The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University has announced its top ten new species for 2009. Among the new species are a “gigantic new species and genus of palm with fewer than 100 individuals found only in a small area of northwestern Madagascar;” an exceptionally cryptic and the “smallest known seahorse with a standard length of 13.8mm (0.54 inches);” the smallest known snake “with a total length of 104mm (4.1 inches);” a “new caffeine-free coffee from Cameroon, the first record of a caffeine-free species from Central Africa;” and a “new species of extremophile bacteria was discovered in hairspray.” You can nominate your favorite new species for 2010 here.Image: S. Blair Hedges

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