to learn about natural dyes and how to incorporate them into the GRAFT garden.

Susan taught everyone about the natural dyeing process using different plants. Then, everyone had a go at dyeing wool themselves in various colors. They even gave GRAFT seeds to get started, which we plan to plant this month!

Chai and Chat Takeover 

We are fortunate to be able to work with and host many community events and groups here at the Waterfront Museum! We're even more fortunate to offer them a taste of different aspects of the museum. On Wednesday, March 27th, the Chai and Chat group, which meets weekly at the museum, visited GRAFT and helped plant some seeds, transplant tomato seedlings, move strawberry plants, and harvest salad from our polytunnel. We're excited to welcome them back to the garden in the future!

Farewell, Zoë!

March also sees us sadly say farewell to one of the project founders, Zoë, who will be leaving the museum for new adventures! She leaves a great legacy in GRAFT and will be missed by all the volunteers, partners, and staff who use the garden.

I will be updating readers every month or two months with the general work we have done in the garden. We will pass on information we have learnt, things we have done well (and not so well) and any tips for budding gardeners (or experienced gardeners) out there to take to your own green space. I will also include a seasonal recipe from The Shared Plate using ingredients from GRAFT.