It\u2019s the year 2020, and scientists are still discovering new species of life on Earth. No one knows exactly how many types of life are yet undescribed in the scientific literature; estimates range from around 86 percent to as high as 99.99 percent. And even though we\u2019re living through an age of great biodiversity loss, the scope and breadth of life on planet Earth is still revealing itself to scientists around the world. <\/p>\n
This year, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences have described 213 new species in scientific journals: \u201c101 ants, 22 crickets, 15 fishes, 11 geckos, 11 sea slugs, 11 flowering plants, eight beetles, eight fossil echinoderms, seven spiders, five snakes, two skinks, two aphids, two eels, one moss, one frog, one fossil amphibian, one seahorse, one fossil scallop, one sea biscuit [a.k.a. sand dollar], one fossil crinoid (or sea lily), and one coral,\u201d the academy lists in a press release. <\/p>\n
These species weren\u2019t necessarily first spotted this year. Instead, they were officially described in the scientific literature as unique species, some after decades of research. <\/p>\n
Terry Gosliner, a curator of invertebrate zoology at the California Academy of Sciences, added one species of sea slug he first saw on a dive in the Philippines 23 years ago. As a sea slug expert, he knows immediately when he\u2019s spotted one he hasn\u2019t seen before. \u201cIt\u2019s like if you walk into a room, and you know, almost immediately, if there\u2019s a person in there who you haven\u2019t met before,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
But on that first encounter decades ago, Gosliner didn\u2019t collect a specimen that would allow for DNA analysis, which is crucial for understanding if a presumed new species is actually new to science. Plus, this particular sea slug was nocturnal. \u201cYou just happen to have a chance encounter with it on a night dive,\u201d he says. He found a second specimen in 2010. By then, \u201cit was like encountering an old friend that you hadn\u2019t seen forever,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s taken even more time to determine that this creature \u2014 now named Hoplodoris rosans \u2014 <\/em>is a truly new entry in the scientific books of life. \u201cThe easiest part is finding them,\u201d Gosliner says of discovering new species. The hard part is the scientific work that comes next. <\/p>\n After finding a species, \u201cit\u2019s a very lengthy process after that,\u201d he says to describe a new species. Scientists need to study the DNA, the internal anatomy and external anatomy, \u201cso that you can make comparisons about how that species differs from all the other species that are known.\u201d Then those discoveries have to be written up and submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. <\/p>\n Gosliner and his colleagues also got to name the new species. They call it Hoplodoris rosans for a few reasons. Hoplodoris <\/em>is the genus of the sea slug. But its species name, rosans, is named after the rose. They chose that because, for one, there are reddish-pink spots on the underside of the body. And two: \u201cIt has in its reproductive system this very large spine that holds mates when mating that was shaped like a rose thorn,\u201d Gosliner says.<\/p>\n Along with Hoplodoris rosans, <\/em>researchers at the California Academy of Sciences have described this year:<\/p>\n A pygmy seahorse about the size of a grape, called Hippocampus nalu.<\/p>\n A gecko residing in the city of Guwahati, India, called Cyrtodactylus urbanus.<\/p>\n The first species of pipefish known to live among red algae, called Stigmatopora harastii.<\/p>\n