With the rate at which new species are being found and extinct species are being rediscovered and with unknown marine species being estimated to be between 1 and 10 million and micro-organism species thought to be in excess of one billion, I am beginning to wonder if humans are not soon going to be crowded off the planet.
From Reuters today: Some 200 news species of animals and plants, including an orange spider, a jabbing spiny-legged katydid (bush cricket) and a minute long-nosed frog, have been discovered in Papua New Guinea‘s remote jungle-clad mountains. A team of international scientists made the discoveries during a two-month expedition in the remote Nakanai and Muller mountains in 2009, Conservation International said on Wednesday. In the Nakanai mountains on New Britain island, the team found 24 new species of frogs, two new mammals, nine new species of plants, nearly 100 new insects including damselflies, katydids and ants, and approximately 100 new spiders.
new mouse genus discovered in new guinea : Stephen Richards
Several of the katydids and at least one ant and one mammal are so different from any known species that they represent entirely new genera, said the scientists.
Scientific American: One of the new genera is represented by a mouse that was found in the Nakanai range at about 1,590 meters above sea level in April 2009. The rare rodent has narrow feet and looks somewhat like known prehensile-tailed species in New Guinea. But its long, half-white tail is one of the striking features that distinguishes it from others in the region.
The k2p blog 