#taxonomy

[Miralles et al. 2026 CC BY-NC 4.0]

A few weeks ago, friends and colleagues of mine (I was not involved) published this incredible new species of legless skink that makes distinctive zig-zag markings in the sand as it 'swims' through it.

[Miralles et al. 2026 CC BY-NC 4.0]

So they called it Zig zag.

ZIG ZAG, CORAL!

Here's a big project I've been working on for a few weeks: a phylogenetic tree of everything in Minecraft! It would take ages to explain everything here, so if you want an explaination of any inclusions, exclusions, categorisations or Latin names PLEASE PLEASE PUHLEASE ask me I would love to answer any questions :3

Here's the slides I used to make it since i'm aware the text on the image there is pretty much unreadable.

Reblogs appreciated!

Edit: there are some problems with the image on here aside from the quality, so please check the slides for a slightly more accurate version! Also, if you have a question check the notes first! Odds are someone else has asked already.

Edit 2: PLEASE check the reblogs before you ask a question, most of the questions I'm getting now are ones that have already been answered. But I of course really appreciate how much people care :3

Zig (genus de novo) zag (a Malagasy legless skink related to Paracontias), March 2026. Zig is the first new genus of Malagasy skinks discovered since the 19th century, so this is quite notable! New species discoveries are common, new genus discoveries are much rarer. Some new Scincidae genera have been named recently in the form of splits from other (wastebasket taxon) genera, however, discovering a completely unknown highly divergent lineage like this is a rarity. Zig zag is a special little boop noodle.

Solenostomus snuffleupagus (sp. nov), May 2026 (literally, study was released a week ago), a new species of ghost pipefish, named for its fuzzy appearance bearing resemblance to Mr. Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street (pictured above). The genus Solenostomus contains six other species of ghost pipefishes. However S. snuffleupagus is so highly divergent in appearance, that when it was spotted in 2001 it was immediately known to be strange. It took 25 years of searching the Great Barrier Reef to officially find & scientifically describe this bizarre fish.

S. paradoxus, the type species of Solenostomus.

S. leptosoma, another species, to make clear the typical appearance of a ghost pipefish and why S. snuffleupagus is distinctive.

Though not all species were sequenced, genome sequencing suggests that S. snuffleupagus is the most evolutionary divergent of all Solenostomus (Maroubra, a syngnathid true pipefish, is used as the outgroup).

For context, what Solenostomus is:

Solenostomus is a monotypic genus (the only genus in its family) in the family Solenostomidae. They comprise the sister taxon to the Syngnathidae (the true pipefishes, seadragons, and kin, which contains the famous seahorse Hippocampus). Unfortunately, in Solenostomus, males do not get pregnant (the only thing that would have made S. snuffleupagus even more incredible), but they are closely related to the true pipefishes (all of which exhibit male pregnancy).