Reptiles > Scincidae & Skinks
The Pygmy Spiny-tailed Skink (Egernia depressa) is a fascinating, heavily armored miniature lizard endemic to the sun-scorched outback of arid Western Australia. Renowned for its extraordinarily flattened torso and short, club-like tail bristling with ferocious keeled...
Mammals > Tenrecidae & Tenrecs
The Tailless Tenrec (Tenrec ecaudatus), locally known in Malagasy as the ‘tandraka’ or ‘trandraka,’ is the largest surviving member of the ancient Afrotherian family Tenrecidae. Endemic originally to the biodiverse wilderness of Madagascar,...
Fish > Torpediniformes & Electric Rays
The Pacific Electric Ray (Tetronarce californica) is a formidable and fascinating cartilaginous fish cruising the temperate coastal waters of western North America. Inhabiting sandy ocean flats and giant kelp forests from Vancouver Island to Baja California, this...
Invertebrates > Salticidae & Jumping Spiders
The White-mustached Portia (Portia labiata) is an extraordinary jumping spider renowned across behavioral biology for its astonishing cognitive capabilities. Inhabiting the lush tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, this small, cryptic arachnid is a specialist...
Fungi > Boletaceae & Boletes
The White King Bolete (Boletus barrowsii), famously known as the southwestern white porcini, is an esteemed wild edible mushroom native to the montane pine and oak forests of the American Southwest. Named in honor of the pioneering amateur mycologist Charles Barrows,...
