Every year, scientists go on expeditions to jungles and deserts, and also scrupulously examine museum collections in the hope of discovering them, Mashable reports.
So, for example, in 2015, experts discovered an ancient spiny worm with thirty legs, living about 518 million years ago in the territory modern China, as well as the ruby sea dragon, which is now found off the coast of Australia.
However, at present, the minds of scientists are more occupied with several species of animals that are the most strange and worthy of in-depth study. These representatives of the fauna are both living and already extinct. However, this does not diminish the relevance of their study.
The smallest snail in the world
The tiny snail lives in the limestone hills of China and is currently recognized as the smallest representative of its species. Its dimensions, on average, are 0.86 mm. Individuals of this species are so small that they are very difficult to see with the naked eye, and scientists had to use a microscope to study them.
Dementor Wasp
This species of wasp is found in Southeast Asia and lives in the Mekong River Valley on the Indian Peninsula. The individual preys exclusively on cockroaches.
The poison that the wasp injects into the body of the victim during an attack turns it into a zombie. In this case, the cockroach remains alive, although it loses the ability to move. As a result, the insect turns into a source of fresh food for the wasp larvae.
Mammals that grab food like a vacuum cleaner
The species, the size of a hippopotamus, is now extinct. According to scientists, these creatures lived on earth 23 million years ago. Paleontologists note that the mammal did not chew food, but sucked out vegetation like a vacuum cleaner. The remains of the animal indicate that it had a long snout and fangs. And based on the structure of the jaw, experts were able to establish that it ate only plant foods.
Spider "Skeletorus"
This species of spider was discovered in early 2015. The individual is a species of peacock spider and lives in south-eastern Australia. It is noteworthy that the stripes of blue-white pigment that decorate its body resemble a skeleton.
Ancient sea scorpion
Yale University scientists discovered remains in the United States the oldest species crustacean scorpions, which are approximately 460 million years old. The sea scorpion or sea scorpion is a species of fossil arthropod.
Representatives of this species could reach a length of up to 2 meters and are considered the largest arthropods that have ever lived on earth.
Snake with four legs
Scientists have discovered the remains of this species in Brazil. The snake, which had four legs, lived in burrows on the land of Gondwana about 126 million years ago.
The creature could freely move its four legs, while they were not a “means of transportation” for the snake, but simply helped it hold the victim when strangling.
Rat with a "pig nose"
Scientists have discovered a new species of rat in Indonesia and named it Hyorhinomys stuempkei ("pig-nosed rat"). These rats have very large ears for their size, as well as unusually shaped lower teeth that resemble fangs.
Previously Korrespondent.net noted that oceanographers discovered off the coast of Mexico.
Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thank you for that
that you are discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
Join us on Facebook And In contact with
Animals are the most sincere creatures on the planet. They will always be our inexhaustible source of positivity, good mood and role models.
website collects touching, funny and kind stories about our little brothers, and here are those animals that, for various reasons, charmed us this year.
Transfiguration
We believe that love and care can transform anyone. Even those found in a trash can or shoebox. All year we have been collecting for you touching photographs of animals that are alive thanks to human love.
A caring family from Florida, USA, found an unfortunate kitten on the side of the road. They took him home and carefully looked after him until he finally recovered. How surprised they were when over time he turned into an incredibly fluffy snow-white beauty.
Strong friendship
This friendly golden retriever is named Bob. He lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with his owner, a hamster and 8 assorted birds. Bob is probably one of the most peaceful creatures in the world: not only does he get along well with all these guys, but he also seems to really enjoy posing for photos together.
An unusual story happened in the Primorsky Safari Park, where a tiger named Amur shares an enclosure with a goat. The goat, intended for the tiger as live prey, unexpectedly for everyone was able to repel the predator and received the nickname Timur for his courage. The story did not end there: two such completely different animals were soon able to become friends.
Kindness
Every morning, the girl and her mother fill the birdbath in the yard with fresh water and pour unshelled peanuts into a specially made tray. After the meal, shiny trinkets begin to appear in the tray - earrings, loops, glass, balls... For a girl, this collection is more valuable than gold. Every item in it was brought by the crows.
A young man from South Africa saved an injured owl from death. In two months she recovered and even became friends with the family cat. He could not even imagine that then, every time she flew out of the house in the evenings, she would return to him with “gifts.”
Sense of humor
An ordinary dentist from Alaska, Timothy, nicknamed the Tooth Ninja, became famous on the Internet for his Instagram. In his profile you can see the life of his funniest dogs, which he simply adores. We enjoyed watching the cheerful life of these guys.
Megan and Chris decided to do a beautiful pre-wedding photo shoot with their dog Louis. They hired professionals, prepared, but did not take into account one thing: Louis had his own opinion on how to make their photographs truly memorable. He frolicked as best he could, sparing no effort, and jumped right in front of the camera, each time trying to obscure the groom in the photo.
Size
Meet the Hulk, probably the largest pit bull in the world. Despite its intimidating size, it is a very kind and loyal dog. Many people are afraid of pit bulls, but Hulk is a devoted friend who will never offend a person and always happily greets guests.
Whatever the dog is, it needs only one thing - the love of its owner. And, even if the pet is not inferior in size to a well-fed pony, no one canceled hugs, regular tummy rubs and everything else.
The Maine Coon is one of the largest domesticated cat breeds. In 2010, the Guinness Book of Records, for example, included the cat Stewie, whose size was 123 cm from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail. Maine Coons can weigh up to 16 kg. The origins of their breed are shrouded in mystery. But, despite its fantastic nature, the most powerful myth is that it is a cross between a cat and a raccoon.
Acting talent
Nothing fills a movie theater faster than a film about the discovery of a new species. It doesn't even matter whether the species is friendly or not, whether it jumps out of a person's stomach or remains forgotten by its spaceship(like in the movie "E.T.") People will be happy to watch a film even if a representative of a new species looks scary instead of charming, or if he came to Earth to destroy it or conduct experiments on a couple of earthlings. If the new kind doesn't look human, it's safe to say people will want to look at him.
Despite our fascination with the unusual animals born in the minds of writers, we often forget the new species that actually exist, the ones that scientists discover every year around the world. The voices against genetically modified foods grow louder every year (do people really like watermelons with seeds more?) and drown out reports of new species being discovered, leaving Mother Nature with no credit for her creation of these new creatures.
None of the new species discovered in 2015 were found in the United States, but US residents will be able to see them at science fairs across the country. At least on the Internet you can find hundreds of photographs of these species and once again admire the most breathtaking natural wonders in the world.
10. Striped monitor lizards (Water Monitor Lizards)
Exploring the black market can be a dangerous endeavor, especially in other countries where you stand out as a foreigner and don't have any contacts. But sometimes the risk is worth it. Rafe Brown, curator of the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute, recently visited a black market in Manila, Philippines with his friends and came across two new species of striped monitor lizards. The monitor lizards being sold were genetically exclusive species previously unknown to the world of science. Although most of the lizards' characteristics, such as body shape and size, were similar to others, they are endemic to a separate island and isolated peninsula. Most likely, nothing was known about them for many years.
9. Jumper (Titi Monkey)
If you ask someone to describe Amazonian a tropical forest you'll likely hear words like lush, green, huge ecosystem, vegetation cascading like a huge multi-level jadeite palace, teeming with thousands of stunning animal species. While this description is certainly true, this wonderful jungle also includes white sand forests. These forests, located on both banks of the Blanco River in Peru, are very rare and occupy only one percent of the entire Peruvian Amazon. Last year, a team from the Field Museum of Natural History documented an astonishing 1,751 new species in the region in 17 days. Among these species is a new species of monkey. According to Corine Vriesendorp, a conservation ecologist, the Skipper is “Either a new species or a previously unknown color variant of the Copper Skipper (Callicebus cupreus.” And you've only been to a gift shop on your vacation!
7 Bird Species Documented 15 Years Later 
While the Amazon rainforest is a favorite destination for scientists, the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is largely underappreciated for its potential for species discovery, especially in ornithology. The Sulawesi striped tyrant was first spotted in 1997. However, the new species of this songbird was recognized as real only in 2014. In fact, the new species is only distantly related to the gray tabby tyrant for which it was originally thought to be. The new species has shorter wings, a shorter tail, a more curled beak and more subtle sounds than its closest relative.
6. The fororacos or terrible bird from ancient times is still terrifying 
We all admired the skeletons of giant carnivorous birds in museums that lived on Earth millions of years ago. They reached 3 meters in height and roamed the plains and mountains, untouched by smaller predators. Scientists recently completed assembling the skeleton, 90 percent of which they found in 2010 in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The aptly named terror bird had unique vocal and anatomical attributes. You can bet that scary birds will be appearing in horror films soon.
5. Tiny and adorable lizards discovered in the Andes 
Three new species of lizards that look even more adorable than the dragons from the animated film How to Train Your Dragon have been discovered in the Andes Mountains of Peru and Ecuador. The body length of these lizards ranges from 5 to 10 centimeters, and their curious eyes, richly decorated skin and rows of multi-colored spines make them simply irresistible. Before this discovery, only 12 species of this family were known, with five of them discovered in the last seven years.
4. A miniature frog with a changing skin surface 
A frog no bigger than a human fingernail has been discovered in a remote cloud forest in the Andes of Ecuador. The small amphibian, known as the changeable shortmouth, can change the texture of its skin from spiky to smooth right before your eyes, in just a few minutes. It was discovered in the Reserva Las Gralarias, a mecca of biodiversity, where new species of butterflies and birds were discovered, as well as a species of unique glass frog back in 2012.
3. Prehistoric crocodile ate shellfish
Species of crocodiles known to science are definitely scary. However, the remains of a crocodile with cone-shaped teeth and a spade-shaped mouth were recently found in the Amazon in northeastern Peru. It is believed that this species of crocodiles lived on our planet about 13 million years ago in the primitive swamps of Peru. According to scientists, this crocodile used its unique mouth to scoop up shellfish on which it fed. The mouth of this crocodile, pictured above, was flat and wide, while the crocodiles we are familiar with have narrow mouths.
2. The ancient owl turned out to be unique
For many years, the beautiful species remained included in a group of owls called the Great Tawny Owl. It was a victim of misidentification and was incorrectly classified as a golden-eyed desert owl. Scientists rechecked the bird's feathers and body characteristics, as well as its DNA, and found that its DNA was about 10 percent different from that of the great owl. Wow!
1. Replenishment of the group of flickering oonopid spiders 
Researchers in Madagascar recently celebrated the discovery of five new species of tiny, flickering spiders. The body length of these small shimmering arachnids varies from 1 to 3 millimeters. They were even classified into a separate genus called Volborattella, based on their unique appearance, including genitalia that were unlike those of their closest relatives. Can you see the difference between the sexes of the spiders shown in the photograph?
These research scientists are great!
Every year, scientists climb into the jungle and descend to the ocean floor, explore lakes and deserts, and revisit museum exhibits in the hope of discovering new species of animals. Thanks to their efforts, we are learning about hundreds of previously unknown living creatures. Last year was also no exception. We have selected some of the most amazing and beautiful animals that were discovered in 2015.
1. Sneezing monkeys
As Fauna & Flora International (FFI) reported in early 2015, a new species of monkey with unusual snub noses has been discovered. primatologists in Northern Myanmar.
It turned out that distinguishing them from other brothers is quite simple: when it rains, drops of water flow into the monkeys’ nostrils, which makes them sneeze loudly. For this reason, during the rainy seasons, sneezing monkeys sit in trees almost all day long with their heads buried in their knees.
2. Dwarf snail
Tiny snails, serendipitously discovered by a group of scientists on the island of Borneo (it is divided between three countries: Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei), are officially recognized as the tiniest in the world. Their shell height is only 0.7 mm, which is 0.1 mm less than the previous record holder - the snail Angustopila dominikae, previously found in China.
A new species of snail, which can only be seen under a microscope, has been named Acmella nana.
3. Terrible bird
In April 2015, a team of French scientists completed an analysis of the perfectly preserved fossilized remains of an ancient bird discovered five years ago on the east coast of Argentina. The creature was classified as a member of the forarokos family, or "terrible birds", and was named Llallawavis scagliai - "the wonderful bird of Scaglia." As scientists have established, the predator's height reached two meters, it had a large hooked beak, and it lived in South America approximately 3.5 million years ago.
4. Hippopotamus vacuum cleaner
In October of this year, on the island of Unashalka (the central part of the Aleutian archipelago), fossils were found belonging to an animal similar to a hippopotamus with tusks and an elongated snout, reminiscent of appearance, and the function of the vacuum cleaner tube. According to research, with its help the animal sucked seaweed, grass and other coastal plants.
It is assumed that the vacuum cleaner hippopotamus lived off the coast of the northern part of Pacific Ocean from 33 million to 10 million years ago.
5. Leopard peacock spider
In February 2015, the American popular magazine Live Science published material about the leopard peacock spider. A five-millimeter arthropod with a bright spotted color , was discovered by scientists in western Australia. During the mating season, males of this species, in order to attract a female, raise small round brushes adjacent to their abdomen and lightly wave their paws, reminiscent of a peacock with its tail spread.
6. Giant sea scorpion
In September of this year, it became known that paleontologists at Yale University and the University of Iowa (USA) had discovered the remains of the oldest sea scorpion. According to studies, age sea monster, whose length exceeded one and a half meters, is approximately 467 million years old. According to scientists, the predator ate mollusks and eels.
7. Four-legged snake
The remains of the animal, called Tetrapodophis amplectus, were accidentally discovered by a professor at the University of Portsmouth during a tour of the museum in the German city of Solnhofen. It subsequently turned out that the fossil he noticed belonged to a snake about 20 m long with four legs. An amazing creature, as scientists suggest, lived 120 million years ago in northeastern Brazil.
8. Rat with a pig nose and vampire teeth
This October, a new species of rat was discovered in Indonesia. Rodents are distinguished by an unusual nose shape, reminiscent of a pig's snout, and large front fangs, similar to vampire teeth. Louisiana State University Museum Curator Jacob Esselstyn commented discovery: “When I first held this creature in my hands, I immediately knew that we had discovered a new species. I've never seen anything like it."
9. Cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex
In June 2015, during excavations on a beach near the Welsh city of Penarth, the remains of a dinosaur that lived about 200 million years ago were discovered. Scientists were able to find out that the predator was about 50 cm tall, with a tail about 2 m long and sharp, slightly curved teeth. The dinosaur has not yet been given its own name, so in scientific circles and publications it is called “the cousin of the Tyrannosaurus rex.”
