Frégate Island Giant Beetle

Invertebrates > Darkling Beetles

The Frégate Island Giant Beetle (Polposipus herculeanus), or Seychelles Giant Tenebrionid, is an iconic and colossal flightless insect native exclusively to the granitic Seychelles islands in the western Indian Ocean. As one of the largest members of the darkling...

Hamilton’s Frog

Amphibians > Primitive Frogs

Hamilton’s Frog (Leiopelma hamiltoni) is an extraordinarily ancient and primitive amphibian found only on isolated islands in New Zealand’s Cook Strait. Belonging to the family Leiopelmatidae—a lineage that diverged from all other living frogs over 200...

Antiguan Racer

Reptiles > Snakes

The Antiguan Racer (Alsophis antiguae) is a slender, harmless colubrid snake native exclusively to Antigua and Barbuda, famous among conservation biologists as one of the rarest snakes in the world. Once completely extirpated from mainland Antigua by introduced Asian...

Bocaccio Rockfish

Fish > Scorpionfishes

The Bocaccio Rockfish (Sebastes paucispinis), affectionately dubbed ‘Bocaccio’ from the Italian word for ‘big mouth,’ is a commercially historic and ecologically prominent scorpaenid native to the cold, nutrient-rich currents of the Northeast...

European Sea Sturgeon

Fish > Sturgeons

The European Sea Sturgeon (Acipenser sturio), also known as the Atlantic Sturgeon or Common Sturgeon, is a magnificent living fossil whose evolutionary lineage dates back over 200 million years to the Jurassic Period. Once abundant across every major waterway in...