Top 10 New Species of 2012

Arizona State University’s International Institute for Species Exploration has come up with their 6^th annual list of the top ten newly discovered species. 

To make the cut, a species has to have been officially named in 2012, though it might have been discovered, collected or even lived much earlier. Case in point, a 165 million year old hangingfly (Juracimbrophlebia ginkgofolia), or rather, the fossil of a hangingfly, that made the grade. 

You can see a collage of the winners below:

Top 10 new species announced by International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University. (Credit: ASU)

One I particularly liked is the Night-Light cockroach (Lucihormetica luckae), which lived in Ecuador near the Tungurahua volocano. I say 'lived' because no more have been seen since the volcano erupted in 2010. The specimen below was collected seventy years ago (though officially described last year, as per the rules). It may already be extinct. 

Images courtesy Peter Vrsansky, Slovak Academy of Sciences.

Best comment from Berni Timmerman: on the National Geographic page (where you can see the rest of the winners):

The cockroach is just like Eva from Wall-e!!!