New Species
Episodes
Who Describes the Spiders? With Katherine Montana and Cláudia Xavier
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
“I hope that individual taxonomists take a step back and really think about the choices they make when it comes to collaboration…I want taxonomist...
Coming Soon - New Species en Español!
02 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
New Species en Español will be a Spanish-language version of the New Species Podcast, hosted by Ivonne Garzón. Subscribe to it here: https://open.sp...
No New Species! With Takahiro Sugiyama, Ryutaro Goto, & Chloé Fourreau
01 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes, a collection of new species turns out to be… no new species!Takahiro Sugiyama, Ryutaro Goto, and Chloé Fourreau began studying the uniqu...
Two New Trapdoor Spiders with Donard Geci
31 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Donard Geci fell into studying spiders by accident, but now he can’t imagine his life without them. He’s one of the only entomologists in the Balk...
Two New Tachinid Flies with Rodrigo Dios
24 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
There are plenty of taxonomists who use museum collections as a resource, but not everyone makes collections the basis of their work. Rodrigo Dios stu...
A Bug's Life (1998) with Jesse and Charleigh Hurlburt
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
“The queen especially was not like, like totally not like mad mad, but like mad at him…”That analysis is from Charleigh (age 8), who I talked to...
New Species Census 2026
16 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Hi everyone, incredibly it's time for the third biennial New Species Census! Every two years I ask listeners to answer a few questions about who t...
A New Isopod with Benedikt Kästle
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Do you ever wonder if your pet could be a new species? Paleontologist Benedikt Kästle took a closer look at his, and it led to a brand new genus and ...
All About Stoneflies with Anna Eichert
31 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Stoneflies, or Plecoptera, are an order of insects with around 4,000 species. But that’s about to change. In her paper “Stonefly systematics: past...
New Adelopsis Beetles with Eduardo Gomyde
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The genus Adelopsis is one of the many groups of LBB’s, ‘little brown beetles’ that often get left behind or unidentified by researchers. Eduard...
Three New Lichens with Erin Manzitto-Tripp
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How much do you know about lichens? These incredible taxa are understudied, but today’s guest is making sure they’re not undervalued. “You can’...
Three New Fossil Dictyopterans with Soo Bin Lee
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Cretaceous insects in the family Umenocoleidae have been difficult to classify, but for Soo Bin Lee they are a window into one of the most interes...
A New Geometrid Moth with Ivonne Garzón
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Do you have a love of holometabolic insects? Ivonne Garzón is the president of their fan club! She studies a subset of geometrid moths that may look ...
Un Nuevo Puercoespín con Héctor Ramírez-Chaves
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Los puercoespines, una de las criaturas más adorables y dolorosas a la vez, captan la atención en toda su área de distribución mundial. En este ar...
A New Porcupine with Héctor Ramirez-Chaves
09 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Simultaneously one of the cutest and most pain-inducing creatures, porcupines capture attention all over their worldwide range. In this paper, Héctor...
A New (Old) Apple with Todd, Cameron, and John
12 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The moment John Bunker saw the 200+ year old tree, he knew it might be special. He had no idea however, that it was one of America’s oldest survivin...
A New Butterfly with Zac MacDonald and Julian Dupuis
29 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Think butterfly genomics is a simple topic? Think again, but this time think alongside Zac MacDonald and Julian Dupuis. Not only are they answering so...
Five Deep-sea Isopods with Henry Knauber
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Deep-sea isopods come in all shapes and sizes, and Henry Knauber is excited to see all of them. In this paper, he and his coauthors describe five new ...
A New Toxungenous Scorpion with Léo Laborieux
27 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“Serendipity is a real grabbing force of science,” says Léo Laborieux as he shares his experience describing his new species of scorpion. While a...
A New Begonia with Dipankar Borah
13 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Begonias are known around the world as a plant of beauty and diversity. What can they teach us about the world around us? Through his work on Begonias...
A New Bee Fly with Lisa Rollinson and Allan Cabrero
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For some people, a box of 100-year-old bee flies might seem daunting, but for Lisa Rollinson and Allan Cabrero, It was an exciting challenge. As part ...
Two New Damselflies with Shantanu Joshi
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Shantanu Joshi is fascinated with creatures of all kinds, but especially damselflies, the small quick fliers of the order Odonata. In this episode he ...
A New Astigmatid Mite with Hemen Sendi
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if I told you that the oldest known biotic association of arthropods is a piece of Lebanese amber from the Cretaceous period? At the same time th...
A New Woolly Devil with Isaac Lichter Marck
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sunflowers come in all shapes and sizes, and the group has gained a new member. Nicknamed the “woolly devil,” Ovicula biradiata is the product of ...
Science Communication: Hard Conversations with Ethan Tapper
24 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Someone who identifies as a nature lover might not be excited to see trees cut down or large machines rolling across the forest floor. Science doesn’...
BONUS: Bats! (1999) with Amanda Grunwald
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Amanda and I discuss and review Bats! (1999) Our ratings: Enjoyability: 🦇 🦇 🦇 🦇 Accuracy: 🦇🦇 🦇 🦇 🦇 This episode is the f...
A New Malagasy Spider with Matjaž Gregorič
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On an expedition to Madagascar, Matjaž Gregorič and his research team came upon a damaged termite nest that had a few other invertebrate visitors. W...
Two New Cave-Dwelling Snails with Rodrigo Salvador
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rodrigo’s paper “Idiopyrgus Pilsbry, 1911 (Gastropoda, Tomichiidae): a relict genus radiating into subterranean environments” is in November 8th...
A New Schizomid with Sean Birk Bek Craig
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when a hymenopterist finds a mysterious arachnid in a Danish hothouse? Sean Birk Bek Craig was exploring the floor of a hothouse, also kn...
Two New Pseudoscorpions with Danniella Sherwood
28 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Danniella Sherwood brings us two new pseudoscorpions from Ascension Island, one of the most remote islands in the world. Ascension’...
A New Polychaete Worm with Chloé, Marcos, and Juan
31 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This paper started because Chloé Löis Fourreau and Marcos Teixeira were both too sick to dive during a NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network...
A New Gall Wasp with Louis Nastasi
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Louis Nastasi has a deep love of wasps, and a particular fascination with Cynipid wasps, gall wasps that can specialize on just a few plants or even a...
10 New Staphylinid Beetles with Adam Haberski
24 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What can tiny, flightless beetles tell us about the history of mountain geography and climate? It turns out, quite a bit! In this episode, Dr. Adam Ha...
Basics 3: Description with Marc Milne
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In part 3 of Taxonomy Basics, Marc Milne of the University of Indianapolis tells us all about the process of identifying and publishing new species. H...
Basics 2: Curation with Ashleigh Whiffin
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In part 2 of Taxonomy Basics, Ashleigh Whiffin of National Museums Scotland brings us into the entomology collection to learn the fundamentals of cura...
Basics 1: Collecting with Evan Waite
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In part 1 of Taxonomy Basics, Evan Waite from Arizona State University teaches us all about collecting entomological specimens. From which traps to us...
Three New Red Devil Spiders with Adrià Bellvert and Miquel Arnedo
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“Another spider paper?!” you might ask. “More new spiders, what’s so interesting?” Well in addition to a revised genus and three new species...
Five New Skinks with Ishan Agarwal
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Skinks are one of the most diverse families of lizards, and Ishan Agarwal studies skinks in India, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. ...
Tautonyms and Etymology with Mike Stephan
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Stephan is a lawyer obsessed with scientific etymology, specifically tautonyms, binomial names in which the generic name and species name are exa...
A New Snakeworm Gnat with Thalles Pereira
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are no snakes in Alaska, so what’s that snakelike shape crossing the road? Few people would guess it’s actually thousands of fly larvae movi...
Community Survey and Updates
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is a short episode to share some thoughts and feedback from this year's New Species community survey, as well as some updates on what is to c...
Five New Millipedes with Henrik Enghoff
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Who wouldn’t want to receive thousands of millipedes in the mail? When Dr. Henrik Enghoff does it’s through his partnership with FoRCE, the Forest...
A New Scorpion with Prakrit Jain
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How many nature enthusiasts can relate to this scenario: you’re watching the landscape go by as you drive, and suddenly you see an area that could b...
A New Iris with John Manning
26 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Southern Africa is home to over 1,200 species of irises, and if that number doesn’t blow you away, hearing Dr. John Manning’s speak about his new ...
A Genus and Five New Species of Pseudoscorpions with Catalina Romero-Ortiz
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Catalina Romero-Ortiz has been fascinated by pseudoscorpions for over a decade, and she wants everyone to understand how amazing they are. But bey...
A New Scorpion with Javier Blasco-Aróstegui
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What do glaciers and scorpions have in common? They’re the focus of Javier Blasco-Aróstegui’s paper in which he and his coauthor describe a new s...
A New Gecko with Javier Lobon-Rovira
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When researchers talk about species disappearing before we can discover them, they’re talking about species like Javier Lobon-Rovira’s new gecko. ...
Three New Wolf Spiders with Danni Sherwood
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The island of Saint Helena can’t be described without the word special. It’s a small territory in the south Atlantic that is home to some of the m...
Collections Data with Makenzie Mabry
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this podcast we talk a lot about natural history collections. In fact, a spot (or more) of collections work is pretty much required to describe a n...
Seven New Leaf Insects with Royce Cumming
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve got to hand it to leaf insects; their camouflage is so well-refined that studying them is difficult and collecting them is near-impossible. A...
Five New Kleptoparasitic Spiders with Cláudia Xavier
22 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mysmenopsis is a tiny spider genus that has been shaped by women; women have collected, identified, and described the majority of members of the genus...
Eleven New Starfish with Chris Mah
08 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Grab your parkas, we’re going to Antarctica! Or at least some researchers did in the 1960s, but it took starfish expert Dr. Chris Mah until the past...
A New Millipede with Paul Marek and Cedric Lee
11 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Cedric Lee was collecting slugs with another diplopodologist James Bailey when they stumbled upon a very odd creature; thin and string-like with lots ...
Wonderful Weevils with Bob Anderson
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“I always say that insect taxonomists will never get really rich but you will see parts of the world where nobody else gets a chance to go to. It’...
Seven New Grasshoppers with JoVonn Hill
13 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“Here in the South, our grasslands are where most of our, a huge part of our biodiversity are. And most people don't even know that we have natu...
Three New Argyresthia Moths with Jacob Gorneau
30 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever seen a series of fine squiggles in a leaf? Those might be leaf-mining moths in the genus Argyresthia. These tiny moths are closely linke...
What’s in a Spider Name with Stefano Mammola
23 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When a scientist comes on the podcast, we always ask them how they named their new species. It’s a privilege that comes with a species description, ...
A New Bat with Amanda Grunwald
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Amanda Grunwald is fascinated by arthropods, by reptiles, pretty much anything that creeps or crawls. But what about the creatures that fly? Here we d...
Seven New Sea Slugs with Ángel Valdéz
02 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Ángel Valdés has known since childhood that he would study sea slugs, and several years ago that dream took him to New Caledonia to work with a ...
Una Araña Trampilla Nueva con Cristian Pertegal
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Muy a menudo, los científicos que entrevistamos en el podcast hablan inglés como su segundo, tercer o cuarto idioma. Y muchos de los oyentes tambié...
A New Horseshoe Bat with Michael Curran
18 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Where there is a unique ecosystem to be studied, for example, a patch of tropical evergreen forest 1,000 meters up a mountain, sometimes it’s best t...
A New Trapdoor Spider with Cristian Pertegal
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Trapdoor spiders are a relative mystery to arachnologists - they’re a small group that is not well known despite their often bold coloration and the...
A New Beech Tree with Wei Harn
21 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that there are still new species of tree to discover? Wei Harn does, and in this episode he tells us all about his trip surveying Malaysi...
A New Carpenter Bee with Dibyajyoti Ghosh
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How do you continue your research when the harsh climate makes collecting impossible most of the year, or when much of your focal area is contained wi...
Ten New Species of Cave Spiders with Marshal Hedin
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Meet Dr. Marshal Hedin. He’s an arachnologist fascinated with Nesticidae, a group of cave-dwelling spiders found in the southern Appalachian mountai...
Three New Species of Caecilians with Juan Fernández
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For some, roadkill is just roadkill. For one researcher, it was the start of a brand new career path. Did you know that there is a group of animals th...
A New Species of Afrotropical Ant with Kiko Gómez
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
'When it comes to ants,' Dr. Kiko Gómez says, 'it’s important to know what you don’t know.' The ant genus Pheidole contains over 1,000 species, a...
A New Species of Mud Dragon with Maria Herranz
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever heard of Mud Dragons? They’re actually a group of marine invertebrates that can be found in oceans across the globe. And, as Dr. Marí...
20 New Species of Frogs with Mark Scherz
27 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The frogs are back! In a year of episodes rich in amphibians, New Species rounds out 2022 with Dr. Mark Scherz and his paper describing 20 new species...
A New Species of Australian Native Bee with Kit Prendergast
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s possible that you’ve heard about a new species of bee from Western Australia that has a snout like a dog. But did you know it specializes on ...
A New Species of Gecko With Javier Lobon Rovira
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine this: you’re hiking in the savannah of western Angola when you spot the silhouette of a gecko in the brush. You pick it up, expecting to fin...
Seven New Species of Medetera Flies with Marc Pollet
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve probably seen these organisms before. They’re green, shiny, and “quite nervous” according to Dr. Marc Pollet, who has been studying Dol...
Re-Release: Happy Face Spiders with Rosemary Gillespie
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Many parts of the world are celebrating all things spooky this time of year, and spiders are getting their time to shine. Whether you’re a spider lo...
A New Species of Homalopsid Snake with Justin Bernstein
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mud snakes may not look as exciting as some of their other snake relatives, but in this episode Dr. Justin Bernstein tells us just a few of the fascin...
Three New Species of Ground Snake with Alejandro Arteaga
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Have you heard of snakes in the genus Atractus? They’re the largest snake genus in the world, and recently they received three new members found in ...
A New Species of Thyreophoran Dinosaur with Facundo Riguetti
13 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
New Species: Jakapil kaniukura Did you know that there are still new dinosaurs being identified? In this episode, hear from Facundo Riguetti, a PhD s...
A New Species of Ambrosia Beetle with Rachel Osborn
30 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What's an ambrosia beetle? How do you go about finding one? Learn all of this and more as we interview Dr. Rachel Osborn of the A.J. Cook Arthro...
S02 Episode 9: A new spring-snail species from the Belasitsa Mountains!
21 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dilian Georgiev is an Associate Professor in the department of Ecology and Environmental Protection at The Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv. I...
S2, E08: Two episodes in one! First, a new Taylor Swift millipede, then ectoparasites and mites!
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Derek Hennen works for the Virginia Department of Agriculture as the Slow the Spread Coordinator monitoring the spongy moth populations in the sta...
S2, E07: New species of vampire worms from the deep ocean!
25 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kaila Pearson just graduated with her Master’s from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. She’s here ...
S2, E06: A new spider from Madagascar!
27 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Brogan Pett is our guests and he talks about his recent paper in which he and his coauthor describe a new species of spider from Madagascar in the Mar...
S2, E05: A new species of underground frog with a nose like a tapir!
14 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Zoe interviews Germán Chávez, Associate Researcher at the Instituto Peruano de Herpetologia and the Centro de Ornitología y Biodiv...
S2, E04: Huge woolly flying squirrels from the Himalayas!
15 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Zoe interviews Kris Helgen, Chief Scientist and Director of the Australian Museum Research Institute. They discuss how one species became three, what ...
S2, E03: New crustaceans from Africa and a new frog species from Panama!
01 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Two interviews in this episode! First, Agata Szwarc from the University of Gdansk in Poland talks about her recent paper in the December 9th(2021) iss...
S2, E02: A new amphipod from Japan!
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Kris White and Sally Sir are our guests as they talk about their paper in which they describe a new species of amphipod from Japan in the February...
S2, E01: Two new species of frogs from Ecuador!
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Juan Reyes-Puig is a Coordinator of Ecological Reserves with the Fundacion EcoMinga Red de Protection des Bosques Amenazados in Ecuador. He talks ...
Episode 30: Planthoppers are the mosquitoes of the plant world, and collecting in Costa Rica!
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Brian Bahder is an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida’s Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center. He talks to me about his pa...
Episode 29: Fossil mammaliaforms that walked the Earth with dinosaurs!
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Elsa Panciroli, a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in England, and associate researcher ...
Episode 28: A new species named because of this podcast (!!) and another after the father of modern medicine!
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Alireza Zamani is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Turku in Finland. He talks to me about his paper published in ZooKeys on August 3 in which he...
Episode 27: Tiny spiders from Central America and a brief discussion of “spider porn” and a species named after a Brazilian soccer team!
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Thiago da Silva Moreira is an Adjunct Faculty at George Washington University in Washington, DC. He talks to me about his recent paper published i...
Episode 26: The taxonomic impediment, Part II, an interview with the founder of Pensoft Publishing!
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Lyubomir Penev is the Managing Director and Founder of Pensoft Publishing and a Professor of Ecology at the Bulgaria Academy of Sciences in Sofia,...
Episode 25: Four new species of armored scale insects and working on groups of organisms on which few others want to work!
06 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Scott Schneider is a Research Entomologist in the Systematic Entomology Lab at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, MD, USA. ...
Episode 24: Huntsman spiders from Madagascar, David Bowie, and collecting spiders the size of dinner plates!
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Peter Jaeger is the Head of Arachnology at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany. He talks to me abo...
Episode 23: Reefs built by a new species of oyster instead of being built by corals!
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Graham Oliver is an Honorary Research Fellow at the National Museum of Wales in the UK. He talks to me about his paper published in the June 15 is...
Episode 22: Four new beetle species and why the term “adventive” should be used more!
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Adam Brunke is a Research Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-food Canada and the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids, and Nematode...
Episode 21: The Taxonomic Impediment: a special episode in which we talk about the need for more evolutionary biologists!
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Jason Bond is the Schlinger Chair in Insect Systematics at the University of California - Davis. He talks to me about a special topic of concern—...
Episode 20: New millipedes from the northwestern US—eighteen (!!) new species in three new genera!
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Bill Shear is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. He talks to me about his paper published in...
Episode 19: New Species—of orchids from Australia that trick gnats into sex!
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Noushka Reiter is a Senior Research Scientist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. She talks to me about her paper publi...
Episode 18: New Species—of semi-aquatic mice from Africa, and getting DNA from a mouse captured 100 years ago!
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Tom Giarla is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Siena College in Albany, NY. He talks to me about his paper published in the May issue of the Z...
Episode 17: New Species—of ant spiders from Iran and Turkmenistan, and collecting in mine fields!
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Alireza Zamani is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Turku in Finland. He talks to me about his paper published in ZooKeys on April 27 in which he...