Gallery: Top 10 New Species Discovered in 2010
01louisiana-pancake-batfish
Every year, thousands of new species are discovered, and among them are always a few really weird, beautiful or funny plants and animals that intrigue scientists and the public alike. Every year, the [International Institute for Species Exploration](http://species.asu.edu/) at Arizona State University along with an international committee of [taxonomists](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/extinction-of-taxonomists/) — scientists who classify and describe new species — choose their 10 favorites. This year's list includes glowing mushrooms, jumping cockroaches, six-foot-long lizards and bacteria that are slowly eating the *Titanic.* *Images and captions provided by Arizona State University.* __Above:__ Louisiana Pancake Batfish ------------------------- __Scientifc Name:__ *Halieutichthys intermedius* __How it made the Top 10:__ This species was discovered just before the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 and its entire known distribution is in the region of the spill. It is also a remarkably hideous -- in a good way -- animal. It is flat like a pancake, spikey, hops on its fins and has huge bulging eyes. Its discovery and precarious existence due to the oil spill was the lead article on [CNN's website](http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/14/gulf.oil.threatened.species/index.html?iref=allsearch) and a number of other outlets. *Image: Prosanta Chakrabarty/Louisiana State University*
02darwins-bark-spider
Darwin's Bark Spider -------------------- __Scientific Name:__ *Caerostris darwini* __How it made the Top 10:__ This orb-weaving spider builds the largest orb-style webs that are known to science. Webs of this species have been found spanning rivers, streams and lakes with “bridgelines” reaching up to 25 meters (82 feet) in length and total web size reaching up to 2.8 square meters (30 square feet). The silk spun by these spiders has an average toughness of 250 megajoules per cubic meter with the highest measured at 520 megajoules per cubic meter. This makes it “the toughest biological material ever studied, over 10 times stronger than a similarly-sized piece of Kevlar” and more than two times stronger than any other known spider silk. The unusual behaviors of this new species will allow us to understand size dimorphism, mate guarding and self-castration, among other thing. Also discovered in association with Darwin's bark spider was an undescribed symbiotic fly species. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/?attachment_id=61436) [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/?attachment_id=61437) *Images: Matjaž Kuntner/Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts*
03t-rex-leech
*T. rex* Leech -------------- __Scientific Name:__ *Tyrannobdella rex* __How it made the Top 10:__ This *T. rex* leech was [discovered feeding from the nasal mucous membrane of a little girl in Perú](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/04/t-rex-leech/). It is unusual because it is the only known species of leech with a “single armed jaw with such large teeth.” [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/?attachment_id=61443) *Images: PLoS ONE*
04leaproach
Leaproach --------- __Scientific Name:__ *Saltoblattella montistabularis* __How it made the Top 10:__ This new species of cockroach exhibits unusual morphology. It has legs that are highly modified for jumping. Prior to its discovery, jumping cockroaches were only known from the Late Jurassic. This extant cockroach has jumping ability that is on par with grasshoppers. In addition to the leg modifications, it has hemispherical-shaped eyes that protrude from the sides of the head -- instead of kidney-shaped -- and the antennae have an additional fixation point to help stabilize them during jumping. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/?attachment_id=61445) *Images: Mike Picker/University of Cape Town, South Africa*
05eternal-light-mushroom
Eternal Light Mushroom ---------------------- __Scientific Name:__ *Mycena luxaeterna* __How it made the Top 10:__ This new species, collected from some of the last remaining Atlantic forest habitat near São Paulo, Brazil, emits very bright yellowish green light 24 hours per day from its gel-covered stems. DNA sequences of this species -- from 5 gene regions -- are helping us to understand the origin and evolution of bioluminescence in the fungi. Of the estimated 1.5 million species of fungi on earth, only 71 species are known to be bioluminescence and *Mycena luxaeterna* is one of the most visually striking species. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/?attachment_id=61430) *Images: Cassius V. Stevani/Instituto de Química – Univ. de São Paulo, Brazil*
06titanic-eating-bacteria
Titanic-Eating Bacteria ----------------------- __Scientific Name:__ *Halomonas titanicae* __How it made the Top 10:__ This new species of iron-oxide consuming bacteria was discovered on a [rusticle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusticle) from the RMS *Titanic*. Studies show that it sticks to steel surfaces creating knob-like mounds of corrosion products that have contributed, along with other microorganisms, to the deterioration process of the *Titanic*'s metal. This will eventually lead to the *Titanic*'s disappearance. This bacterium could be useful to perform studies related to the disposal of old naval and merchant ships that have sunk in the deep ocean. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/?attachment_id=61431)[](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/?attachment_id=61432) [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/?attachment_id=61433) *Images: 1. Antonio Ventosa and Cristina Sánchez-Porro/University of Sevilla, Spain. 2. Antonio Ventosa/University of Sevilla, Spain. 3. RMS Titanic Inc.*
07orchid-pollinating-cricket
Orchid-Pollinating Cricket -------------------------- __Scientific Name:__ *Glomeremus orchidophilus* __How it made the Top 10:__ This species is the only pollinator of the rare/endangered orchid *Angraecum cadetii* on Réunion island in the southwestern Indian Ocean, representing the first clearly supported case of orthopteran-mediated pollination in flowering plants. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/?attachment_id=61442) *Images: 1. Sylvain Hugel/Université de Strasbourg, France 2. C. Micheneau/Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium/J. Fournel/Université de la Réunion*
08walters-duiker
Walter's Duiker --------------- __Scientific Name:__ *Philantomba walteri* __How it made the Top 10:__ This new duiker from West Africa was first encountered at a bushmeat market. It is a surprising find because the “discovery of a new species from a well-studied group of animals in the context of bushmeat exploitation is a sobering reminder of the mammalian species that remain to be described, even within those that are being exploited on a daily basis for food or ritual activities.” The taxonomic description of *Philantomba walteri* should facilitate research into its ecology and behaviour, as well as its conservation. *Image: Yann Le Bris*
moyd09underwater-mushroom
Underwater Mushroom ------------------- __Scientific Name:__ *Psathyrella aquatica* __How it made the Top 10:__ This is the first report of a mushroom species fruiting underwater. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/?attachment_id=61444) *Images: Robert Coffan/Southern Oregon University*
10golden-spotted-monitor
Golden Spotted Monitor ---------------------- __Scientific Name:__ *Varanus bitatawa* __How it made the Top 10:__ This is a large arboreal frugivorous lizard of the genus Varanus and can only be found in the Northern Sierra Madre Forest, Luzon Island, Philippines. The forest monitor lizard can grow to more than 2 meters (6.6 feet) in length but weighs only about 10 kilograms (22 pounds). It is brightly colored with stripes of gold flecks. Its scaly body and legs are a blue-black mottled with pale yellow-green dots and its tail is marked in alternating segments of black and green. It is quite astounding to think that something this size has eluded biologists that surveyed the area possibly because it spent most of its time in trees. However, it was known to the local hunters and is already a flagship for conservation in the Philippines. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/?attachment_id=61441) *Images: 1. J. Brown. 2. A. C. Diesmos/National Museum of the Philippines*
