Meet Spongebob Squarepantsii (a new mushroom) and the sneezing monkey

Top 10 list of bizarre and wonderful new species chosen by scientists
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24 May 2012

A monkey that sneezes when it rains and a mushroom named Spongebob Squarepants are among the latest top 10 list of bizarre new species chosen by scientists.

They were among 200 nominated animals and plants described for the first time last year.

A venomous jellyfish, giant millipede, parasitic wasp and a tiny worm that lives almost a mile underground also make the top 10.

The list is published each year by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University in the US.

It commemorates the birth on May 23 1707 of Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who devised the modern system of animal and plant classification.

A committee of international scientists made the selection based on "bizarre and unusual" traits that make certain species stand out.

"The top 10 is intended to bring attention to the biodiversity crisis and the unsung species explorers and museums who continue a 250-year tradition of discovering and describing the millions of kinds of plants, animals and microbes with whom we share this planet," said institute director Professor Quentin Wheeler.

"The more species we discover, the more amazing the biosphere proves to be, and the better prepared we are to face whatever environmental challenges lie ahead."

Spongiforma Squarepantsii is a specie of small brain-like mushrooms (yes, you read that right) which was aptly named after the cartoon character.

The "sneezing monkey", Rhinopithecus strykeri, was found by scientists conducting a gibbon survey in the high mountains of Burma. The critically endangered snub-nosed monkey has a distinctive white beard and sneezes when it rains.

Sazima's tarantula is a striking, iridescent blue hairy spider from South America. Pterinopeima sazimai inhabits tabletop mountains in a remote part of eastern Brazil.

The night-blooming orchid, named Bulbophyllum nocturnum, by scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, was discovered in Papua New Guinea. Its flowers open at around 10pm and close early the next morning.

Among the other top 10 species, the Devil's worm is one of the weirdest. Measuring just half a millimetre, it was found at a depth of 1.3 kilometres, or 0.8 of a mile, in a South African gold mine where temperatures reach 37C. The worm is the deepest living multicellular terrestrial organism on Earth. It was named Halicephalobus mephisto after mestopheles, the demon in the Faust legend.

Also on the list is the Bonaire banded box jelly, a colourful and venomous jellyfish found near the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire. Its scientific name, Tamoya ohboya, was chosen because of an assumption that anyone stung by the creature is likely to exclaim "oh boy!".

Prof Wheeler added: "Each species provides a unique chapter in the history of life and unless we discover them now, we stand to lose an enormous amount of irreplaceable evidence about our own origins and relatives."

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