You would think that in this day and age everything has already been discovered. Well not in Costa Rica! Reports reveal that 5,000 new species of animals and plants were discovered and classified between 2011 and 2013. The finding is part of the country’s National Biodiversity Strategy for 2014-2020, which follows the United Nations Environment Program’s (UNEP) Strategic Plan for Biodiversity. Most of the new 5,000 species found are insects. The others include a few orchids, mushrooms, mollusks, fish, reptiles and birds.
In the world so far, scientists say they have identified between 2.16 million animal and plant species, about half of which are insects. Beetles are the largest group with 300,000 species. In comparison, there are only 4,500 species of mammals recognized on the planet. Costa Rica, although a tiny country occupying only 0.03% of the planets landmass, hosts more than 500,000 plant and animal species and has about 300,000 kinds of insects. Costa Rica has kept it’s title as the most biodiverse place on earth! Here are a few new findings over the last year.
Say Hello to the New Kermit
A new species of hylid frog named Tlalocohyla Celeste was discovered by the naturalist Donald Varela-Soto owner of Tapir Valley Nature Reserve, located on the slope of Tenorio Volcano in the Bijagua District, Upala Canton in the province of Alajuela. The newly discovered Tlalocohyla Celeste was named so because the frog had a light blue coloration in its armpits. Experts determined that the frog is a species of the genus Tlalocohyla, which is the fifth of this genus in the world and the second found in Costa Rica.
A new species of plant has been discovered recently in a remote part of Costa Rica, Gentiana bicentenaria is the name of the small delicate grass discovered in the Talamanca mountain range. These plants are characterized by their small size, typically just 2 cm across, with spatula-shaped closely overlapping light green leaves. When the plant is in season, it has just one flower with bluish-white petals and yellow stripes on the inside. It was in the Chirripo National Park, the highest mountain in Costa Rica, Cerro Chirripo that this new plant was discovered. Cerro Chirripo is 3,821 meters high, and Gentiana bicentenaria is only found above 3,000 meters. Cerro Chirripo is the highest mountain in Costa Rica and also the location of one of the national symbols of the country; the Crestones.
Updated with recent worldwide statistics June 2024: https://worldanimalfoundation.org/advocate/how-many-animals-are-in-the-world/
