Author: Doreen Fräßdorf

Polar Bears could go extinct by the 2030s
A warming of more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels threatens the southern and western polar bear populations of Hudson Bay with local extinction. (© Arturo de Frias Marques, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Global warming: Polar bears could become extinct as early as the 2030s

The future of polar bears in Hudson Bay, Canada, looks bleak: a new study warns that polar bears could become regionally extinct as early as the 2030s if global warming continues to rise and surpass critical thresholds. Researchers from several North American and international institutions caution that a global temperature

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Tylototriton ngoclinhensis
The species name ngoclinhensis refers to the type locality of the newly discovered Ngoc Linh crocodile newt (Tylototriton ngoclinhensis), which is Ngoc Linh Mountain in the central highlands of Vietnam. (© Phung TM, Pham CT, Nguyen TQ, Ninh HT, Nguyen HQ, Bernardes M, Le ST, Ziegler T, Nguyen TT (2023) Southbound – the southernmost record of Tylototriton (Amphibia, Caudata, Salamandridae) from the Central Highlands of Vietnam represents a new species. ZooKeys 1168: 193-218.)

Newly discovered animals 2023

It is said that between 11,000 and 58,000 animal and plant species irreversibly go extinct each year, but there is also good news: around 18,000 new species are described and named by taxonomists each year; this number includes extinct or fossilized organisms, as well as bacteria and viruses. Even in

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Ciridops anna
The Ula-ai-hawane in the book Birds of the Sandwich Islands (1890-1899) by F. W. Frohawk. (© Frederick William Frohawk, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Ula-ai-hawane

The Hawaiian Islands once hosted 57 species of honeycreepers Honeycreepers (Drepanidini), a tribe within the finch family (Fringillidae), are found only on the Hawaiian Island chain. Honeycreepers are closely related as sister species to the rosefinches (Carpodacus), yet many species have developed characteristics that differ from those of finches. Honeycreepers

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Yellow-tipped Oahu tree snail Achatinella apexfulva
The extinct yellow-tipped Oahu tree snail Achatinella apexfulva (above) at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, Netherlands. The species epithet apexfulva means “yellow tip” and refers to the color of the snail shell. (© Naturalis Biodiversity Center, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Yellow-tipped Oahu tree snail

Hawaii’s first scientifically described snail The yellow-tipped Oahu tree snail Achatinella apexfulva is not only the first scientifically described snail of the Hawaiian archipelago but also the first officially declared extinct. The species was first described in 1789 by British sailor and explorer George Dixon, who acquired a traditional necklace

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Ainsworth's salamander
This is what remains of the holotype of the Ainsworth's salamander. The specimen is kept in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. (© DesmognathusFuscus, via Wikimedia Commons)

Ainsworth’s salamander

Last seen in 1964: Plethodon ainsworthi, sp. nov. Ainsworth’s salamander is known only from two specimens collected by biologist Jackson Harold Ainsworth in 1964, two miles south of Bay Springs in Jasper County, Mississippi. Ainsworth initially assumed that these individuals were Northern slimy salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus). However, more than 30

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Brazilian diving beetle Megadytes ducalis
A+D: Megadytes ducalis (Brazilian diving beetle), B+E: M. lherminieri, C+F: M. magnus (© L. Hendrich, M. Manuel, M. Balke: The Return of the Duke, Vol. 4586 No. 3: 18 Apr. 2019, Licensed under CC BY 3.0)

Brazilian diving beetle

“Giant of the Dytiscidae” Until recently, the Brazilian diving beetle Megadytes ducalis was known only from a single male specimen, which, according to rumors, was discovered before 1882 at the bottom of a water-filled canoe in the Amazon region of Brazil. It is currently housed at the Natural History Museum

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Hula bream (Acanthobrama hulensis) - same genus: Yarkon Bream (Acanthobrama telavivensis)
There are few images of the Hula bream. The photo shows the Yarkon bream (Acanthobrama telavivensis) from Israel, which belongs to the same genus. (© MERRYcristhmas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Hula bream

Drainage of lake and wetland led to extinction of fauna The wetlands surrounding the 20 square kilometer Hula Lake (also known as Hula Lake, Chula Lake) in Israel were artificially drained in the 1950s to create agricultural land. Within a few years, the endemic fauna of the lake – including

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Similar to Amsterdam wigeon: Auckland duck (Anas aucklandica)
According to the ornithologists Olson and Jouventin, the extinct Amsterdam wigeon is similar to the Auckland duck (Anas aucklandica; see picture), which still exists today and is also flightless. The picture by John Gerrard Keulemans appeared in the book Buller's Birds of New Zealand (1988). (© John Gerrard Keulemans, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Amsterdam wigeon

Amsterdam duck was barely larger than a thrush Both Amsterdam Island and Saint Paul are more than 3,000 kilometers away from continents. Yet, or perhaps because of this, the islands were often visited by early sailors and their accompanying animals, leading to the extinction of all endemic birds there before

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