TheInternational Institute for Species Explorationfrom Arizona State University (USA) has presented itsTop Ten new animal and plant species discovered in 2009. A carnivorous sponge, a fish with teeth or a spider that weaves gold are some of the animals chosen by an independent committee of taxonomists that has also issued the SOS Report (State of Observed Species), which certifies that 18,225 living species were known in 2008 new to science.
Among the 10 favorites this year stands out thelittle dracula fish (Danionella dracula) found in a stream in Sha Du Zup, between Mogaung and Tanai in Kachin State in Myanmar (formerly Burma). The males of this species have “fangs” similar to canines that are used to fight each other. It is the first case of pseudodental structures in the Cyprinidae family, the most numerous of the freshwater fish.
Other fish of the list are Histiophryne psycheldelica frogfish with a psychedelic design rare and unique among its congeners by its flat face. And the electric fish Gymnotus omarorum , known by its common name Omar clown knifefish . The species is named in honor of Omar Macadar and Omar Trujillo-Cenoz, pioneers in the anatomophysiological study of electrogenesis in the Gymnotus family.
The list also includes a worm discovered on the central coast of California ( Swima bombiviridis ) , which when threatened launches “bombs” that light up for a few seconds thanks to the phenomenon of bioluminescence, and the golden silk weaver spider ( Nephila komaci ) the first Nephila species described since 1879 and the largest to date. Not forgetting a deep-sea carnivorous sponge (Chondrocladia (Meliiderma) turbiformis ).
A sea slug ( Aiteng ater ) that eats arthropods comes from Pak Phanang Bay in the Gulf of Thailand, which is rare since almost all sacoglossal mollusks feed on algae. Its discovery has given rise to a new family called Aitengidae. Also in the ranking is a five-centimeter mushroom ( Phallus drewesii ) that is named in honor of Robert C. Drewes, of the California Academy of Sciences, who has spent 30 years researching organisms on the African island of São Tomé, the place of discovery of this new phallus.
From the plant kingdom comes a charismatic species of plant ( Nepenthes attenboroughii ) , which produces one of the largest urns of the genus, each the size of an American football. It is also carnivorous and feeds on insects and even small rodents that it traps in the liquid contained in its urn. The selection of the 10 best finds of 2009 closes another jewel of the plant kingdom, Dioscorea orangeana, a “extravagant yam” discovered in Madagascar. Its tuberous morphology is not characteristic of Malagasy edible yams, and it exhibits several finger lobes instead of just one.
The TOP 10 has a scientific relevance . Antonio García Valdecasas, the only Spanish member of the committee of experts and researcher at the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC), considers that “from an evolutionary point of view, all organisms that live today are equally distant in time from the root of the tree of life and therefore are just as advanced. Some are more complex than others, but all are the descendants of multiple generations and the evolution on them. And this, what David A. Baum calls ‘tree thinking’ is what that gives an egalitarian conception of life “.
SOS report: we know next to nothing about the species
In addition to his already famous TOP 10, theInternational Institute for Species Explorationhas also issued theSOS report (State of Observed Species). According to this systematic review, in 2008, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 18,225 new living species were known and described. The report also accounts for the latest discoveries of plants, animals, microbes, algae and fungi, and records 2,140 fossil species described as new in 2008. “Most people do not realize how insufficient our knowledge of the species on Earth and the constant pace at which taxonomists explore diversity. We are surrounded by such exuberance of species that it is too often taken for granted, “explains Quentin Wheeler, prestigious taxonomist and director of the International Institute for Species Exploration.
Tribute to Carlos Linneo
The annual announcement is made on these dates in commemoration of the anniversary of the birth of the Swedish zoologist Carlos Linnaeus (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778), who initiated the modern system of classification of plants and animals. The most important work is his Systema Naturae (1735).
So far 1.8 million species have been named, described and classified with the Linnaean system. The scientific community estimates that there are between 2 million and 100 million species on Earth, although there is little consensus in establishing the number close to 10 million.
