Discovered in the Andean cloud forests of northern Peru, a new species in the blazing star family (Loasaceae) has reinforced the vital role of citizen science in plant research.
An international research team collected, identified and documented the rare plant after seeing photographs uploaded by Peruvian naturalist, Carlos Pérez Peña, on the citizen science platform iNaturalist. Assigning the species the name Nasa katjae, they published the discovery in the open-access journal PhytoKeys.
Nasa katjae has striking scarlet-red flowers adapted for hummingbird pollination and is endemic to a single forest near Colasay in the Cajamarca region of Peru, not far from a populated area. Due to its extremely narrow range, it is likely particularly vulnerable to the threat of habitat loss.
The discovery highlights the importance of protecting the remaining pristine habitats in the Amotape-Huancabamba Zone, a biodiversity hotspot home to many rare and isolated species. The team behind the study emphasise that, without immediate conservation efforts, these ecologically fragile regions could be lost to agricultural expansion and climate change before they are fully understood.
Lead author Dr Tilo Henning of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research remarked on the significance of the find: “If we have overlooked this striking plant, think about what we have missed in more unobtrusive organismal groups such as mosses, fungi and insects.”
“Discovering such a conspicuous flowering plant in a forest directly adjacent to a larger human settlement signifies that we have not even begun to fully map the biodiversity of some regions. We urgently need more taxonomists and funding to meaningfully tackle this.”
While some areas in northern Peru have recently received formal protection, the forest fragment in which Nasa katjae is found remains unprotected. The authors of the study urge decision makers to take action to safeguard these habitats before it is too late.
The discovery of Nasa katjae displays the power of digital tools and citizen science in biodiversity research. Platforms like iNaturalist prove invaluable in detecting and documenting rare species, complementing traditional fieldwork and accelerating new discoveries.
Original source
Henning T, Allen JP, Montesinos-Tubée D, Rodríguez-Rodríguez EF, Peña JLM, Acuña-Castillo R (2025) No end to endemism – contributions to the difficult Nasa Weigend Series Alatae (Loasaceae). A new species from Peru and the rehabilitation of “ Loasa” calycina Benth. PhytoKeys 252: 163-186. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.252.141635
Based on this press release by the California Academy of Sciences.
Researchers have discovered the first new genus and species of plant in a U.S. national park for nearly 50 years.
Described in the OA journal PhytoKeys, the new-to-science woolly devil (Ovicula biradiata) is a member of the sunflower family, despite looking quite different to its sunburst-shaped relatives.
The small, fuzzy flower grows in the harsh, rocky soils of the Chihuahuan Desert and only appears after rainfall. (Photo courtesy of Big Bend National Park)
The national park is located within the Chihuahuan Desert, the largest and most biologically diverse warm desert in North America, and is a highly studied floristic region.
“While many assume that the plants and animals within our country’s national parks have probably been documented by now, scientists still make surprising new discoveries in these iconic protected landscapes,” says corresponding author and Academy researcher Isaac Lichter Marck, PhD.
From an elevation of less than 1,800 feet along the Rio Grande to nearly 8,000 feet in Chisos Mountains, Big Bend includes massive canyons, vast desert expanses, forest mountains, and an ever-changing river. (Photo courtesy of Big Bend National Park)
Park volunteer Deb Manley was first to observe the plant in March of 2024 by who uploaded the unknown species to the community science app iNaturalist, where an international community of botanists assembled to identify the mysterious flower.
Known to botanists as a “belly plant,” or a small, discreet plant that can only be properly observed by lying on the ground, this distinctive wild flower with furry white foliage and maroon ray florets is an ephemeral species that only blooms after rain. It thrives in harsh rocky habitats with scant rainfall and grows alongside a variety of drought-tolerant shrubs, such as ocotillo, hedgehog cactus, and creosote.
Researchers have only observed the plant in three narrow locations across the northernmost corner of the park, and it is possible that populations of the species are already diminishing.
Big Bend National Park staff members Carolyn Whiting, Deb Manley, and Patty Manning discovered the plant while hiking through the northernmost reaches of the park. (Photo courtesy of Big Bend National Park)
“Plants that thrive in deserts are often quite unique, having evolved specific mechanisms to withstand the extreme drought-and-deluge conditions of these arid landscapes—from water-storing structures to rapid life cycles triggered by rain,” says Lichter Marck.
“But as climate change pushes deserts to become hotter and drier, highly specialized plants like the woolly devil face extinction.”
The plant’s woolly appearance and striking red petals inspired the name Ovicula biradiata. Ovicula, meaning “tiny sheep,” refers to the thick, white hairs that cover the plant’s leaves and honors a more iconic endangered species in Big Bend: the bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). Biradiata, or “bi-radial,” refers to the two ray florets in each of the plant’s flowers. Researchers working with the plant affectionately dubbed the fuzzy flower the “woolly devil,” which has become its suggested common name.
Park botanist Carolyn Whiting observes the unknown species in March 2024. (Photo courtesy of Big Bend National Park)
“Now that the species has been identified and named, there is a tremendous amount we have yet to learn about it,” says Big Bend National Park botanist Carolyn Whiting.
“I’m excited to discover whether there are other populations in the park, the details of its life cycle, what pollinates it, and whether we’ll observe it this spring, given the current drought.”
Researchers are now investigating the woolly devil’s potential medicinal properties.
“Under the microscope, we noticed specific glands that are known to possess compounds with anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties in other plants within the sunflower family,” says Academy co-author Keily Peralta.
“While further research is needed to determine these properties, this discovery underscores the potential knowledge we stand to gain from preserving plant diversity in fragile desert ecosystems.”
Original source
Manley DL, Lichter Marck IH, Peralta K, Castro Castro A, Wogan KA, Whiting CV, Powell AM (2025) Ovicula biradiata, a new genus of Compositae from Big Bend National Park in Trans-Pecos Texas. PhytoKeys 252: 141-162. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.252.137624
More than 99.9% of global species diversity is found within soils, according to a new review paper published in ZooKeys.
Comparing different studies on soil biota, author Robert J. Blakemore challenges previous estimates, which suggested a much lower proportion of life in soils. “Most life is found in Soil and most is microbial, affected by the current mass extinction event having profound effects influencing all evolution on Earth,” he says.
From the review paper: “Micro monde” progressions with microbial proportions greatly increased from Blakemore after Larsen et al.
“Soil filters and stores freshwater stocks (being subject to Earth tides!) and, as well as ~ 99% of human food, it provides most building materials plus many of our essential medicines/antibiotics. Thus, an important metric must be the scope and snapshot status of living or dormant Soil biota.”
One of the most recent estimates suggests that the soil realm is home to approximately 2.1 x 1024 taxa, which is thought to be more than 99.9% of global species biodiversity, mainly comprised of bacteria and other microbes.
The more you look, the more you find (lhs, pin-head after SCIENCE 2002; rhs, Bacteria on a pin tip courtesy Dr Kateryna Kon of Kharkiv National Medical University).
“Soil also supplies >99.7% of calorific food (just 0.3% from ocean plus 0.3% from aquaculture mostly fed with farmed stockfeed); with just about 6% total global protein from all fish; soil filters and stores most freshwater and is thus responsible for hydrological-recycle rainfall on land,” Blakemore says.
“My other paper last year on Biomass shows Soil houses >99% of organic carbon and it is the loss of this vital resources that is the greatest contributor to atmospheric carbon increase, despite the ‘greening’ effect on land.”
However, this immense biodiversity is under threat. “Soil erosion is one of our greatest global issues of concern, and one of the most ignored. Droughts, floods, deserts, poisoning, capping and so on are affecting all soils and, due to this massive soil loss, plants are incapable of thriving. At the same time deforestation continues, mainly clearing for cattle pastures or soy fields to feed CAFO cows (or other stock),” the author says.
The loss of soil biodiversity has far-reaching consequences, leading to ecosystem degradation, reduced food production, and loss of potentially valuable resources, such as sources of medicines and antibiotics. Furthermore, soil loss inevitably results in silent species loss, mostly of microbes that are most dominant in soils, but also of more obvious soil macrobes, and specifically of earthworms, which are vital for soil health.
Around 7,000 ‘true’ earthworm species have been described, but estimates suggest the total number of earthworm species may be closer to 30,000-35,000 globally. “Due to their high endemicity and Soil’s heterogeneity, their unknowns are legion,” the author notes in his paper.
From the review paper: Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas (GBIF 2016) reporting ~ 667,000 soil biota or just about one third of known 2 million). Note that earthworms have 7,000 known and > 30,000 estimated species. Bacteria had 15,000 known species but estimated over one million (< 1.5% described). However, when microbes (excluding viruses) are properly considered and counted, as herein, soil unknowns are much higher (likely just < 0.0001% known at best). Vascular plants add ~ 400,000 species (cf. Anthony et al. 2023 with 466,000 angiosperm “Plantae”).
Earthworms enhance microbial activity, improve soil structure, and promote plant growth, which is why Blakemore suggests that “a simple solution to soil degradation is to attempt, in any way and at all times, to preserve and enhance earthworm populations.”
“Healthy soils are carbon-rich, hugely biodiverse and are a massive sponge for water – neither flooding nor drying during climatic extremes,” the author says, a reminder that healthy soils are not only vital for maintaining biodiversity, but also indispensable in supporting essential functions of planet and human survival.
“Due to the most pressing problem of topsoil erosion and irreversible extinction losses, a major shift should be realizing the overwhelming importance and fragility of our precious Soil,” Robert Blakemore writes in his paper.
Calling for a change in attitudes and funding to recognise the true scope of soil biodiversity, he encourages the formation of a dedicated Soil Ecology Institute that would catalogue, research and reverse the mass degradation of our planet’s most crucial, yet most neglected ecosystem – that of the Soil Realm.
Large-scale ground-mounted solar parks are relatively new phenomena. Over time, ideas have been put forward about how they can accommodate biodiversity, and some parks are indeed becoming more multifunctional, for example by providing habitats for plants, invertebrates and birds. From a background of studying idyllic ecosystems in dynamic change, Dr. Markus Zaplata, research technician at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Germany, has come to appreciate the biology of solar parks, and has found evidence that they can support a wide range of biodiversity.
Biodiversity in solar parks is a given (here two Mantis religiosa nymphs) and, with the possible exception of self-seeded woody plants, is desirable. Photo by Dr Markus Zaplata
His research, published in the open-access journal One Ecosystem, proves the previously overlooked fact that vegetation succession also takes place in solar parks, and that certain intrinsic technical structures can even help self-seeded woody plants live there. Vegetation succession refers to the directional development from easily spreading but low-competitive species such as herbs and grasses towards highly competitive species such as woody plants. Mowing alone is not enough to deal with woody plants, he argues. “The fact is that subsurface woody structures continue to grow after mowing, and may at some point massively interfere with the solar installations”, he says.
With 18 years of experience in studying vegetation succession, Dr. Zaplata has supported a research project on biodiversity in solar parks since 2021.
“I do the mowing myself, so I experience the very things I write about in this paper”, he says.
Mowing can also be expensive and labour-intensive, he adds, suggesting that other construction methods and grazing could provide a more sustainable alternative.
Including insights from succession research can make global solar energy landscapes more sustainable, he argues. “The universal and unstoppable ecological process of succession is here linked to a management recommendation that can bring society closer again, on the new or neutral territory of new energy landscapes. In fact, new and old professions are connected, for example solar park manager and livestock farmer.”
Above-ground parts of a willow tree (Salix sp.) that have resisted a recent mowing campaign. Photo by Dr Markus Zaplata
“Finally, and very importantly, my article points out that experts with in-depth predictive knowledge of dynamic vegetation processes must be consulted in the future on everything that has to do with the technical transformation of landscape units, including solar parks,” he says in conclusion.
Original source
Zaplata M (2025) Management and sustainability of ground-mounted solar parks requires consideration of vegetation succession as an omnipresent process. One Ecosystem 10: e141583. https://doi.org/10.3897/oneeco.10.e141583
Happy Lunar New Year! For more than a billion people worldwide, today is a day of gifts, dancing, celebration and – of course – plenty of delicious food.
Coinciding with the first new moon of the lunar calendar, the 29th of January marks the beginning of a vibrant 15-day festival, which includes 7 days of holiday in China.
As 2025 is the Year of the Snake, we have gathered some of favourite studies celebrating the the scaly world of serpents to celebrate the occasion!
The tug-of-war coral snakes
A different kind of food fight.
A study published in Herpetozoa includes incredible footage of two red-tailed coral snakes (Micrurus mipartitus) engaging in a tug-of-war over a caecilian, a legless amphibian.
Check out the video below.
Two Micrurusmipartitussnakes tugging prey in opposite directions. Credit: Henrik Bringsøe and Niels Poul Dreyer.
The event marked the first documented wild case of kleptoparasitism, or food theft, within the family Elapidae.
Rhynchocalamus hejazicus is a recently discovered and secretive snake species from the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia.
Upon the species’ discovery, researchers dubbed the stylish serpent “the missing piece of the puzzle” as it fills a large distribution gap for its genus.
Published in Zoosystematics and Evolution, the research also includes a completely black variation of of the species known as a ‘melanistic morphotype.’
An expedition into the jungles and cloud forests of Colombia and Ecuador revealed five dazzling new species of eyelash vipers, previously misidentified as one species.
Published in Evolutionary Systematics, the study received global attention from publications such as National Geographic thanks to the taxonomic importance and visual appeal of the research.
Red-wine morph of the Central American Eyelash-Pitviper (Bothriechis nigroadspersus), photographed in the Caribbean Island Escudo de Veraguas, off the coast of Panamá.Credit:Alejandro Arteaga.
Two species of African shovel-snout snakes, Prosymna confusa and Prosymnalisima, were published as new species in ZooKeysback in 2022.
Endemic to Angola, the snakes have unique beak-like snouts that allow them to dig into sandy soils. They also have backward pointed lancet-shaped teeth that they use for cutting open lizard eggs.
Kalahari shovel-snout snake (Prosymna lisima) from southeastern Angola. Credit: Chad Keates.
As they spend the majority of their time underground, these species were not the easiest to study, but they are certainly a treat for the eyes when they surface their wedge-shaped heads!
The Pensoft journal collection contains innumerable snake studies, so we could go on forever sharing our favourites. Instead, we will wish you a happy and prosperous 2025 filled with plenty of safe snake encounters.
Teodor Metodiev, senior communications officer at Pensoft at the opening of “The pollinators we can’t live without” temporary exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Sofia, Bulgaria, 2023).
With more than three decades of experience in the domain of science communication, Pensoft has a rich perspective on what it takes to bring science into the spotlight. A testament to this is its growing projects department, where the public face of some of Europe’s most innovative research undertakings is being moulded by a cohort of experts.
Among their ranks is Teodor Metodiev, a communicator with years of experience when it comes to bridging the gap between the scientific and the public. He recently sat down for an interview to share his observations on the significance, challenges and lessons of the job.
Read below to find out how effective engagement can make today’s research tomorrow’s reality.
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Why is science communication important and how can it influence the scope and impact of today’s research?
I believe science communication is fundamental because it eliminates the gap between researchers and users of their work, be they policymakers, practitioners or other stakeholders. By combining novel and traditional communication methods, scientific knowledge, results and data are much more likely to be shared, understood, and applied. If not communicated effectively, scientific results and advances have no real impact and are simply lost in an avalanche of emerging new information.
What are the most common challenges you encounter as a science communicator?
There are many diverse challenges one could encounter as a science communicator! I believe the most common one is the overall complexity of science, which is sometimes very difficult to communicate in a clear, visually appealing way. For me personally, one of the greater challenges is to delve into controversial topics such as climate change, vaccines, or genetic engineering, where emotions and ideologies may run high.
How can complex technical concepts be made accessible to non-science stakeholders and the general public?
Making complex concepts accessible to the general public is among the main responsibilities of a science communicator. There are many different approaches to do that, but it ultimately depends on the audience you want to engage – for example, you would not necessarily want to interact with a farmer through policy briefs. In general, I would list three main ‘pillars’ that can be considered when dealing with complex scientific information:
Simplify the language and avoid scientific jargon (i.e. by using short sentences with a clear structure)
Always leverage visual aids, such as infographics, animations, videos or graphical abstracts
Try to present the information in a narrative-like form – start with the background and problem, and then explain the solutions you are offering.
By adhering to these simple steps, I believe most challenging scientific concepts can be easily translated into an understandable format for laypersons or other stakeholder groups!
Which indicators do you consider crucial when assessing the success of a science communication campaign?
In my view, the success of any science communication campaign should be measured beyond quantitative indicators. Sure, audience reach, number of impressions and demographic data are important, but real success should be assessed through active engagement (i.e. comments or questions towards the topic, participation in events or activities, feedback and criticism from evaluation surveys, etc). I believe that monitoring these qualitative indicators on an ongoing basis is instrumental for a long-term awareness and understanding of a given topic over time.
What has made Pensoft unique and effective in the field of science communication?
I honestly believe the driving force behind Pensoft’s success in science communication is the motivated team behind it – it has demonstrated that an openness to engage, combined with an urge to learn and expand your horizons, is ultimately the making of a successful science communicator. In addition to being curious and forthcoming, an environmental conscience is another fundamental characteristic of Pensoft which surely resonates with all of its members!
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Explore past and present research projects in Pensoft’s communication portfolio.
Boris Barov, Project Manager at Pensoft, talked about open-science publishing and science communication as a stepping stone towards the fulfilment of biodiversity targets.
This participation came about as a result of the collaboration within a network of European organisations from the domains of biodiversity, ecology and engineering.
The organisations at the core of the network held a workshop on the combined role of science and technology in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More precisely, the Kunmig-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM GBF) was selected as a testbed, whose stipulations can guide innovation across sectors and disciplines on the road to the realisation of specific SDGs.
The day-long programme featured 30 presentations that covered a variety of themes related to research priorities and technological instruments servicing the KM GBF. Experts and stakeholders at the political, academic and professional level were involved in the proceedings, solidifying the network’s status as a hub for innovators in biodiversity conservation efforts.
Among the speakers was Boris Barov, Project Manager at Pensoft, who introduced the audience to the importance of open-science publishing and science communication as a stepping stone towards the fulfilment of biodiversity targets.
Barov elaborated on the key tenets and approaches ensuring that publishers like Pensoft are actively contributing to the preservation of the biosphere on a global level.
Those include:
disseminating conservation-centric research that uncovers findings and innovations critical to the effective implementation of the KM-GBF
supporting open access and knowledge sharing that guarantee the free availability of research outputs to any and all parties that need it
fostering an interface between science and policy that allows vital expertise to reach and inform decision-makers
championing inclusivity and equality that give indigenous communities a seat at the table
Additionally, Barov singled out Pensoft’s participation in the EU-funded research projects CO-OP4CBD, BioAgora and TRANSPATH as a testament to effective science communication that empowers stakeholder collaboration and engagement at the science-policy interface.
It is the intention of the network of organisations to collect the stakeholder input submitted during the event in a future whitepaper designed to outline its approach to facilitating biodiversity governance through research and technology.
Moreover, this is meant to be followed by an open call rallying international support for the integration of biodiversity conservation priorities into the post-SDG agenda of the UN.
Read more about the Horizon Europe-funded CO-OP4CBD & BioAgora projects and Pensoft’s involvement on our blog. You can also follow updates from CO-OP4CBD on BluesSky, X and Linkedin. BioAgora is also on X and Linkedin.
In 2023, Pensoft also joined TRANSPATH as an expert in science communication, dissemination and exploitation. Find more on our blog and follow the Horizon Europe project on X and Linkedin.
The Hades’ snake moray (Uropterygius hades), a dark brown, slender snake moray eel, has chosen the road less traveled, thriving in dim and muddy river mouths, unlike most of its marine moray eel relatives. It is widely distributed across the Central Indo-Pacific, and has been found in southern Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, southern Java, and Fiji. This new moray eel was named after Hades, the god of the underworld, due to its unique habitat, burrowing behavior, high sensitivity to light, and most notably, its deep, dark coloration.
Live photo of Uropterygius hades. Image credit: Dr Wen-Chien Huang
Scientists Dr Wen-Chien Huang, Dr Rodulf Anthony Balisco, Dr Te-Yu Liao, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan, Western Philippines University, the Philippines, and Dr Yusuke Hibino, Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History, Japan, describe this new species in a paper published in the open-access journal ZooKeys. They named it after Hades, the underworld god, to emphasize its imposing appearance and its habitat in dim, turbid environments. This idea was inspired by Dr. Wen-Chien Huang, who was influenced by Ralph Fiennes’ portrayal of Hades in the movie Clash of the Titans.
Live photo of Uropterygius hades. Image credit: Dr Wen-Chien Huang
There are approximately 230 species of moray eels worldwide, with most inhabiting marine environments. Only one species has been confirmed to spend the majority of its life in freshwater. Some marine species, like the slender giant moray (Strophidon sathete), can tolerate and occasionally enter lower-salinity environments such as river mouths. However, moray eels specifically adapted to estuarine habitats are exceedingly rare.
The discovery of Hades’ snake moray was actually accidental, when the three researchers from National Sun Yat-sen University investigated the cave of the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, aiming to survey the aquatic fauna and targeting a cave eel species, the bean-eyed snake moray (Uropterygius cyamommatus). This eel, with its highly reduced eye size, is considered an ideal example for studying the evolutionary processes that allow eels to adapt to cave environments. However, the researchers did not find any bean-eyed snake morays in the cave; instead, they collected a slender moray with a conspicuous, uniformly deep dark color.
Fresh specimen of Uropterygius hades. Credit: Dr Wen-Chien Huang
When kept in an aquatic tank, the Hades’ snake moray exhibits tail-first burrowing behavior, which is rarely seen in moray eels. Additionally, it is highly sensitive to light, consistently attempting to hide when exposed to it. Its small eyes—thought to be an adaptation to low-light environments—and its reduced number of head sensory pores—believed to help avoid clogging by the substrate—suggest that this species might be an excellent burrower, relying primarily on chemoreception rather than vision to detect prey or avoid predators.
Original source:
Huang W-C, Hibino Y, Balisco RA, Liao T-Y (2024) Description of a new uniformly brown estuarine moray eel (Anguilliformes, Muraenidae) from the Central Indo-Pacific Ocean. In: Ho H-C, Russell B, Hibino Y, Lee M-Y (Eds) Biodiversity and taxonomy of fishes in Taiwan and adjacent waters. ZooKeys 1220: 15-34. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1220.129685
The article collection highlights the outcomes of the 2022 International Conference of the Infrastructure and Ecology Network Europe (IENE), held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
While the transport sector is vital for societal development, it also poses significant challenges to biodiversity, often fragmenting landscapes and disrupting wildlife movement. The IENE 2022 conference explored solutions to harmonise transport infrastructure with ecological connectivity. More than 190 presentations and workshops at the event advocated for multi-sectoral cooperation and evidence-based solutions.
The special issue comprises research on topics such as:
Wildlife crossings and ecological connectivity
Mitigation strategies for animal-vehicle collisions
Strategic approaches to sustainable infrastructure development
Emerging technologies like AI for biodiversity monitoring
Aerial top down view of ecoduct or wildlife crossing – vegetation covered bridge over a motorway that allows wildlife to safely cross over
A global perspective is considered, with case studies from Europe, North America, and Asia. This special issue is a call to action for policymakers, planners, and conservationists worldwide.
See a full list of the special issue’s articles here:
If you follow any of Pensoft’s social media accounts, you will know that we have been counting down our top 10 favourite species described as new-to-science in our journals this year.
The list is—of course—entirely arbitrary, but it is also a fun way to look back on a year in which several weird and wonderful animals, plants and fungi were discovered.
In this blog post, we will tell you more about each species, share some honourable mentions, and reveal our number 1 spot!
Honourable mentions
The league of legends crab
Gothus teemo and Teemo.
When it was time to name a tiny, ‘furry’ new species of gorilla crab from China, researchers drew unlikely inspiration from the video game League of Legends.
Gothus teemo was named after the character Teemo thanks to its distinctive appearance and has drawn a lot of attention from fans of the franchise.
The new species is thought to have resembled a modern sandtiger shark (pictured).
Calling anything on this list a ‘new species’ is not accurate—rather, they are just new to published science. Nothing exemplifies this more than Palaeohypotodus bizzocoi, a long-extinct shark species that lived 65 million years ago, shortly after the fall of the dinosaurs.
What makes this discovery remarkable is that it was partially accidental. Find out how a 100-year-old box of teeth in Alabama led to the discovery of this ancient shark below.
Sometimes, it is the way in which a new species is discovered that makes it so special.
Such is the case for Schiedea waiahuluensis, a carnation species from Hawaii that is likely the first plant to be identified and collected using drone technology. Learn all about it below!
With its all-black colouration, Tylototriton gaowangjienensis, a crocodile newt from China, has drawn comparisons to Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.
However, this alluring amphibian hides flashes of orange beneath its tail and toes! Find more pictures and information below.
Besides its adorable appearance, Hoplitis onosmaevae is remarkable due to its distribution. It is currently only known from a small region of the French Alps, and areas >2,000 km away in the mountains of Turkey and Iraq.
Another interesting aspect of Hoplitis onosmaevae is its specialised ecological niche: it is thought to only collect pollen from Onosma species. This narrow ecological niche makes it vulnerable to factors like climate change and changes in agricultural practices.
John L. Clark with Amalophyllon miraculum. Credit @phinaea on Instagram.
The discovery of Amalophyllon miraculum—in an area assumed to be a barren agricultural landscape of plant extinctions—represents an inspiration for biodiversity conservation. This “miracle” plant, as its name suggests, was found surviving in one of the small, isolated forest fragments that remain in the Centinela region of western Ecuador.
This spiky amphibian was discovered on Cerro Candelaria, a mountain in the Tungurahua province. The discovery of this new species in the upper Rio Pastaza watershed suggests this area might be a centre of rapid evolution for these fascinating frogs.
Entomologists and citizen scientists teamed up to discover this new species of flea beetle in the lush rainforests of Borneo. The discovery was made during a Taxon Expeditions trip, where non-scientist people got the chance to work alongside scientists to identify and describe new species.
What makes this discovery particularly exciting is the beetle’s size—it’s actually one of the largest among its relatives! Flea beetles that live in the leaf litter of tropical forests are typically much smaller, and as a result, we know very little about their ecology and diversity.
Discovered in the Red Sea, the ‘grumpy dwarf goby’ (Sueviota aethon) was published as a new species in ZooKeys. You can probably guess how it earned its name! This tiny fish, measuring less than 2 centimetres long, sports a permanent frown thanks to its large canines and fierce expression. Despite its small size, the grumpy dwarfgoby is thought to be a fearsome predator in its coral reef habitat.
Thismia malayanais a mycoheterotrophic plant, meaning it doesn’t photosynthesise. Instead, it acts as a parasite, stealing carbon resources from the fungi on its roots!
By stealing nutrients from fungi, it can thrive in the low-light conditions of dense forest understories where its highly specialised flowers are pollinated by fungus gnats and other small insects.
While the Tiputini velvet worm—Oroperipatus tiputini—may look friendly, it is an accomplished hunter that shoots a sticky substance from a pair of glands to trap its prey. This “living fossil” is a rare and unique invertebrate that evolved over 500 million years ago. The new species was discovered in the Ecuadorian Amazon at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, which is part of the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve.
They say that life imitates art, and this new gecko species proves that to be true! Researchers in India have discovered a gecko with such a unique and beautiful colouration that they named it after painter Vincent van Gogh. The “Starry Night” gecko, or Cnemaspis vangoghi, was discovered in the Southern Western Ghats and stands out due to the male’s yellow head and forebody with light blue spots on the back, a striking combination reminiscent of the famous painting.
