A shape-shifting frog from Ecuador, a giant virus from Siberia, and a bioluminescent shark are among the twenty most bizarre species discovered in the past twelve months.
11. Musa nanensis, a species of banana from Thailand:
Musa nanensis: male inflorescence. Image credit: P. Srisanga.
Musa nanensis. A – clump of pseudostems; B – leaf bases; C – cross-section of petiole canal; D – male inflorescence; E – female inflorescence; F – male flowers, tepals fused at base and six anthers fused at base; G – female flower, tepals fused at base and six sterile anthers or five sterile with one fertile anther fused at base; H – transverse and longitudinal sections of fruits and a hand. Image credit: N. Sukkaewmanee.
Musa nanensis is a perennial herb, 4.9 to 9.8 feet (1.5 to 3 m) in height. Its flowering time is year round.
Fruits are 2.8 inches (7 cm) long and 0.6 inches (1.5 cm) wide. They are straight to curved, angular with prominent ridges at maturity.
Each bunch has 3-10 hands and each hand contains 4-10 bananas. Seeds are irregular, sharp angular, 3-5 mm by 2-5 mm by 2-3 mm.
12. Tasman Peninsula dusky antechinus (Antechinus vandycki), a species of carnivorous marsupial from Australia:
The Tasman Peninsula Dusky Antechinus (Antechinus vandycki). Image credit: Gary Cranitch / Queensland Museum.
The Tasman Peninsula dusky antechinus is found in remote, south-eastern Tasmania.
It is a large antechinus, with a head-body length of 13 cm and a body mass of 90 g. The tail is shorter than the head and body.
13. Ninja lanternshark (Etmopterus benchleyi), a species of bioluminescent shark from the Pacific Ocean:
The Ninja Lanternshark (Etmopterus benchleyi), adult female, 45.8 cm long. Image credit: V.E. Vásquez et al.
The ninja lanternshark is a member of Etmopterus, a genus of sharks in the family Etmopteridae.
It is a moderately large species of Etmopterus, no more than 20.3 inches (51.5 cm) long. Like other lanternsharks, it has light-emitting organs called photophores.
Eight individuals of this species were collected off the Pacific coast of Central America at depths ranging between 2,700 and 4,700 feet (836 – 1,443 m).
14. Sulawesi snouter (Hyorhinomys stuempkei), a species of shrew rat from Indonesia:
The Sulawesi snouter (Hyorhinomys stuempkei). Image credit: Jake Esselstyn / Louisiana State University.
The Sulawesi snouter is known only from the type locality at 1,600 m elevation on Mt. Dako, located on Sulawesi’s north peninsula.
This shrew rat has a large, flat, pink nose and forward-facing nostrils. It has a small mouth (relative to head size), large ears measuring 21 percent of head and body length, long hind legs that may be used for hopping, very long urogenital hairs and long white incisors. Long incisors are a trait of shrew rats, but this species has especially long incisors.
According to scientists, the Sulawesi snouter eats earthworms and beetle larvae.
15. Acesta cryptadelphe, a species of giant file clam from the North Atlantic:
In-situ image of giant file clams Acesta cryptadelphe, from the Gully, located approximately 140 miles off Nova Scotia, to the east of Sable Island, on the edge of the Scotian Shelf. Image credit: Jean-Marc Gagnon et al.
Acesta cryptadelphe is about 3.5 to 6 inches (9 – 15 cm) long, 2 – 3 times larger than a regular file clam.
This animal attaches to steep, rocky outcrops in canyons that are home to other deepwater species such as cold-water corals.
16. Attenborough’s black-eyed satyr (Euptychia attenboroughi), a species of butterfly from the lowland tropical forests of the upper Amazon basin:
The Attenborough’s black-eyed satyr (Euptychia attenboroughi): male (upper row) and female. Scale bars – 1 cm. Image credit: Andrew Neild / Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.
The Attenborough’s black-eyed satyr belongs to Euptychia, a genus of butterflies in the family Nymphalidae (brush-footed, or four-footed butterflies).
This species is known from Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil.
Its common and scientific names honor the famed English naturalist, author, and TV presenter, Sir David Attenborough.
17. Acmella nana, a species of snail from the Malaysian portion of the island of Borneo:
Acmella nana, a new species in the genus Acmella, the world’s tiniest snail. Image credit: Vermeulen JJ et al.
Acmella nana (nanus means ‘dwarf’ in Latin) is the world’s smallest snail.
It has a shell of merely 0.020 – 0.024 inches (0.5 – 0.6 mm) width and 0.024 – 0.031 inches (0.6 – 0.79) mm height.
18. Mollivirus sibericum, a species of giant Acanthamoeba-infecting virus from Siberia:
Mollivirus sibericum particle at a late assembly stage. The particle is crowned with several fuzzy rings, and different tegument layers are visible. Image credit: Matthieu Legendre et al.
Mollivirus sibericum takes the form of a roughly spherical particle, around 600 nm long.
It has a relatively large genome of 650,000 base pairs encoding for only 523 proteins.
19. Kimberley death adder (Acanthophis cryptamydros), a species of venomous snake from Australia:
The Kimberley death adder (Acanthophis cryptamydros). Image credit: Ryan J. Ellis.
The Kimberley death adder is roughly 24 inches (60 cm) long and has a diamond-shaped head.
It is a ‘sit-and-wait’ predator, staying camouflaged until it can ambush any passing frogs, lizards or small mammals.
The species can be found in the Kimberley region, north-western Australia.
20. Limnonectes larvaepartus, a tadpole-bearing species of frog from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi:
Limnonectes larvaepartus is unique among frogs in having both internal fertilization and birth of tadpoles. Top: male, left, and female. Bottom: an adult male observed calling while perched on the edge of a small pool 2 m away from a 2 m wide stream; several tadpoles were present in the pool including the two visible within the yellow circle. Image credit: Jimmy McGuire.
Limnonectes larvaepartus is a relatively small frog (5-6 grams) in the genus Limnonectes (fanged frogs). It is one of only 10-12 known frog species that has evolved internal fertilization, and of those, it is the only one that gives birth to tadpoles as opposed to froglets or laying fertilized eggs.
This species seems to prefer to give birth to tadpoles in small pools or seeps located away from streams, possibly to avoid the heftier fanged frogs hanging out around the stream. There is some evidence the males may also guard the tadpoles.
