Vampire hedgehog, pygmy horn horse, “blob-headed” fish among new species identified in 2024 Blogging Sole

A vampire hedgehog, a pygmy hornhorse and a “blob-headed” fish were among hundreds of new species identified in 2024.

The variety of species identified was quite eclectic, and the names of the new species covered a wide range of locations and formations – some even being inspired by politicians or celebrities.

A new species of plant bug has been named in honor of Vice President Kamala Harris (P. kamalaharrisae) and another after Harrison Ford (P. Harrisonfordi) for their commitment to climate science and conservation, said Brad Balukjian, a researcher at the California Academy of Sciences who introduced 17 new species into the Pseudoloxops family originally from French Polynesia.

Actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio has named a new species of snake after him. Researchers discovered the small copper snake in the Himalayas and named the species Anguiculus dicaprioi.

Places where scientists discovered these species included Peru, the Ecuadorian Amazon, and the Greater Mekong region of South Asia. California Academy of Sciences declared that their scientists had made discoveries on six continents and three oceans, which made it possible to describe 138 new animal, plant and fungal species.

“The discovery and description of new species is essential to understanding our planet’s biodiversity and protecting it from further losses,” said virologist Shannon Bennett, chief scientific officer of the California Academy of Sciences.

The number of new species identified in 2024 cannot be counted or determined by a single list. Researchers present their results in various articles, conferences and within the scientific community. Inclusion is made more delicate because discoveries can be made by anyone, anywhere, but by describing and identifying a new species requires a scientific approach.

This process involves studying and analyzing the new specimen and similar organisms, then giving the species a new name. A species may be discovered, but it will not necessarily be described until years later.

Bennett told CBS News that when scientists describe a new species, they compare it to “an exit ball.” For the first time, Bennett said, the species is correctly identified and finally has its place in the world.

Regardless, Bennett said that “scientists estimate that we have identified only a tenth of all species on Earth.”

Here are some of the highlights of 2024.

Vampire hedgehog, a soft-furred hedgehog with “fang-like teeth”

According to a WWF report234 species were identified this year in the Greater Mekong region, which includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Among them was Macarong Hylomysa vampire hedgehog. The hedgehog with its soft fur and fang-like teeth inspired its scientific name. The word Ma cà rồng means “vampire” in Vietnamese.

First photographed in 2009 in the wild in Vietnam by a team from the Vietnamese Russian Research Center, the vampire hedgehog was identified as a new species as part of an international effort to revise the taxonomy of small gymnures, a indicated the WWF.

The specimens that contributed to the description of the vampire hedgehog were held at the Smithsonian, researcher Arlo Hinckley told WWF. He stressed the importance of preserving specimens collected in “poorly sampled regions” so that “the next generation” of researchers can make new discoveries that may have been overlooked.

Pygmy bagpipe horse, found off the coast of South Africa

Researchers at the California Academy of Scientists knew they might discover something new after local divers in South Africa’s Sodwana Bay told them about an unknown species. But scientists feared they wouldn’t be able to spot the tiny pygmy pipe horse, about the size of a golf tee.

“South African reefs present notoriously difficult diving conditions, with harsh weather conditions and intense, rough waves. We knew we only had one dive to find them,” said the scientist and co- author of the study, Richard Smith. in a press release earlier this month.

But Smith and Graham Short – the scientist who originally described the genus of the pygmy pipe horse Cylix in 2021 – have not been discouraged, according to the academy. The pygmy hornhorse was originally found in the cool, temperate waters surrounding the North Island of New Zealand. The discovery of a new species in subtropical waters has expanded the group’s range.

“Fortunately, we spotted a female camouflaged against sponges about a mile offshore on the sandy ocean floor,” Smith said in the news release.

They named the new species of pygmy horn horse C. nkosibased on the local Zulu word for “chief,” the academy said.

A “round-headed” fish baffles researchers

Of the eight new fish species identified this year in the Alto Mayor region of Peru, the most shocking was the “roundhead fish.” according to a report published this month by the nonprofit group Conservation International.

During the summer of 2022, researchers from the group’s Rapid Assessment Program conducted a biological survey in a largely unstudied area of ​​the central Alto May region and discovered what was later determined to be at least 27 species new to science and 49 species threatened with extinction. , according to the IUCN Red List.

Among those who were new was a “round-headed fish” in the Chaetostome genus, which includes the spiky-mouth armored catfish. The team’s fish farmers had never seen a fish with an enlarged teardrop-shaped head, Conservation International said.

“The function of this unusual structure remains a mystery,” the researchers said in a statement.

However, the species was already familiar to the Awajun indigenous people who worked with the rapid assessment program, the researchers said.