Every year, hundreds of new species are added to the biodiversity pool by scientists attempting to be one step closer to the nature wonders of Earth.
That number reached 190 in 2024, according to scientists at the Natural History Museum in London.
Last year, China’s list included vampire squid, horned toad and a newly-discovered dinosaur species.
Here are a few that struck CGTN because of their unique features, their significance to science and the stories behind their discovery.
Fossils of new armored dinosaur species found in E China
Researchers have named a new armored dinosaur species “Datai yingliangis” after two specimens were unearthed in east China’s Jiangxi Province.
The discovery of the new dinosaur is an important addition to the fossil record of Ankylosaurine, an iconic armored dinosaur species in the Late Cretaceous, according to Xing Lida, associate professor at China University of Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB).
The two specimens were subadults with a body length of 3.5 to 4 meters each. They both had a pair of signature horns on their cheeks.
Interestingly, the two dinosaurs were found on top of each other, which is believed to happen when they’ve suffered a rapid burial of aeolian sand deposits. “It is likely related to the social behavior of Ankylosaurs,” Xing added.
The study has been published in the journal Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology.
New snake species found in central China
Chinese scientists have identified a new snake species featuring a bright yellow neck collar in central China’s Hunan Province.
The newly discovered Achalinus nanshanensis belongs to the genus Achalinus, commonly known as odd-scaled snakes. It is only found in the two counties of Chengbu and Tongdao in the southwest of Hunan.
The discovery has increased the number of identified Achalinus species in the world to 28, according to the article published recently in the scientific journal ZooKeys.
Achalinus is a group of cave-dwelling, earthworm-eating snakes featuring scales that shine colorfully under the light, said Mo Xiaoyang, one author of the article and a professor with Hunan Normal University.
Chinese researchers find new vampire squid species
Chinese scientists have identified a new species of vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis), only the second known vampire squid species in the world.
Qiu Dajun, the study’s lead author, explained that V. infernalis was initially described by German marine biologist Carl Chun in 1903 and that it typically lives between 600 and 900 meters in the temperate and tropical Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans, where oxygen concentrations are low.
While the squid does not suck the blood of its prey, its huge, bright blue eyes, dark color and the velvety, cloak-like webbing that connects its arms gives the vampire squid its common name.
The new species was named Vampyroteuthis pseudoinfernalis Qiu, Liu & Huang, sp. nov. The study was published online in the journal Zoological Systematics.
(Cover: Calanthe yingjiangensis. /courtesy of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University)