ENVIRONMENT
What were the top ten two years ago?
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Photographs courtesy College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Discussion Ideas
Photograph by Cédric d’Udekem d’Acoz, copyright Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, courtesy College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Epimeria quasimodo, a tiny crustacean, is abundant in the frigid waters of the ocean surrounding Antarctica.
Photograph by Takaomi Sugimoto, courtesy College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Sciaphila sugimotoi is critically endangered species of heterotrophic plant, meaning it is not photosynthetic and derives nutrients from other sources.
- What other plants to not rely entirely on photosynthesis for nutrients?
- What does being “critically endangered” mean?
Photograph by Mackenzie Gerringer, University of Washington. ©Schmidt Ocean Institute, courtesy College of Environmental Science and Forestry
No fish has ever been recorded swimming at depths deeper than Pseudoliparis swirei—6,898 and 7,966 meters (22,000 and 26,000 feet).
- Where do you think this species of deepsea snailfish lives?
- What are the challenges of this deeepsea environment?
Photograph by Sunbin Huang and Mingyi Tian, courtesy College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Xuedytes bellus is the newest species of cave beetle to be identified in the karst landscape of China’s Guangxi Province.
Photograph by Denis V. Tiknonenkov, courtesy College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Ancoracysta twista is a lonely protist—scientists aren’t sure what its closest relatives are.
- Although the protist is a puzzle, scientists do know it’s a eukaryote. What are eukaryotes?
- Where else do protists show up?
Photograph by Gwilym P. Lewis, courtesy College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Dinizia jueirana-facao is one of the larger trees breaking through the canopy of the incredibly biodiverse Atlantic Forest.
Illustration by Peter Schouten, courtesy College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Wakaleo schouteni, a marsupial lion, is known only through fossils.
Photograph by Andrew Walmsley, courtesy College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Only an estimated 800 Pongo tapanuliensis individuals exist in a fragmented habitat spread over about 1,000 square kilometers (250,000 acres).
Photograph © D. Kronauer, courtesy College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Nymphister kronaueri is a camouflaged hitchhiker. It blends in seamlessly with army ants, and when the ant colony moves, the beetle uses its mouthparts to grab the skinny portion of an ant abdomen and hang on, letting the ant do the walking.
Photograph by Miquel Canals, University of Barcelona, Spain, courtesy College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Thiolava veneris was the first species to colonize the toxic area surrounding an underwater volcano.
- Why is the area around submarine volcanoes so toxic?
- How do bacteria like Venus’ hair live in such extreme conditions?
How are the “top ten” new species decided?
- “The bizarre selection comes from the institute’s international committee of taxonomists, based on their picks from the 18,000 new species named in the year before. Though 18,000 sounds like a lot of new species, the college’s president reminds everyone that an estimated 20,000 species go extinct each year.”
TEACHERS TOOLKIT
CNN: Meet the top 10 new species of 2018
College of Environmental Science and Forestry: 2018 Top 10 New Species
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