Top 10 Recently Discovered Creepy Crawlies

The Bright Orange Bat (Myotis nimbaensis)

Discovered 2018 in the Nimba Mountains, New Guinea, West Africa. It’s honestly more cute than creepy! It has bright orange fur and is likely already critically endangered due to human activity. As of right now, there is nothing published on its diet, behaviors, or habits. More research is needed for the newest, ultimate Halloween idol. Can you really find something more ideal?

Pine Rockland Trapdoor Spider (Ummidia richmond)

Discovered 2012 outside of the Miami Zoo, Miami, Florida USA. This terrifying spider is related to the tarantula, meaning it is also venomous. It burrows and builds a trap door from which it ambushes its prey. Are any spiders not scary? Thankfully it mainly eats mainly insects and small invertebrates. And while it can liquify their insides, it’s not very dangerous to humans.

Giant centipede (Scolopendra alcyona)

Discovered in 2021 in the Ruyku Islands, an archipelago near Japan and Taiwan. This is another giant venomous centipede. What makes this one more daunting is the amphibious nature of the creature; it is equally adept on land and in the water. Let’s hope they keep a shrimp diet and stay local.

King of the Cave (Cryptops spelorex)

Discovered in 2020 in Movile Cave, Romania. The King is another centipede and terror fuel just because of the toxic environment from which it hails. The pitch black cave has very little air or oxygen and a high sulfur content among other toxic gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and ammonia and sounds quite hellish. Despite being only about 2 inches long, this many legged crawler is toxic just like its environment. They thrive among chemosynthetic bacteria, some spiders, arthropods, earthworms, leeches, and snails. Maybe we just seal up that cave and let them all be.

Ringed Caecilian (Siphonops annulatas)

While the animal itself was discovered almost 2 centuries ago, the recent discovery (2020) of it having oral venomous glands re-upped this creature’s fear factor. It’s an amphibian that looks the love child of a Black Mamba and an Earthworm with no discernible face. It just became the perfect image for every potential sci-fi creature in the future.

Pig-Snouted Brittle Sea Star (Ophiojura exbodi)

Discovered in a barrel in 2015, it was actually collected in 2011 in Banc Durand near New Caledonia in the South Pacific. Despite its comical sounding name, this thing is rather disturbing looking with 8 long, spindly arms that look like thousands of pig snouts snapped together. Its underside is covered with long jaws that are filled with bristly, thorny teeth. So it’s pretty much pure nightmare fuel… a nest of teeth with creepy arms.

Suzhen’s Krait (Bangarus suzhenae)

Discovered in 2001, but just named, it was found in Southwestern China and Northern Myanmar. It was just recently distinguished from other Kraits whom it mimicked with coloration. But this Krait is longer with a distinct number of black and white bands. So it was anonymous for a while and its very venomous and deadly. It also enters houses in search of food. It’s active at night and has wandered into beds, biting when it is startled. Just like in the movies…

Achlinus Zugorum

This snake, discovered in 2020 in Ha Giang Province, Vietnam, hasn’t been given a fun surname yet. These snakes live mainly underground and have poor eyesight. They are either iridescent or dark in color appearing to morph from blue to green. It brings to mind the shiny, jewel-like scales depicted on Chinese dragons. They are commonly considered odd-scaled snakes because of unusual shape and small size of the scales and the skin exposed between them.

Salazar’s Pit Viper (Timeresus salazar)

Discovered in 2019 in the Western lowlands of Arunachal Pradesh, India. Yes, its name is borrowed from Salazar Slytherin of Harry Potter fame. They are pit vipers, so they are venomous. Luckily they stick to a diet of small mammals, lizards, amphibians, rodents, and birds. Perhaps they can teach us all Parseltongue and we can befriend all snakes.

Mountain Fer-de-lance (Bothrops Monsignifier)

Discovered in 2020 in the Zongo Valley, Bolivia. This is a new Fer-de-lance discovered in the jungled mountains. As if the ones we already know about aren’t enough. Like their relatives, they have excellent camouflages and hang out on the forest floor. To sense their prey, they use heat sensing pits on their heads. They are extremely venomous, so watch your step and avoid walking through piled leaves unless you have a snake sense.