Today's Newly Described Species Worldwide

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Newly registered plant / animal / microbial species in WoRMS / GBIF / Zoological Record each day, with discovery location, describer, morphological description, and whether the species is under extinction threat

Today's Newly Described Species Worldwide06/10/2026, 01:28:36 AM

26 new species named June 9: a new porcupine from Ecuador found after 15 years, a deepwater shark from India, and a cricket in amber

Tuesday June 9, 2026 delivered 25 new species and 1 new genus — from a new Andean porcupine found after 15 years of searching, to a deepwater Indian catshark, an eccentric section-defying Mycena, and a 99-million-year-old Kachin amber cricket.

Today's Newly Described Species Worldwide06/09/2026, 01:26:44 AM

25 new species named June 8: a second cave raptor spider, a CR gesneriad with 70 plants left, and a new cordyceps

The June 6–8 catch-up window (76.5 hours, Saturday–Monday) yielded 25 new species and 1 new genus — all published on Monday June 8 after two silent weekend days. The headline entry is Trogloraptor tulishpun, only the second species described in Trogloraptoridae, a family confined to lava-tube caves in the Pacific Northwest. The sole plant, Oreocharis fulvovillosa, is Critically Endangered with ~70 individuals on one unprotected Yunnan cliff. The fungal portion delivers 4 new Acarosporaceae, 3 new Myriolecis lichens, and a vivid orange-red cordyceps from Yunnan.

Today's Newly Described Species Worldwide06/06/2026, 01:33:18 AM

37 new species named June 5: deep-sea kinorhynchs rewrite a textbook rule, a CR primrose, and a beetle named after Monkey D. Luffy

The June 5 window (28.5 hours) yielded 37 confirmed new species. Two deep-sea kinorhynchs — Echinoderes prior and E. shimadai — carry a middorsal spine on segment 9, a condition absent from all ~300 known Echinoderidae, forcing emendation of three levels of taxonomy. A Critically Endangered primrose (Primula xingyiensis, <200 individuals) clings to two karst cliff sites in Guizhou. A new rove beetle genus is named after One Piece's Monkey D. Luffy. MycoKeys 133 contributes 11 fungal species. A fossil monkey hopper in Baltic amber extends Episactidae's record by ~25 million years.

Today's Newly Described Species Worldwide06/05/2026, 01:29:53 AM

23 new species named June 4: a dinosaur from Gansu, nine deep-sea crustaceans, and ostracods crossing from sea to lake

The June 4 window (28.5 hours) yielded 23 new species. Lead: Jian changmaensis, the first non-avian dinosaur from Changma Basin, Gansu — a site previously known only for bird fossils. Graham J. Bird's 89-page Zootaxa monograph names 9 tanaellid crustaceans and 5 new genera from New Zealand and the Ross Sea. Two Crassulaceae succulents from South Africa correct centuries-old misidentifications. Five ostracods from Lake Bacalar include four genera making their first recorded transition from marine to freshwater. Plus a midge new to China, two fungi from Chinese mountains, and three new flatworms from Florida.

Today's Newly Described Species Worldwide06/04/2026, 01:27:27 AM

31 new species named June 2–3: blind cave fish, a Eocene fairyfly, and a cycad facing extinction

A two-day catch-up window (June 2–3, 2026) yielded 31 confirmed new species from Zootaxa 5821(4), Phytotaxa 760(1), ZooKeys 1281, and WoRMS. Standouts include two blind cave loaches from separate underground rivers in Guizhou, a Mexican cycad (Ceratozamia popolucana) with a Critically Endangered recommendation that spent years hiding in plain sight under a misidentification, an Eocene Baltic amber fairyfly (Australomymar losinnoense) that pushes the genus's range record into the northern hemisphere, two new Thailand agamid lizards from the confused Calotes irawadi complex, and a batch of four sponge crabs and three flatworms (resolving a 190-year phantom "cosmopolitan" worm) via WoRMS.

Today's Newly Described Species Worldwide06/02/2026, 01:24:16 AM

4 new species named June 1: a flathead fish breaks a single-species genus

June 1, 2026 was the channel's quietest Monday on record — Zootaxa, Phytotaxa, and WoRMS were all silent. Pensoft's three open-access journals still delivered four confirmed new species: the Philippine flathead *Elates saranganiensis* (ZooKeys), which doubles a genus monotypic since 1907; two wood-rotting fungi from Hainan's national park (MycoKeys); and a Vietnamese fern, *Cyrtomium lacrimipinnum* (PhytoKeys), whose sexual reproduction is rare for its genus.

Today's Newly Described Species Worldwide06/01/2026, 01:18:27 AM

9 new sea snails named May 30, from Vietnam to West Africa

The Sunday May 30–31, 2026 window yielded zero non-marine taxa — Zootaxa, Phytotaxa, and all Pensoft journals are silent on weekends. All 9 confirmed registrations come from a single WoRMS batch: Malacologia Mostra Mondiale issue 131, a print-only Italian shell journal. Five new species from Vietnam's EEZ (2 harp shells, 3 sundial shells) by Nguyen Ngoc Thach; four taxa from Africa and Southeast Asia by Tiziano Cossignani, including a West African volute subspecies, a new Madagascan miter shell, a murex from Sumbawa, and a Philippine cowrie subspecies. All nine taxa are Not Evaluated by IUCN.

Today's Newly Described Species Worldwide05/31/2026, 01:20:03 AM

12 new species named May 30: a Nagaland cascade frog and 11 Australian slugs in a landmark family revision

The Saturday window (May 29–30, 2026) yielded 12 taxa from two papers: Amolops kamal, a new cascade frog from Kiphire district, Nagaland — the 21st Amolops recorded from India — described by six ZSI scientists using integrative morphology and 16S phylogenetics; and 11 new Cystopelta slugs and subspecies from a landmark revision by Hyman & Köhler (Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2026) that nearly triples the genus's known diversity, formally expands Cystopeltidae to include nine additional Australian snail genera, and removes four genera to Charopidae. All 12 taxa are Not Evaluated by IUCN. Both original papers are paywalled; morphological detail is acknowledged as incomplete.

Today's Newly Described Species Worldwide05/30/2026, 01:29:38 AM

39 new species named May 29: Kank australis — a Patagonian dinosaur from the age of extinction — plus a cobalt mushroom from Borneo and three new snail genera from Vietnam

The 24-hour window May 28–29, 2026 yielded 39 new species and 6 new genera across Zootaxa 5821(2), Phytotaxa 759(3), ZooKeys 1280, PhytoKeys 275, EJT 1062, and WoRMS. Headline: *Kank australis*, the first named unenlagiid dinosaur genus from southern Patagonia. Supporting highlights include *Calocybe kinabaluensis* (deep indigo-blue mushroom, first *Calocybe* from Sabah), three new Vietnamese land snail genera, *Hypoxylon kaiyangense* isolated from phosphogypsum waste, and 17 arthropods from Zootaxa 5821(2).

Today's Newly Described Species Worldwide05/29/2026, 01:29:14 AM

32 new species named May 27–28: a Cretaceous bird with tail feathers twice its body length, a plantain feared extinct since 2003, and beetles that pupate in foam

The ~28.5-hour window from May 27 (17:27 UTC) through May 28, 2026 yielded at least 32 confirmed new species across Zootaxa 5821, Phytotaxa 759(2), ZooKeys 1280, MycoKeys 133, PhytoKeys 275, and the European Journal of Taxonomy. The headline find is Plumadraco bankoorum — an Early Cretaceous enantiornithine bird whose rachis-dominated tail feathers (twice body length) set a record for the clade. Alongside it: Plantago poranensis, a Brazilian plantain known from a single 2003 herbarium sheet never since relocated; Spumacinctus gen. nov., marsh beetles whose pupae develop inside foam bubbles inside bromeliads; and Craticula scientiacivica, a violin-shaped diatom found by Spanish secondary school students.

Today's Newly Described Species Worldwide05/28/2026, 01:27:24 AM

36 new species named May 27: 15 Chinese planthoppers, a Vulnerable Turkish bellflower, a Triassic witch-ranch archosaur, and a midweek surge across 7 journals

Wednesday, May 27, 2026 yielded at least 36 new species across 7 journals and 5 kingdoms. Highlights include 15 new Chinese planthoppers in a single Zootaxa monograph, the Vulnerable bellflower Campanula porensis from a Turkish caldera, the Late Triassic shuvosaurid Labrujasuchus expectatus from New Mexico's Ghost Ranch, 3 parasitic trematodes from South African waters, and a productive sweep from MycoKeys and PhytoKeys after a 5-day Pensoft silence.

Today's Newly Described Species Worldwide05/27/2026, 01:23:19 AM

22 new species named May 26: yellow lipstick plants from Borneo, two firefly pairs from Meghalaya, and deep-sea sea cucumbers from the Emperor Seamounts

Tuesday, May 26, 2026 added 22 species and 2 new genera to science — 12 plants, 6 marine invertebrates, and 4 insects. Highlights include the chili-spathe aroid Tweeddalea capsiciformis and a yellow-flowered lipstick plant from Borneo, the likely-Critically-Endangered sacred legume Gymnocladus sanctus from China's limestone hills, two new Meghalayan fireflies (one with wingless females), four Palearctic digger wasps in a 72-page monograph, and a brand-new sea cucumber genus from the Emperor Seamount Chain.