Spot the species

An electric ray with vacuum action

It’s all in the details. Can you guess the scientific names? Study the photo, make your guess, then click on the description below each image to see if you’re right.

Related story: Sea anemone researcher at KU sits on ‘supreme court’
of species identification

Name: Electrolux addisoni
This electric ray from the Western Indian Ocean is named after a make of vacuum cleaner due to the high-powered suction it employs while feeding.
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Name: Gryposaurus monumentensis
Researchers from the Alf Museum, the nation's only paleontology museum located on a high school campus, found this 75-million-year-old giant duck-billed dinosaur.
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Name: Desmoxytes purpurosea
Researchers believe this millipede’s loud coloration shouts “I’m poisonous!” to would-be predators.
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Name: Philautus maia
This Sri Lankan frog species is now likely extinct and would have been lost to science forever had this 19th century specimen not been rediscovered on the shelf of Natural History Museum in London.
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Name: Oxyuranus temporalis
This deadly snake was discovered in an isolated area of Australia. It’s closely related to the 1st and 3rd most venomous snakes on Earth.
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Name: Styloctenium mindorensis
Discovered on the Philippine island of Mindoro by University of Kansas graduate student Jake Esselstyn, this fruit bat is noted for its black beard and striped face.
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Name: Xerocomus silwoodensis
Incredibly, this new mushroom species was discovered on the Silwood Campus, a campus of Imperial College in London.
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Name: Malo kingi
Named after a victim of an attack by a jellyfish of the Malo genus, this possibly lethal new species was discovered in Australia.
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Name: Megaceras briansaltini
This new Megaceras beetle found in Peru is said to resemble the character “Dim,” the rhinoceros beetle in the animated film “A Bug’s Life.”
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Name: Tecticornia bibenda
Said to resemble the famed Michelin Man ™, this new species was just one among hundreds of new plants discovered in Western Australia last year.
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