See some amazing new species discovered in 2024

It’s the time of year when scientific organizations take a look at some of the most fascinating new animals, plants, fungi and other species discovered in the past 12 months.

“Finding and describing new species is vital to understanding our planet’s biodiversity and protecting it from further loss.” Shannon BennettThe chief scientist at the California Academy of Sciences, A Press release reporting the discovery of 138 new species by its scientists in 2024. These range from a fish called a goby that lives in sponges in Indonesian waters to the endangered dahlia from Oaxaca, Mexico.

So far, only a tenth of the world’s species have been discovered, and many of them may be important to the ecosystems in which they are found, Bennett said. “We cannot protect or care for what we do not know exists.”

Scientists at the Natural History Museum in London Announced the discovery of 190 new species in 2024But its list includes fossils as well as living creatures like the clear-winged butterfly and the plant-based piranha, named for its resemblance to the Stone Age Eye of Sauron. Lord of the Rings Triple.

Meanwhile, Kew Gardens In London and a scientific publisher bensoft Each of them released top 10 lists of their favorite discoveries in the past year.

The 2024 science news release also reveals some gems, including the world’s largest hummingbird and a new armadillo.

Here are a few of the coolest finds.

Gecko “Starry Night”.

This small lizard is found in the South Western Ghats, a mountain range in India. Announcing the discovery in March, Ishan Agarwal, a researcher at the Thackeray Wildlife Foundation, said its back reminded researchers of a famous work by 19th-century Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. “The striking coloration of the new species is reminiscent of one of his most famous paintings, Starry night“.

Description of the new species, officially named Cinemaspace FanjoyIt was published in ZooKeys magazine. Its publisher, Pensoft, gave it first place on their list Top 10 new species of 2024. She says they were chosen from among new species described in her journals and not based on any particular criteria, but that it was “completely arbitrary” and a “fun way” to look at the year’s weird and wonderful discoveries.

Aphelandra “the black soul.”

Despite this plant’s stunning pink flowers and its 110 spikes each, Kew Gardens ranked it third on their top 10 list. Found in the dry forests of northwestern Colombia, it is related to the zebra plant, a popular cultivated plant from Brazil. Like its relative, the new species, Avelandra manegra, “It has a lot of potential as a houseplant,” wrote Sebastian Keatley and Martin Czech of Kew Gardens, who compiled the list. “Unfortunately, the removal of their habitat means they are threatened with extinction.”

Eye of Sauron fish.

The Natural History Museum’s inventory includes a number of interesting finds, including a vegetarian piranha called pacu from the Xingu River in Brazil. Museum scientists were there to document freshwater animals, including some yet to be discovered, that may be affected by the museum’s construction. The controversial Belo Monte Dam. Robert Collins, a senior curator of fish at the museum, said one reason dam projects got the green light is because the number of unique species that might be affected is underestimated. “Basically, we don’t quite know what lives in these places,” he said. The new baku was named Meloplus Sauron Because of its resemblance to the Eye of Sauron, from Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s novel Lord of the Rings Triple.

Cadet Butterfly with clear wings

A girl named Daisy Cadet discovered this unusual butterfly in her living room in Port Talbot, Wales, and posted it on Instagram. One of her followers suggested contacting a British charity called Butterfly Conservation, which linked her to the Natural History Museum. Some investigation eventually revealed that it came from part of a seed pod stuck in the trunk of Cadet’s mother, Ashley, a professional photographer, when she returned home from an assignment in central Guyana. Mark Sterling, a researcher at the Natural History Museum, helped identify it as a clear-winged butterfly and name the new species. Carmenta brachicladus, Announcement of the discovery in October.

A fish that lives in a sponge

Scientists at the California Academy of Sciences, based in San Francisco, discovered 35 new fish in 2024, including this goby from Indonesian waters. While their relatives are free-living fishes that live on shallow seabeds less than 10 meters deep, the new species, Bathgopius Miromakes its home in a large deep-water barrel sponge, nine to 30 meters below the surface.

The largest hummingbird in the world

While large animals are often easier to spot than small animals, it took until 2024 to discover the southern giant hummingbird, which is the largest in the world. It turns out that a different species of giant hummingbird led scientists to the discovery. known species, Patagona gigasIt breeds along the Pacific coast of central Chile but disappears after the breeding season. Researchers at the University of New Mexico, the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and the Center for Ornithology and Biodiversity in Peru decided to track them by attaching small backpacks to a global positioning system (GPS). They discovered that birds fly high in the Andes Mountains, as far north as Peru. There, they hang out among an even larger giant hummingbird, a new species that lives at high altitudes year-round. The new species has been named Patagona Chaski After the Chaski messenger of the Inca Empire.

The new Andean glass frog

The translucent green frog with lavender eyes was among two new species of glass frogs found in the southern Andes of Ecuador. Glass frogs are a group of amphibians whose hearts can be seen beating through their transparent abdomens. The most widespread is thought to be the Buckley’s glass frog, found throughout much of the tropical Andes. But new research Published in August It showed that what was thought to be a single species were actually several species, with distinct physical traits, types, and genetic characteristics. One of the new species, pictured above, has been named the Marco Reyes glass frog. Centrulline Marcoricinamed after the famous herpetologist at the National Institute of Biodiversity in Ecuador.

Guyana long-nosed armadillo

The new species for 2024 include a number of mammals, including rats, mice and the first new species of armadillo in 30 years. Like Buckley’s glass frogs, nine-banded armadillos are thought to have a large range. But genetic tests show they are actually four species, including one that is slightly larger than the other three and lives in a part of northeastern South America called the Guyana Shield – the Guyana long-nosed armadillo, Dacibus joyanensis.

A new parasitic wasp from Texas

While many of these new species have been found in somewhat exotic places, there are new creatures waiting to be discovered even in North American cities. A new type of wasp, Chrysonotomyia sospiliIt was found on the campus of Rice University in Houston. “You don’t have to travel to a remote rainforest to find new and beautiful things, all you have to do is get out and look,” said Scott Egan, assistant professor of biological sciences. The wasp is found inside the galls, a tumor-like growth, created by the so-called gall wasp neurotransmitterOn the leaves of southern live oak trees. It belongs to a group of parasitic wasps, which prey on the larvae of other insects, but it is the first of its species known to target this species of gall wasp.