Every year new species from every kingdom pop up into our knowledge and repertoire of the wonderful and strange things that inhabit our world. From the bottom of the ocean to the high skies and treetops, there are always new things to be found all over the world. In 2018 these species include plants, microbes, animals and even some extinct marsupial confirmed by its fossil.
Many news portals have already posted their annual list for these several uncovered species; however, this list is usually compiled by the International Institute of Species Exploration, which is part of the state university of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
This list points out several species on our planet, and its main goal is to get attention towards them before they go extinct for our planet’s sake, the picks are based on the decision of an international committee of taxonomists and their picks from an average of 18,000 new species discovered in the previous and ongoing year. It is important to note that even though 18,000 sounds like a big number, an estimated 20,000 goes extinct per year.
Protist (Ancoracysta twista)
This species is a single-celled protist which means it is not an animal plant or fungus, and it is the first of its kind since it does not fit in any known group of protest. It was found on a brain coral located on an aquarium in San Diego, which means its wild origin remains unknown. It also happens to be a predator and it uses a whip-like flagellum to move and feed on other protists.
Dinizia jueirana-facao, forest tree
This Atlantic forest tree is 130 feet tall and it weights 62 tons was located in Brazil and it can be seen at the top of the Atlantic forest canopy, this forest happens to be home to around half of the endangered species in Brazil.
Pseudoliparis swirei, Swire’s snailfish
This sea creature looks like a tadpole more than it looks like a fish. It was found on the Western Pacific Ocean and it lives at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, but this discovery is a milestone for marine biology since it’s the deepest confirmed fish in the sea found to date since it lives between 22,000 and 26,000 feet below the surface.
Xuedytes bellus Cave beetle
This beetle was found in a cave at the Guangxi province in Southern China, a place that shelters many cave beetles. This beetle, however, is named for beauty and as it is usual for cave beetles to not look like beetles, this one happens to have no wings, spider-like legs and no eyes or pigmentation, and more curiously its measure is only half an inch in length.
Sciaphila sugimotoi, Heterotrophic flower
This is our beauty pick for this short list, as this flower has small several blossoms that occur in September and October, it lives in harmony with fungus around it, and it also reaches a height of about 4 inches and it is critically endangered as it was found with only 50 plants in only two sites in the Ishigaki Island.
Source: Business Insider