More than 300 new species discovered in the Philippines

One of the most species-rich places on the planet

July 2011: This spring, an international team of scientists have braved leeches, lionfish, whip-scorpions and many other biting and stinging creatures to lead the most comprehensive scientific survey effort ever conducted in the Philippines.

NEW TO SCIENCE: Biologist Dr Terry Gosliner discovered this new species of nudibranch. This brightly colored mollusc has no shell but produces powerful toxins to keep potential predators at bay

The survey, headed by the California Academy of Sciences, documented both terrestrial and marine life forms from the tops of the highest mountains to the depths of the sea.

Over the course of the expedition, scientists discovered more than 300 species that are likely new to science, including dozens of new insects and spiders, deep-sea armoured corals, ornate sea pens, bizarre new sea urchins and sea stars, a shrimp-eating swell shark, and more than 50 colourful new sea slugs.

Hottest of the hotspots
These discoveries will be confirmed and described over the coming months, as the scientists use both microscopes and DNA sequencing to analyse their specimens.

‘The Philippines is one of the hottest of the hotspots for diverse and threatened life on Earth,' says Dr Terrence Gosliner, the expedition leader.

‘Despite this designation, however, the biodiversity here is still relatively unknown, and we found new species during nearly every dive and hike as we surveyed the country's reefs, rainforests, and the ocean floor. The species lists and distribution maps that we created during this expedition will help to inform future conservation decisions and ensure that this remarkable biodiversity is afforded the best possible chance of survival.'

Ninety per cent of world's species have yet to be discovered
Despite intensive efforts to document life on Earth, scientists estimate that more than 90 per cent of the species on this planet have yet to be discovered. In the face of large-scale habitat loss and degradation, many of these species are disappearing before we even know they exist.

As they join the ranks of the extinct, we are not only losing members of our family tree-we are also losing potential medical treatments, agricultural pollinators, oxygen producers, soil servicers, and many other critical components of healthy, functioning ecosystems. 

DISCOVERY: The expedition found a deep-sea swell shark, which inflates its stomach with water to make it look large and intimidating to predators

During their 42-day expedition to survey Luzon Island-the largest island in the Philippine archipelago-and its surrounding waters, the team created distribution maps for a wide variety of species, including plants, insects, spiders, reptiles, amphibians, fish, corals, barnacles, sea urchins and many other marine invertebrates.

Along the way, they encountered more than 300 species that appear to be new to science, including such notable finds as a cicada that makes a distinctive ‘laughing' call, a deep-sea swell shark that inflates its stomach with water to bulk up and scare off other predators, a starfish that exclusively eats sunken driftwood, three new lobster relatives that squeeze into crevices instead of carrying shells on their backs, a crab whose pincers are lined with needle-like teeth, and a worm-like pipefish that hides among colonies of soft coral.

Many of the new species avoided previous detection because of their diminutive size, such as goblin spiders, sea slugs, and barnacles that all measure just a few millimeters in length. Others simply exist in places that are rarely, if ever, visited by humans, such as a snake eel from the bottom of the ocean and a primitive plant called a spikemoss from the dangerously steep upper slopes of Mt Isarog.

All of the new species add weight to the idea that the Philippines is a critically important haven for biodiversity, and that its waters likely house more species than any other marine environment on Earth.