New Species Research Announced: Snake, Mouse Lemur, Octopus, Shrimp, Fish, Snail, Amphipod, and Sloths
Posted by: Loren Coleman on January 10th, 2012
Several new species have been announced, as the year opens.
A new type of snake, a species of bush viper, was discovered in southern Tanzania during a recent biological survey. The snake’s exact location is being kept secret to protect the visually striking black-and-yellow snake from illegal pet collectors. The new species, named Matilda’s Horned Viper (Atheris matildae), is described as having hornlike scales above its eyes and measuring 2.1 feet (60 centimeters). Read more here.
Photos: Blanchard Randrianambinina.
A new primate, Gerp’s mouse lemur, Microcebus gerpi, has been announced as discovered in the Sahafina forest in Madagascar. It is “a giant” relative to Goodman’s mouse lemur. For more, see here and here.
Then, also, there’s the recent news of a “Pale octopus, hairy-chested yeti crab and other new species found,” in the Southern Ocean, near Antarctica, near hydrothermal vents.
Meanwhile, near the heat vents of the Caribbean, new vent shrimp (Rimicaris hybisae), along with a snake-like fish, previously unseen species of snail, and a flea-like crustacean called an amphipod, have been discovered. See here.
Also genetic work is being conducted to separate more clearly the species of two-toed sloths, Linnaeus’s two-toed sloths (Choloepus didactylus) versus Hoffman’s two-toed sloths (Choloepus hoffmanni). See here.
This post was written by
Loren Coleman no longer writes for Cryptomundo. His archived posts remain here at Cryptomundo.
It always makes me smile to see more newly documented species being added to the planet’s list of inhabitants. I can only imagine what sort of ‘alien’ creatures we’ll come across as we manage to go deeper into the ocean. The Greenland shark (from a few years ago) was oddly awesome, I just hope they never find an actual living megalodon, although those two frilled sharks that surfaced near Japan were amazing.
And with all the climate changes we’re experiencing I wonder if we’ll start to see new species emerging like those black tipped sharks in Australia. Not to mention more and more out of place animals. This might just be the most interesting year yet. MMXII.