Each year, thousands of new species are described. And each year for the last 6 years, the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University chooses its favorite 10. Last year’s top new species—selected for their unexpected features or for their rare or difficult-to-reach habitats and announced yesterday (May 23)—span the globe from South America to Africa to China and include the world’s smallest vertebrate, an itty-bitty flower, and black fungus that threatens ancient cave art.
“For decades, we have averaged 18,000 species discoveries per year . . . [but] we have identified only about two million of an estimated 10 to 12 million living species, and that does not count most of the microbial world,” Quentin Wheeler, founding director of the Institute, said in a press release. “I don’t know whether to be more astounded by the species discovered each year, or the depths of our ignorance about ...
