Top 10 amazing new species discovered!

Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Sanden Totten (KPCC/SCPR.org, 5-24-13)

The new Lilliputian violet, a tiny terrestrial dicot, is among the smallest flowers in the world. Known only from a single locality in an Intermontane Plateau of the high Andes of Peru, Viola lilliputana lives in the dry puna grassland eco-region (scpr.org).

  

NEW: Blonde monkey! (scpr.org)

A glow-in-the-dark cockroach and a carnivorous sea sponge? These aren't creatures from a science fiction movie: They are two of the new species cataloged in 2012.

On average, scientists discover an astonishing 18,000 new species a year. To showcase some of them, the International Institute for Species Exploration puts out a list of the 10 most fascinating newly found life forms.

 

Sneezing monkey of Burma discovered!

Also on the list is a frog so small it could sit on the nail of a pinky finger. It was discovered in Papua, New Guinea, and was deemed the "smallest living vertebrate."

Another find came to light through social media. Photographer Hock Ping Guek snapped a picture of a fly with lace-like wings in Kuala Lumpur. He posted the shot to flickr.com/explore. 
 
Shaun Winterton, an entomologist with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, then stumbled across the image and realized it showed something new. The two of them teamed up to classify the bug.
 

Arizona State University's Quentin Wheeler helped compile the list. He says it's important to catalog the earth's inhabitants, since some are being lost as human populations grow. 
 
"Many scientists think that as many as half of all the species on Earth many not survive the 21st century," Wheeler said. More

• Lesula: New species of African monkey discovered (Scientific American)

Himalayan Yeti (factfictionandconjecture.ca)