Freshwater shrimps are difficult to study. They’re nocturnal, they live in leaf litter, and yet they are involved in both commercial fishing and the pet trade, making research on their diversity critical. Dr. Prakash Sanjeevi and Maclean Santos have a new strategy for adapting to these challenges: harnessing the power of community. Through educational videos, social media, workshops, and more they provide training to already-interested hobbyists, who in turn help them find rare specimens for papers like this one, in which they redescribe a species that hadn’t been seen in Indian waters for 72 years.

“I truly feel that it is not the talent which survives the long term in this research game, It is more of the hard work and it is more about how much you like the species because if you love a species, you will work really hard for the species” says Maclean. Listen in as we discuss the fascinating morphology, biology, and joy provided by these freshwater shrimps.

Maclean Santos and Prakash Sanjeevi’s paper “Rediscovery of the genus Atyopsis Chace, 1983 (Decapoda: Atyidae) in mainland India following a 72-year gap” is in volume 5722 of Zootaxa.

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5722.4.7

A transcript of this episode can be found here: Maclean Santos and Prakash Sanjeevi - Transcript

Episode image credit: Maclean Santos

Read their recent paper describing a new species from the same region: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5194.3.5

Follow Maclean and Prakash on Instagram:

Prakash: @sanjeeviprakash

Maclean: @homeaquat

More pictures and information on GBIF: https://www.gbif.org/species/7839136

Be sure to follow New Species on Bluesky (@newspeciespodcast.bsky.social) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and “like” the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast).

Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)

If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at NewSpeciesPodcast@gmail.com

If you would like to support this podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod
If you would like to make a one-time contribution to this podcast, you can do so at https://buymeacoffee.com/newspeciespod

“I hope that individual taxonomists take a step back and really think about the choices they make when it comes to collaboration…I want taxonomists to consider equity in their work, and not just consider that but actively support actions that are making a difference in the way we do science.” Cláudia Xavier’s words here address the issue that is the focus of her new paper; who actually gets the opportunity to be a taxonomist?

In this episode, I talk to Katherine and Cláudia about their experiences writing this paper, but also being taxonomists in a field that wasn’t built with everyone in mind. They tell me the stories of two marginalized taxonomists who made outsized impacts on their field, and how they hope their research lays the foundation for a more equitable and just arachnology in the future.

Katherine Montana and Cláudia Xavier’s paper “If history is written by the victors, who describes the spiders? Species author trends reflect gender and geopolitical disparities in biodiversity science” is in volume 146, issue 1 of the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.

It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaf067

A transcript of this episode can be found here:

Cláudia and Katherine

A spanish transcript of this episode can be found here:

Cláudia and Katherine en español

Follow Cláudia on Bluesky: @claudiaxavier.bsky.social

And learn from her on Instagram: @geaaoficial

Check out more from the Esposito lab:

https://www.arachnerds.info/

And follow them on Instagram: @arachnerds

Dr. Esposito is also the founder of the 500 Queer Scientists project:

https://500queerscientists.com/

World Spider Catalog: https://wsc.nmbe.ch/

Untold Stories from the Academy:

https://www.calacademy.org/scientists/library/untold-stories

Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Millerhttps://pushkinpress.com/book/why-fish-dont-exist/

Additional reading:

Developing scientific equity for biodiversity research: a thematic analysis of ecological change impacts on ranchers in Baja California Sur, Mexico: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170525100100

Science in Indigenous homelands: addressing power and justice in sustainability science from/with/in the Penobscot River

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-021-00904-3

Promoting equity between the Global North and Global South in entomological research

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2025.101357

Anti-racist interventions to transform ecology, evolution and conservation biology departments

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01522-z

Be sure to follow New Species on Bluesky (@newspeciespodcast.bsky.social) and Instagram (@NewSpeciesPodcast) and “like” the podcast page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NewSpeciesPodcast).

Music in this podcast is "No More (Instrumental)," by HaTom (https://fanlink.to/HaTom)

If you have questions or feedback about this podcast, please e-mail us at NewSpeciesPodcast@gmail.com

If you would like to support this podcast and enjoy bonus episodes, please consider doing so at https://www.patreon.com/NewSpeciesPod

New Species en Español will be a Spanish-language version of the New Species Podcast, hosted by Ivonne Garzón.

Subscribe to it here: https://open.spotify.com/user/31jdpbfn26x3w7sa2b76db3z2vxa?si=160a1a8eac644f00Or wherever you get your podcasts.