Lotsoflivingthingsliveonthisplanetwithoutbeingnoticedbyhumans.Trees,plants,insects,evenwhalescangounnoticedforcenturies!Someofthesenewspeciesliveinfar‑offplaces.Otherscanbefoundcloser by.

There’salotofbiodiversity onEarth.Manyspeciesoflivingthingsarecollectedandstudied.Thentheyareput into classification.

Aflashoforangelandsonabranch.It’sgotsixlegsandwings.It’sthesizeofyourpinky.It’saninsect.Butit’slikenothingyou’veeverseenbefore.Haveyoudiscoveredanewspecies?It’snotthat simple.

There’saprocessforidentifyingandnaminganewspecies.First,aspecimenhastobecapturedandcollected.Thenithastobestudied.Expertsmustmakesureitdoesn’tbelongtoaknownspecies.Tofindout,scientistscomparetheDNA—ormoleculethatholdsthegeneticcodeoforganisms—totheDNAofthesimilarspecies.Ifitisnotamatch,thenthefun begins.

Scientistswriteareportandexpertsreviewit.Iftheyagree,thesubjectofficiallybecomesanew species.

Thefirstpartofthenameiscalledthegenus.It’sanameforasmallgroupofrelatedorganisms.Thesecondpartidentifiesthespecies.It’scalledthespecific epithet.

Forexample,threesmallandroundspeciesoffungusbeetlesarenamedGelaebaen (“jelly bean”),Gelaebalae (“jelly belly”),andGelaedonut (“jelly doughnut”).ThegenusisGelae.Itshowsthattheyarerelated.IftheLatinistoohardtosay,justusethe commonname, likethe“jellybelly” beetle.