Science has identified some 2 million species of plants, animals and microbes on Earth, but scientists estimated there are millions more left to discover, and new species are constantly discovered and described. The most commonly discovered new species are typically insects, a type of animal with a high degree of biodiversity. Newly discovered mammal species are rare, but they do occur, typically in remote places that haven't been well studied previously. Some animals are found to be new species only when scientists peer at their genetic code, because they look outwardly similar to another species — these are called cryptic species. Some newfound species come from museum collections that haven't been previously combed through and, of course, from fossils. Read below for stories about newly discovered species, both alive on Earth today and those that once roamed the planet.
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Scientists find 2 marsupial species, thought to have gone extinct 6,000 years ago, living in the forests of New GuineaThe pygmy long-fingered possum and the ring-tailed glider, two marsupials believed to have died out thousands of years ago, are still alive in Papuan Indonesia.
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Never-before-seen footage captures moment scientists find new, giant anaconda species in AmazonScientists recently discovered a new species of green anaconda in the Amazon rainforest. A new Nat Geo series shows the moment they encountered this snake in the wild.
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Males of 4 never-before-seen tarantula species have record-long genitalia'Size really does matter' The males of four newfound tarantula species have extremely long genitalia so that they can keep their distance from aggressive females during mating, researchers say.
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Fossils from lush 53 million-year-old South Pole rainforest discovered in TasmaniaResearchers have identified 12 ancestral plant species from an early Eocene fossil assemblage in Tasmania that once formed part of a giant, circumpolar forest.
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Bizarre jellyfish with bright red cross for a stomach discovered in volcanic caldera off JapanNewly described species of jellyfish with a red cross inside its translucent body is only found in the Sumisu caldera over 2,500 feet beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
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11 jaw-dropping fossil discoveries that weren't dinosaurs in 2023Move over, dinosaurs: It's time for some of our favorite non-dino fossil stories of 2023 to shine.
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Flesh-eating 'killer' lampreys that lived 160 million years ago unearthed in ChinaScientists have described two lamprey fossils with "extensively toothed" mouths from the Jurassic period, shining a light on how this group has evolved into its modern forms since the Devonian.
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240 million-year-old fossil of salamander-like creature with 'gnarly teeth' unearthed in rocks for garden wallA retired chicken farmer found the rocks in the mid-1990s and donated it to the Australian Museum, where researchers have now named the newfound species Arenaerpeton supinatus.
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Nematode resurrected from Siberian permafrost lay dormant for 46,000 yearsThe ancient nematode has lain dormant in a fossilized squirrel burrow since the late Pleistocene, revealing that these worms can survive for tens of thousands of years longer than thought.
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