Endearing: not the most pretty but adorable

It is a rare species found in the forests of the Malay Peninsula and was first described from the island of Penang in Peninsular Malaysia in 1873.

Males are significantly larger than females, but otherwise, scientists know little about its biology. It is not found outside ASEAN. Within ASEAN, it is found in Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Eurhopalothrix heliscata Wilson & Brown, 1985

Despite their exquisite monstrous demeanour and peculiar ‘hairstyles’, the behaviour exhibited by this species of ants is anything but beastly.

In addition to being mild-mannered, this species has rather slow movements. When threatened, they feign death and freeze in a crouched pupal posture for several minutes or until the threat passes.

The only time when they seem to exert themselves is the sudden snapping of their jaws to seize their termite prey.

They were first discovered amongst rotting wood and soil in Singapore and the species is not found outside ASEAN. Within ASEAN, it is found only in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.

Cock-eye Squid
Histioteuthis pacifica Voss, 1962

This species gets its common name from having one eye significantly larger than the other. In 2016, researchers established that squids in this group orientate their larger eye pointing towards the surface and the smaller eye pointed towards the ocean depths, all while maintaining an oblique tail-up-head-down body orientation.

Living in the ‘twilight’ zone (between 200 and 1,000 metres below the ocean’s surface), these squids uses its larger eye to sense objects outlined against sunlight from above and the smaller eye to sense bioluminescence from below. Each eye is thus adapted to peering into different parts of the vast ocean. Histioteuthis pacifica is found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Within ASEAN, it is known from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Doto greenamyeri Shipman & Gosliner, 2015

With its two pairs of antenna-like structures (called “rhinophores”) and structures on its back called “cerata”, this is a rather endearing animal. The scientists who formally described and named this species described the cerata as looking like honey-dippers or stacks of pancakes—Winnie the Pooh would be thrilled.

This species was first photographed in Papua New Guinea waters by John Greenmyeri, whom it is named after. It was formally described and named in 2015. It is remarkable that this relatively large species (at 15 millimetres) would escape attention for so long.

This species was only known from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea until an individual was observed in waters off Pulau Hantu, Singapore in 2017. Within ASEAN, it is only known from Indonesia and Singapore.

The authors of the 2015 article were slightly more serious, proposing the common name of Angular-headed Newt—though the more infamous name stuck with the animal. With a black body and orange head that connects to an orange ridge running down its back, this amphibian is certainly adorable in its own way. The two rows of orange knobs running down its side and little orange feet complete the effect. This species is not found outside ASEAN. Within ASEAN, it is found in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

Yellow Candy Pill Millipede
Hyleoglomeris aurea Likhitrakarn, Golovatch & Panha, 2015

With its alternating bright yellow or yellowish-brown wide bands and brown narrow bands, this species of pill millipede looks like a striped yellow candy ball when it rolls itself into a sphere!

Rolling into a ball or ‘pill’ helps to protect this slow-moving species from predators. In ball ‘mode’, only its hard exoskeleton is exposed.

This species is only known from deciduous forest in Sukhothai Province, Thailand. Little else is known about its biology.