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Vivid orange sea star became an internet sensation for its uncanny resemblance to the cartoon character Patrick Star

‘Patrick’ sea star went viral, but Argentine deep-sea canyon held 57 new species

Liz Kimbrough 13 Oct 2026
Carlos Magdalena holding a Victoria colombiana leaf. Image courtesy of Mauricio Bernal

An Instafamous giant water lily is confirmed as a new species — and critically endangered

Shreya Dasgupta 9 Oct 2026

Ethiopian highlands yield a new species of egg-eating snake

Naina Rao 9 Oct 2026
Big blue octopus (Octopus cyanea) with diver in background in waters off Hawaii. Photo credit: naturepl.com / David Fleetham / WWF

World Octopus Day: new discoveries about the world’s smartest invertebrates

David Brown 8 Oct 2026
Giraldo Alayón García

Giraldo Alayón García, Cuba’s ‘spider man,’ died on Sept. 24

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Oct 2026
Bolivia, September 1, 2026 – An individual of Leopardus tilcayo resides at Senda Verde Animal Refuge in Bolivia’s Yungas region. The animal is the only known individual of the species living in protective captivity. It arrived at the sanctuary around 2017 after being turned over by a local family that had kept it in their home. Photo by Fernando Faciole/National Geographic.

How new is the first ‘new-to-science’ cat discovered in more than 100 years?

Shanna Hanbury 25 Sep 2026
Tiger cat released with satellite collar in Mirador State Park. Courtesy of Tadeu de Oliveira.

A new cat species was just discovered. Several more may follow

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Sep 2026
A female Adenomera varcena. Image courtesy of Borburema et al., (2026).

New-to-science Amazon frog stands out for its slow ‘lazy’ song

Shanna Hanbury 8 Sep 2026

This tiny Thai lizard shares its name with a ‘House of the Dragon’ beast

Naina Rao 21 Aug 2026
A female Eupelmus curvator. Image courtesy of Taisuke Kawano.

Social media images lead to first recording of parasitoid wasp species in Japan

David Brown 6 Aug 2026
Cyananthus hookeri in flower in Chuna Valley, Tawang district, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Image courtesy of Lahiri, S. et al. (2026) via Oryx (CC BY 4.0).

Rare alpine herb confirmed in India after 158 years

Naina Rao 24 Jul 2026
Likweli, a new-to-science species of colobus monkey described from the DRC. Image courtesy of Bernard Bonanga.

New colobus monkey, ‘Likweli’, confirmed in DRC

Shreya Dasgupta 15 Jul 2026

Deep sea mining identified as biggest threat to known and unknown deep-sea creatures

Victoria Schneider 15 Jul 2026
Giant Salmon Carps in Laotian market. Image by Peter Cunningham via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).

Recent discoveries of ‘lost’ Mekong giant salmon carp renews hope for the fish

Naina Rao 1 Jul 2026
Planigale petrophila. Image courtesy of Pat Woolley/Queensland University of Technology.

Tiny new marsupial species, not seen in two decades, confirmed from museum specimens

Shreya Dasgupta 30 Jun 2026
Christine Dudgeon with Dudgeon's walking shark

New walking shark discovered in Papua New Guinea

Megan Strauss 18 Jun 2026
Male and female Kongobatha spinosistyla in North Queensland. Image by Maurice Allan.

Three new ‘planking’ praying mantis species found in Australia and Papua New Guinea

Megan Strauss 8 Jun 2026
Microeledone galapagensis octopus. From Voight et al (2026)

New golf-ball sized blue octopus species now identified in the Galapagos

David Brown 5 Jun 2026
A blue-spotted bamboo shark photographed in Madagascar in 2025. Image courtesy of Tsarahasina Fanomenzana.

New records of ‘lost’ bamboo shark confirmed in Madagascar

Shreya Dasgupta 4 Jun 2026

Tiny ‘sesame’ sea slug discovered in Taiwan is first of its genus named in 30 years

Naina Rao 4 Jun 2026

New species of ghost pipefish named after Sesame Street character found in Australia

Naina Rao 28 May 2026
A new species of carnivorous “death ball” sponge from the genus Chondrocladia, discovered off the South Sandwich Islands. Image courtesy of ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute.

Ghost shark, carnivorous sponge among 1,000+ newly discovered marine species

Shreya Dasgupta 20 May 2026
Pit viper (trimeresurus lii)

New animals discovered in Cambodian caves

20 May 2026
image of Attenboroughnculus tau, courtesy of the Trustees of the Natural History Museum.

Scientists mark Attenborough’s 100th birthday with newly named wasp

Shreya Dasgupta 14 May 2026

In Mozambique, four isolated mountains yield four new chameleon species

Naina Rao 8 May 2026
A young ring-tailed glider (Tous ayamaruensis). Image courtesy of Arman Muharmansyah.

Species thought extinct for thousands of years ‘rediscovered’ thanks to Indigenous knowledge

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Apr 2026
A newly described species of skink named Kungaka

Indigenous knowledge helps identify new, highly threatened skink in Australia

Megan Strauss 24 Apr 2026
New-to-science microsnail, Clostophis udayaditinus. Image courtesy of Somsak Panha, the lead author of the species description.

Translucent microsnail discovered in Cambodia: Photo of the week

Shanna Hanbury 21 Apr 2026

A new bird species has been discovered in Japan after 45 years

Naina Rao 13 Apr 2026

New mahogany species found in Zanzibar — but fewer than 30 trees remain

Ryan Truscott 9 Apr 2026
Collage of the 24 new Amphipod species identified in Clarion-Clipperton Zone, CC BY, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

24 new species found in ocean zone eyed for battery metals mining

Liz Kimbrough 9 Apr 2026
A new species of pit viper was discovered and is still in the process of being described. Image courtesy of Fauna & Flora.

New species discovered in Cambodia’s rare rocky ecosystems

Shanna Hanbury 2 Apr 2026

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