The International Institute for Species Research at the University of Arizona has published a ranking of the ten most interesting plants and animals of 2008.
Every year, scientists describe thousands of new species of animals and plants, and the International Institute for Species Research publishes a rating of the “best” plants and living things discovered in the past year.
Rare species of plants and animals
This year’s top 10 is topped by the suicidal palm Tahina spectabilis from the Arecaceae family. This Madagascar plant is so large that it can even be seen on Google Earth satellite maps. But the palm attracted attention not by its size, but by the fact that it blooms to exhaustion, until, having given seeds, it dies. The closest relatives of the species described were found in Afghanistan, Thailand, Vietnam and southern China. And her seeds have already gained incredible popularity among indoor plant lovers. Tahina spectabilis has become a very expensive ornamental plant.
The ninth place in the ranking is occupied by another plant. The coffee tree growing in Cameroon, or Sharye coffee (Coffea charrieriana) from the madder family, is the only known African coffee species, the fruits of which .
The list also includes the longest stick insect (its length with its legs reaches 56 cm); the smallest seahorse (its length is 13,8 mm, and its height is 11,5 mm); the shortest snake (its length is only 10,4 cm); a ghost snail found in Wales; the most “swirling” mollusk; the oldest viviparous and the bluest coral fish, as well as the extremophile bacteria found in hairspray.
Source: species.asu.edu