the-new-species-hiding-in-museums

New animal species are discovered and recorded by taxonomists every year – from miniscule invertebrates to mammals to previously unknown dinosaurs. Scientists at the Californian Academy of Sciences alone for example, described a total of 211 new organisms during 2014. Most new species are recorded in the field, but some specimens are hidden away under scientists’ noses – in museum collections. Sometimes they have been misidentified, or even forgotten. But biological collections, which can be decades or even centuries old, can yield surprising secrets. Here are five extraordinary new species that have been discovered in museums in recent years. 1. The olinguitoThe discovery of a carnivorous mammal that’s new to science is extremely rare, but in 2013 a team in the US unveiled an unusual new species, the olinguito, described as a cross between a cat and a teddy bear. The odd creature was the first new carnivore to be discovered in the western hemisphere in 35 years. Specimens of the mammals had been stored away in several museum collections, and many had been mistaken for another species belonging to the Procyonidae family, the olingo. The research team analysed the fur and bones of the specimens using DNA testing, to confirm their suspicion that they had a new species on their hands. In the wild these enigmatic animals, which measure around 35cm (14 inches) in length and sport thick orange-brown fur, are found living high in the cloud forests of the Andes, in Ecuador and Columbia. 2. An ancient megamouth A previously unknown ancient shark species called Megachasma applegatei was described in 2014 after scientists analysed 67 fossilised teeth that had been dug up during the 60s and 70s in the US, and subsequently preserved in museum collections. Palaeontologists had suspected for years that the teeth might belong to an ancient relative of the rarely seen living megamouth shark Megachasma pelagios, a filter feeder that was first recorded as recently as 1976, when it-READ MORE LINK-http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141230-the-new-species-hiding-in-museums