The Arizona State University's Institute for Species Exploration has released their much anticipated picks for the top ten best new species discovered in the last year. From a rhinosaurus beetle that looks like a Pixar character to a fruit bat the fills in some evolutionary holes, this list supposedly has it all.
O Magazine called hot pink centipedes the MUST HAVE accessory for the summer.
Taking a cue from the Brother's Bleiman, the ASU Top Ten List sometimes attempts to combine humor with science...By clicking on the link below, you will see that it fails.
Click here to view the top ten list.
Also, according to their website, here were the official rules for the contest:
"An international committee of experts, chaired by...
...Dr. Janine Caira of the University of Connecticut selected the Top 10 New Species....The Caira Committee had complete freedom in making its choices and developing its own criteria from unique attributes of or surprising facts about the species to peculiar names."
Hmm...very scientific. No wonder some of the year's sweetest creatures didn' t make the list! For example, this frogfish whose eyes are in the front of its face like a mammel; and what about this GIANT SHREW that is the size of a house cat!? Yeah, no biggie; And why for any reason would a brand new, 9 foot-long, spitting cobra, who has enough poison to kill 20 people or an elusive tiny dwarf, Amazonian, river manatee make the list? They're only ridiculously sweet.
Does anyone else know of any amazing species who didn't make ASU's convoluted list? We may have to compile a Top Ten List of our own...
Special thanks to Nick "Zorak" Van Der Horst for discovering this list...
Life Science
Comments
For what it's worth, I don't think the dwarf manatee meets all the criteria for valid publication yet (the description has only appeared online and not in a permanently archived journal). So it might be eligible for inclusion in next year's list.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor | May 27, 2008 7:13 PM
That pink centipede seems to be a millipede doing an excellent centipede impression -- the two pairs of legs per segment are a giveaway!
Posted by: Julie Stahlhut | May 28, 2008 8:26 PM
Excuse me? A blue freaking earthworm? Need I even say more?
Posted by: kevin z | May 28, 2008 11:39 PM
I never knew Schiaparelli designed a centipede/millipede line!
Whodathunkit?
Posted by: themadlolscientist | May 29, 2008 1:24 AM
p.s. I agree with kevin z. The blue earthworm should have been on the list. We wuz ROBBED, I tell you!
Posted by: themadlolscientist | May 29, 2008 1:28 AM
While I appreciate their inclusion of the plant kingdom (I know that gets no points from you zoo folks) Tecticornia just looks like a bigger version of the very common Salicornia. Which is a cool plant, don't get me wrong, what with the salt sequestering and all, but why not go with an algae that's a missing link to malaria?
Posted by: Kate | May 30, 2008 2:15 PM