Angola Biodiversity Survey Reveals New Species

Some of Africa’s wildest places still remain scientific blank spots.

One of them is Angola’s remote Lisima plateau, where researchers have found a fluorescent spider, a newly identified ladybird-mimicking spider and armored crickets with a startling defense system.

The findings, from the Cassai Life Atlas – a biodiversity survey conducted by The Wilderness Project in February 2026 – include eight undescribed dragonfly species, three new grasshopper species and about 60 moths and butterflies new to science, researchers from the project said in a statement.

“Being on the ground in a place like this, with a team of specialists working across so many groups of life, is both a privilege and a thrill,” Rob Taylor, expedition leader and conservation ecologist, told IFLScience.

Among the standout finds were two unusual spiders – a crowned crab spider that glows blue under ultravi…