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The American hog-nosed skunk is one of four species of the genus Conepatus. The other three species are Molina's hog-nosed skunk (C. chinga), Humboldt's pig-nosed skunk (C. humboldtii) and the striped hog-nosed skunk (C. semistriatus). (© en:Louis Agassiz Fuertes., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

26. July 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Big-Thicket Hog Nosed Skunk

No other specimen since the first description The American hog-nosed skunk (Conepatus leuconotus) belongs to the family of skunks and stink badgers (Mephitidae) and, thanks to their adaptability, occur in a relatively wide range in different habitats. The IUCN classifies them as not endangered, but two out of three subspecies

The pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) shown in the image is the most widespread oak species in Central Europe. There are around 600 oak species worldwide in total, many of which are endemic to only a small range. (© Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

8. July 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Tree Species Thought Extinct Rediscovered

Scientists from The Morton Arboretum and the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) discovered a single oak of the species Quercus tardifolia, about nine meters tall, in Big Bend National Park in the U.S. state of Texas back in May of this year. This was reported in a press release issued

Ula-ai-hawane in the book Birds of the Sandwich Islands (1890–1899) by F. W. Frohawk. (© Frederick William Frohawk, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

18. March 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Ula-ai-hawane

The Hawaiian island chain once harbored 57 species of honeycreepers Honeycreepers (Drepanidini), a tribe within the finch family (Fringillidae), occur only on the Hawaiian island chain. As a sister group, the honeycreepers are closely related to the rosefinches (Carpodacus), yet many species have developed traits that differ from those of

Female Kona giant looper moth from the book Fauna Hawaiiensis (1899). Image: Scotorythra_megalophylla-Fauna_Hawaiiensis1899.PNG: Edwin Wilsonderivative work: Peter Maas, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

12. March 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Kona Giant Looper Moth

Just one of many What makes the Hawaiian archipelago special is the enormous number of endemic species found there. Because of the islands’ isolation, the species living there split over time into many different new species. The genus Scotorythra, for example, consists exclusively of moths endemic to Hawaii and comprises

This is what remains of the holotype of Ainsworth's salamander. The specimen is kept at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. (© DesmognathusFuscus, via Wikimedia Commons)

6. March 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Ainsworth’s Salamander

Last seen in 1964: Plethodon ainsworthi, sp. nov. Ainsworth’s Salamander is known only from two specimens collected by biologist Jackson Harold Ainsworth in 1964, two miles south of Bay Springs in Jasper County, Mississippi. Ainsworth assumed that the two individuals were Slimy Salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus). More than 30 years later,

Amerikanische Sackmotte Coleophora leucochrysella

A photo of the American casebearer moth published on iNaturalist in June 2020 shows that, contrary to earlier assumptions, this species is not extinct. Scientists had previously believed that the insect from the casebearer moth family disappeared between 1904 and 1950. (© Steven Whitebread, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

5. April 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Chestnut casebearer moth

Chestnut blight from East Asia devastated more than just the American chestnut The American chestnut casebearer moth relied on the native American chestnut (Castanea dentata) for survival. This hardwood tree was the sole host plant for its larvae, ultimately leading to the highly specialized moth species’ downfall. Once one of

Various specimens of the extinct Xerces blue from the collection of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. (© Brianwray26, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

9. June 2018 Doreen Fräßdorf

Xerces Blue

I always thought there were more. When entomologist W. Harry Lange was collecting insects on March 23, 1941 at the former military base Presidio in San Francisco, he unknowingly caught the Xerces blue that is now regarded as the last of its kind. Lange later commented on this and said:

There is no photo of the passenger pigeon mite itself. The image shows mites using a dung beetle as a means of transport. (© Heiko Wagner, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

19. March 2018 Doreen Fräßdorf

Passenger pigeon mite

Species extinctions trigger chain reactions When animal or plant species go extinct, a chain reaction is set in motion. Often, at least one other organism dies out along with it. Thus, with the passenger pigeon, the passenger pigeon mite also went extinct in 1914. In a study published in 2004,

A drawing of the Florida wolf by James Audubon from the book The viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1845 to 1848). (© John James Audubon (Life time: 1785-1851), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

1. March 2018 Doreen Fräßdorf

Florida Red Wolf

The Florida red wolf did not have red fur The Florida red wolf does not bear this name because of its fur color, which was black, but because it is now considered an extinct subspecies of the red wolf (Canis rufus). This was not always the case. At first, the