The International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) is a

research institute A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...

located in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

. Its mission is to improve

taxonomical In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

exploration and the cataloging of new species of flora and fauna. Since 2008, IISE has published a yearly "Top 10" of the most unusual or unique biota newly identified in the previous year, with the aim of drawing attention to the work done in taxonomy across the world over the previous year. In 2011, the institute contributed towards the estimate that

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

was home to approximately 8.7 million species.

Overview

The International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) is a research facility dedicated to cataloging the Earth's species across all

biological kingdom In biology, a kingdom is the second highest taxonomic rank, just below domain. Kingdoms are divided into smaller groups called phyla. Traditionally, some textbooks from the United States and Canada used a system of six kingdoms (Animalia, Plant ...

s. IISE cites three reasons why an improved taxonomic understanding of life is important: without knowing what exists today, humans will be unable to tell when species go extinct; the diversity of life driven by billions of years of natural selection means nature likely holds the answers to many human problems; and to better appreciate our place in the world. IISE is hosted by the

State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) is a public research university in Syracuse, New York focused on the environment and natural resources. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) s ...

and located in

, United States. It was founded in 2007. IISE was previously associated with

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. The institute's executive director is

Quentin D. Wheeler Quentin Duane Wheeler (born January 31, 1954) is an American entomologist, taxonomist, author and newspaper columnist, and is the founding director of the International Institute for Species Exploration. He was the fourth President of the Sta ...

, an

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

. In 2011, the Institute contributed to a widely publicized estimate that Earth is home to approximately 8.7 million species.

Top 10 New Species list

Starting in 2008, the IISE has published an annual list of the "Top 10 New Species" in an effort to increase public awareness of the diversity of life on Earth. The list is credited with bringing attention to the abundance of new discovers, just as the world's species are declining. Additionally, Wheeler said he hopes it spurs a sense of urgency to catalog Earth's creatures. Each year an international panel picks the list from the 17,000–18,000 species described during the previous calendar year, emphasizing diversity with their picks. To be eligible for inclusion, the species must have been formally described in an accredited scientific journal and named within the previous calendar year. The list is published on or just before May 23, the birthday of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

, the "father" of

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

. The list is unordered. According to selection committee chair Antonio Valdecasas, it is very difficult to select the list due to the large number of species discovered each year. He added that "always surprised" by the diverse discoveries each year and that we are "very far" from a complete description of life on Earth. The list regularly draws considerable press attention. The '' Delhi Daily News'' said the list "highlights the most amazing species found last year", while the ''

New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'' called the creatures it features "bizarre discoveries". ''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine called the list the "best of the best when it comes to new life".

2012

The Top 10 New Species for 2012 were announced on May 24, 2012 and included (in alphabetical order): *

Bonaire banded box jellyfish ''Tamoya ohboya'', also known as the Bonaire banded box jellyfish, is a species of box jellyfish formally described in 2011. ''Tamoya ohboya'' was discovered by a biologist and educator, William Gillan. In order to name the newly discovered specie ...

(''Tamoya ohboya'') *''

Bulbophyllum nocturnum ''Bulbophyllum nocturnum'' is a species of epiphytic orchid that grows in New Britain. It was described in 2011, and is the first species of orchid known to consistently flower during the night, and close its flowers during the day. Distributi ...

'' *'' Crurifarcimen vagans'' * Devil worm (''Halicephalobus mephisto'') *''

Diania cactiformis ''Diania'' is an extinct genus of lobopodian animal found in the Lower Cambrian Maotianshan shale of China, represented by a single species - ''D. cactiformis''. Known during its investigation by the nickname "walking cactus", this organism belon ...

'' *''

Kollasmosoma sentum ''Kollasmosoma sentum'' is a parasitoid wasp in the family Braconidae, which lays its eggs inside adult ants. It was featured as one of "the top 10 new species of 2012" in a list compiled by Conservationists at the Arizona State University Inter ...

'' *

Myanmar snub-nosed monkey The Myanmar snub-nosed monkey or Burmese snub-nosed monkey or black snub-nosed monkey (''Rhinopithecus strykeri'') is a critically endangered species of colobine monkey discovered in 2010 in northern Burma (Myanmar). It was formally described ...

(''Rhinopithecus strykeri'') *

Nepalese autumn poppy ''Meconopsis autumnalis'', the Nepalese autumn poppy, is a yellow-flowered Himalayan poppy belonging to series Robustae, and is endemic to the Ganesh Himal range of central Nepal, where it was discovered in 2008 on a research expedition from the ...

(''Meconopsis autumnalis'') *''

Pterinopelma sazimai ''Lasiocyano'' is a genus of tarantulas (family Theraphosidae). , it was a monotypic genus with the sole species ''Lasiocyano sazimai'', synonym ''Pterinopelma sazimai'', known as the Brazilian blue, iridescent blue or Sazima's tarantula. The spec ...

'' *''

Spongiforma squarepantsii ''Spongiforma squarepantsii'' is a species of fungus in the family Boletaceae, genus '' Spongiforma''. Found in Malaysia, it was described as new to science in 2011. It produces sponge-like, rubbery orange fruit bodies that have a fruity or musk ...

2013

The Top 10 New Species for 2013 were announced on May 22, 2013 and included (in alphabetical order): *''

Eugenia petrikensis ''Eugenia petrikensis'' is a species of flowering plants belonging to the genus ''Eugenia'' and was described in 2012 by Neil Snow and coauthors. It is a large shrub with magenta-coloured flowers and was discovered from Toliara Province at the e ...

'' *''

Juracimbrophlebia ginkgofolia ''Juracimbrophlebia'' is an extinct genus of hangingflies that lived during the Middle Jurassic Period about 165 million years ago, containing only its type species, ''Juracimbrophlebia ginkgofolia''; it was discovered in deposits from Daohugou ...

'' *

Lesula The lesula (''Cercopithecus lomamiensis'') is a species of Old World monkey in the guenon genus ''Cercopithecus'', found in the Lomami Basin of the Congo. Though known to locals, it was unknown to the international scientific community until i ...

monkey (''Cercopithecus lomamiensis'') *Lilliputian violet ('' Viola lilliputana'') *'' Lucihormetica luckae'' *Lyre sponge ('' Chondrocladia lyra'') *'' Ochroconis anomala'' *''

Paedophryne amauensis ''Paedophryne amauensis'' is a species of microhylid frog endemic to eastern Papua New Guinea. At in snout-to-vent length, it is considered the world's smallest known vertebrate. (See also Ecological guild.) The species was listed in the ''T ...

'' *'' Semachrysa jade'' *'' Sibon noalamina''

2014

The 2014 list was announced on May 22, 2014. According to ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

'', the list featured "a lineup of startling creatures notable for their scrappiness, weirdness, thrift, and sloth." * Kaweesak's dragon tree *''

Bassaricyon neblina The olinguito (''Bassaricyon neblina'') is a mammal of the raccoon family Procyonidae that lives in montane forests in the Andes of western Colombia and Ecuador. It was classified as belonging to a new species in 2013. The specific name ''nebli ...

'' *'' Edwardsiella andrillae'' *'' Liropus minusculus'' *

Cape Melville leaf-tailed gecko The Cape Melville leaf-tailed gecko (''Saltuarius eximius'') is a species of geckos that is endemic to the Melville Range on Cape Melville in Northern Australia. The species was described in 2013 by Australian zoologists Conrad Hoskin (of James C ...

(''Saltuarius eximius'') *''

Zospeum tholussum ''Zospeum tholussum'' or the domed land snail, is a cave-dwelling species of air-breathing land snails in the family Ellobiidae. It is a very small species, with a shell height of less than and a shell width of around . ''Z. tholussum'' indivi ...

'' *'' Tinkerbella nana'' *'' Penicillium vanoranjei'' *''

Spiculosiphon oceana ''Spiculosiphon oceana'' is a giant species of foraminifera (a phylum of unicellular eukaryotes). Its appearance and lifestyle mimics that of a sponge. It was discovered in 2013 in underwater caves 30 miles off the coast of Spain. Descriptio ...

'' *''

Tersicoccus phoenicis ''Tersicoccus phoenicis'' is a member of the bacterial family Micrococcaceae. It has only been found in two Cleanroom, spacecraft assembly clean room facilities and is resistant to the methods normally used to clean such facilities. The species ...

2015

The list was announced on 23 May, to coincide with the birthday of Carolus Linnaeus. *Feathered dinosaur (''

Anzu wyliei ''Anzu'' (named for Anzû, a bird-like daemon in Ancient Mesopotamian religion) is a monospecific genus of caenagnathid dinosaur from North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana that lived during the Late Cretaceous (upper Maastrichtian stage, 67.2- ...

'') *Coral plant (''

Balanophora coralliformis ''Balanophora coralliformis'', sometimes known as coral plant, is a flowering plant in the Family (biology), family Balanophoraceae and is known only from Mount Mingan on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Like others in its genus, it is ...

'') *Cartwheeling spider (''

Cebrennus rechenbergi ''Cebrennus rechenbergi'', also known as the Moroccan flic-flac spider and cartwheeling spider, is a species of huntsman spider indigenous to the sand dunes of the Erg Chebbi desert in Morocco. If provoked or threatened it can escape by doubli ...

'') *The X-phyla ('' Dendrogramma enigmatica'') *Bone-house wasp ('' Deuteragenia ossarium'') *Indonesian frog (''

Limnonectes larvaepartus ''Limnonectes larvaepartus'' is a species of fanged frog in the family Dicroglossidae endemic to northern and western Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is unique in that it has internal fertilization and gives live birth to tadpoles. Other frog species ...

'') *Walking stick (''

Phryganistria tamdaoensis ''Phryganistria tamdaoensis'' is a species of stick insect belonging to the family of giant sticks. It was described in 2014 based on specimens from the Tam Đảo National Park in Vietnam, hence, the specific name ''tamdaoensis''. It was de ...

'') *Sea slug (''

Phyllodesmium acanthorhinum ''Phyllodesmium acanthorhinum'' is a species of sea slugs, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae. In 2015, the International Institute for Species Exploration names it as one of the "Top 10 New Species" for n ...

'') *Bromeliad ('' Tillandsia religiosa'') *Pufferfish (''

Torquigener albomaculosus ''Torquigener albomaculosus'', or the white-spotted pufferfish, is the 20th discovered species of the genus '' Torquigener''. The species was discovered in the ocean waters around the Ryukyu Islands in Japan off the south coast of Amami Ōshima ...

'')

State of observed species report

The IISE also releases an annual report that inventories the complete list of species cataloged two years prior and discusses the state of new species discovery. The 2011 report, for example, found that 19,232 species were named in 2009, a 5.6% increase over the prior year. The report takes about two years to compile due to the lack of standardized registration for new species, and issue which IISE has campaigned for. It routinely finds that insects make up roughly half of all new species discovered, followed by

vascular plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

and

arachnid Arachnida () is a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and vinegaroon ...

References

External links

HomepageThe Top 10 New Species list
{{Authority control 2007 establishments in Arizona Organizations based in Syracuse, New York Organizations established in 2007 Taxonomy (biology) organizations State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry Biological research institutes in the United States Research institutes in New York (state)