Newly discovered animal species. Newly Discovered Animal Species Ancient Sea Scorpion

16 PHOTOS and 1 VIDEO

1. Spider acrobat.

Cebrennus rechenbergi on English called the "flick-flac spider". The spider was found by Ingo Rechenberg, a German professor of bionics. The acrobat spider lives in the Irk asz-Szabbi desert in southeastern Morocco. He leads night look life, feeds on moths. During the day, it hides from predators and the hot sun in special burrows that look like long pipes in the sand. When he feels angry, he runs away. This is normal, you say. But the way he does it may really surprise you. He uses the spectacular flick-flac method, that is, he makes a series of acrobatic flips, while developing a speed of up to two meters per second. (Photo: Ingo Rechenberg).

2. Antechinus arktos is a small marsupial found in Australia.

Antechinus Arktos is similar to small marsupial mice, it is nocturnal and feeds mainly on insects. It lives in the highlands in the northern part of Springbrook National Park in the eastern regions of Australia. It has brown-orange fur, a long black tail, and black paws. It was discovered by Andrew Baker. (Photo: Gary Cranitch)

3. Jellyfish Pelagia benovici.

Last fall, fishermen off the coast of Venice began catching hundreds unusual looking jellyfish They had never seen anything like this before. The jellyfish sparkled with a yellow-amber color, which attracted the attention of scientists, who soon classified them as new look jellyfish - Pelagia benovici. (Photo: Fabrizio Marcuzzo).

4. Marine organisms Dendrogramma.

This is probably the most important discovery this year. We are dealing with completely new organisms, about which the only thing that can be said so far is that they are animals. They don't fit the description of any existing type animals. Researchers point out the similarities between these marine organisms, with organisms that existed... 600 million years ago. It is possible that Dendrogramma are descendants of primitive animals belonging to the extinct phylum Trilobozoa. (Photo: Jean Just).

5. A spider that hypnotizes with dance.

Maratus pardus - this cute one little spider belongs to the family of jumping spiders. It is also called the peacock spider, because of its very colorful abdomen, which it bends so strongly that it can spread it over its own head. These spiders were found in the wetlands of Cape Le Grand National Park, in southwestern Australia. (Photo: Jürgen Otto).

6. Gramastacus Lacus.

Gramastacus Lacus is also called the eastern swamp crayfish, as it lives in swamps and lakes on the coast of New South Wales, in the south-eastern part of Australia. They were discovered by Robert McCormack. These are very small crayfish, weighing on average 5 grams and about 2 centimeters long. They differ from other species in that they have very large pointed genital warts. (Photo: Robert B McCormack)

7. Hesperochernes bradybaughi or false scorpions.

False scorpions resemble small scorpions, only without a tail segment with a poisonous needle. That's why they were called false scorpions. These miniature animals, measuring about 3 millimeters in length, are completely adapted to life in a dark cave - they have no eyes. They were discovered in one of the caves in Arizona, in the Parashant protected area, on the northern rim of the Grand Canyon. (Photo: J. Judson Wynne, Northern Arizona University)

8. Frog Rana kauffeldi.

Imagine that this new species of frog was discovered on Staten Island, New York - a densely populated metropolitan area of one of the largest cities in the world. The discovery was made by Jeremy Feinberg. (Photo: Brian R. Curry)

9. Asbestopluma Monticola - carnivorous sponges.

The carnivorous sponges were discovered by a team of researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the Canadian Research Institute. They grow on the ocean floor, close to energy sources such as hydrothermal vents and undersea volcanoes. They appear to be delicate creatures, however, they can engulf their prey and begin to digest it in just a few hours. And after a few days, only an empty shell remains of the victim. The carnivorous sponges were discovered at a depth of 1,280 meters, at the top of the Davidson underwater volcano, off the coast of California. (Photo: 2006 MBARI).

10. Macroscelides micus is a new species of jumpers from the genus of short-eared jumpers.

They resemble mice with long noses, but in fact they are close relatives... of elephants. This new species of animal was discovered and described by a team of scientists led by John Dumbacher.

Interestingly, to study this species, scientists had to travel to the Namib Desert nine times. Each night they set 50 to 200 traps, using peanut butter and oatmeal as bait. In total, they managed to catch 21 different jumpers, of which 15 turned out to be the new species Macroscelides micus. (Photo: Jack Dumbacher).

11. Peruvian toad Rhinella yunga.

The new toad was discovered in the Peruvian rainforest by a Czech-Peruvian-American team of scientists led by Jiri Moravec of the National Museum in Prague. The toad was named Rhinella yunga, and the word yunga in the Quechua language means “warm valley.” The toad lives in central Peru, west of Lima, in the transitional forest zone separating National Park Yanachaga-Chemillén and the Pui-Pui protected forest. These toads live under a layer of fallen leaves. (Photo: Jiri Moravec).

12. Fish Amblyopsis hoosieri.

This new species of cave fish was discovered in Indiana, USA. These pink blind fish have an anus located at the back of their head. :-) Scientists cannot yet explain such an unusual location; after all, it is not without reason that the head and anus in animals, as a rule, are located at a distance from each other. Researchers suggest that perhaps such a system helps these fish reproduce (the female reproductive organs are located next to the anus). Amblyopsis hoosieri inhabit shallow waters in karst caves. (Photo: M.L. Niemiller)

13. Monkeys Pithecia pissinatti.

The discovery of new mammals is an extremely rare event. However, this year scientists discovered five new monkeys in South America. They are called saki - these are small monkeys with long fluffy tails and bare, black muzzles. They live in small groups of 2-9 individuals: usually a pair of adults with several young monkeys. (Photo: Ricardo Sampaio).

14. Gecko Paroedura hordiesi.

Madagascar is inhabited by dozens of gecko species. A German-French team of scientists found another species of this animal, named Paroedura hordiesi, after the German naturalist Freddi Hordiesa. Geckos are nocturnal, as evidenced by their vertical pupils. And their distinctive feature is the square shape of the limbs. They were discovered in the ruins of a French fortress in the north of Madagascar, in the Montagne des Français nature reserve, and according to the scientists' description, the geckos there skillfully blend into the background of the ruins and rocky terrain. (Photo: Frank Glaw).

15. Electrotettix attenboroughi.

This is the only currently non-living species on our list of discoveries, but very interesting from an evolutionary point of view. Electrotettix attenboroughi is a grasshopper discovered by Sam Heads, Jared Thomas and Yinan Wang. Electrotettix attenboroughi lived 18 to 20 million years ago, feeding on moss, fungi and algae. (Photo: University of Illinois).

16. Frog from the genus Micrixalus.

Frogs from the genus Micrixalus are found only in the Western Ghats, mountains in the southern part of India. They are called dancing frogs because of their unusual behavior during mating season. Males, in addition to making noisy sounds, swing their legs in a very interesting way to attract the attention of females, and at the same time manage to drive away other males with their paws. Scientists believe that they appeared on Earth about... 85 million years ago. Unfortunately, this species is in danger of extinction. (Photo: Sathyabhama Das Biju)

Every year, scientists climb into the jungle and descend to the ocean floor, explore lakes and deserts, and revisit museum exhibits in the hope of discovering new species of animals. Thanks to their efforts, we are learning about hundreds of previously unknown living creatures. Last year also was no exception. We have selected some of the most amazing and beautiful animals that were discovered in 2015.

1. Sneezing monkeys

As Fauna & Flora International (FFI) reported in early 2015, a new species of monkey with unusual snub noses has been discovered. primatologists in Northern Myanmar.
It turned out that distinguishing them from other brothers is quite simple: when it rains, drops of water flow into the monkeys’ nostrils, which makes them sneeze loudly. For this reason, during the rainy seasons, sneezing monkeys sit in trees almost all day long with their heads buried in their knees.

2. Dwarf snail

Tiny snails, serendipitously discovered by a group of scientists on the island of Borneo (it is divided between three countries: Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei), are officially recognized as the tiniest in the world. Their shell height is only 0.7 mm, which is 0.1 mm less than the previous record holder - the snail Angustopila dominikae, previously found in China.
A new species of snail, which can only be seen under a microscope, has been named Acmella nana.

3. Terrible bird

In April 2015, a team of French scientists completed an analysis of the perfectly preserved fossil remains. ancient bird, discovered five years ago on east coast Argentina. The creature was classified as a member of the forarokos family, or "terrible birds", and was named Llallawavis scagliai - "the wonderful bird of Scaglia." As scientists have established, the predator's height reached two meters, it had a large hooked beak, and it lived in South America approximately 3.5 million years ago.

4. Hippopotamus vacuum cleaner

In October of this year, on the island of Unashalka (the central part of the Aleutian archipelago), fossils were found belonging to an animal similar to a hippopotamus with tusks and an elongated snout, reminiscent in both appearance and function of a vacuum cleaner tube. According to research, with its help the animal sucked seaweed, grass and other coastal plants.

It is believed that the vacuum cleaner hippopotamus lived off the coast of the North Pacific Ocean from 33 million to 10 million years ago.

5. Leopard peacock spider

In February 2015, the American popular magazine Live Science published material about the leopard peacock spider. A five-millimeter arthropod with a bright spotted color , was discovered by scientists in western Australia. During the mating season, males of this species, in order to attract a female, raise small round brushes adjacent to their abdomen and lightly wave their paws, reminiscent of a peacock with its tail spread.

6. Giant sea scorpion

In September of this year, it became known that paleontologists at Yale University and the University of Iowa (USA) had discovered the remains of the oldest sea scorpion. According to studies, age sea monster, whose length exceeded one and a half meters, is approximately 467 million years old. According to scientists, the predator ate mollusks and eels.

7. Four-legged snake

The remains of the animal, called Tetrapodophis amplectus, were accidentally discovered by a professor at the University of Portsmouth during a tour of the museum in the German city of Solnhofen. It subsequently turned out that the fossil he noticed belonged to a snake about 20 m long with four legs. Amazing creature, as scientists suggest, lived 120 million years ago in northeastern Brazil.

8. Rat with a pig nose and vampire teeth

This October, a new species of rat was discovered in Indonesia. Rodents are distinguished by an unusual nose shape, reminiscent of a pig's snout, and large front fangs, similar to vampire teeth. Louisiana State University Museum Curator Jacob Esselstyn commented discovery: “When I first held this creature in my hands, I immediately knew that we had discovered a new species. I've never seen anything like it."

9. Cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex

In June 2015, during excavations on a beach near the Welsh city of Penarth, the remains of a dinosaur that lived about 200 million years ago were discovered. Scientists were able to find out that the predator was about 50 cm tall, with a tail about 2 m long and sharp, slightly curved teeth. The dinosaur has not yet been given its own name, so in scientific circles and publications it is called “the cousin of the Tyrannosaurus rex.”

10. Striped monitor lizards (Water Monitor Lizards)

Exploring the black market can be a dangerous endeavor, especially in other countries where you stand out as a foreigner and don't have any contacts. But sometimes the risk is worth it. Rafe Brown, curator of the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute, recently visited a black market in Manila, Philippines with his friends and came across two new species of striped monitor lizards. The monitor lizards being sold were genetically exclusive species previously unknown to the world of science. Although most of the lizards' characteristics, such as body shape and size, were similar to others, they are endemic to a separate island and isolated peninsula. Most likely, nothing was known about them for many years.

9. Jumper (Titi Monkey)

If you ask someone to describe Amazonian rain-forest you'll likely hear words like lush, green, vast ecosystem, vegetation cascading like a huge multi-level jadeite palace teeming with thousands of stunning animal species. While this description is certainly true, this wonderful jungle also includes white sand forests. These forests, located on both banks of the Blanco River in Peru, are very rare and occupy only one percent of the entire Peruvian Amazon. Last year, a team from the Field Museum of Natural History documented an astonishing 1,751 new species in the region in 17 days. Among these species is a new species of monkey. According to Corine Vriesendorp, a conservation ecologist, the Skipper is “Either a new species or a previously unknown color variant of the Copper Skipper (Callicebus cupreus.” And you've only been to a gift shop on your vacation!

8. New Indochinese worm

7 Bird Species Documented 15 Years Later

While the Amazon rainforest is favorite place scientific pilgrimage, the Indonesian island of Sulawesi has been largely underestimated for its potential for species discovery, especially in the field of ornithology. The Sulawesi striped tyrant was first spotted in 1997. However, the new species of this songbird was recognized as real only in 2014. In fact, the new species is only distantly related to the gray tabby tyrant for which it was originally thought to be. The new species has shorter wings, a shorter tail, a more curled beak and more subtle sounds than its closest relative.

6. The fororacos or terrible bird from ancient times is still terrifying

We all admired the skeletons of giant carnivorous birds in museums that lived on Earth millions of years ago. They reached 3 meters in height and roamed the plains and mountains, untouched no longer small predators. Scientists recently completed assembling the skeleton, 90 percent of which they found in 2010 in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The aptly named terror bird had unique vocal and anatomical attributes. You can bet that scary birds will be appearing in horror films soon.

5. Tiny and adorable lizards discovered in the Andes

Three new species of lizards that look even more adorable than the dragons from the animated film How to Train Your Dragon have been discovered in the Andes Mountains of Peru and Ecuador. The body length of these lizards ranges from 5 to 10 centimeters, and their curious eyes, richly decorated skin and rows of multi-colored spines make them simply irresistible. Before this discovery, only 12 species of this family were known, with five of them discovered in the last seven years.

4. A miniature frog with a changing skin surface

A frog no bigger than a human fingernail has been discovered in a remote cloud forest in the Andes of Ecuador. The small amphibian, known as the changeable shortmouth, can change the texture of its skin from spiky to smooth right before your eyes, in just a few minutes. It was discovered in Reserva Las Gralarias, a mecca of biodiversity where new species of butterflies and birds were discovered, as well as a species of unique glass frog, back in 2012.

3. Prehistoric crocodile ate shellfish

Species of crocodiles known to science are definitely scary. However, the remains of a crocodile with cone-shaped teeth and a spade-shaped mouth were recently found in the Amazon in northeastern Peru. It is believed that this species of crocodiles lived on our planet about 13 million years ago in the primitive swamps of Peru. According to scientists, this crocodile used its unique mouth to scoop up shellfish on which it fed. The mouth of this crocodile, pictured above, was flat and wide, while the crocodiles we are familiar with have narrow mouths.

2. The ancient owl turned out to be unique

For many years beautiful view The owl remained included in a group of owls called the Great Tawny Owl. It was a victim of misidentification and was incorrectly classified as a golden-eyed desert owl. Scientists rechecked the bird's feathers and body characteristics, as well as its DNA, and found that its DNA was about 10 percent different from that of the great owl. Wow!

1. Replenishment of the group of flickering oonopid spiders

Researchers in Madagascar recently celebrated the discovery of five new species of tiny, flickering spiders. The body length of these small shimmering arachnids varies from 1 to 3 millimeters. They were even classified into a separate genus called Volborattella, based on their unique appearance, including genitalia that were unlike those of their closest relatives. Can you see the difference between the sexes of the spiders shown in the photograph?

Our planet seems completely familiar and studied far and wide. But in the last 10 years alone, biologists have described more than one hundred thousand new species of animals and plants. “Around the World” selected the 20 most interesting

In the news flow, messages appear every now and then about the disappearance of another species, about the Red Data Books and the struggle to preserve species diversity. In fact, taxonomic reference books only swell from year to year: so many new species are discovered that they don’t even have time to properly describe them. And among the discoverers there are not only biologists. Thus, during the filming of Titanic, James Cameron became the “father” of a whole new family of shrimp - simply because the ocean depths are almost unexplored, and almost anyone can become the author of the discovery of a new species. Experts believe that the waters of the World Ocean are home to hundreds of thousands of currently unknown species of fish, mollusks and crustaceans (not to mention protozoa). On land, too, new species are constantly being discovered, and this is not necessarily a small bug or bacterium - a few years ago, say, through DNA analysis, elephants from Borneo were recognized as a separate subspecies.

International Institute for Species Studies(IISE) , located in the American city of Syracuse (New York), since 2008, has annually published a ranking of the 10 most remarkable species of living beings (including extinct organisms) described over the past 12 months. With the help of specialists IISE“Around the World” collected the top 20 over the past decade.

Giant turtle

Chelonoidis donfaustoi

People have been familiar with Galapagos, or elephant, tortoises for a long time: it is known that in the 19th century, Charles Darwin’s observations of different populations of elephant tortoises made the most serious contribution to his theory of evolution. But only in 2015, the population of these animals on the island of Santa Cruz (Galapagos archipelago) was identified as a separate species based on genetic and morphological data. It is named after the caretaker of the Galapagos National Park, Fausto Llerena Sánchez (Don Fausto), who dedicated 43 years to this work.

Scary fisherman

Lasiognathus dinema

In 2015, a new species was discovered in the Gulf of Mexico at a depth of about one and a half kilometers deep sea anglerfish. Like all anglerfish (or monkfish), Lasiognathus dinema- a predator that lures victims to the light at the end of its fishing rod (a modified upper fin with a colony of luminescent bacteria).

Beetle toy

Megaceras briansaltini

Belongs to the subfamily of duplyakov within the family Lamelidae. Discovered in 2008 in Peru (in general, Megaceras found only in South and Central America). Surprisingly similar to the rhinoceros beetle Dim from the Disney film “The Adventures of Flick”, filmed eight years before the opening Megaceras briansaltini.

Psychedelic clown

Histiophryne psychedelica

Discovered in 2008 off the coast of Ambon Island in Indonesia. This representative of the clown family does not actually swim, but jumps along the bottom, pushing off from it with modified pectoral fins (more like paws) and creating jet thrust by sharply throwing water out of the gill slits.

sea pony

Hippocampus satomiae

The tiny seahorse, 1.5 cm long and 1 cm high, was discovered in 2008. Today it is the smallest representative of the needle family. (Syngnathidae). Named after diver Satomi Onishi, who first caught this funny fish. “Pony” lives at a depth of 15–20 meters in the area of Derawan Island (Indonesia). Seahorses viviparous - in particular, there were eight developing embryos in the brood pouch of the caught specimen.

Sneezing Pithecus

Rhinopithecus strykeri

The Burmese snub-nosed monkey was discovered in 2010. Due to the strange structure of the nose, the animal sneezes during rain: water pours into the nostrils, and the poor rhinopithecus has to look for shelter, because with such a nose it won’t take long to choke.

Fire cockroach

Lucihormetica luckae

Perhaps this species has already become extinct, because since 1939 no one has come across new specimens. Lived in Ecuador. On the chest there are two luminescent spots of a bacterial nature. This is the only one famous case protective mimicry using bioluminescence (the cockroach disguised itself as poisonous beetles from the genus of fire-bearing click beetles).

Nanofrog

Paedophryne amanuensi

The frog, endemic to Papua New Guinea, was discovered in 2009, and in 2013 it was recognized as the smallest vertebrate animal on Earth (about 7 mm). It is about 3,000 times shorter than the largest vertebrate, the blue whale.

Darwin's spider

Caerostris darwini

A small (3 to 6 mm) spider living in Madagascar. The surface area of its fishing net (web) can reach almost three square meters. The impact strength of its webs rises up to 520 MJ/m 3, which is twice the impact strength of previously known webs and 10 times higher than the Kevlar material. The spider was found in 2001, but described only in 2009 - this event was timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's book "The Origin of Species" (hence its name).

Raccoon in the fog

Bassaricyon neblina

A funny animal living in Colombia and Ecuador is the only carnivorous mammal, described in the Western Hemisphere over the past 35 years. Belongs to the genus Olingo of the raccoon family. Species Latin name neblina derived from the Spanish "fog" (after the misty mountain forests in which the olinguito lives).

Mega instance

Phryganistria tamdaeoensis

This is not the largest stick insect in the world, it is slightly shorter than the record holder (Chan's megastick insect with elongated limbs reaches a length of 60 cm). However, it was found last year in a national park right next to the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, and not in the wild jungle.

Unfriendly fly

Semachrysa jade

The jade lacewing, which lives in Malaysia, was discovered in 2012 thanks to an amateur photographer who posted a photo of it on social media. Flickr and asked someone to help identify the species. The unusual veining of the wings makes this fly look like a spider ready to attack.

Strong but light monitor lizard

Varanus bitatawa

This large lizard lives in the central part of the Philippine island of Luzon. It lives in the crowns of trees, reaches two meters in length, but weighs only about 10 kilograms. Peaceful, feeds on fruits and snails. Endangered: local tribes actively hunt this monitor lizard for its meat. The species was described in 2010.

Monkey philosopher

Cercopithecus lomamiensis

It was discovered by biologists already in the 21st century (by the way, this is only the second species of monkey found in Africa over the past 30 years). Local residents (Congo) were familiar with it for a long time, called it lesula and enjoyed eating it.

Glowing gastropod

Phyllodesmium acanthorhinum

This one is beautiful gastropod living in the area Japanese Islands, can glow. But what is important for biologists is that in him they have found an intermediate link between gastropods that feed on hydroid polyps and gastropods that prefer a coral diet.

Skeleton goat

Liropus minusculus

Sea goat creature (Caprellidae) amazes with its phantasmagoric appearance. Lives in Pacific Ocean, near the Californian coast. It is difficult to see without a microscope (body length is 2–3 mm). Described in 2013.

Snake deceiver

Sibon noalamina

This dangerous-looking snake (found in Panama) quite peacefully feeds on snails, slugs and earthworms. It protects itself from enemies by coloring, copying the characteristic combination of light and black rings of very poisonous coral snakes. Described in 2012.

Pancake fish

Halieutichthys intermedius

This creature, which resembles a poorly fried lumpy pancake, comes from the bat family. monkfish(this may partly explain her non-standard appearance). The species was first discovered in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The pancake fish does not swim so much as crawl along the bottom, relying on its fins. Predator. It hides, burrows into the soil, and lures prey by releasing substances with a strong odor into the water.

Very slow snail

Zospeum tholussum

By land pulmonary snails(discovered in 2010), living in the darkness of Croatian caves, do not need either eyes or pigmentation of the shell (the height of which is no more than 2 mm). Even by snail standards, they are very slow: they move a couple of centimeters per week.

Photo:Washington Tapia, Theodore W. Pietsch, University of Washington, Brett C. Ratcliffe, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, © 2012 Van Soest et al., Jean Vacelet, Michelle Kelly, Monika Schlacher-Hoenlinger (CC-BY), AP, AFP /East News, Nature PL / Legion-media, Dr. Thomas Geissmann, Peter Vršanský and Dušan Chorvát (CC-BY-SA), Matjazgregoric (CC-BY-SA), Mark Gurney, Dr. Bruno Kneubühler, Guek Hock Ping aka Kurt (Orionmystery) G (CC-BY), (C) 2013 Rafe M. Brown, Arvin C. Diesmos (CC-BY), Maurice Emetshu / © Hart et al / PLoS One, TL2 project / Lukuru Foundation, Robert Bolland, SINC - José Antonio Peñas, ©Sebastian Lotzkat / Enckenberg Gesellschaft Für Naturforschung, Ho, Chakrabarty and Sparks (2010) / NSF, (C) 2013 Alexander M. Weigand, J. Bedek (CC-BY)

Nothing fills a movie theater faster than a film about the discovery of a new species. It doesn't even matter whether the species is friendly or not, whether it jumps out of a person's stomach or remains forgotten by its spaceship(like in the movie "E.T.") People will be happy to watch a film even if a representative of a new species looks scary instead of charming, or if he came to Earth to destroy it or conduct experiments on a couple of earthlings. If a new species doesn't look like a human, it's a safe bet that people will want to look at it.

Despite our fascination with the unusual animals born in the minds of writers, we often forget the new species that actually exist, the ones that scientists discover every year around the world. The voices against genetically modified foods grow louder every year (do people really like watermelons with seeds more?) and drown out reports of new species being discovered, leaving Mother Nature with no credit for her creation of these new creatures.

None of the new species discovered in 2015 were found in the United States, but US residents will be able to see them at science fairs across the country. At least on the Internet you can find hundreds of photographs of these species and in once again marvel at the world's most breathtaking natural wonders.

10. Striped monitor lizards (Water Monitor Lizards)

9. Jumper (Titi Monkey)

If you ask someone to describe the Amazon rainforest, you'll likely hear a bunch of words like lush, green, huge ecosystem, vegetation cascading like a huge multi-level jadeite palace, teeming with thousands of stunning animal species. While this description is certainly true, this wonderful jungle also includes white sand forests. These forests, located on both banks of the Blanco River in Peru, are very rare and occupy only one percent of the entire Peruvian Amazon. Last year, a team from the Field Museum of Natural History documented an astonishing 1,751 new species in the region in 17 days. Among these species is a new species of monkey. According to Corine Vriesendorp, a conservation ecologist, the Skipper is “Either a new species or a previously unknown color variant of the Copper Skipper (Callicebus cupreus.” And you've only been to a gift shop on your vacation!

7 Bird Species Documented 15 Years Later

While the Amazon rainforest is a favorite destination for scientists, the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is largely underappreciated for its potential for species discovery, especially in ornithology. The Sulawesi striped tyrant was first spotted in 1997. However, the new species of this songbird was recognized as real only in 2014. In fact, the new species is only distantly related to the gray tabby tyrant for which it was originally thought to be. The new species has shorter wings, a shorter tail, a more curled beak and more subtle sounds than its closest relative.

6. The fororacos or terrible bird from ancient times is still terrifying

We all admired the skeletons of giant carnivorous birds in museums that lived on Earth millions of years ago. They reached 3 meters in height and roamed the plains and mountains, untouched by smaller predators. Scientists recently completed assembling the skeleton, 90 percent of which they found in 2010 in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The aptly named terror bird had unique vocal and anatomical attributes. You can bet that scary birds will be appearing in horror films soon.

5. Tiny and adorable lizards discovered in the Andes

Three new species of lizards that look even more adorable than the dragons from the animated film How to Train Your Dragon have been discovered in the Andes Mountains of Peru and Ecuador. The body length of these lizards ranges from 5 to 10 centimeters, and their curious eyes, richly decorated skin and rows of multi-colored spines make them simply irresistible. Before this discovery, only 12 species of this family were known, with five of them discovered in the last seven years.

4. A miniature frog with a changing skin surface

A frog no bigger than a human fingernail has been discovered in a remote cloud forest in the Andes of Ecuador. The small amphibian, known as the changeable shortmouth, can change the texture of its skin from spiky to smooth right before your eyes, in just a few minutes. It was discovered in Reserva Las Gralarias, a mecca of biodiversity where new species of butterflies and birds were discovered, as well as a species of unique glass frog, back in 2012.

3. Prehistoric crocodile ate shellfish

The species of crocodiles known to science are certainly scary. However, the remains of a crocodile with cone-shaped teeth and a spade-shaped mouth were recently found in the Amazon in northeastern Peru. It is believed that this species of crocodiles lived on our planet about 13 million years ago in the primitive swamps of Peru. According to scientists, this crocodile used its unique mouth to scoop up shellfish on which it fed. The mouth of this crocodile, pictured above, was flat and wide, while the crocodiles we are familiar with have narrow mouths.

2. The ancient owl turned out to be unique

For many years, the beautiful species remained included in a group of owls called the Great Tawny Owl. It was a victim of misidentification and was incorrectly classified as a golden-eyed desert owl. Scientists rechecked the bird's feathers and body characteristics, as well as its DNA, and found that its DNA was about 10 percent different from that of the great owl. Wow!

1. Replenishment of the group of flickering oonopid spiders

Researchers in Madagascar recently celebrated the discovery of five new species of tiny, flickering spiders. The body length of these small shimmering arachnids varies from 1 to 3 millimeters. They were even classified into a separate genus called Volborattella, based on their unique appearance, including genitalia that were unlike those of their closest relatives. Can you see the difference between the sexes of the spiders shown in the photograph?