Dr. Christoph von Beeren of Germany’s Technical University Darmstadt was collecting “ant guests” during the nightly emigration of an army ant colony at La Selva Biological Station, a lowland Atlantic…
Sometimes for a scientist, the disconnected pieces of years of research come together in a single, “really awesome” point in time. For ecologist Greg Asner, where it happened was about…
“Casper”, the ghost-like octopod discovered early this year, could be at risk from deep sea mining, scientists say. The octopod was found at a depth of 4,290 meters (2.7 miles) during…
Scientists have discovered yet another “fantastic beast”. In a forest in central Western Ghats, India, researchers Javed Ahmed, Rajashree Khalap and wildlife photographer Sumukha J.N. have found a new species…
Scientists have discovered a new species of tiny pea crab within a large date mussel collected in the Solomon Islands. Pea crabs — about the size of peas — are…
Inside a dark, marble cavern in Sequoia National Park, California, scientists have discovered a new species of a very “leggy” millipede. The tiny thread-like millipede has 414 legs, and is…
Two beetle species found only in the U.S — the Stephan’s riffle beetle and the Tatum Cave beetle — are now officially extinct, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced…
In a positive move for bees, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has added seven species of yellow-faced bees in Hawaii to the U.S. Endangered Species List. These are the…
Animal pet markets, filled with assorted species, can sometimes yield species previously unknown to science. In 2012, for example, researchers found a new species of giant flying squirrel in a…
Delays in listing endangered species on the U.S.’s endangered species list is pushing many of them towards extinction, a new study has found. The Endangered Species Act (ESA), one of U.S.’s…
An area targeted for deep sea mining is teeming with diverse life forms, including several new species, a new study has found. Countries have been eyeing the deep seafloor of…
Scientists have rediscovered a snail species not seen for over a hundred years after spotting a picture of the species on a citizen science website. In 2014, Scott Trageser was…
Scientists have discovered a new species of tarantula in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria mountain range in Colombia. And it is badass. Many tarantulas subdue their enemies by shooting…
Snails are being blown to extinction. And cement companies are to blame. By quarrying limestone hills for raw materials, cement companies are invariably destroying the only habitat of many snails,…
Exotic species can wreak havoc on a country’s ecosystem and economy. The extensive damage that invasive species cause to crops and forests in the United States alone, for example, is…
Remember Sparklemuffin and Skeletorus, two vividly colored peacock spiders that became Internet sensations last year? Now, researchers have discovered and named seven new species of these colorful tiny arachnids in…
Scientists have now added six new species to the dragon millipede family. Discovered within caves of two southern Chinese regions of Guangdong and Guangxi Zhuang, scientists say that these critters…
Ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) are the second most abundant trees in Europe. But these commonly-found trees could soon become extinct, a new study warns. Threats from an invasive and “potentially devastating”…
Scientists on a multi-year expedition in Bolivia's Madidi National Park have recorded nearly a thousand species of butterflies – with many more expected to come. Madidi National Park sits along…
Brian pushes off from the rock wall, surfing along the pool's surface before plunging into its depths. Legs outstretched, Brian seizes a fish and swims quickly under a rock to…
Beetles are everywhere. Of the roughly 1.5 million species described so far, beetles account for around 400,000 species, making them the most species-rich group known in the world. In contrast,…
Amid collections of museum specimens, biologists have discovered eight new species of “whip spiders” from the genus Charinus -- arachnids with thin, long, whip-like legs. This discovery nearly doubles the…
In the southern Red Sea, scientists have discovered what could be a new species of luminous polyps that light up the mud snails they piggyback on. These polyps or sea…
In southern Africa, certain hunter-gatherer communities called the San peoples, have traditionally been known to use deadly poison-tipped arrows to hunt big game like gazelles and giraffe. Now, in a…
Sitting on his verandah in Laikipia, northern Kenya, Dr. Dino Martins, 38, a Kenyan entomologist with experience with malaria, tick fever, liverfluke and other vector-borne diseases, talks about the need…
Tarantulas in the genus Aphonopelma are some of the most unique spiders in the United States, but it turns out they haven’t been the subject of too much scientific inquiry.…
Over the past two decades, populations of America’s iconic orange and black monarch butterflies have declined by more than 80 percent. Now, two environmental groups -- the The Center for…
A team of researchers has described 60 new species of dragonflies and damselflies from various parts of Africa, according to a recent study published in the journal Odonatologica. This is…
n July 19, 2011, officers from the Galapagos National Park Service and the Ecuadorian Navy stopped the Fer Mary I, a long line fishing vessel out of the bustling Ecuadorian…
hrough years of effort, scientists have assessed the conservation status of some 77,000 species of plants and animals via the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species. Scientific records on the…