A new species of wolf snake was discovered from the Great Nicobar Islands, India.
Photo by Girish Choure.
Researchers R. S. Naveen and S. R. Chandramouli of the Pondicherry University, Zeeshan A. Mirza of the Max Planck Institute for Biology and Girish Choure of Pune published the discovery in the open-access journal Evolutionary Systematics.
Photo by S. R. Chandramouli.
The team named the new species Irwin’s wolf snake, or Lycodon irwini, after the late Stephen Robert Irwin, the renowned Australian zookeeper, conservationist, television personality, and wildlife educator. “His passion and dedication to wildlife education and conservation have inspired naturalists and conservationists worldwide, including the authors of the paper,” they write in their study.
Photo by Girish Choure.
The adults of the new species are glossy black and can grow to a meter in length. The snakes are non-venomous and likely feed on reptiles, amphibians and small mammals. Currently, the species appears to the endemic to the Great Nicobar Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago. Based on the narrow distribution range and potential human threats to the species, the authors suggest that it should be considered Endangered.
“New species continue to be discovered, exemplified by Lycodon irwini, highlighting the ongoing progress in taxonomy and the incomplete understanding of herpetofaunal diversity and distribution in the region,” the researchers write in their paper.
Research article:
Naveen RS, Mirza ZA, Choure G, Chandramouli SR (2025) A ‘Crikey’ new snake: An insular Lycodon Fitzinger, 1826 (Squamata, Colubridae) from the Nicobar Archipelago, India. Evolutionary Systematics 9(2): 221-228. https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.9.170645
Guest blog post from the University of Copenhagen. Read their press release here.
An international team of researchers have identified three new species of enchanting, pustular, tree-dwelling toads from Africa. Their solution for having offspring away from water? Skipping the tadpole phase altogether, and giving birth to live toadlets. The study is published in the open-access scientific journal Vertebrate Zoology.
One of the newly described toad species, Nectophrynoides luhomeroensis. Photo credit: John Lyarkurwa
Most textbooks will tell you only one story of frog reproduction: Eggs to tadpoles to froglets to adults. But for three newly discovered species found in Tanzania this is not the case. The three new species of frogs belong to an unusual group of African toads in the genus Nectophrynoides — commonly called “tree toads.”
Instead of laying eggs that hatch into tadpoles, the female tree toads carry their offspring inside their bodies and give birth to fully formed, tiny toads. This makes them among the very few amphibians in the world capable of internal fertilization and true live birth.
“It’s common knowledge that frogs grow from tadpoles—it’s one of the classic metamorphosis paradigms in biology. But the nearly 8000 frog species actually have a wide variety of reproductive modes, many of which don’t closely resemble that famous story” says Assoc. Prof. Mark D. Scherz, Curator for Herpetology at the Natural History Museum Denmark, a coauthor on the study.
Like its relatives, Nectophrynoides luhomeroensis has large skin glands all over its body. Photo credit: Michele Menegon.
Only a handful of frog species from South America and southeast Asia have developed similar strategies making these toads a rare case in the animal kingdom.
“Live-bearing is exceptionally rare among frogs and toads, practiced by less than 1% of frogs species, making these new species exceptionally interesting,” says H. Christoph Liedtke a co-author from the Spanish National Research Council, who has specialized in the evolution of amphibian reproductive modes.
120-year-old frog DNA
Back in 1905, a German researcher, Gustav Tornier, presented to the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin, the discovery of a toad from Tanzania that, astonishingly, gives birth to live young. At the time, it was the only known species of frog in the world to do so.
One of the newly described toad species, Nectophrynoides uhehe. Photo credit: Michele Menegon.
The frogs originally found by Tornier are today housed at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, and the research team were able to secure DNA from the original frogs using methods collectively known as ‘museomics’.
“Some of these specimens were collected over 120 years ago. Our museomics work was able to reveal exactly which populations those old specimens belonged to, giving us a lot more confidence for future work on these toads,” says Dr Alice Petzold of the University of Potsdam, who carried out the museomics portion of the study.
“Phylogenetic work from a few years ago had already let us know there was previously unrecognised diversity among these toads. But by travelling to different natural history museums and examining hundreds of preserved toads, I was able to get a better idea of their morphological diversity, so we could describe these new species,” says Christian Thrane from University of Copenhagen and first author on the study.
One of the newly described toad species, Nectophrynoides uhehe. Photo credit: Michele Menegon.
Protecting endangered species
Beyond its evolutionary interest, the discovery could have important implications for conservation. Many of these live-bearing toads inhabit small, fragmented habitats and are under threat from deforestation, mining, and climate change.
The new species are from the Eastern Arc Mountains (EAM) of Tanzania, an imperiled biodiversity hotspot famed for the many species that are found nowhere else on Earth. These mountains that rise from the plains are cloaked in lush forests, but Dr Michele Menegon, another coauthor on the study who works for a conservation organisation whose work focuses on forest protection, notes how highly fragmented these habitats are and that this is impacting the biodiversity, including the toads that dwell there.
Nectophrynoides species are often found near rainforest streams in the Eastern Arc mountains of Tanzania. Photo credit: Michele Menegon.
His colleague from the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzia raises the same concern.
“The forests where these toads are known to occur are disappearing quickly,” says John V. Lyakurwa, a researcher from the University of Dar es Salaam, who has been studying amphibians in the EAM, including these toads, and a coauthor on the study.
Most of the tree toads are already on the brink of extinction, with one species in this genus, Nectophrynoides asperginis, already extinct in the wild, and another Nectophrynoides poyntoni not observed since its discovery in 2003. The future of these beautiful toads is very uncertain.
Original source
Thrane C, Lyakurwa JV, Liedtke HC, Menegon M, Petzold A, Loader SP, Scherz MD (2025) Museomics and integrative taxonomy reveal three new species of glandular viviparous tree toads (Nectophrynoides) in Tanzania’s Eastern Arc Mountains (Anura: Bufonidae). Vertebrate Zoology 75: 459-485. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.75.e167008
A new native bee species with tiny devil-like “horns” named Megachile (Hackeriapis) lucifer has been discovered in Western Australia’s Goldfields, highlighting how much remains unknown about Australia’s native pollinators.
Dr Kit Prendergast
The striking new bee was found during surveys of a critically endangered wildflower Marianthus aquilonarius that grows only in the Bremer Range region, which is between the towns of Norseman and Hyden.
Lead author Curtin Adjunct Research Fellow Dr Kit Prendergast, from the Curtin School of Molecular and Life Sciences, said the female bee’s unusual horned face inspired its name lucifer – Latin for “light-bringer,” but also a playful nod to the devilish look.
A female Megachile Lucifer.
“I discovered the species while surveying a rare plant in the Goldfields and noticed this bee visiting both the endangered wildflower and a nearby mallee tree,” Dr Prendergast said.
The two plants visited by Megachile Lucifer. Left: Marianthus aquilonaris. Right: Eucalyptus livida.
“The female had these incredible little horns on her face. When writing up the new species description I was watching the Netflix show Lucifer at the time, and the name just fit perfectly. I am also a huge fan of the Netflix character Lucifer so it was a no-brainer.
A female Megachile Lucifer.
“DNA barcoding confirmed the male and female were the same species and that it didn’t match any known bees in DNA databases, nor did the specimens I had collected morphologically match any in museum collections.
“It’s the first new member of this bee group to be described in more than 20 years, which really shows how much life we still have to discover – including in areas that are at risk of mining, such as the Goldfields.”
Dr Prendergast said the discovery highlighted the importance of understanding native bees before their habitats are disturbed.
“Because the new species was found in the same small area as the endangered wildflower, both could be at risk from habitat disturbance and other threatening processes like climate change,” Dr Prendergast said.
“Many mining companies still don’t survey for native bees, so we may be missing undescribed species, including those that play crucial roles in supporting threatened plants and ecosystems.
“Without knowing which native bees exist and what plants they depend on, we risk losing both before we even realise they’re there.”
Dr Kit Prendergast
The publication of the research coincides with Australian Pollinator Week, an annual celebration of the crucial role bees, butterflies and other insects play in maintaining healthy ecosystems and food production.
The research was supported by the Atlas of Living Australia, the Goldfields Environmental Management Group and the USDA Agricultural Research Service.
Research article:
Prendergast KS, Campbell JW (2025) Megachile (Hackeriapis) lucifer (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae), a new megachilid with demon-like horns that visits the Critically Endangered Marianthus aquilonaris (Pittosporaceae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 98: 1017-1030. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.98.166350
Researchers from Nantong University have announced the discovery of four new species belonging to the springtail genus Lepidosira in China, representing the first record of this genus in the country.
Led by researchers Xiaowei Qian, Meidong Jing, and Yitong Ma, the study involved extensive fieldwork in the Yintiaoling National Nature Reserve in Chongqing, a biodiversity hotspot in southwestern China.
Lepidosirawuxiensis sp. nov. A, B. Habitus (lateral view). Scale bars: 500 μm. Credit: Qian et al.
Through COI barcoding and meticulous examination of physical characteristics, the team identified and described four species new to science: Lepidosira apigmenta, L. similis, L. wuxiensis, and L. chongqingensis. These species expand scientific understanding of the diversity and evolution of springtails: tiny, soil-dwelling arthropods that play a critical role in ecosystem health and soil fertility.
In addition to introducing these new species, the study proposes taxonomic updates, including the transfer and renaming of two previously known Chinese species based on their true affinities to Lepidosira. The use of genetic barcoding was key to overcoming the limitations of identification methods based only on colouration, a common but unreliable trait in traditional Collembola taxonomy.
Lepidosirasimilis sp. nov. A, B. Habitus (lateral view). Scale bars: 500 μm. Credit: Qian et al.
The research team also provides an updated identification key for the scaled genera of the subfamily Entomobryinae, further facilitating future studies in the region.
This discovery highlights the richness of endemic species in China and the importance of continued exploration in under-studied habitats. The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Large Instruments Open Foundation of Nantong University.
Original source Qian X, Jing M, Ma Y (2025) First report of Lepidosira (Collembola, Entomobryidae) from China, with description of four new species under the aid of COI barcoding. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 72(2): 341-365. https://doi.org/10.3897/dez.72.153961
Earth’s vast oceanic biodiversity remains largely unexplored, with only a fraction of an estimated two million total living marine species formally named and described. A significant challenge is the protracted delay, often spanning decades, between the initial discovery of a new species and its official publication.
Ocean Species Discoveries was established to address this critical gap, offering a high-quality, data-rich publication platform specifically tailored for concise marine invertebrate species descriptions. This revolutionary approach can significantly accelerate the timeline for new species descriptions, a vital advantage given the escalating threat of human-driven biodiversity loss, which risks species becoming extinct before scientists even know they exist.
The second major collection in the Ocean Species Discoveries had over 20 researchers working together to describe 14 new marine invertebrate species and two new genera from all over the world, including worms, mollusks, and crustaceans. They published their research in a scientific paper in Biodiversity Data Journal, a year after the project’s pilot publication.
“Our shared vision is making taxonomy faster, more efficient, more accessible and more visible,” the team said in their paper.
The newly established Discovery Laboratory at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt proved critical help in describing most of the new species. The Laboratory offers access to integrative research methods such as light and electron microscopy, confocal imaging, molecular barcoding, and micro-CT scanning, making it easy for researchers to produce the high-quality data necessary for robust species descriptions.
The animals studied in this project come from ocean depths ranging from 1 to over 6,000 meters. The deepest-living animal the researchers explored is Veleropilina gretchenae, a new species of mollusk that was recovered from the Aleutian Trench at a depth of 6,465 meters. It is one of the first species in the class Monoplacophora to have a high-quality genome published directly from the holotype specimen.
Veleropilina gretchenae.
A landmark achievement in this collection is the anatomical description of the carnivorous bivalve Myonera aleutiana, which represents only the second bivalve species documented in detail using solely non-invasive micro-CT scanning. The process generated over 2,000 tomographic images, providing unprecedented clarity on the bivalve’s internal tissues and soft-body parts. This is the first study to offer detailed anatomy information on any Myonera species.
Myonera aleutiana.
Its description also marks a new depth record: it was found at depths of 5,170–5,280 meters, about 800 meters deeper than any other documented Myonera individual.
One of the newly described species honours Johanna Rebecca Senckenberg (1716–1743), a naturalist and benefactor who supported science and medicine, which contributed to the forming of the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research. The amphipod Apotectonia senckenbergae was discovered in a mussel bed at the Galápagos Rift hydrothermal vent fields at a depth of 2,602 meters.
Apotectonia senckenbergae.
Zeaione everta.
Some of the deep-sea inhabitants have curious appearances: the parasitic isopod Zeaione everta exhibits distinctive protuberances on the female’s back that resemble popped kernels of popcorn. The genus name, which derives from the corn genus Zea, reflects this resemblance. Found in the Australian intertidal zone, this species also represents a new genus.
The paper also sheds more light on known deep-sea species such as the tusk shell Laevidentalium wiesei, found at depths of more than 5,000 meters. The researchers found out it was carrying its own secret hitchhiker, a sea anemone attached to the shell’s anterior (concave) side. This is the first time an interaction of this kind is reported in the genus Laevidentalium.
Laevidentalium wiesei.
Research article:
(SOSA) SOSA, Andrade LF, Boyko CB, Brandt A, Buge B, Dávila Jiménez Y, Henseler M, Hernández Alcántara P, Jóźwiak P, Knauber H, Marcondes Machado F, Martínez-Muñoz CA, Momtazi F, Nakadera Y, Qiu J-W, Riehl T, Rouse GW, Sigwart JD, Sirenko B, Souza-Filho JF, Steger J, Stępień A, Tilic E, Trautwein B, Vončina K, Williams JD, Zhang J (2025) Ocean Species Discoveries 13–27 — Taxonomic contributions to the diversity of Polychaeta, Mollusca and Crustacea. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e160349.https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e160349
Ostracolethe penevi, an endemic semi-slug, was described as a new species living in the leaves of northern Vietnam’s moisture-loving shrubs and grasses
Pensoft is delighted to announce that a new species of semi-slug was named after our CEO and founder, Prof. Lyubomir Penev.
Endemic to Vietnam,Ostracolethe penevi was described as new to science in a study in ZooKeys’1249th issue.
“The new species is named after Prof. Dr Lyubomir Penev for his incredible contribution to the reputation of Bulgarian science and his tireless, friendly support over the years,” the authors write in their paper, which was published in Pensoft’s flagship, open-access zoology journal.
ZooKeys’ 1249th issue
In 2023, Dr. Ivailo Dedov of the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Prof. Quang Manh Vu of the Hoa Binh University in Hanoi, and Dr. Tuan Trieu Anh of Vietnam’s Hung Vuong University collected slugs and semi-slugs of the superfamily Helicarionoidea in northern Vietnam.
“About 15 km from Sa Pa town in northern Vietnam, a pure stream of water cascades down from a mountain cleft about 200 meters high. From a distance, the waterfall appears like a silver-white silk ribbon shimmering amid the immense greenery, which is why it is called the ‘Silver Waterfall.’ It marks the beginning of the Ô Quy Hồ Pass—a meeting place for nature lovers, adventurers, and creative spirits alike,” says prof. Vu.
The locality of Ostracolethe penevi Dedov in Vietnam’s Lào Cai Province.
“In my second expedition to Vietnam we managed to collect many slugs and semi-slugs (that have a reduced shell which can’t fit their entire body). Later, in Sofia, when we started identifying our specimens, two species grabbed our attention with their unusual anatomy,” Dr. Dedov explains.
Ostracolethe penevi’s net structure.
“I dissected a specimen that turned out to be a new species, probably of the genus Ostracolethe. In it, I found an unusual structure consisting of eight interconnected ‘Olympic rings’ in two rows whose functions for now remain unknown.”
“When I found out I had a new species, I had no hesitation on the name: Ostracolethepenevi. I had been looking forward to naming a curious species after my friend and PhD supervisor Prof. Lyubomir Penev, a man who made the world look up to Bulgarian science and also changed the way taxonomy and biodiversity information is published worldwide; someone who has helped me a lot through the years.”
“This newly described species deserves a name that reflects the generosity of nature, the advancement of science, and the enduring friendship between Vietnam and Bulgaria,” Prof. Vu adds.
Ostracolethepenevi is about 4 cm long and lives in the leaves of moisture-loving shrubs and grasses. Its slender body is mostly light-yellowish-ocher in colour, with gray-blackish stripes on the neck and yellowish tentacles.
Ostracolethe penevi.
“An unusually structured species dedicated to an extraordinary personality!,” concludes Dr. Dedov.
The other semi-slug the research team explored in their ZooKeys study, Ostracolethe fruhstorfferi, can actually change colours, not unlike a chameleon.
“While I was trying to take a good photograph of a live specimen, placing it on different kinds of surfaces, I found the animal changed colouration depending on the substrate,” Dr. Dedov explains.
“When a specimen was photographed on a stone surface it looked whitish transparent, and only melanin kept the pattern of colouration. The very same specimen photographed on tree bark became more colourful, and pinkish, ocher, brownish, and yellowish colours appeared,” the team write in their paper.
The same specimen of Ostracolethe fruhstorfferi A. On rock surface, and B. On tree bark.
“It turned out that I was observing the first land snail with what is called metachrosis: changing colours for the purpose of blending in with the environment and passive protection,” says Dr. Dedov.
The research team suggests this might be possible thanks to a torus-toroid (doughnut-like) structure described in literature as “enigmatic and with unknown functions.”
“Congratulations on the discovery and formal description of a new species for science—Ostracolethe penevi—named in honor of Prof. Penev, a sincere and esteemed friend of Vietnam, as well as the Founder and CEO of Pensoft,” says Prof. Vu in conclusion.
Research article:
Dedov I, Manh Vu Q, Trieu Anh T (2025) Slugs and semi-slugs of the superfamily Helicarionoidea (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora) collected in North Vietnam during the 2023 Bulgarian Zoological Expedition, with emphasis on the genus Ostracolethe. ZooKeys 1249: 317-338. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1249.155684
Researchers from China just described a new species of mountain lizard from the upper Dadu River Valley in the Hengduan mountains of Sichuan Province.
Since 2018, the research team conducted numerous surveys in the upper reaches of the Dadu River. There, they encountered a lizard species that showed unique characteristics not previously observed among known Diploderma species in the region. Through molecular biological analyses and morphological studies, they confirmed that this was indeed a previously unrecognized species and gave it the name Diploderma bifluviale, referencing the location where it was found: the confluence of two rivers, Chuosijia and Jiaomuzu.
Diploderma bifluviale is the 47th species of Diplodermain China. The genus Diplodermais distributed across East Asia and the northern part of the Indochinese Peninsula.
With a length of 6-7 cm, D. bifluviale has many distinctive features, such as its wheat-coloured tongue and unique coloration. Unlike its closest relatives, it lives in semi-arid shrublands in warm-dry valleys at elevations of 2,100 to 2,500 m, residing in arid shrublands with small leaves and scattered rock piles.
“This discovery highlights the understudied biodiversity of the upper Dadu River,” the researchers say in their paper, which was published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.
Research article:
Liu F, Wu Y, Zhang J, Yang G, Liu S, Chen X, Chang J, Xie Q, Cai B (2025) A new species of Diploderma Hallowell, 1861 (Squamata, Agamidae) discovered in the upper Dadu River valley of the Hengduan Mountains, Sichuan, China. ZooKeys 1251: 17-38. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1251.153705
“During the Siang Expedition, funded by the National Geographic Society and Felis Creations, we arrived in the remote village of Yingku in Arunachal Pradesh, knowing we were stepping into one of the last frontiers of biodiversity in India. What we didn’t know was that tucked among the forests and farmlands was a tiny creature that had never been formally introduced to science until now,” say researchers Dr. A.P. Ranjith (Integrative Insect Ecology Research Unit, Department of Biology, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand) and Associate Professor Dr. Buntika A. Butcher (Integrative Insect Ecology Research Unit, Department of Biology, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand). “On the very first day, we collected a pair both male and female of this amazing, enchanting new species!”
Heinrichiellus natgeo. Photo credit Dr. A.P. Ranjith
Meet Heinrichiellus natgeo, a newly discovered species of parasitoid wasp. The species was described by Dr. Ranjith and Dr. Gavin R. Broad (The Natural History Museum, London, UK), under the supervision of Additionally, genetic data helped them determine the new species’ systematic placement, with the assistance of Dr. Bernardo F. Santos (Center for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany).
Heinrichiellus natgeo. Photo credit Dr. A.P. Ranjith
“The name natgeo isn’t a coincidence – we chose it in honor of the National Geographic Society, whose legacy of exploration, conservation, and storytelling has inspired thousands of people. This discovery is our way of saying thank you for their outstanding commitment to the environment,” Dr. Butcher says.
Despite its small size, this insect plays an outsized role in keeping ecosystems balanced. It is a natural enemy of several pest species, ensuring that nature’s checks and balances continue working quietly in the background.
In the field, the wasp didn’t shout for attention no bright colors or loud buzzing. Instead, it was a patient hunter, seeking out the eggs or larvae of its host species. “It’s a reminder that some of nature’s most important work happens in complete silence,” says Dr. Ranjith Even though the researchers do not yet have biological data, they assume that this remarkable species will play a significant role in the forest ecosystem by helping to regulate insect pest populations.
Heinrichiellus natgeo. Photo credit Dr. A.P. Ranjith
“And here’s a fun twist in the story: we collected both the male and female specimens using a yellow pan trap a deceptively simple tool that works by tapping into parasitoid wasps’ irresistible attraction to the color yellow. It’s fieldwork science at its most charming: a splash of color in the forest that quietly lures in tiny wonders,” Dr. Butcher says.
“Discoveries like this matter not just for the sake of science, but for the health of ecosystems and the future of conservation, particularly in the world’s biodiversity hotspots,” the researchers say in conclusion. ”In a time when species are disappearing faster than we can document them, every new find is both a small victory for biodiversity and an encouragement for more young talents to engage in biodiversity research.”
Landscape view of Yingku village in Arunachal Pradesh. Photo credit Sandesh Kadur/Felis Images.
Alongside this, the researchers also uncovered two more new species, Heinrichiellus brevispinus from Thailand and Heinrichiellus vedani from South India. These exciting finds remind us that India and Thailand still hold countless hidden treasures of biodiversity, waiting to be discovered. They published their study in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research.
Research article:
Ranjith AP, Broad GR, Santos BF, Butcher BA (2025) First report of the genus Heinrichiellus Tereshkin, 2009 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae) from the Oriental region with the description of three new species. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 98: 757-778. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.98.158760
About the Research team:
Dr. A.P. Ranjith, a post-doctoral fellow at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, is an expert taxonomist specializing in hymenopteran parasitoids, with more than ten years of experience in taxonomy and systematics. He has described over 100 species and 11 genera new to science.
Dr. Gavin R. Broad, based at the Natural History Museum, UK, has several decades of experience in the phylogeny and systematics of ichneumonid parasitoid wasps. He has described several hundred new species and numerous new genera.
Dr. Bernardo F. Santos, from the Museum für Naturkunde, Germany, possesses extensive knowledge of the evolution and phylogeny of parasitoid wasps, with a strong background in parasitoid taxonomy.
Dr. Buntika A. Butcher, who supervised the study, is an Associate Professor at Chulalongkorn University. She is an experienced researcher with strong expertise in the taxonomy and systematics of braconid parasitoid wasps and their biology.
The team focuses primarily on documenting biodiversity in understudied countries such as India and Thailand, while raising awareness of the ecological importance of insect diversity.
European Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) are generally considered well-known and thoroughly researched. Nevertheless, researchers discover new species every year; most of which are inconspicuous, so-called ‘cryptic’ species, previously overlooked.
Colourful species, on the other hand, have been largely catalogued in Europe as they attract a lot of attention, which made the surprise and delight at the discovery of an extraordinarily striking, and previously unnamed, moth all the greater.
Ingrid-Maria’s carcina (Carcina ingridmariae). Credit: Peter Huemer/Ferdinandeum.
A newly discovered, pink species has now been named Carcina ingridmariae by Peter Huemer, a scientist at the Tyrolean State Museum Ferdinanduem (Innsbruck, Austria). Huemer published his discovery in the open-access journal Alpine Entomology.
According to current knowledge, the moth is widespread in the eastern Mediterranean region: distributed from Croatia across large parts of Greece and Cyprus to Turkey. However, more detailed studies on its distribution are still pending.
Seemingly unmistakable
Ingrid-Maria’s carcina belongs to a species-poor group of butterflies. In Europe, there is only one other species of the same genus, the oak carcina (Carcina quercana).
The oak carcina (Carcina quercana). Credit: mazzeip via iNaturalist.
This widespread moth was described as early as 1775 by the famous naturalist Johann Christian Fabricius based on specimens from Saxony, and is distributed from North Africa across large parts of Europe to the Balkans.
Due to its unusual colour, the species has always been considered unmistakable. In fact, it is so popular even among amateur researchers that it adorns the cover of an important British identification book.
But, hiding in plain sight, was a second species, mistaken for the oak carcina for more than 100 years.
As a result of its apparent unmistakability, Carcina ingridmariae was always misidentified and was first published – incorrectly – as the oak wood carcina from Crete in 1916.
Habitat of Carcinaingridmariae in north Cyprus (eastern part of Five Finger Mountains near Kantara). Credit: Peter Huemer/Ferdinandeum.
It was only the introduction of new molecular identification methods that put researchers at the Ferdinandeum on the trail of the nameless moth. DNA barcodes, also known as genetic fingerprints, showed huge differences of more than 6% between the two species.
Subsequent morphological examination of the sexual organs led to the famous “wow” effect. And, upon closer inspection, the two species could not be confused at all, despite the confusingly similar external appearance of the species: namely, a wingspan of about 2 centimeters, a pink base colour with yellow spots, and strikingly long antennae.
A special gift for a 42nd wedding anniversary
Peter Huemer has described more than 200 species from Europe in 35 years, but is particularly enthusiastic about this new species. He said: “It is without doubt the prettiest species I have encountered in my long scientific career, even though it was still unnamed.”
It was therefore obvious to Huemer that he should dedicate the new species to his wife, Ingrid Maria, on their 42nd wedding anniversary. The researcher justifies this choice of name above all with his wife’s decades of support for his work.
Original source
Huemer P (2025) The supposedly unmistakable mistaken: Carcina ingridmariae sp. nov., a surprising example of overlooked diversity from Europe and the Near East (Lepidoptera, Peleopodidae). Alpine Entomology 9: 51-63. https://doi.org/10.3897/alpento.9.158239
So, when researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) discovered a new limpet species deep below the northwestern Pacific Ocean, it should come as no surprise that they looked to a nautical manga series for inspiration.
Photograph of the new species with a clear feeding trail behind. Credit: Chen et al.
Published as a new species in the open-access journal Zoosystematics and Evolution (follow the journal on Bluesky here), the deep-sea limpet was found on hard volcanic rock 500 kilometres southeast of Tokyo at a depth of almost 6 km, the deepest known habitat for any true limpet (subclass Patellogastropoda).
The gastropod measures up to 40.5 mm in shell length, which is a remarkably large size for a true limpet from such depths and another source of inspiration for the species’ name.
So, what is that name?
The research team named the new species Bathylepeta wadatsumi, which is both a reference to Wadatsumi, the god of the sea in Japanese mythology, and the character “Large Monk” Wadatsumi, from the manga series ONE PIECE.
“Large Monk” Wadatsumi. Credit: One Piece Wiki.
In ONE PIECE,”Large Monk” Wadatsumi is a giant fish-man and a member of the Sun Pirates. To avoid spoilers, that’s all we will say about the character, but as far as the reference goes: Wadatsumi is big, the limpet is big, and the authors love ONE PIECE.
So much so, that they paid further homage to the world’s most popular manga series in the acknowledgements section of their paper, writing:
“We also take this opportunity to salute Eiichiro Oda for continuing to chart the epic voyage of ONE PIECE (1997–), which reminds us that the greatest voyages are driven by freedom, camaraderie, and an insatiable thirst for discovery.”
Their own discovery was made possible by access to sophisticated submersible technology.
The new species was collected using the crewed submersible DSV Shinkai 6500, making it the first time a member of the genus Bathylepeta has been observed and photographed live on its natural rocky substrate, rather than being dredged using a net. The use of submersibles is instrumental in accessing these habitats, allowing for direct observation and collection of previously overlooked organisms.
JAMSTEC’s DSV Shinkai 6500 submersible.
“Even in an age of sophisticated remotely operated vehicles, there’s often an edge to the human eye on the seafloor. Crewed submersibles like Shinkai 6500 let us explore with intention and nuance—spotting lifeforms like Bathylepeta wadatsumi that might otherwise be missed entirely.”
Dr Chong Chen, lead author.
Beyond its taxonomic significance, the study has broader ecological implications as B. wadatsumi appears to graze on sediment layers over rock, indicating a specialised role in processing organic matter in deep-sea ecosystems.
The findings underscore the need for more comprehensive explorations of rocky abyssal habitats using submersibles to reveal the true diversity and distribution of Bathylepeta and other animals relying on such habitats.
While it remains to be seen whether Luffy and co. will ever find the “One Piece,” we can be sure that their adventures will continue to inspire researchers in their own journies of discovery.
Original source
Chen C, Tsuda M, Ishitani Y (2025) A new large-sized lepetid limpet from the abyssal northwestern Pacific is the deepest known patellogastropod. Zoosystematics and Evolution 101(3): 1249-1058. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.156207
Cover image credit: Limpet photograph: Chen et al.; Illustration: ONE PIECE (TV series) Toei Animation.
