A newly named stingray that lives in freshwater has joined an
omnivorous rat and a couple of leggy wormlike creatures as part of
the Top-10 New Species for 2017.
Sulawesi root rat
Photo: Kevin Rowe, Museums Victoria
The top-ten list, compiled by the College of Environmental
Science and Forestry (ESF) at the State University of New York,
also includes a tiny spider found in India, a katydid discovered in
Malaysia and a spiny ant from Papua New Guinea. Two interesting
plants also made the list.
It’s often amusing to learn how various critters are first
discovered and ultimately how they are named — sometimes for
fictional characters with similar characteristics.
ESF President Quentin Wheeler, who founded the International
Institute for Species Exploration, said nearly 200,000 new species
have been discovered since the top-10 list was started a decade
ago.
“This would be nothing but good news were it not for the
biodiversity crisis and the fact that we’re losing species faster
than we’re discovering them,” he said. “The rate of extinction is
1,000 times faster than in prehistory. Unless we accelerate species
exploration, we risk never knowing millions of species or learning
the amazing and useful things they can teach us.”
An international team of taxonomists has chosen the “Top 10 New
Species of 2016” from among some 18,000 new species named in
2015.
They include a hominin in the same genus as humans and an ape
nicknamed “Laia” that might provide clues to the origin of humans,
according to information provided by the College of Environmental
Science and Forestry at the State University of New York, which
compiles the list each year.
The list also includes a newly identified giant Galapagos
tortoise, two fish, a beetle named after a fictional bear, and two
plants — a carnivorous sundew considered endangered as soon as it
was discovered and a tree hiding in plain sight, states a news
release from ESF.
The annual list of the top 10 new species was established in
2008 to call attention to the fact that thousands of new species
are being discovered each year, while other species are going
extinct at least as fast.
“The rate of description of species is effectively unchanged
since before World War II,” said Quintin Wheeler, ESF president.
“The result is that species are disappearing at a rate at least
equal to that of their discovery.
“We can only win this race to explore biodiversity if we pick up
the pace,” he said. “In so doing we gather irreplaceable evidence
of our origins, discover clues to more efficient and sustainable
ways to meet human needs and arm ourselves with fundamental
knowledge essential for wide-scale conservation success.”
The top-10 list, compiled by the International Institute for
Species Exploration, is a colorful sampling of the new species
being named by taxonomists. The list comes out each year around
Mary 23 — the birthday of Carolus Linnaeus, an 18th century
botanist considered the father of modern taxonomy.
Descriptions of the “Top 10 New Species of 2016” are taken from
information provided by ESF, which permitted use of the
photographs. Additional information and photos can be found by
following the links below.
Giant Tortoise
Chelonoidis donfaustoi
Eastern Santa Cruz Tortoise //
Photo: Washington Tapia
A research team working in the Galapagos Archipelago of Ecuador
has discovered that two species of giant tortoises — not just one —
co-exist on the island of Santa Cruz. The discovery comes 185 years
after Charles Darwin noted that slight variations in the shells of
tortoises could distinguish which island they were from, which is
among the evidence Darwin used in his theory of evolution.
This particiular giant sundew, a carnivorous plant, is the
largest sundew ever found in the New World. It is believed to be
the first species of plant discovered through a photograph on
Facebook. It is considered critically endangered, since it is known
to live in only one place in the world, the top pf a 5,000-foot
mountain in Brazil.
Fossil remains of at least 15 individuals makes this the largest
collection of a single species of hominin ever found on the African
continent. Once the age of the bones is determined, the finding
will have implications for the branch of the family tree containing
humans.
This tiny amphibious crustacean, discovered in a South American
cave, represents a new subfamily, genus and species of isopod with
a behavior never seen before in its family group: It builds
shelters of mud.
Angler fish // Photo Ted
Pietsch, University of Washington
This two-inch anglerfish — with its odd fishing-pole-like
structure dangling in front — was discovered in the Gulf of Mexico
by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration while
assessing natural resource damages from the Deepwater Horizon oil
spill in 2010. The dangling structure, called an esca, is home to
symbiotic bacteria that produce light in the darkness of the deep
ocean and is presumably used to catch prey.
Ruby seadragon skeleton
Image: Josefin Stiller, Nerida Wilson and Greg
Rouse
The ruby red seadragon, related to sea horses, is only the third
known species of sea dragon. At 10 inches long and living in
relatively shallow water off the West Coast of Australia, it is
notable for having escaped notice so long. The ruby seadragon was
first identified while testing museum specimens for genetics, then
the hunt was on for a living sample.
The scientific name of this tiny beetle, just 1/25th of an inch
long, comes from the fictional Paddington Bear, a lovable character
in children’s books who showed up at Paddington Station in London
with a sign that read, “Please look after this bear.” The
researchers hope the name for the new beetle will call attention to
the plight of the “threatened” Andean spectacled bear, which
inspired the Paddington books. The beetle is found in pools of
water that accumulate in the hollows of plants in Peru, where the
bear also is found.
Artist recreation of new
primate // Image: Marta Palmero, Institut Catalá de
Paleontologia Miquel (ICP)
An ape nicknamed “Laia” lived about 11.6 million years ago in
what is now Spain, climbing trees and eating fruit. She lived
before the lineage containing humans and great apes diverged from a
sister branch that contains the gibbons. Her discovery raises the
prospect that early humans could be more closely related to gibbons
than to the great apes.
Found near the main road in Monts de Cristal National Park, in
Gabon, this new tree species had been overlooked for years in
inventories of local trees, which tended to focus on larger
specimens. The tree grows to only about 20 feet high and is so
different from related members of the Annonaceae family of
flowering plants that it was given its own genus.
This new damselfly, called the sparklewing, is among an
extraordinary number of new damselflies discovered in Africa, with
60 species reported in one publication alone. Most of the new
species are so colorful and distinct that they can be identified
solely from photographs. The name Umma Gumma was taken from the
1969 Pink Floyd album, “Ummagumma,” which is British slang for
sex.
