Tawny-crowned Honeyeater

Birds > Passerines

The Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (Gliciphila melanops) is a quintessential avian inhabitant of the low, windy heathlands and coastal sandplains of southern Australia. Positioned in its own distinct monotypic genus within the diverse family Meliphagidae, this agile...

Spottail Mantis Shrimp

Invertebrates > Crustaceans

The Spottail Mantis Shrimp (Squilla mantis) is a prominent benthic crustacean inhabiting soft seabed substrates throughout the Mediterranean basin and adjacent eastern Atlantic waters. Known locally along Mediterranean coasts as the ‘canocchia’ or...

Desert False Puffball

Fungi > Agaricales

The Desert False Puffball (Agaricus deserticola), also historically known as Longula texensis, is a secotioid basidiomycete uniquely adapted to survive the punishing extremes of North American arid scrublands. Unlike typical mushrooms that forcibly discharge spores...

Swift’s Twisted-Claw Millipede

Invertebrates > Millipedes

Swift’s Twisted-Claw Millipede (Nannaria swiftae) is a forest-floor invertebrate described in 2022 during an exhaustive taxonomic revision of the Appalachian millipede family Xystodesmidae. Named in tribute to musician Taylor Swift by lead entomologist Derek...

Bluebarred Pygmy Sunfish

Fish > Perch-like Fishes

The Bluebarred Pygmy Sunfish (Elassoma okatie) is a diminutive freshwater fish native to the enchanting blackwater ecosystems of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Despite its common name, pygmy sunfishes are not true centrarchid sunfishes but belong to their own distinct...