Check out some more species that a group of taxonomists from around the globe and the International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) at Arizona State University have put on their list for the top new species for 2010:

Eternal Light Mushroom (Mycena luxaeterna)

This species comes from the last Atlantic forest habitat near Sao Paulo, Brazil. It has a bright yellowish green light that comes from its gel-covered stems. Only 71 species of the estimated 1.5 million specifies of fungi on the planet are known to be bioluminescence. This particular species is one of the most visually striking. The name of this species was derived from 24-hour light that comes out from the basidiomes, and was inspired by Mozart’s Requiem.

Pollinating Cricket (Glomeremus orchidophilus)

This species is the only one that is pollinating the endangered and rare orchid angraecum cadeii on Reunion Island in the South Western Indian Ocean.

Darwin’s Bark Spider (Caerostris darwini)

This spider builds the largest known webs that also happen to look like orbs. These webs are big enough to span rivers, streams and lakes. The silks spun by Darwin’s bark spider are very strong, twice as strong as other known spider silk and it is known as the toughest biological material ever studied. This type of spider is very unusual which will allow for researchers to have a lot to study like mate guarding, size dimorphism, and self-castration. This spider was named in honor of Charles R. Darwin.

Walter’s Duiker (Philantomba walteri)

This species is from West Africa and was first discovered at a bushmeat market. Bushmeat refers to the meat of terrestrial wild animals that are killed for commercial purposes throughout the humid tropics of the Americas, Asia and Africa. The discovery of a new species from a group of animals that was well studied in the context of bushmeat exploitation is a big reminder of the mammalian species that haven’t been described, even within the ones that are being exploited every day for food or ritual activities. This species was named in honor of Walter N. Verheyen, who passed away in 2005, in recognition of his work on African mammals. In 1968,Verheyen was also the one to collect the first specimen at Badou (Togo).

Louisiana Pancake Batfish (Halieutichthys intermedius)

This species was found just before the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. Unfortunately, its entire known distribution is in the area of the oil spill. These species are flat like a pancake but also have big bulging eyes and spikes, and they hop. This species became a big fixture in the media, because they were discovered so close to the oil spill and because their existence is so unstable as a result of the oil spill. Intermedius, is a specific epithet that refers to intermediate character states that are observed in this taxon.

New Species In The World, Part I