From a fanged fish to a bug-eating slug, it takes an extra special something to rise above the thousands of new species discovered last year around the world and make it to the top ten. You have to be weird, you have to be toothy, you have to be -- a brand new carnivorous plant.
Every year a team of taxonomists, scientists involved in species discovery and classification, wade through all the newly described plants and animals. Then they decide on the top 10 species.
And now onto the winners...
A carnivorous plant, the beautiful Attenborough’s pitcher plant (Nepenthes attenboroughil) seems innocuous. Sporting vibrant magentas and moss green (shown at left), these pitchers are most remarkable for their size. Comparable to an American football, they are one of the largest pitchers known.
A deep sea creature, the Green bombers (Swima bombiviridis) come with a set of glowing countermeasures they can fling from their bodies when threatened. Its gills can detach from their body. When ejected, these “bombs” glow with green bioluminescence. Scientists believe this is a defense mechanism, rather than reproductive purposes.
After the "Twilight" series came out, vampires have been in fashion. Following suit, a minnow with fangs (aptly named Danionella dracula) made the final cut. Discovered in a stream in Myanmar, the male minnows have large fangs to fight each other.
The arachnophobe will not too pleased to spot the golden orb spider (Nephila komaci) on the list. This spider is special for its amazing web spinning talents. It spins the largest webs known: more than a meter in a diameter. Not exactly the kind of web you would want to stick your hand through during spring cleaning.
Not just your normal algae eating slug, the Aiteng (Aiteng ater) slug eats bugs. It’s odd eating habits made the slug hard to classify. In the end, the sea slug was given its own genus, as well as a new species name.
Following the carnivorous trend, this deep-sea sponge has been nicknamed the “killer sponge”. This sponge (Chondrocladia Meliiderma turbiformis) has a a unique type of spicule called “trochirhabd,” a term coined with the discovery of this species.
A dizzying frogfish (Histiophryne psychedelica) seems to be a relic from the 70s. Forget bell bottom pants, this fish is rocking a psychedelic skin (shown at right).
A weird looking mushroom straight out of Alice in Wonderland also made the list. The mushroom (Phallus drewesii) was named after researcher Dr. Robert Drewes from the California Academy of Sciences. Dr. Drewes made many strides in the field of multi-organism biodiversity.
And who wouldn't be excited excited by the “udderly weird yam” winner (shown at left). Found in Madagascar, this enormous yam (Dioscorea orangeana) looks like a cow’s udder with multiple lobes, rather than just one.
Though locally known for years, the Omar’s banded knifefish (Gymnotus omarorum) has only recently been considered its own species. This long fish -- along with all the species on the list -- epitomizes how much scientists still don’t know about the rich biodiversity in our world.
To have a hand in picking next year's winner, check out the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University where you can nominate species for 2011.
Images: Alastair Robinson, University of Cambridge; David Hall, Seaphotos.com; Claude Marcel Hladik, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle
Tags: Amphibians and Reptiles, Animals, Fish, Marine Life, Weird News
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