A laughing frog and an intertidal marine worm named after Sir David Attenborough are among 750 animals, plants and other organisms newly recognized on Australia’s list of species.
The western laughing tree frog Litoria ridibundawho laughs rather than croaks, the David Attenborough worm Marphysa davidattenboroughi, and the cracking-clay Pilbara marsupial Planigal tealei was added to the Australian National Species List in 2023.
Another species with a familiar namesake newly listed is an orb spider – Venomius tomhardyi – named after Tom Hardy’s Marvel character, Venom.
The National Species List is a taxonomic database that formally describes Australia’s native plants, animals, fungi and other organisms.
Taxonomy is the science of describing, naming and recording life on Earth. Taxonomists look for differences in physical appearance, genetics, behavior, and location to determine species that are new to modern science.
“Many people may be shocked to learn that 70% of our native species remain unnamed and hidden from science,” said the Minister of Environment and Water Affairs. Tanya Pliberseksaid.
“Australia is a global biodiversity hotspot with more than 150,000 native species, but taxonomists name about two species new to science every day.”
Euan Ritchie, a professor of wildlife ecology and conservation science at Deakin University, said Australia was known for its unique and rich biodiversity.
“It is imperative that we continue to support surveys and taxonomic research across this vast continent, as there are undoubtedly many more species yet to be formally described by science,” he said.
“While many species may not be known to Western science, they have probably been known to First Nations peoples for millennia and are central to indigenous culture.
“Fostering more collaboration and combining traditional indigenous ecological and cultural knowledge with rapidly advancing wildlife survey methods and genetic approaches will help further our understanding of Australia’s extraordinary biodiversity.”
Many of the newly described species are invertebrates.
Ritchie said the vast majority of Australia’s animals were invertebrates and wildlife surveys and museum collections showed that the more scientists looked, the more they realized that most invertebrate species had yet to be formally described by taxonomists.
Plibersek said many of the new animal, plant and fungal species had been described and classified through projects funded under the Australian Biological Resources Study’s national taxonomy research grant program.
She said 14 projects would share $2 million in funding to name and classify native Australian species throughout 2024-2025.
Among them is a project that will build on data for the laughing tree frog collected by citizen scientists last year. The croak will be studied using the FrogID app to compare differences in male calls, and DNA from museum specimens will be used to identify and describe new frog species.
Other projects include formally describing at least 120 species of Australia’s sixth largest plant genus Lepidosperma (sedges), revision of the family of orb-weaver spiders to identify 50 new species, and assessment of crustacean biodiversity in Western Australia’s deep-sea marine parks.
