If you go to the beach, you’re likely to see some form of plastic pollution scattered in the waves or sprinkled among the sand grains. A bottle cap fragment here, a transparent piece of packaging there. But researchers have identified a new, and perhaps more permanent type of plastic pollution, one that incorporates…

Wood-boring clams don’t look like the ones you or I might find steamed with pasta. They’re smaller than a pea, and live exclusively in the deep ocean, tunneling into sunken, waterlogged trees that were swept out to sea long ago to eat the wood. Now, scientists have determined that there are quite a few more groups of…

There are more species of beetle than just about anything else on Earth—approximately 400,000 species described, with perhaps a million or more left to catalog. Now, researchers have identified 103 new species of weevil (a tiny variety of beetle), all from a single Indonesian island.

Many tropical frogs are admired for their stunning coloration, but glass frogs go a different route. The skin on their bellies is at least partially transparent, making their internal organs visible from underneath. Now, another frog joins the of these clear-tummied amphibians—a remarkable little creature from…

A black, thumb-sized missile sails through the jungle air, a thunderous buzzing announcing its arrival. The massive insect lands heavily on a tree-bound termite nest, taking a moment to fold its brassy wings and stretch its humongous, curved jaws. This is Wallace’s giant bee, the beefiest and bumbliest bee on Earth.…

Tarantulas generally stick to a pretty predictable body plan—eight legs, long fangs, usually fuzzy. But a newly-described species of tarantula in the southern African country of Angola has thrown scientists a big curve ball. The tarantula is about as weird as it gets for spiders, sporting a long, pliable, droopy…

The rainforest-flanked rivers of tropical South America hold six more species of catfish than previously thought, new research suggests. But these aren’t the wide-mouthed, whiskered catfish you may be familiar with from murky waterways throughout the U.S. interior. The new fishes look like something out of a D&D…

As night falls on the lowland rainforests in Madagascar, dead, decaying leaves find new life, slowly unfurling in the vanishing light. But as four scaly feet and wide, unblinking eyes emerge from behind the crinkly veil, the leaves reveal their true identities: these are leaf-tailed geckos, unparalleled masters of…

If you have flippers and spend time gliding through U.S. waters, there’s at least one reason to celebrate today. New research suggests that more than three quarters of marine mammal and sea turtle populations listed under the Endangered Species Act have significantly rebounded following listing. The study highlights…

Central Texas is home to three newly-identified species of salamander, suggests new research. But encountering these fresh amphibian faces isn’t as simple as taking a walk through the woodlands fringing Austin. These salamanders—and more than a dozen close relatives—live deep underground in a network of flooded…

It’s a new year, and the world has its first new species of shark in 2019. Meet Carcharhinus obsolerus! Though, it’d be wise to temper your expectations if you hope to see the newly-described species in the wild. The unique shark—described based on a few specimens caught many decades ago—may actually be extinct, gone…

Thanks to carbon dioxide emissions, Earth’s seas are getting both warmer and more acidic. Until now, the consequences of ocean acidification were thought to be mostly limited to marine animals that make hard, calcium carbonate shells, but new research suggests that fish will feel the impact too. Acidic conditions can…

Life is hard for Ridgway’s hawks, a species found only in a small sliver of habitat on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Once found all over the island, the hawks have steadily declined due to local humans killing them and clearing their forest habitat. If that weren’t enough, their chicks are threatened by…

What has two short, chunky arms, a mane of feathery gills, and a sleek, green-marbled, eel-like body as long as your leg? No guesses? Meet the reticulated siren, a massive, two and a half foot-long salamander, described for the first time in a paper published today in the journal PLOS ONE, hailing from the remote,…

Medicines do an excellent job of increasing the quality of life for humans around the world, but the drugs don’t stay with us forever, and are eventually flushed out into our wastewater. Now, new research suggests that not only are a staggering range of pharmaceutical products getting into the environment and…

Mountain pygmy-possums—big-eyed, stupefyingly cute hamster-sized marsupials—aren’t doing so hot. Critically-endangered, the nocturnal fuzzballs found only in boulder-strewn pockets of the high Australian Alps have suffered in the face of habitat loss and introduced predators. Now, new research suggests that climate…

Tigers seem pretty straightforward: stripes, sharp claws, awe-inspiring grace wielded by hundreds of pounds of rippling muscle, fondness of sugary cereal, etc. But new research on the big cats’ DNA is the latest indication that underneath that striking orange and black pelage, not all tigers are the same. Scientists…

It took a little while, but a tiny, delicate plant found in Japan 26 years ago has been formally classified as a new species. But after residing in a museum collection since the early 1990s, the single specimen of Thismia kobensis remains the only one ever found. Tragically, this means the so-called “fairy lantern”…

High in the Ecuadorian Andes, a stunningly beautiful species of hummingbird—decorated with a flashy, sapphire throat—has revealed itself to science for the first time. But scientists fear it’s already perilously close to extinction.