A spider with very long genitals (for good reason); a carnivorous caterpillar that carries body parts of its prey; and the tiny mountain possum are among the exciting new species described by science in 2025.
New Recent Study reports that about 16,000 new species are “discovered” each year, and the rate is accelerating—15 percent of all known species have been newly described in the last 20 years alone.
“Our good news is that the rate of discovery of new species far exceeds the rate of species extinction, which we estimate to be about 10 per year,” said John Vince, a professor of ecology at the University of Arizona who co-authored the study. in a press release.
Many of them are not truly new discoveries. In many cases they were known or photographed locally, or collected many years ago for museums. They have simply never been identified or described by science until now.
But scientists say this formal documentation step is important. Vince noted, “We can’t protect a species from extinction if we don’t know it exists.”
It's also a great way to learn about interesting and unique creatures that we've never seen or heard of before. Here's a closer look at some of them.
Well stocked tarantulas
Four new species of tarantulas have been discovered in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. What's special about them? Well, their males have the longest genitalia of all known tarantulas.
The largest species, named Satyrex Feroxhas a leg span of 14 centimeters (about the width of a slice of bread). But if you're not yet impressed, males have genitalia called palps that are five centimeters long; it is almost as long as their longest legs.
Alireza Zamani, a researcher at the University of Turku who led the study describing the new tarantulas, suggests that the long palps “may allow the male to maintain a safer distance during mating to help him avoid being attacked and devoured by a very aggressive female.”
Caterpillar in a terrible outfit
Most caterpillars are vegetarians, but this year scientists in Hawaii discovered a caterpillar that lives in a web, eats prey caught in the web, and then weaves its body parts into a coat or sheath around its body (which later becomes its cocoon).
A unique “bone collector” caterpillar that transforms into a moth with feathery wings. was described in the journal Science in April. It was found only in a small 15 square kilometer patch of forest in the Waianae Mountain Range on the island of Oahu, suggesting it is critically endangered.
Quirks and Quarks7:50Bone-gathering caterpillar covers itself with body parts
Carnivorous Death Ball Sponge
The deep ocean is a part of the planet that humans have explored very little, and every expedition there reveals many new and surprising species. In October, the Nippon Nekton Foundation conducted an ocean census. 30 new species announced discovered in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica.
These include the “death ball” sponge, which does not filter food like most sponges, but instead has spheres covered with tiny hooks for catching prey. The list also includes new species of starfish and the armored iridescent scale worm.
Egg sea slug
The shallow waters have also produced some beautiful and unique new species, including a sea slug that looks like it's covered in fried eggs called Phyllidia ovata. This is one of two beautiful new species of warty sea slugs that prey on sponges and steal their toxins for self-defense.
Their bright colors warn potential predators that they are toxic. The new species was previously photographed by divers in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, but only described by science last July.
New Canadian crayfish
One of the new species discovered in Canada this year was also an aquatic creature. Okanagan crayfish found in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia. It used to be mistaken for the common sentinel crayfish that looked like it. A distinctive feature of the new species is the absence of the characteristic white mark on the claw of the signal crayfish.
Unfortunately, the new species is considered critically endangered, and scientists are especially concerned because Okanagan Lake is heavily used by humans.
Canadians discover new bats
Canadian researchers were also involved in the discovery of six tiny new species of tube-nosed bats in the Philippines.
Judith Eger and Burton Lim of the Royal Ontario Museum co-authored a study describing the species just before Halloween. The bats, weighing just 4 to 14 grams each, were collected by researchers in the Philippines and the Field Museum in Chicago during expeditions over the past 30 years.
Crocodile Hunter Snake, Pinocchio Lizard
Every year, some new species are named after famous characters, real or imagined. Two reptiles this year with famous namesakes – long-nosed chameleon Pinocchio from Madagascar And New wolfsnake from Great Nicobar Island in Indianamed Lycodon irwini after the late Steve Irwin, star Crocodile Hunter Series.
Tiny Mouse Possum
Here's one of the less scary animals on this year's list: a small spectacled marsupial found in the Peruvian Andes in 2018. Tiny possum mouse. Marmoza Chachapoya the size of a mouse (about 10 cm, with a tail of 15 cm) and lives at much higher altitudes than other mouse possums. This was described in June in the magazine Novitiates of the American Museum.
Toads without tadpoles
We don't have amphibians on the list yet, so let's add some before we get started.
Three unusual species discovered this year include toads living in trees far from water in the mountains of Tanzania's Eastern Arc. This makes the tadpole stage of their life cycle challenging, so they skip it and give birth to live toads.
“Viviparity is exceptionally rare among frogs and toads, being practiced by less than one percent of frog species, making these new species extremely interesting,” said H. Christoph Liedtkeresearcher from the Spanish National Research Council, co-author description of a new species in November.
The new species was identified through physical and genetic analysis of museum specimens that were initially thought to be the same species. Two of the new species are already considered critically endangered.
