Still finding new species

These are just a few of my favorite recent discoveries.

A new species of "albino" trapdoor spiders has been discovered in Australia. The aptly named spiders build trapdoors hinged with silk leading into their burrows. When prey walk by, the spiders sense the vibrations and spring out for the attack.

Photo Credit: Volker W. Framenau

This past summer half a dozen new fish species were discovered off the coast of Curacao in the Caribbean. My personal favorite is the deep sea toadfish shown below. You can see some of the other new species here.

Photo Credit: Barry B. Brown, Washington Post.

How about this adorable Vub night frog (Nycyibatrachus vrijeuni), just one of 12 new species of night-frogs discovered in India?

Or this new species of Burrunan dolphin (Tersiops Australis; jumping) discovered off the coast of Australia?

National Geographic highlighted some of the spookiest species in their Halloween special. My personal favorite? Definitely the Beelzebub bat. I mean really, the name alone is fun to say but does it get much cuter than that?

California Academy of Sciences hit pay dirt with their discovery of over 300 new species of marine and land animals in the Philippines this past Spring. However, these discoveries pale in comparison to the identification of over 1000 new species in New Guinea between 1998 and 2008. Just one example is the blue-eyed spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus wilsoni). Okay, maybe this animal is cuter than the bat.

In my highly reputable Google searches for interesting new species, I came across this website put together by scientists at Arizona State University where you can vote for the top 10 species of the year. I know which one I'm nominating!

Sources:
-Spiders: National Geographic Daily News
-Night Frogs: Wired Science
-Dolphin: CNN
-New Species in New Guinea: http://news.discovery.com/animals/new-species-discovered-in-new-guinea-…