Barbados Threadsnake

Reptiles > Snakes

The Barbados Threadsnake (Tetracheilostoma carlae), described by herpetologist S. Blair Hedges in 2008, holds the extraordinary biological title of the world’s smallest extant species of snake. Measuring barely four inches in length and having the diameter of a...

Gerp’s Mouse Lemur

Mammals > Primates

Gerp’s Mouse Lemur (Microcebus gerpi) is a diminutive, highly localized cheirogaleid primate described scientifically in 2012 by an international team from the Groupe d’Étude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP). Inhabiting a singular,...

Gooty Sapphire Tarantula

Invertebrates > Arachnids

The Gooty Sapphire Tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica), also known as the Peacock Parachute Spider, is widely regarded as one of the most mesmerizing arachnids on the planet. First discovered in a railway timber yard in Gooty, central India, in 1899, its true wild...

Kangaroo Island Dunnart

Mammals > Marsupials

The Kangaroo Island Dunnart (Sminthopsis aitkeni) is an exceptionally rare and diminutive dasyurid marsupial found nowhere else on Earth except the rugged western reaches of Kangaroo Island, off the southern coast of Australia. Superficially resembling a tiny mouse,...

Newton’s Fiscal

Birds > Shrikes

Newton’s Fiscal (Lanius newtoni), also known as the São Tomé fiscal, is one of the rarest and most critically threatened passerines on Earth. Discovered by Portuguese naturalist Francisco Newton in 1888, this enigmatic island shrike was thought extinct for much...