QUICK FACT: Has only ever been seen at three locations in the Colombian Amazon.

THREATS: Illegal mining, plantations, and forest clearing threaten its host tree, causing habitat loss.

IMPORTANCE: It supports, and only grows with, its host tree, which itself is a rare tree endemic to Colombia.

Photo credit: Aída Vasco-Palacios

QUICK FACT: Related fungi are eaten regionally; this one is small and easily overlooked.

THREATS: Wildfires and destruction of its Nothofagus host trees reduce its habitat.

IMPORTANCE: It influences host dynamics and provides food and microhabitat for local animals and insects.

Photo credit: Tony Young

QUICK FACT: Only 11 of these mushrooms have ever been found.

THREATS: Forest clearing, agriculture, fire, and invasive species threaten the few known sites where it occurs.

IMPORTANCE: Only grows with an endemic New Caledonian tree; its exact ecological role is still being studied.

Photo credit: Christian Laudereau

QUICK FACT: It uses a powerful odor to lure insects that spread its spores.

THREATS: Habitat loss from development, industry, forestry, and invasive species eliminate the sites where it occurs.

IMPORTANCE: A decomposer that breaks down leaf litter and mulch, it returns nutrients to the soil.

Photo credit: J.M. Baltazar

QUICK FACT: Dormant samples survived in space for roughly 18 months.

THREATS: Often thrives in nitrogen rich environments; more a pollution “winner” than a typical casualty.

IMPORTANCE: It is a vivid, adaptable lichen used to study how species adjust to very different habitats.

Photo credit: Rebecca Yahr

QUICK FACT: It is the only known species in the genus Chlorogaster.

THREATS: Forest loss from palm oil and pulpwood plantations reduces the habitat it depends on.

IMPORTANCE: It is a mycorrhizal partner that helps trees absorb water and nutrients more efficiently.

Photo credit: Joe Kai Russell

QUICK FACT: It was discovered through a multi-expert collaboration and the luck of picking up the perfect stick.

THREATS: It is likely vulnerable to the general freshwater pressures: pollution, altered flows, invasive species, and climate change.

IMPORTANCE: It helps “clean” waterways by breaking down organic matter and compounds; supports food webs.

Photo credit: Huzefa Raja

QUICK FACT: Dormant samples have survived trips to space for about two weeks.

THREATS: Generally hardy, but it is sensitive to places with heavy nitrogen pollution.

IMPORTANCE: A tough pioneer on silica-rich rocks, it helps scientists study survival in extreme environments.

Photo credit: Rebecca Yahr

QUICK FACT: It grows only after snowmelt, often on debarked dead wood at high elevations.

THREATS: Warming winters and reduced snowpack threaten the brief melt window it needs to appear.

IMPORTANCE: It is a high-alpine decomposer that cycles nutrients and helps regulate microbial communities.

Photo credit: Alain Michaud

QUICK FACT: This host tree is called “tapir’s bark” because tapirs rub the trunk and occasionally bite it, attracted by the bark’s medicinal properties.

THREATS: Climate change plus fire, grazing, invasive species, and land-use change are shrinking cloud forests where it grows.

IMPORTANCE: It is a wood-decayer that helps recycle nutrients in rare Brazilian cloud forest habitats.

Photo credit: Genivaldo Alves-Silva

QUICK FACT: Parents raise young on buried carrion, showing rare and complex insect caregiving.

THREATS: Habitat loss, shifting carrion availability, pesticides, and climate and land-use change pressures.

IMPORTANCE: An ecosystem engineer that buries carcasses, returns nutrients to soil, and helps limit disease spread.

Photo credit: Roger Williams Park Zoo

QUICK FACT: A living fossil with a lineage around 445 million years old.

THREATS: Harvest for bait and blood extraction, habitat loss, and sea-level rise.

IMPORTANCE: Eggs fuel migrating shorebirds; adults are important predators in nearshore food webs.

Photo credit: Mark Botton

QUICK FACT: Named after the comic strip hero, Asterix the Gaul, with two other species of caddisfly named after Obelix and Idefix, respectively, at the same time!

THREATS: Water abstraction and damage to spring habitats reduce the clean flows it requires.

IMPORTANCE: Caddisflies support fish and birds, signal water quality, and process organic material in streams.

Photo credit: Graf Schmidt-Kloiber

QUICK FACT: Possibly the slowest South American tiger beetle; rarely flies.

THREATS: Agriculture expansion, habitat loss, fire, and climate change impacts.

IMPORTANCE: A predator and a flagship for local habitat conservation and school outreach efforts.

QUICK FACT: Its fate is tightly linked to the survival of Tasmanian devils.

THREATS: Decline of Tasmanian devils from devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) caused by an infectious cancer.

IMPORTANCE: Likely bioaccumulates heavy metals in its host to keep Tasmanian devils safe from heavy metal toxicity.

QUICK FACT: Its mandibles are strong enough to bite a pencil in half.

THREATS: Logging, forest conversion, cyclones, fear-killing when found near lights or houses, and collector trade pressure.

IMPORTANCE: A major dead-wood decomposer, returning nutrients and creating habitat for other species.

Photo credit: Hilda Waqa

QUICK FACT: This tarantula (aka, Mexican black velvet tarantula) is part of the indigenous cultural worldview of many Zapotec peoples, but sadly their populations are drastically declining.

THREATS: Habitat loss, fragmentation, road mortality, and illegal trafficking.

IMPORTANCE: A top invertebrate predator and burrow-builder that can shape local soil microhabitats.

Photo credit: Ivan Montes de Oca Cacheux/CONABIO

QUICK FACT: A comeback story! Once extinct in the wild, now breeding again in nature.

THREATS: Invasive rosy wolfsnails devastated wild populations; recovery depends on continued protection.

IMPORTANCE: Supports island food webs and carries deep cultural meaning across Polynesian islands.

Photo credit: Zoological Society of London

QUICK FACT: The world’s largest butterfly, spanning up to 28 cm (11 inches).

THREATS: Forest loss to timber and plantations, plus volcanic events that can erase habitat quickly.

IMPORTANCE: Pollinator, especially of native pipevines; sentinel for habitat health; high-profile flagship species for conservation in its country.

Photo credit: Charles Harbottle

QUICK FACT: The only animal that integrates iron into its shell and “scales.”

THREATS: Deep-sea mining threatens hydrothermal vent habitats.

IMPORTANCE: A unique vent species that helps scientists understand life in extreme deep-ocean ecosystems.

Photo credit: Dr. Chong Chen

QUICK FACT: Glows in the dark under UV light.

THREATS: Invasive plants degrade cloud forest habitat; plant disease reduces the flora it depends on.

IMPORTANCE: Helps break down organic matter and cycle nutrients in St. Helena’s cloud forests.

Photo credit: Liza Fowler

QUICK FACT: A vivid red shrimp found in the unique, ancient Malili lake system, an evolutionary laboratory!

THREATS: Invasive species, pollution, and collection for the aquarium trade.

IMPORTANCE: Recycles nutrients and supports the base of the food web in ancient lake ecosystems.

Photo credit: Dirk Blankenhaus

QUICK FACT: Named for a certain classic rock anthem. Does not answer to “Free Bird!”

THREATS: Pollution, habitat modification, and small, fragmented cave populations under pressure.

IMPORTANCE: A keystone cave aquifer species; its health reflects the health of underground waters.

Photo credit: Guenter Shuster

QUICK FACT: One of the few sea stars that gives birth to live young.

THREATS: Coastal development and pollution in its limited shoreline habitat.

IMPORTANCE: A rare endemic that reflects nearshore ecosystem health in a narrow range.

Photo credit: Maria Byrne

QUICK FACT: Likely helpful to its host, feeding on oils, mold, and microbes rather than blood or skin.

THREATS: Declines as its endangered host bird faces habitat loss and feral cat predation.

IMPORTANCE: A powerful lesson in “co-extinction” when one species falls, its symbionts can vanish, too.

photo: Professor Tsukasa Waki/Toho University

QUICK FACT: A rare yellow-flowered baobab that typically blooms in Nov-Dec.

THREATS: Ongoing pressures across a small northern Madagascar range despite recent conservation gains.

IMPORTANCE: A keystone baobab that shapes dry forests and provides shelter and microhabitats for wildlife.

Photo Credit: Johary Andrianjatovo

QUICK FACT: When cut, it oozes a deep crimson resin or “dragon’s blood” from its bark, which is used in traditional medicine and dyes.

THREATS: Small endemic range and pressure from changing landscapes and associated habitat shifts.

IMPORTANCE: Provides food and habitat in novel ecosystems where it now persists.

Photo credit: Joachim Gratzfeld

QUICK FACT: Can live for centuries and grows so slowly that changes may take decades to notice.

THREATS: Prolonged drought and intensifying aridity driven by climate change.

IMPORTANCE: Provides shelter, nectar, and moisture in desert landscapes; signals ecosystem stress.

Photo credit: Oscar Maeyer

QUICK FACT: So well camouflaged, it’s easy to miss, making it vulnerable to damage and poaching.

THREATS: Illegal collection is the top threat, amplified by demand for rare wild-collected specimens.

IMPORTANCE: Supports pollinators and seed dispersers, creates microhabitats, and signals stable soil conditions.

Photo credit: Emiliano Sanchez Martinez

QUICK FACT: A carnivorous plant that traps and digests insects for nutrients.

THREATS: Habitat loss, poaching, and disrupted fire regimes in bog and seep ecosystems.

IMPORTANCE: Creates micro-ecosystems inside its pitchers and signals healthy bog/seep habitats.

Photo credit: Carson Trexler

QUICK FACT: First to colonize new lava; deeply important in Hawaiian culture and ecology.

THREATS: Fire, invasive species, and introduced diseases driving ecosystem decline.

IMPORTANCE: A keystone Hawaiian tree spanning sea level to 2,500 m, dominant in many forest types.

Photo credit: Jeffery Stallman

QUICK FACT: Solved a fossil mystery! Live plant pollen matched unknown samples from ancient cores.

THREATS: Invasives, disease, tiny population, severe storms; extinct in the wild but maintained in cultivation.

IMPORTANCE: A culturally significant plant tied to Hawaiian identity and a remarkable rediscovery of a new genus.

Photo credit: Jamie Bruch/KIRC

QUICK FACT: Its large, attractive flowers are locally collected and strung together in garlands for adorning hair by local women.

THREATS: Infrastructure expansion, quarrying, and land-use change in a limited habitat.

IMPORTANCE: Supports pollinators in specialized local ecosystems.

Photo credit: Ashok Captain

QUICK FACT: Only found in specific pockets of Kyrgyzstan.

THREATS: Collection by the people, livestock grazing, infrastructure development, climate change

IMPORTANCE: Sustains local insect pollinators and provides food for wild boars, deer and others

Photo credit: Brett Wilson

QUICK FACT: It is known only to a single location with just 10 mature trees.

THREATS: Rapid habitat loss, illegal seed collection (sometimes felling trees), slow growth, and tiny population size.

IMPORTANCE: Its seeds feed lemurs and birds in the Andasibe region.

Photo credit: William J. Baker

QUICK FACT: Famous for synchronized mass blooms about once every 12 years.

THREATS: Grasslands converted for tea/plantations and growing urban pressure in fragile montane habitats.

IMPORTANCE: An endemic shola-grassland understory plant supporting diverse pollinators.

QUICK FACT: The only Italian Primula in a non-mountain setting; also, Italy’s national park symbol.

THREATS: Tourism development, invasive species, plant collection, fire, and landslides on cliff habitats.

IMPORTANCE: Helps stabilize harsh coastal cliff ecosystems that host rare, relict plant communities.

QUICK FACT: Declared extinct in the wild in 2010, rediscovered in 2023, it grows on mud.

THREATS: Mining, farm conversion, low awareness, and potential plant collection pressures.

IMPORTANCE: An irreplaceable local specialist, this Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species is confined to warm spring pools.

Photo credit: Thomas Abeli

QUICK FACT: The only manatee known to regularly eat fish and mollusks.

THREATS: Poaching, traps/bycatch, and dam entrapment threaten populations across a huge range.

IMPORTANCE: Aquatic “gardeners” that stimulate plant growth and signal healthy, vegetated waterways.

Photo credit: Abu Dhabi Aquarium

QUICK FACT: On current trends, it could be extinct in the wild by 2035.

THREATS: Food scarcity, oiling, noise, predation, disease, and extreme weather made worse by climate change.

IMPORTANCE: Transfers ocean nutrients to colonies, shaping nearby coastal ecosystems and food webs.

Photo credit: Bernard Dupont

QUICK FACT: Males perform an explosive aerial courtship dance.

THREATS: Grassland conversion, overgrazing, altered burning/cutting, flooding, invasives, and powerlines.

IMPORTANCE: A grassland health indicator and flagship that drives protection and sustainable land use.

Photo credit: Kees Groot/ACCB

QUICK FACT: Known as the “Shark Ray” because it looks like a cross between a shark and a ray.

THREATS: Intense, unregulated fishing pressure: captured in industrial, artisanal, and subsistence fisheries via hook and line, gillnets, trawling, and more.

IMPORTANCE: A large bottom predator that regulates prey and stirs sediments while feeding.

Photo credit: OpenCage

QUICK FACT: These tiny burrowers “glide” through the sand thanks to their oily, iridescent fur.

THREATS: Mining and coastal development fragment and destroy sensitive dune habitats.

IMPORTANCE: Regulates soil invertebrates and improves soil aeration and water flow through burrowing.

Photo credit: JP LeRoux

QUICK FACT: Starts life as a huge tadpole, up to about half a pound. This species belongs to the third most threatened genus of frogs in the world!

THREATS: Stream water extraction, pollution, collection for medicine, and possible chytrid disease impacts.

IMPORTANCE: A strong water-quality indicator and an essential prey link in high-altitude food chains.

Photo credit: Gabriel Callapa

QUICK FACT: Rediscovered in 2010 after it had not been seen for more than a century.

THREATS: Illegal trade, habitat loss from plantations, and altered river flows from dam construction.

IMPORTANCE: A top freshwater predator regulating prey populations and stabilizing aquatic communities.

Photo credit: Nicole Duplaix

QUICK FACT: It’s common and scientific name is a nod not just to Indiana residents, but also to IU basketball.

THREATS: Groundwater pollution; sedimentation related to agriculture; quarrying

IMPORTANCE: Vital contributors to subterranean ecosystems, helping to break down organic matter and recycle nutrients.

Photo credit: Eric C. Maxwell

QUICK FACT: As Jamaica’s largest native land vertebrate, these iguanas are modern day dinosaurs with bright blue scales running down the spine of their backs.

THREATS: Invasive predators and ecosystem disruption.

IMPORTANCE: A major seed disperser that boosts dry-forest plant germination; a flagship for conservation.

Photo credit: Joey Markx

QUICK FACT: Locally called “Ekek-Geling,” echoing its distinctive call.

THREATS: Trapping for the cagebird trade and ongoing habitat loss.

IMPORTANCE: A predator that keeps invertebrate and small vertebrate populations in check.

Photo credit: Andrew Owen Chester Zoo

QUICK FACT: The most threatened of the world’s five rhino species.

THREATS: Poaching, disease risk, and tsunami hazards in its single stronghold.

IMPORTANCE: A major ecosystem engineer shaping vegetation and habitat in its protected range.

Photo credit: Toby Nowlan

QUICK FACT: Known for its spectacular leaping courtship display, jumping 6 feet (2m) in the air, hundreds of times. (Do not attempt this at home)

THREATS: Habitat loss across grassland landscapes.

IMPORTANCE: A grassland indicator. Its decline signals ecosystem collapse.

Photo credit: Narasimha Kumar

QUICK FACT: The smallest of the four tapir species and the only one adapted to cold, high-altitude Andes habitats.

THREATS: Dog attacks and deadly screwworm infections are causing alarming mortality in parts of its range.

IMPORTANCE: A “forest engineer” that disperses seeds and shapes Andean forest structure and diversity.

Photo credit: Camilo Botero

QUICK FACT: Can live 30+ years, exceed 1.5 m and changes sex; only the largest individuals can become males.

THREATS: Heavy fishing pressure and luxury seafood trade demand due to its high market value.

IMPORTANCE: One of the few predators of crown-of-thorns starfish, helping protect coral reefs.

QUICK FACT: The species name “acuminatus” means “to sharpen” in reference to the numerous sharp spines scattered across the head and body.

THREATS: Habitat understory clearing for cardamom and other shade plant cultivation, and illegal collection for the pet trade.

IMPORTANCE: This small (up to 82mm or 3.2” in length) arboreal insectivore is a local endemic known only from a single locality and represents one of the more elaborately ornamented and colored pygmy chameleons in the world!

Photo credit: Zoo Vienna

QUICK FACT: This species looks like a gigantic pancake that weighs over 50 kg and has a pig-like face, so, not your usual turtle!

THREATS: Harvesting by local fishermen, harvesting by human refugees escaping from regional conflicts.

IMPORTANCE: One of the larger predatory freshwater animals where it is still found.

Photo credit: Luca Luiselli

QUICK FACT: “Lost” for 120+ years, recently rediscovered via intensive camera-trapping.

THREATS: Subsistence hunting, fires, logging, and potential risk from rabbit hemorrhagic disease variant 2.

IMPORTANCE: Shapes plant communities through browsing and supports predators as an essential prey species.

Photo credit: Stephen John Davies

QUICK FACT: Eats tortilla chips discarded by humans, leading to health issues.

THREATS: Tourism and development on its very restricted island range.

IMPORTANCE:  A mesocarnivore that helps regulate small animal populations.

Photo credit: David Valenzuela

QUICK FACT: Babies are born white, then darken to the adults’ black coat as they mature.

THREATS: Forest clearance, fragmentation, road/wire deaths, and conflict in human areas; small genetic base.

IMPORTANCE: A seed disperser and seed predator that influences forest regeneration.

Photo credit: Andie Ang

QUICK FACT: Superdads! It’s the male that gets pregnant and gives birth to the babies!

THREATS: Bottom trawling, habitat damage, and climate change are destroying seahorse habitats.

IMPORTANCE: A mid-level predator and sensitive habitat indicator for seagrass and reef ecosystems.

Photo credit: Gino Symus / SOTW

QUICK FACT: The “desert porpoise” has an over-sized dorsal fin to dissipate heat as it swims in the 90°F/32°C waters of the Gulf of California.

THREATS: Bycatch in fishing nets, especially gillnets, is the existential threat.

IMPORTANCE: Protecting the vaquita is urgent, as only a handful of individuals are thought to remain, and its extinction would be both imminent and preventable.

Photo credit: Thomas Jefferson

QUICK FACT: Remarkably vocal. Pairs have been recorded “duetting”, even swapping duet roles. 

THREATS: Habitat loss, hunting, and accidental capture in unregulated gill-net fisheries.

IMPORTANCE: A keystone predator and ecosystem engineer that helps maintain aquatic system balance.

Photo credit: THRESCOAL

QUICK FACT: Dubious Guinness record as the world’s rarest heron.

THREATS: River habitat loss, hydropower impacts, mining, disturbance, climate change, and tiny range size.

IMPORTANCE: A top predator and sensitive river-health indicator in Himalayan freshwater systems.

QUICK FACT: Once among the most common raptors; the population has plummeted to a few thousand in just two decades.

THREATS: Toxic veterinary NSAIDs, poison baits, and electrocution from power infrastructure.

IMPORTANCE: Nature’s cleanup crew. Loss led to more feral dogs, worsening rabies and health impacts.

Photo credit: Chris Bowden

QUICK FACT: This snake has a Banana-yellow color and is known for an accordion-shaped ambush posture.

THREATS: Boat strikes, pollution, and warming/ocean chemistry changes in its tiny Costa Rican range.

IMPORTANCE: Costa Rica’s only endemic marine reptile, an ecological role we may lose before we understand.

Photo credit: Brooke Besssesen

QUICK FACT: Agricultural expansion once helped it spread in the 1800s, then rapid decline followed.

THREATS: Illegal hunting and habitat destruction across its migratory range.

IMPORTANCE: A flagship open-habitat migrant, its sudden collapse in population mirrors the cautionary tale of passenger pigeons.

Photo credit: Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok