Some of our favourite new species discovered in 2014
A new species of gecko (Paroedura hordiesi) was found living among the crumbling remains of an old French fort in northern Madagascar earlier this year. Despite first being identified in 2004, a team of researchers conducted additional genetic analysis to determine it was a distinct species. Even though its habitat is just 19 square miles in size, researchers also discovered new species of snake, tree frogs and leaf chameleons.
This one is a little unusual. The discovery of a frog (the Atlantic Coast leopard frog) that coughs instead of croaks...the tiny frog was first spotted way back in 1937 by the ecologist Carl Kauffeld, yet his findings failed to gain backing in the scientific community. Only now have scientists been able to verify that it is new species thanks to running a series of bio-acoustic tests.
In January researchers announced the discovery of a new species of river dolphin (Inia araguaiaensis) in Brazil - the first new discovery of a river dolphin since 1918. Researchers believe the species diverged from river dolphins in the Amazon more than 2 million years ago due to a shift in the landscape. Unlike other river dolphins in Brazil, the newly discovered species has only 24 teeth per jaw, instead of the typical 25 to 29.
In May 2014, scientists announced the discovery of a plant (Rinorea niccolifera) that ate metal. The plant - found in the Philippines - is able to 'eat' one hundred to a thousand times the amount of nickel that a normal plant can devour without being poisoned.
Another species appearing in the list, which was first discovered some time ago - in the case of Dendrogramma enigmatica and Dendogramma discoides some twenty years ago. In 1986, a research cruise picked up samples of these mushroom-shaped organisms in the Bass Strait between Southern Australia and Tasmania. So little was known about the species they were only classified this year!
During 2014 well over 100 new species of ant were described as new to science - our favourite on the list is the Madagascan 'Hero' ant (Malagidris sofina), which displays a unique defensive behaviour known as ‘cliff-jumping’. This is when a lone ant breaks from the colony and sacrifices itself to tackle an intruding ant approaching the nest entrance by grabbing it and throwing it – and itself over the lip of the nest, to their death.
A team from the California Academy of Sciences discovered a tiny elephant shrew (Macroscelides micus). The new species of round-eared sengi, was found in the remote deserts of Namibia, in south western Africa. It is the smallest known member of the 19 sengis. Sengis are more closely related to elephants than they are to shrews!
Four new species of gopher-like rodents were discovered in southern Bolivia. lled tuco-tucos, after the short "tuc tuc" sound of their vocalizations, Ctenomys are small, burrowing mammals. The four new species were found by a research team from the University of Nebraska State Museum after nearly three decades of sporadic fieldwork in the Andes and surrounding lowlands.
An Australian-led expedition discovered three new mammal species in Papua New Guinea. The team utilised more than 40 camera traps on two remote mountains in the Torricelli range, in north-east Papua New Guinea. The Docopsulus wallaby was captured on camera, as well as a “Dumbo” mouse with giant ears, and an antechinus, a sort of shrew-like marsupial.
In September 2014, a NOAA-led research team has discovered a new species of deep-sea coral and a nursery area for catsharks and skates in the underwater canyons located close to the Gulf of Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries off the Sonoma coast. It was the first intensive exploration of California's offshore areas north Bodega Head and the research team monitored waters reaching 1,000 feet deep.
In December 2014 researchers returned from the first detailed study of the Mariana Trench - the deepest place on Earth - aboard Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor. The expedition set many new records, including the deepest rock samples ever collected and the discovery of new fish species at the greatest depths ever recorded at 8,143 metres!