New Species of 2013

Spiky climber: this is my personal favorite of this year's new species, Coendou baturitensis, the baturite porcupine. Native to the forests of Brazil's Baturité Range, this is a porcupine with a prehensile tale and a face to melt the stoniest heart.

What a frill: Calotes bachae, a brightly colored little lizard from Vietnam, about 4 inches (10 cm) long.

Such a face: the Lesula monkey, Cercopithecus lomamiensis, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, long known to locals but new to science.

Funky tails: Saltuarius eximius, a new leaf-tailed gecko from northern Australia.

Vietnam was the hotspot for the identification of new animal species this year. This handsome fellow is Murina beelzebub, aka the Bat from Hell, which is a completely unfair name -- it's no more hellish than any other bat, it just has an unfortunate nose.

Cutie: Bassaricyon neblina, a new species of carnivorous olinguito native to the Amazon. Apparently one of these lived in an American zoo for years in the 1960s without anyone realizing that it was a distinct species, although they did wonder why it wouldn't mate.

Glow-in-the-dark cockroach: Luchihormetica luckae, which you'll have to admit is pretty cute for a cockroach.

The Lyre Sponge,Chondrocladia lyra, discovered in deep water (3300 meters) off the coast of northern California.

Awwwwwww: Microcebus marohita, the Marohita mouse lemur, a new species from Madagascar.

The smallest: Paedophryne amanuensis, a frog identified in Papua New Guinea, takes over as the world's smallest known vertebrate from an equally obscure fish. Its maximum length is 7 mm.

Lovely: Eugenia petrikensis, a new species of shrub in the myrtle family, native to the disappearing forests of eastern Madagascar and considered an endangered species.

Such eyes: Trimeresurus rubeus, the ruby-eyed pit viper, identified in a Vietnamese national park near Ho Chi Minh City.

The "walking" catfish: Clarias gracilentus, native to freshwater streams on the island of Phu Quoc off the Mekong Delta. Rather than walking, it uses its pectoral fins to hold itself upright while it wriggles like a snake.

Last but definitely not least, Biswamoyopterus laoensis, the Laotian giant flying squirrel. The only known specimen of this animal was found by biologists at a bush meat market; it weighed 1.8 kg and was about 1.1 meters (3 feet 6 inches) long. Which means that this is some kind of digitally altered image, but it's the best I could find.