Birds > Acanthisittidae & New Zealand Wrens
The New Zealand Rockwren (Xenicus gilviventris), known in Māori as the ‘Pīwauwau,’ is New Zealand’s only truly alpine bird species and an ancient living relict of the basal passerine family Acanthisittidae. Confined strictly to the jagged granite...
Mammals > Sciuridae & Flying Squirrels
The Woolly Flying Squirrel (Eupetaurus cinereus) is one of the rarest, heaviest, and most anatomically enigmatic gliding mammals in the world. Endemic to the dizzying vertical crags and subalpine conifer groves of the Western Himalayas, this massive sciurid was long...
Invertebrates > Peripatidae & Velvet Worms
Acacio’s Velvet Worm (Peripatus acacioi) is an astonishing terrestrial invertebrate belonging to the phylum Onychophora, an ancient lineage of ‘velvet worms’ that has endured virtually unchanged for over 500 million years since the Cambrian period....
Amphibians > Sooglossidae & Seychelles Frogs
Gardiner’s Seychelles Frog (Sechellophryne gardineri) ranks among the smallest amphibians on planet Earth, an ancient, miniaturized anuran measuring barely 11 millimeters in length. Endemic strictly to the high-elevation misty granitic summits of the Seychelles...
Reptiles > Anniellidae & American Legless Lizards
The Baja California Legless Lizard (Anniella geronimensis) is an exceptionally specialized fossorial squamate endemic strictly to a narrow coastal dune ribbon in northwestern Baja California, Mexico. Belonging to the distinct family Anniellidae, this small, limbless...
