This is the time of year when scientific organizations look at the most amazing new animals, plants, fungi and other species they have discovered in the last 12 months.
“Finding and describing new species is crucial to understanding our planet's biodiversity and protecting it from further loss.” ShannonBennettchief scientist of the California Academy of Sciences, said in: press release announcing the discoveries of 138 new species by scientists in 2024. These species range from a fish called goby that lives in sponges in Indonesian waters to the endangered dahlia in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Bennett said only 10 of the world's species have been discovered so far, and many of them may be important to the ecosystems in which they occur. “We can't protect or care about something we don't know exists.”
Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London reported the discovery of 190 new species in 2024but his list includes both fossils and living organisms, such as the clear-winged moth and the vegetarian piranha, named for its resemblance to the Eye of Sauron in the book The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Meanwhile, Kew Gardens in London and a scientific publisher Pensoft each of them published a list of their 10 favorite discoveries of the past year.
A scroll through 2024's science news also reveals some gems, including the world's largest hummingbird and a new armadillo.
Here are some of the coolest finds.
Gecko “Starry Night”.
This small lizard was found in the Southwest Ghats, a mountain range in India. Announcing the discovery in March, Ishan Agarwal, a researcher with 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 its most iconic paintings, titled Starry Night“
Description of a new species, officially named Cnemaspis vangoghiwas published in ZooKeys magazine. Its publisher, Pensoft, gave it first place on its list The 10 best new genres of 2024. She says they were chosen from among new species described in her journals and were not based on any particular criteria, but were “completely arbitrary” and a “fun way” to look back on the year's weird and wonderful discoveries.
Aphelandra's “Black Soul”.
Despite this plant's spectacular pink flowers and spikes of up to 110 flowers each, Kew Gardens placed it third on its top 10 list. It is found in the dry forests of northwestern Colombia and is related to the zebra mussel, a popular crop from Brazil. Like its relative, the new species, Aphelandra almanegra, “has great potential as a house plant,” wrote Sebastian Kettley and Martin Cheek of Kew Gardens, who compiled the list. “Unfortunately, the clearing of its habitat means it is at risk of extinction.”
Fish “Eye of Sauron”.
The list of the Natural History Museum includes many interesting discoveries, including: a vegetarian piranha called pacu from the Xingu River in Brazil. Scientists from the museum were there to document freshwater animals, including some not yet discovered, that may have been affected by the construction of the reservoir. controversial Belo Monte dam. Rupert Collins, senior curator of fish at the museum, said one of the reasons such dam designs are approved is that they underestimate the number of unique species that could be affected. “We basically don't know exactly what lives in these places,” he said. The new Pacu was named Myloplus Sauron due to its similarity to the Eye of Sauron from the film adaptations of JRR Tolkien's novels directed by Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Cadet clear-winged moth
A girl named Daisy Cadet discovered this unusual moth in her living room in Port Talbot, Wales and posted it on Instagram. One of her followers suggested contacting the British charity Butterfly Conservation, which connected her with the Natural History Museum. Some research eventually revealed that it hatched from a fragment of a seed pod that got stuck in the shoe of Cadet's mother, Ashleigh, a professional photographer, while she was returning home from an assignment in central Guyana. Mark Sterling, a researcher at the Natural History Museum, helped identify this clear-winged moth and name the new species Carmenta brachyclados, announced the discovery in October.
A fish living in a sponge
Scientists from the California Academy of Sciences based in San Francisco discovered 35 new fish in 2024, including a goby from Indonesian waters. Although its close relatives are free-living fish that live on shallow seabeds less than 10 meters deep, a new species Bathygobius Meroa large barrel sponge inhabits deeper waters, 9 to 30 meters below the surface.
The world's largest hummingbird
Although large animals are often easier to spot than small ones, it took until 2024 to discover the world's largest giant hummingbird. It turns out that scientists discovered another species of giant hummingbird. Known species, Giant events in Patagonit breeds along the Pacific coast of central Chile, but disappears after the breeding season. Scientists from the University of New Mexico, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Centro de Ornitología y Biodiversidad in Peru decided to track them by attaching mini GPS backpacks. They discovered that these birds fly high in the Andes, all the way to Peru. There, they spend time among an even larger giant hummingbird, a new species that lives at high altitudes year-round. The new species has been named Patagona Chaska after the messenger of Chaska from the Inca Empire.
New Andean glass frog
The green, translucent frog with lavender eyes was one of two new species of glass frogs found in the southern Andes in Ecuador. Glass frogs are a group of amphibians whose hearts can be seen through their transparent bellies. Buckley's glass frog, found throughout much of the tropical Andes, was considered the most widespread. But new research published in August showed that what was thought to be one species was actually several, with distinct physical characteristics, voices, and genetics. One of the new species, shown above, has been named Marco Reyes' glass frog, Centrolene marcoreyesiin honor of the late renowned herpetologist from the National Institute of Biological Diversity of Ecuador.
Guianan long-nosed armadillo
The new species for 2024 include a range of mammals, including rats, mice and the first new species of armadillo in 30 years. Like Buckley's glass frogs, nine-banded armadillos were thought to have a huge range. However, genetic testing shows that there are actually four species, including one that is slightly larger than the other three and inhabits a part of northeastern South America called the Guyana Shield – the Guyanese long-nosed armadillo, Dasypus guianensis.
A new parasitoid wasp from Texas
While many of these new species have been discovered in rather exotic locations, new creatures are waiting to be discovered even in North American cities. A new species of wasp, Chrysonotomyia susbellifound on the campus of Rice University in Houston. “You don't have to go to a remote rainforest to find new and beautiful things – you just go outside and look,” said Scott Egan, associate professor of biological sciences. The wasp was found inside galls, tumor-like growths created by a gall wasp called Neuroterus bussaeon the leaves of southern live oaks. It belongs to a group of parasitoid wasps that feed on the larvae of other insects, but is the first of its genus known to prey on this type of gall wasp.