Washington, May 27 (ANI): Researchers across the world have announced their picks for the top 10 new species described in 2011.
This is the fifth year for the top 10 new species list, which was released on Wednesday to coincide with the anniversary of the birth of Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who was responsible for the modern system of plant and animal names and classifications.
This year's top 10 new species list includes a sneezing monkey, a beautiful but venomous jellyfish, an underworld worm and a fungus named for a popular TV cartoon character.
The list also includes a night-blooming orchid, an ancient walking cactus creature and a tiny wasp. Rounding out this year's list are a vibrant poppy, a giant millipede and a blue tarantula.
"The top 10 is intended to bring attention to the biodiversity crisis and the unsung species explorers and museums who continue a 250-year tradition of discovering and describing the millions of kinds of plants, animals and microbes with whom we share this planet," said Quentin Wheeler, an entomologist who directs the International Institute for Species Exploration at ASU.
Members of the international committee who made their selection from more than 200 nominations looked for "species that capture our attention because they are unusual or because they have traits that are bizarre," said Mary Liz Jameson, an associate professor at Wichita State University who chaired the international selection committee.
"Some of the new species have interesting names; some highlight what little we really know about our planet," she said.
One of the entrants, sneezing monkey, is the first snub-nosed monkey to be reported from Myanmar and is believed to be critically endangered.
It is unique for its mostly black fur and white beard and for sneezing when it rains.
Another one is Bonaire banded box jelly which is strikingly beautiful yet venomous jellyfish and looks like a box kite with colorful, long tails.
The species name, 'Tamoya ohboya', was selected by a teacher as part of a citizen science project, assuming that people who are stung by it exclaim "Oh boy!"
Devil's worm measures about 0.5 millimeters (1/50 or 0.02 inches).
These tiny nematodes are the deepest-living terrestrial multicellular organisms on the planet and were discovered at a depth of 1.3 kilometers (8/10 mile) in a South African gold mine.
They were given the name 'Halicephalobus mephisto' in reference to the myth of the devil because the new species is found at such a depth in the Earth's crust and has survived immense underground pressure as well as high temperatures (37 degrees Celsius or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
According to its discoverers, carbon dating indicated that the borehole water, where this species has been found, had not been in contact with Earth's atmosphere for the last 4,000 to 6,000 years.
Night-blooming orchid which is a slender night stalker is one way to describe this rare orchid from Papua New Guinea whose flowers open around 10 at night and close early the next morning.
It was named 'Bulbophyllum nocturnum' from the Latin word meaningat night' and is believed to be the first night-blooming orchid recorded among the more than 25,000 known species of orchids.
Parasitic wasp is new species of parasitic wasp cruises at just one centimeter (less than half an inch) above the ground in Madrid, Spain, in search of its target: ants.
With the target locked, the teensy wasp attacks from the air like a tiny dive bomber, depositing an egg in less than 1/20 of a second.
SpongeBob SquarePants mushroom has been named 'Spongiforma squarepantsii', after the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants.
This new fungi species is more similar to a sponge than a typical mushroom. One of its characteristics is that its fruiting body can be squeezed like a sponge and bounce back to its normal size and shape.
This fungus, which smells fruity, was found in forests on the island of Borneo in Malaysia.
Nepalese autumn poppy is a vibrant, tall, yellow poppy found in Nepal may have gone undescribed because of its high mountain habitat (10,827 to 13,780 feet).
Named as 'Meconopsis autumnalis' for the autumn season when the plant flowers, there is the evidence that this species was collected before but not recognized as new until valiant botanists collecting plants miles from human habitation in heavy monsoon rains made the "rediscovery."
Giant millipede measures about the length of a sausage and bears the common name 'wandering leg sausage,' which also is at the root of its Latin name: 'Crurifarcimen vagans'.
The species holds a new record as the largest millipede (16 centimeters or about 6.3 inches) found in Tanzania's Eastern Arc Mountains, one of the hotspots of the world's biodiversity.
The new species is about 1.5 centimeter (0.6 inch) in diameter with 56 more or less podous rings, or body segments bearing ambulatory appendages, each with two pairs of legs.
Walking cactus (lobopod fossil): Although this new species resembles more to a "walking cactus" than an animal at first glance, 'Diania cactiformis' belongs to an extinct group called the armoured Lobopodia, which had wormlike bodies and multiple pairs of legs.
The fossil was discovered in Cambrian deposits about 520 million years old from southwestern China and is notable in its segmented legs that may indicate a common ancestry with arthropods, including insects and spiders.
Sazima's tarantula is breathtakingly beautiful. This iridescent hairy blue tarantula is the first new animal species from Brazil to be included in the top 10 list.
'Pterinopelma sazimai' is not the first or only blue tarantula but truly impressive and from "island" ecosystems on flattop mountains.
However the question that arises is that why a top 10 new species list?
"The more species we discover, the more amazing the biosphere proves to be, and the better prepared we are to face whatever environmental challenges lie ahead," said the institute's Wheeler, who is also a professor in ASU's School of Sustainability and its School of Life Sciences.
"It is impossible to do justice to the species discoveries made each year by singling out just 10. Imagine being handed 18,000 newly published books packed with fantastic information and stories and before having the opportunity to read them, being asked to pick the best 10," Wheeler said.
"There are many reasons to discover and describe species, and draw attention to this work. Perhaps most obvious is environmental: Unless we know what species exist to begin with, we are powerless to detect, track or mitigate losses of biodiversity," said Wheeler.
"Each species provides a unique chapter in the history of life and unless we discover them now, we stand to lose an enormous amount of irreplaceable evidence about our own origins and relatives," said Wheeler.
Wheeler is one the members of an international group of 39 scientists, scholars and engineers who provided a detailed plan in the March 30 issue of the journal Systematics and Biodiversity to chart 10 million species in less than 50 years, and called it a necessary step to sustain the planet's biodiversity.
The yearly top 10 new species announcement commemorates the anniversary of the birth of Carolus Linnaeus, who initiated the modern system of plant and animal names and classifications.
The 300th anniversary of his birth on May 23 was celebrated worldwide in year 2007.
Since Linnaeus began the modern systems for naming plants and animals in the 18th century, nearly 2 million species have been named, described and classified.
Scientists estimate that there are between 8 million and 100 million species on Earth, though most predict the number between 8 million to 12 million.
The list of the top 10 new species is declared annually by ASU's International Institute for Species Exploration as part of its public awareness campaign to shine attention on biodiversity and the field of taxonomy.
"The top 10 new species is all about exploration and discovery and learning more about our planet. Lewis and Clark's discoveries included the pronghorn antelope, prairie dog and prairie rose - 250 species altogether. But our job is far from over. We need the help of citizens and scientists alike to meet this grand challenge," said committee chair Jameson.
Nominations for this year's top 10 list were invited through the species.asu.edu website and also generated by the staff and committee members of the institute.
"We had well over 200 new species nominated this year, and from those, we picked some fascinating "critters," said Jameson.
"Committee members had complete freedom in making their choices and developing their own criteria, from unique attributes or surprising facts about the species to peculiar names," Wheeler said.
"I deeply appreciate the taxon experts who gave their knowledge and time to select this year's top 10. By sharing their passion for exploring the biosphere and discovering species, they spread the recognition and appreciation of the critical roles played by taxonomy, botanical gardens and natural history museums in biodiversity exploration and conservation," he added. (ANI)
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