The Sun – Dozens of new branches on Earth’s tree of life were discovered this year thanks to a team of researchers that scoured the globe for new species. Mediterranean ants, goblin spiders, sea slugs, flowering plants and coral were just some of the 71 new species researchers at the California Academy of Sciences uncovered this year. In total, 17 fish, 15 geckos, eight flowering plants, six sea slugs, five arachnids, four eels, three ants, three skinks, two skates, two wasps, two mosses, two corals, and two lizards were
discovered by scientists across five continents and three oceans. Researchers made the incredible finds by “venturing into Croatian caves, diving to extreme ocean depths, and surveying savanna forests,” the academy said in a statement. Among the finds was a bright purple fish dubbed Cirrhilabrus wakanda — a nod to the Marvel comic and hit movie, Black Panther. The colorful species is found in “Twilight Zone” reefs in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania, about 260 feet below the surface READ MORE
