New Species News

February 1, 2025

Top Headlines

The Dark Side of the Ocean: New Giant Sea Bug Species Named After Darth Vader

Jan. 14, 2025 — A newly discovered giant isopod has been named after Darth Vader of Star Wars, inspired by his iconic and distinctive helmet. The 32.5 cm-long sea bug, known as a 'supergiant' was found off the coast ...

Underwater Mud Volcanos Are a Haven for Marine Organisms

Jan. 27, 2025 — One would think that a volcano was not the most hospitable place for living organisms. However, the Borealis Mud Volcano, at 400 m water depth, acts as a sanctuary for a number of marine ...

How Camellias Evolved With the Formation of the Japanese Archipelago?

Jan. 26, 2025 — Japan Sea element plants are generally thought to have evolved from closely related species on the Pacific side. Camellia japonica and Camellia rusticana were also believed to follow this pattern. However, a new study revealed that their origins ...

New Tool Enables Phylogenomic Analyses of Entire Genomes

Jan. 23, 2025 — Electrical engineers have developed a better way to perform the comparative analysis of entire genomes. This approach can be used to study relationships between different species across geological time scales. This new approach is poised to unlock ...

Latest Headlines

updated 8:15pm EST

Plant's Name-Giving Feature Found to Be New Offspring-Ensuring Method

Jan. 23, 2025 — 130 years after a fungus-eating plant received its name, a researcher has uncovered the purpose of the structure that inspired its name -- revealing a novel mechanism by which plants ensure ...

Ecologists Reveal Key Genetic Insights for the Conservation of Iconic Cockatoo Species

Jan. 13, 2025 — Ecologists have made valuable discoveries that could transform the conservation of two iconic cockatoo species: the Sulphur-crested cockatoos and the ...

Ecologist Highlights Critical Gaps in Global Wildlife Trade Monitoring

Jan. 14, 2025 — Using 22 years of LEMIS data, a recent study explores the dimensions of wildlife trade and obtain one of the most comprehensive overviews to date. The study reveals striking findings: between 2000 ...

Wind Turbines Impair the Access of Bats to Water Bodies in Agricultural Landscapes

Jan. 13, 2025 — Bats depend on open bodies of water such as small ponds and lakes for foraging and drinking. Access to water is particularly important for survival ...

Nearly 30,000 Wild Species Identified in US Trade Data

Jan. 9, 2025 — International research has found almost 30,000 wild species have been traded in the United States, according to data captured by US wildlife trade monitoring organization Law Enforcement Manage ...

Striking New Moray Eel Discovered in Central Indo-Pacific River Mouths, Named After God of the Underworld

Dec. 30, 2024 — A new species of black, slender moray eel has chosen the road less traveled, thriving in dim and muddy river mouths, unlike most of its marine ...

It's Complicated: Researchers Discover Unexpected Complexity of Sexual Differentiation in African Clawed Frog

Dec. 16, 2024 — Researchers have uncovered unexpected diversity in the genetic processes that determine the sex of the African clawed frog, a significant discovery ...

Botanists Name Beautiful New Species of 'Lipstick Vine' from the Philippine Rainforest

Dec. 12, 2024 — Scientists have today announced the discovery of a species of lipstick vine completely new to science, from the depths of the Philippine rainforest. ...

Australia's Extinction Tally Is Worse Than We Thought

Dec. 11, 2024 — A new study estimates that more than 9000 insects and other native invertebrates have become extinct in Australia since European arrival in 1788 and between 1-3 additional species become extinct ...

New Ocean Predator Discovered in the Atacama Trench

Dec. 9, 2024 — Characterized by darkness and intense pressure, the ocean's hadal zone seems uninhabitable, yet dozens of unique organisms call it home. Each species discovered there adds a crucial piece to the ...

New Fungal Species Named in Honor of Sir David Attenborough Making Zombies of Cave Spiders on the Island of Ireland

Jan. 29, 2025 — A recent study investigated the identity of a fungus found on a spider during filming of the BBC Winterwatch series in Northern ...

Conservation Paradox: Invasive Species Are Often Threatened in Their Native Range

Dec. 6, 2024 — Non-native species introduced by humans are among the main causes of global species decline -- they were partly responsible for 60 percent of the species that have become extinct worldwide in recent ...

Island Biodiversity Rides on the Wings of Birds

Dec. 3, 2024 — Bird wing shape -- a proxy for long-distance flying ability, or dispersal -- is a trait that influences biodiversity patterns on islands around the world, according to ...

Peat-Bog Fungi Produce Substances That Kill Tuberculosis-Causing Bacteria

Dec. 3, 2024 — An analysis of fungi collected from peat bogs has identified several species that produce substances toxic to the bacterium that causes the human disease tuberculosis. The findings suggest that one ...

Shells, Teeth and Bones of 'Weird and Wonderful Organisms' Provide Historical Environmental Clues

Nov. 27, 2024 — A groundbreaking international study shows how chemical fingerprints left by 'underappreciated' aquatic organisms could help scientists monitor global environmental ...

Brains Grew Faster as Humans Evolved

Nov. 27, 2024 — Brain size increased gradually within each ancient human species rather than through sudden leaps between ...

Under-Ice Species at Risk as Arctic Warms

Nov. 26, 2024 — 'Specialist' lifeforms that live under Arctic sea ice are at risk as the ice retreats, new research ...

New Model Can Help Understand Coexistence in Nature

Nov. 18, 2024 — Different species of seabirds can coexist on small, isolated islands despite eating the same kind of fish. A researcher has been involved in developing a mathematical model that can be used to better ...

Biodiversity in the City: Designing Urban Spaces for Humans and Animals

Nov. 15, 2024 — Animals and plants also live and thrive on public squares. This creates opportunities for greater biodiversity and well-being for the human population. Researchers have studied at 103 locations in ...

New Species Discovered With Refined DNA Technology

Nov. 13, 2024 — Sometimes plants are so similar to each other that the methods developed by 18th century scientist Carl Linnaeus for identifying species are not enough. Completely new species of daisies have been ...

More Than One Third of Vietnam's Mammal Species Are at Risk of Extinction, Study Finds

Nov. 12, 2024 — A recent study highlights that over one-third of Vietnam's 329 mammal species are threatened with ...

The Shellowship of the Ring: Two New Snail Species Named After Tolkien Characters

Nov. 11, 2024 — Researchers have named two newly discovered freshwater snail species from Brazil after characters from The Lord of the ...

Deep-Sea Corals Are Home to Previously Unknown Bacteria With Extremely Small Genomes

Nov. 8, 2024 — A research team has discovered two remarkable species of bacteria in the tissue of two deep-sea corals from the Gulf of Mexico. These previously unknown symbionts of the corals have an extremely ...

The Egg or the Chicken? An Ancient Unicellular Says Egg

Nov. 6, 2024 — Chromosphaera perkinsii is a single-celled species discovered in 2017 in marine sediments around Hawaii. The first signs of its presence on Earth have been dated at over a billion years, well before ...

Evolutionary Paths Vastly Differ for Birds, Bats

Nov. 1, 2024 — New research has found that, unlike birds, the evolution of bats' wings and legs is tightly coupled, which may have prevented them from filling as many ecological niches as ...

12 New Oriental Weevil Species Discovered Using Advanced Imaging Tools

Oct. 29, 2024 — Two of these new species are present in Japan: Aphanerostethus magnus (Oo-daruma-kuchikakushi-zoumushi) and Aphanerostethus japonicus (Nippon-daruma-kuchikakushi-zoumushi). One of these, ...

Move Along, Moose: Study Reveals the 'Most Canadian' Animals

Oct. 25, 2024 — What is the 'most Canadian' animal? Spoiler: it's not the beaver, or the moose. A new study ranks species of terrestrial vertebrates in Canada by their level of Canadian evolutionary ...

Human Actions Likely Cause Insect Color Change

Oct. 24, 2024 — New Zealand's native stoneflies have changed colour in response to human-driven environmental changes, new research shows. The study provides arguably the world's most clear-cut case of ...

Crustacean With Panda-Like Coloring Confirmed to Be a New Species

Oct. 24, 2024 — Decades after it was first found in Japan, a crustacean species with unique black-and-white coloring resembling a panda has been confirmed to be new to ...

Marri Trees a Lifeline for Many Native Bee Species in Biodiversity Hotspot

Oct. 24, 2024 — New research has revealed Marri trees are critical to the survival of more than 80 species of native bee in Western Australia's South West region, which is one of the world's most ...