There’s Always Something New to Discover in Costa Rica
Even though Costa Rica is a petite country, it’s home to half a million different documented plant and animal species. But there is still even more to discover in Costa Rica. It is one of 20 countries with the highest biodiversity in the world.
We have lots of great articles on YouGetHere.com about birds, butterflies, whales and macaws. We’ve covered kinkajous, famous crocodiles and even geckos. The one thing we’ve learned is that there is always something new to discover in Costa Rica.
Over the last few decades, tons of new species — such as insects, birds, fish and reptiles — have been identified in Costa Rica. Here are a few of the most interesting discoveries:
Tapir Valley Frog
The Tapir Valley Nature Reserve, once a pasture for castle, has become a real-life testing ground for restoration. And inside the wetland in that reserve lives a tiny new species of green tree frog.
Meet the Tlalocohyla celeste, also known as the Tapir Valley Tree Frog. This frog, at 2 cm long, will be as difficult to spot as the blue jeans tree frog.
Fairy Fly
You’ll probably see a lot of beautiful dragonflies while you relax in the pool at one of our beautiful ocean view villas. But you won’t see this Fairyfly… unless you have microscopic vision.
Aptly named Tinkerbella nana, this tiny new species is only twice the width of human hair.
It’s hard to discover one of the smallest known arthropods. Entomologist Dr. Noyes, previously of the Natural History Museum in the UK, put it into perspective for us: “It is possibly equivalent to finding a solitary needle in 200 haystacks.”
Wasps
CNN reported that “scientists will likely recall 2023 as the year of the wasp.”
Once again, the previously mentioned Entomologist Dr. Noyes was on hand to give the scoop. He named this metallic blue, purple and orange wasp, Dalek nationi.
As a fan of the British television series “Doctor Who,” he drew on the show for inspiration. Dalek is in reference to the show’s villains, while nationi is a nod to the creator of the series’ last name, Terry Nation. You can view the wasp here.
Bush Dog
The Bush Dog is a species known to live in Argentina and Paraguay. But when the Neotropical Biology and Conservation website confirmed the discovery of this mammal living in the mountains of Costa Rica, it was big news. The species marked the 25th carnivorous species to be confirmed.
Natural Habitat Adventures took an in-depth look at the Bush Dog which is considered to be “one of the rarest and least known canids in the continent.” These animals are extremely elusive. “In fact, when bush dogs were first identified by Danish paleontologist Peter Wilhelm Lund in 1839 from fossils in Brazilian caves, they were thought to be extinct.”
Deep-Sea Worm
Deep in the sea, off the coast of Costa Rica, marine biologist Greg Rouse from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institute came across this worm. Pectinereis strickrotti’s “sinuous swimming” reminded Rouse of a snake.
UCSD reports that, “Rouse and his colleagues have encountered roughly 450 species at the Costa Rican methane seeps since 2009, with this latest discovery bringing the number of those species that were new to science to 48.”
Glass Frog
The 14th type of glass frog to be discovered in Costa Rica became a top news story due to an uncanny resemblance to a familiar Muppets character. Yes, we are talking about Kermit the Frog.
The new species of glass frog is officially known as Hyalinobatrachium dianae. The Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center reported that the Kermit lookalike is the first new glass frog species discovered since 1973.
Octopi
This year scientists discovered four new species of octopus in the waters near Costa Rica. Octopuses are known for their intelligence, impressing humans with their remarkable memories and their ability to solve puzzles.
The Schmidt Ocean Institute reported “The team found two octopus nurseries affiliated with hydrothermal springs during their first expedition in June,” “Six months later, scientists returned to the nurseries and confirmed they appear to be active year-round. They also observed several other new octopus species away from the hydrothermal springs.” Scientists said one of the species will be named Dorado Octopus after the discovery location. This photo, and more here, are courtesy of Schmidt Ocean Institute creative commons license 2024.
Salamander
In the Talamanca Mountains, a new species of salamander named Plethodontidae Bolitoglossa was discovered. This amphibian features a lizard-like appearance. Check out the photos here.
Salamander species vary a lot and some species, like the blind salamander, can even live to be more than 100 years old!
There is so much to discover in Costa Rica! Now the only question is, which of these incredible luxury vacation villas will you do it from? Get in touch with us today at [email protected]
