TOP ROW (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT): NOAA , GEORGE POINAR JR, RICK WHERLEY; BOTTOM ROW: SUMUKHA J. N., MBARI, AMNH/TODD MARSHALLBetween living and extinct organisms, the number of species that live(d) on Earth likely exceeds 10 million. So far, only about 2 million are known. But every year, researchers are identifying new species, as they comb through museum archives, measure genetic variation among and between populations presumed to be of the same species, or discover new fossils that shed light on the planet’s past. Rethinking how we define species can also affect species estimates. A recent interrogation of bird species—more than 95 percent of which were thought to have been identified—found that using morphological measurements split species, on average, into two—doubling the predicted number of avian species.
This year’s new species include a Tyrannosaurus rex relative as well as another, unrelated dinosaur with a large body and short arms (and at least 10 other new species of dinosaurs and ancient reptiles); a bacterium that can break down plastic, and another that can cause Lyme disease; an extinct river dolphin; and four living giraffe species that could complicate efforts to conserve the animals, which were recently listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
IMAGE BY RICK WHERLEYHere are some of the other new species of 2016 that The Scientist also found noteworthy:
As US President Barack Obama prepares to leave the White House, he can rest assured that his name will live on in a new genus of parasitic flatworm, which infects turtles in Malaysia. The proposed name: Baracktrema obamai.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg doesn’t have to be jealous of Obama’s flatworm; scientists gave her a praying mantis. Identified using a new classification system based on female genital structures, Ilomantis ginsburgae is a new species ...
