Top 10 new species for 2015 announced

A list of the top 10 new species for 2015, compiled annually by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), has been announced to coincide with the anniversary of the birth on May 23 of Carolus Linnaeus, the 18th century Swedish botanist who is considered to be the father of modern taxonomy. An international committee of taxonomists from the ESF's International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) selected the Top 10 from among the approximately 18,000 new species named during 2014.

The annual list, established in 2008, calls attention to discoveries that are made even as species are going extinct faster than they are being identified. Scientists believe 10 million species await discovery, five times the number that are already known to science.

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Transparent Snails & 'Fairy' Wasps: Top 10 New Species Revealed

By Stephanie Pappas, Senior Writer | May 22, 2014 07:37am ET

A fuzzy-faced, tree-living carnivore, a transparent snail and ice-clinging anemones are among the top new species discovered in the last year.

The 2014 top 10 list, put together by the International Institute for Species Exploration at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, highlights the most amazing species discovered in 2013. According to the institute, this year's Top 10 New Species come from a field of 18,000 newfound species named in 2013.

"The top 10 is designed to bring attention to the unsung heroes [who are] addressing the biodiversity crisis by working to complete an inventory of Earth's plants, animals and microbes," Quentin Wheeler, the president of the college, said in a statement. "Each year a small, dedicated community of taxonomists and curators substantively improves our understanding of the diversity of life and the wondrous ways in which species have adapted for survival."

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