Painted Terrapin

Reptiles > River Turtles

The Painted Terrapin (Batagur borneoensis), known in Southeast Asia as tuntung laut, is widely regarded as one of the most spectacularly colored freshwater turtles in the world. Inhabiting the brackish mangrove estuaries and tidal river mouths of Sundaland, this...

Robcantley’s Pitcher Plant

Plants > Tropical Pitcher Plants

Robcantley’s Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes robcantleyi) is one of the most magnificent, colossal carnivorous plants discovered in modern botanical history. Officially described in 2011 from a remote, mist-shrouded montane ridge in eastern Mindanao, Philippines, this...

Mount Apo Giant Rafflesia

Plants > Parasitic Plants

The Mount Apo Giant Rafflesia (Rafflesia schadenbergiana), known locally by the indigenous Bagobo people as the Kolon Busaw (flower of the demon), is the second largest single flower species on planet Earth. Endemic to the volcanic mountain flanks of Mindanao in the...

Austin Blind Salamander

Amphibians > Lungless Salamanders

The Austin Blind Salamander (Eurycea waterlooensis) is an exceptionally rare, subterranean plethodontid salamander that lives exclusively within the deep, dark freshwater subterranean chambers of the Edwards Aquifer beneath the city of Austin, Texas. Named after...

Montane Monkey-faced Bat

Mammals > Bats

The Montane Monkey-faced Bat (Pteralopex pulchra) is one of the rarest, most mystifying flying mammals on Earth. Endemic solely to the remote, cloud-veiled mountain summits of Makira Island in the Solomon archipelago, this extraordinary megabat earned its colloquial...