‘A window to an alien world’: Macro photographer’s quest may have led him to discover a new species

Mr Nicky Bay was on a photography field trip in 2022 with his friends when he came across a “Singapore Tiger”. The animal, which he photographed and catalogued on his website, was a land-dwelling crustacean called a terrestrial isopod. Dr Lam Weng Ngai from NTU Asian School of the Environment said the isopod species that Mr Bay discovered is likely a new, undescribed one. “Unfortunately, formally describing new isopod species is rather difficult as there are very few isopod taxonomists (scientists that specialise in describing and classifying species) working in the region. Even some of the most popular and commonly circulated isopods in the pet trade are undescribed,” he said.

Read the full article on The Straits Times here.