The 2015 Top 10 Species list is compiled annually by the International Institute for Species Exploration or IISE. It calls attention to discoveries that are made even as species are going extinct faster than they are identified. Scientists believe 10 million species await discovery, five times the number that are already known to science. IISE founding director Quentin Wheeler says, “The Top 10 is a reminder of the wonders awaiting us.”
Top 10 Species of 2015
5
This Chinese wasp Deuteragenia ossarium builds her nest in hollow stems. She deposits dead spiders into separate cells to provide nourishment for her developing young, and puts dead ants at the entrance to the nest, creating a chemical barrier to protect them. (Michael Staab)
6
Unlike other frogs, this new species (male left, female right) from Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island does not lay fertilized eggs nor give birth to tiny froglets. Limnonectes lavaepartus has internal fertilization and gives birth to tadpoles that are deposited in pools of water. (Jimmy A. McGuire)
7
While the giant walking stick Phryganistria tamdaoensis is common in Tam Dao, Vietnam, the 23-centimeter long insect somehow escaped entomologists’ notice until now. (Jonathan Brecko)
8
Residing in the Japanese islands, the sea slug Phyllodesmium acanthorhinum is the missing link between sea slugs that feed on colonies of tiny stinging jellies and those specializing in corals. (Robert Bolland)
