So many creatures live around us yet we haven’t known them all. Every so often people manage to discover a new species. This is such a collection were the discoveries have been made very recently.
1. Lesula Monkey
It was first spotted in Lomami basin, Congo in 2007. It is only the second new species of monkey found in Africa in the past 28 years.
2. Bird-Eating Spider
This is a recently discovered species that was first officially recorded in Guyana in 2006. Regardless of the reference to birds in its fear-inducing name, it actually prefers lizards and small mammals. It can also turn the tables on certain venomous snakes by actually consuming them.
3. World’s tiniest vertibrate
This newly described frog lives among the leaf litter on the floor of New Guinea’s rainforest. The adults are only about 7.7 millimeters big.
4. Jade
Jade is the name given to a green lacewing which was first discovered when somebody uploaded it to flikr and later experts described it to be a new species in 2012.
5. Garuda Wasp of Indonesia
In 2011, the first live Megalura Garuda wasps were captured on the island of Sulawesi. As big as they are, they are no match for deforestation, which threatens the future of this recently discovered species.
6. Yeti Crab
This six-inch long decapod hangs out around hydrothermal vents in the South Pacific Ocean’s depths. Their fur-like “coat” inspired the reference to the mythological Yeti. In reality, the “fur” is actually home to unique bacteria that detoxify poisons spewed by the vents. As a result, the Yeti Crab can enjoy the warmth of the vents without suffering a poisoned fate.
7. Red Bearded Titi
In 2008, in a part of the rainforest located in Columbia, the Red-bearded Titi was officially discovered. None too soon, because only a couple of hundred may still remain in the Amazon.
8. Slow Loris
The “Nycticebus Kayan” was acknowledged in late 2012 as being a new species of slow loris. The mask of this entirely new species features dark patches within which their eyes are set. This nocturnal, venomous primate hails from Borneo and is the only venomous primate.
9. Gorgon Head Starfish
The gorgon head starfish, or the basket star, is a cousin to the starfish and is well named — its arms split off its body like alien tentacles. The gorgon head starfish was discovered by scientists from Scotland’s University of Aberdeen while they were studying marine life along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It was caught a half mile down and eats plankton and shrimp.
10. The Sneezing Monkey
Although the monkey was known to the local Inhabitants of Burma for thousands of years, it was not discovered until 2011. The species is known in local dialects of Lisu people as mey nwoah and Law Waw people as myuk na tok te, both of which mean “monkey with an upturned face”.
