While much of the world’s wildlife is under threat from climate change and habitat destruction, the good news is that researchers are still making exciting discoveries. In fact, hundreds of new mammals, reptiles, insects and marine species are being uncovered each year. From giant snakes to a vegetarian piranha – and even a creature named after a movie star – we've picked out some of the most curious new wildlife found in recent years.

Click through this gallery to explore 19 incredible recently discovered species...

Researchers recently unearthed a new species of green anaconda in northern South America. Found mostly in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, green anacondas live in swamps, marshes and streams. They can grow to around 29 feet (9m) and weigh up to 250kg (550lbs).

The newly found species, the northern green anaconda, looks very similar to the regular green anaconda but has a 5.5% genetic difference. To put that into context, humans only have a 2% genetic difference from chimpanzees.

This handsome chap is a new type of bristlemouth armoured catfish – one of no less than 27 new species discovered during an expedition to the Peruvian Amazon. Found in a rock mountain stream, this 'blob-headed fish' was known to the local Indigenous people but was unknown to science. The same expedition yielded four new mammals, three types of amphibian and 10 new butterfly species, among other findings.

A curious new species of bird tear-drinking moth was recently found in Madagascar. As this image shows, the moth gets its name from its feeding practice of approaching birds at night and drinking their tears by inserting its long, straw-like proboscis into their eyes.

Moths and butterflies have long been known to drink the tears of crocodiles, turtles and mammals, but the fact that they do the same to birds is much newer information. The latest find is one of 190 new species named by scientists from London's Natural History Museum in 2024.

Deroplatyidae is a family of praying mantises, commonly known as dead leaf mantises, that are notable for mimicking dead leaves, allowing them to hide on forest floors. Existing species include the Malaysian dead leaf mantis and Southeast Asian dead leaf mantis, and in 2024 researchers described three new species native to Borneo. Pictured here is the Deroplatys xuzhengfai.

Four new species of freshwater crab of the Liberonautes genus have been discovered in the sandy soils beside mountain streams in Sierra Leone’s Sugar Loaf Mountain region. Found in West Africa, Liberonautes crabs reside in rivers and are often fished for human consumption, while facing threats to their habitat from deforestation and expanding agriculture. Pictured here is the small Liberonautes schubarti species, which was named after respected biologist Christoph D Schubart, who died in 2023.

We promised you a movie star, so meet a snake named after actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio. This new species and genus of colubrid snake (Anguiculus dicaprioi) was found high in the Indian Himalayas.

Also known as DiCaprio’s Himalayan snake, the copper-coloured, docile reptile only grows to about 22 inches (56cm). Living at elevations of 6,100 feet (1,860m), the snake has since been sighted in Nepal and the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Found deep in the Ecuadorian Andes, this new species of stream treefrog gets its Latin name (Hyloscirtus tolkieni) from The Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien. Its stunning patchwork colouring would certainly help the frog feel at home in Tolkien's fantasy world.

Also known as the Rio Negro stream treefrog, it measures up to 2.5 inches (6.5cm). This may sound small but it is in fact one of the larger treefrogs – the New Guinea Amau frog reaches an average of just 0.3 inches (0.77cm).

In 2024, scientists found two new species of pirate spider living on St Helena, an isolated volcanic island and British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. Pirate spiders are well named – they violently take over other spiderwebs and kill their occupants.

The Ero lizae (pictured) measures around 0.15 inches (4mm), while the Ero natashae is slightly smaller. The spiders were named after St Helena conservationists Liza Fowler and Natasha Stevens, and it's hoped that the discovery will support efforts to protect St Helena's threatened cloud forest.

To highlight the different kinds of life still being uncovered, here's a new type of parasitic isopod. Found in deep-sea environments, the species makes its home in the gill cavities of lobsters, and was found in the Arabian Sea. Pleurocryptella poseidon (pictured) was named after the god of the sea because of its three-pronged larvae, reminiscent of Poseidon's trident.

Native to Guyana, this new species of clearwing moth was discovered 4,300 miles (7,000km) away in the exotic location of... Port Talbot, Wales. Two live specimens had travelled home in the bag of a photographer who had recently visited the South American country.

When the photographer’s daughter, an ecologist, saw the moths fluttering around her mother’s living room, she knew it was a noteworthy find. The moth was later confirmed to be a new species, and was named Carmenta brachyclados.

Did you know there was a vegetarian variety of the notorious flesh-shredding piranha? Called pacu, they're closely related to piranhas but mainly eat plants and fruit. Found in a Brazilian tributary of the Amazon River, the Myloplus sauron is a new type of pacu, with human-like teeth suited to its herbivore diet. It measures up to 16 inches (40cm).

It's another new find with a JRR Tolkien connection. It was named after The Lord of the Rings villain Sauron as its markings supposedly resemble Sauron's famous eye.

In 2024, researchers discovered a new type of Moluccan rat, named after the Maluku Islands, an Indonesian archipelago that comprises around 1,000 islands. Pictured is the newly-found Rattus ombirah, which only lives on the isle of Obi (also known as Ombirah). Smaller than other Moluccan rats, the latest find boasts a long, dark tail, and is one of four new rat species recently discovered in Indonesia.

Weird, wonderful and even a little bit cute, the skeleton panda sea squirt (Clavelina ossipandae) was discovered in Japanese waters off the coast of Kumejima. The newly-found creature gets its name from its distinctive markings.

It belongs to the wider family of sea squirts (or ascidians), of which there are about 2,300 described species. These marine invertebrates draw in water and filter out food before expelling the water again – as a squirt if they are uncovered at low tide.

In 2024, researchers named seven new species of boophis frog found deep in the rainforests of Madagascar, adding to the 80 or so species already known. The treefrogs have distinctive calls that are loud enough to be heard over rushing water.

In light of these otherworldly sounds, which are supposedly reminiscent of the Star Trek universe, the new frogs' Latin names are derived from characters from the series, namely kirki, picardi, siskoi, janewayae, archeri, pikei and burnhamae. Pictured here is Boophis picardi.

A new species of horseshoe bat was recently found in Kenya. There are more than 100 species of horseshoe bat, nearly one third of which have only been identified in the past 20 years.

Named for Paul Waswa Webala, a prominent bat biologist, the latest find is Webala's horseshoe bat or Rhinolophus webalai. It's distinguished by its spade-shaped 'sella' – the protrusion above its nose that it uses for echolocation, a biological sonar system.

These shrimp-like crustaceans are deep-sea scavenging amphipods, tiny creatures that play an important role in marine ecosystems by breaking down organic matter and recycling nutrients. These amphipods may look the same but they're two different discoveries: Valettietta synchlys (top) and Valettietta trottarum (bottom). The new species were found in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean.

These odd worm-like creatures are caecilians – legless amphibians that live in the soil or in streambeds and range in size from 3.5 inches (9cm) to a whopping five feet (1.5m). They have small (or completely covered) eyes and needle-sharp teeth.

In 2024, two new caecilian species were described in Ecuador’s Chocó forests. The larger of the two finds, Caecilia tesoro (pictured), measures around 31.5 inches (80cm). Given their subterranean lifestyle, much remains unknown about these slithering creatures.

Discovered off Mozambique and Tanzania at depths of 650 feet (200m), this strange-looking 'guitar shark' is a new species of bowmouth guitarfish – a sort of shark-ray with a flattened body and shark-like pectoral fins and tails.

The bizarre creature was one of more than 800 marine species uncovered as part of the Ocean Census, a global alliance of governments, museums and scientists that aims to discover and describe marine life. Up to two million marine species remain undocumented, noted Mitsuyuki Unno of The Nippon Foundation, a founding partner of the alliance.

Also referred to as the Newcastle 'big boy’, Atrax christenseni is a species of venomous funnel-web spider only recently distinguished from the Sydney funnel-web (pictured). Growing up to 3.5 inches (9cm), it’s considerably larger than other funnel-webs, which reach up to two inches (5cm). The new species was named for Kane Christensen, who discovered it while working with deadly spiders at the Australian Reptile Park.

Now check out the amazing worldwide wonders we’ve only just discovered