Halloween Pictures: 9 Spooky New Species Found This Year

Cyclops Shark

Photograph courtesy Marcela Bejarano-Álvarez

Talk about a one-of-a-kind discovery—an extremely rare cyclops shark (pictured) was confirmed recently in Mexico.

The 22-inch-long (56-centimeter-long) fetus has a single, functioning eye at the front of its head—the hallmark of a congenital condition called cyclopia, which occurs in several animal species, including humans.

Scientists have have documented cyclops shark embryos a few times before, said Jim Gelsleichter, a shark biologist at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

The fact that none have been caught outside the womb suggests cyclops sharks don't survive long in the wild.

(See "Cyclops Myth Spurred by 'One-Eyed' Fossils?")

Published October 27, 2011

"Mind Control" Fungus

Photograph courtesy David Hughes

A stalk of the new fungus speciesOphiocordyceps camponoti-balzani, grows out of a "zombie" ant's head in a Brazilian rain forest.

Originally thought to be a single species, called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, the fungus is actually four distinct species—all of which can "mind control" ants, scientists announced in March.

The fungus species can infect an ant, take over its brain, and then kill the insect once the fungus moves to a location ideal for the fungus to grow and spread its spores.

(Related pictures: "'Zombie' Ants Controlled, Decapitated by Flies.")

Published October 27, 2011

Devil Worm

Image courtesy Gaetan Borgonie, University Ghent

A "devil worm" was found miles under the Earth—the deepest-living animal ever found, according to a study published in June.

The discovery of the new nematode species—called Halicephalobus mephisto partly for Mephistopheles, the demon of Faustian legend—suggests there's a rich, largely unknown biosphere beneath our feet, scientists say.

(See "Deepest-Ever Fish Caught Alive on Camera.")

Published October 27, 2011

Vampire Flying Frog

Photograph courtesy Jodi Rowley, Australian Museum

The mountain jungles of Vietnam are home to a new breed of "vampire"—a "flying" tree frog dubbed  Rhacophorus vampyrus, announced in January.

First found in 2008, the two-inch-long (five-centimeter-long) amphibian is known to live only in southern Vietnamese cloud forests, where it uses webbed fingers and toes to glide from tree to tree.

Adults deposit their eggs in water pools in tree trunks, which protect the offspring from predators lurking in rivers and ponds.

(Related: Find out how you can help National Geographic save big cats by trick-or-treating this Halloween.)

Published October 27, 2011

"Evil Spirit" Dinosaur

Illustration by Jeffrey Martz

A recently discovered dinosaur species boasts a very unusual skull, according to a study published in April.

"It has a deep, short snout and these monstrous front teeth," said study co-author Hans-Dieter Sues, a vertebrate paleontologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

These features helped earn the new dinosaur the name Daemonosaurus chauliodus, or "buck-toothed evil spirit" in Greek.

(Also see "'Weird' Buck-toothed Dino Found in China.")

Published October 27, 2011

Tiny Pit Viper

Photograph courtesy Jian-Huan Yang

A good thing recently came in a small package for scientists: A new Chinese snake species announced in July is one of the littlest pit vipers in the world.

The new snake, Protobothrops maolanensis, was an unexpected "surprise gift for us," study leader Jian-Huan Yang said in an email.

Yang and colleagues found the species during a survey of forests in Maolan National Nature Reserve in Guizhou, China (map). Growing to a maximum length of about 2.6 feet (0.7 meter), the new pit viper is the smallest known so far in the country.

(See more snake pictures.)

Published October 27, 2011

Fanged Frog

Photograph courtesy Ben Evans

Boasting "crazy" evolutionary adaptations, a new group of so-called fanged frogs—including this new species, tentatively named Limnonectes species I—was discovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, scientists announced in August.

In all, 13 new "fanged" species were seen on Sulawesi for the first time, 9 of them new to science, according to a new study led by Ben Evans, a biologist at McMaster University in Canada.

The "fangs" aren't teeth but bony jaw protrusions—some of which aren't visible past the gumline, Evans said.

(See "Giant 'Frog From Hell' Fossil Found in Madagascar.")

Published October 27, 2011

Ruby-Eyed Pit Viper

Photograph by Jeremy Holden

A large frog proved to be more than a mouthful for a ruby-eyed green pit viper, which abandoned its meal just after this undated picture was taken.

The new species, announced in March, lives in forests near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and across the low hills of southern Vietnam and eastern Cambodia's Langbian Plateau.

Published October 27, 2011