Smalltooth Dragonfish

Fish > Stomiiformes

The Smalltooth Dragonfish (Pachystomias microdon) is a formidable predatory deep-sea fish inhabiting the perpetual midnight of the ocean’s mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones across the globe. Belonging to the family Stomiidae, this sleek, black predator is...

Peacock Monitor

Reptiles > Squamata

The Peacock Monitor (Varanus auffenbergi), also known as the Auffenberg’s monitor, is a small, exquisitely patterned dwarf monitor lizard endemic exclusively to the island of Rote in the Lesser Sunda Archipelago of Indonesia. Belonging to the subgenus Odatria,...

Boojum Tree

Plants > Ericales

The Boojum Tree (Fouquieria columnaris), known natively in Spanish as the ‘cirio’ (wax candle) and named in English after Lewis Carroll’s mythical creature in The Hunting of the Snark, is one of the most bizarre and surreal botanical wonders on...

Giant African Millipede

Invertebrates > Spirostreptida

The Giant African Millipede (Archispirostreptus gigas), celebrated across invertebrate biology as the largest living diplopod on Earth, is a colossal, multi-legged terrestrial myriapod belonging to the family Spirostreptidae. Endemic natively to the warm, humid...

Brilliant-thighed Poison Frog

Amphibians > Anura

The Brilliant-thighed Poison Frog (Allobates femoralis), also known as the brilliant-thighed rocket frog, is a widespread, acoustically prominent aromobatid amphibian inhabiting the vast tropical lowlands of the Amazon Basin and Guiana Shield. Renowned for its...