A local legend of a mysterious bird with big eyes grew into the discovery of the Príncipe scops owl. A biologist on the team tells the story of finding and cataloging this new species.
Researchers discovered five new species of black corals, including this Hexapathes bikofskii growing out of a nautilus shell more than 2,500 feet (760 meters) below the surface.
Jeremy Horowitz
Black corals provide critical habitat for many creatures that live in the dark, often barren, deep sea, and researchers are learning more about these rare corals with every dive.
To many people, Australia’s spider diversity is a source of fear. To arachnologists, it’s a goldmine, with most Australian spider species still yet to be discovered.
After more than 300 years of effort, scientists have documented fewer than one-third of Australia’s species. The remaining 70% are unknown, and essentially invisible, to science.
An ostracod, a small crustacean with more than 70,000 identified species.
Anna33/Wikimedia
We discovered 11 (and probably more) new species of stygofauna living in water underground. These animals are usually blind, beautifully translucent and long-limbed.
Jaime Bran/Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
This newly discovered ancient monk seal is challenging previous theories about how and where monachine seals evolved. It’s the biggest breakthrough in seal evolution research in about 70 years.
Peretti Museum Foundation / Illustration by Stephanie Abramowicz
Joseph Bevitt, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
If albanerpetontids were around today, they’d easily fit in your hand. And although their bones are found all over the world, these unique amphibians eluded experts for a long time.
This stroke of serendipity shows how much there is still to be learned about the natural history of Australia. Surely more surprises are out there waiting for us.
The male specimen discovered in the Natural History Museum, Vienna.
Alec Moore
“I arrived in Perth and bought a foam mattress for the back of my car – my bed for half of the trip. I stocked up on tinned food, and I headed north in search of these tiny eight-legged gems.”
One of the newly discovered sixgilled sawshark species (Pliotrema kajae).
Simon Weigmann
This newly discovered species is the oldest one known to resemble today’s penguins in both size and leg proportions, unlike its giant co-habitants at the time.
Queensland’s January 2019 floods were so large their scale could only be accurately captured from space.
EPA/NASA Worldview