List of non-fictional lost worlds
Encyclopedia
This is a list of non-fictional lost worlds
, where the terrain has been isolated from its geological surroundings, and thus gained an independent ecological evolution, often resulting in the birth of species endemic
to that area.
Lost World (genre)
The Lost World literary genre is a fantasy or science fiction genre that involves the discovery of a new world out of time, place, or both. It began as a subgenre of the late-Victorian imperial romance and remains popular to this day....
, where the terrain has been isolated from its geological surroundings, and thus gained an independent ecological evolution, often resulting in the birth of species endemic
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
to that area.
Antarctica
- Weddell SeaWeddell SeaThe Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha Coast, Queen Maud Land. To the east of Cape Norvegia is...
- many undiscovered new animals found - Lake VostokLake VostokLake Vostok is the largest of more than 140 subglacial lakes found under the surface of Antarctica. The overlying ice provides a continuous paleoclimatic record of 400,000 years, although the lake water itself may have been isolated for 15 to 25 million years. The lake is named after the...
- Unexplored liquid sub-glacial lake, expected to be explored in the next few years. Discovery of ancient extremophilic microorganisms hypothesized.
Asia
- FloresFloresFlores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, an island arc with an estimated area of 14,300 km² extending east from the Java island of Indonesia. The population was 1.831.000 in the 2010 census and the largest town is Maumere. Flores is Portuguese for "flowers".Flores is located east of Sumbawa...
, Indonesia - remains of homo floresiensisHomo floresiensisHomo floresiensis is a possible species, now extinct, in the genus Homo. The remains were discovered in 2003 on the island of Flores in Indonesia. Partial skeletons of nine individuals have been recovered, including one complete cranium...
and dwarf elephantDwarf elephantDwarf elephants are prehistoric members of the order Proboscidea, that, through the process of allopatric speciation, evolved to a fraction of the size of their immediate ancestors...
s. - Vu QuangVu QuangVu Quang is a remote forested region of Vietnam, in which several new species of deer and antelope have been discovered since the 1990s. Some are so new that scientific description is still pending, although most have local names....
, Vietnam - discovery of new deer in the 1990s.
Europe
- Lake BaikalLake BaikalLake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...
, Siberia - many endemic fish, seals, and zooplanktonZooplanktonZooplankton are heterotrophic plankton. Plankton are organisms drifting in oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. The word "zooplankton" is derived from the Greek zoon , meaning "animal", and , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter"...
. - Movile CaveMovile CaveMovile Cave is a cave in Constanţa County, Romania discovered by Cristian Lascu in 1986 a few kilometers from the Black Sea coast. It is notable for its unique groundwater ecosystem rich in hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide but very poor in oxygen...
, Romania - cave isolated from outside world. Many endemic species discovered. - Wrangel IslandWrangel IslandWrangel Island is an island in the Arctic Ocean, between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea. Wrangel Island lies astride the 180° meridian. The International Date Line is displaced eastwards at this latitude to avoid the island as well as the Chukchi Peninsula on the Russian mainland...
, Siberia - remains of woolly mammothWoolly mammothThe woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is a species of mammoth. This animal is known from bones and frozen carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia...
s only recently extinct.
Oceania
- Foja MountainsFoja MountainsThe Foja Mountains are located just north of the Mamberamo river basin in Papua, Indonesia. The mountains rise to , and have 3,000 square kilometres of old growth tropical rainforest in the interior part of the range...
, New GuineaNew GuineaNew Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
- various new species, including a 1.4 kg rat, a honeyeater, and several frogs and plants. - Hawaiian IslandsHawaiian IslandsThe Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
, United States - many species of birds endemic to the islands. - New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
- many species of birds endemic to the islands. Some endemic species (includes extinct ones) are:
- † AdzebillAdzebillThe adzebills, genus Aptornis, were two closely related bird species, the North Island Adzebill, Aptornis otidiformis, and the South Island Adzebill, Aptornis defossor, of the extinct family Aptornithidae. The family was endemic to New Zealand.They have been placed in the Gruiformes but this is not...
- CallaeidaeCallaeidaeThe small bird family Callaeidae is endemic to New Zealand. It contains three monotypic genera; of the three species in the family, only two survive and both of them, the Kokako and the Saddleback, are endangered species, threatened primarily by the predations of introduced mammalian species such...
- † Eyles' HarrierEyles' HarrierEyles' Harrier is an extinct bird of prey which lived in New Zealand.It was an example of island gigantism, weighing over twice as much as a Swamp Harrier. It was a generalist predator, taking prey of the same size as small eagle species do – land animals weighing one or a few kilograms...
- † Haast's EagleHaast's EagleHaast's Eagle was a species of massive eagles that once lived on the South Island of New Zealand. The species was the largest eagle known to have existed. Its prey consisted mainly of gigantic flightless birds that were unable to defend themselves from the striking force and speed of these eagles,...
- Hector's dolphinHector's DolphinHector's dolphin is the best-known of the four dolphins in the genus Cephalorhynchus and is found only in New Zealand. At about 1.4 m in length, it is one of the smallest cetaceans....
- KakapoKakapoThe Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
- KareareaKareareaThe New Zealand Falcon or Kārearea, Falco novaeseelandiae, is New Zealand's only endemic falcon and the only remaining bird of prey endemic to New Zealand. Other common names for the bird are Bush Hawk and Sparrow Hawk...
- KererūKereruThe New Zealand Pigeon or kererū is a bird endemic to New Zealand. Māori call it Kererū in most of the country but kūkupa and kūkū in some parts of the North Island, particularly in Northland...
- KiwiKiwiKiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae.At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world...
- Maui's dolphinMaui's dolphinMaui's dolphin is the world's smallest known species of dolphin. They are a sub-species of the Hector's dolphin....
- † MoaMoaThe moa were eleven species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ....
- MystacinidaeMystacinidaeMystacinidae is a family of unusual bats, the New Zealand short-tailed bats. There is one living genus, Mystacina, with two extant species, one of which is believed to have become extinct in the 1960s. They are medium-sized bats, about in length, with grey, velvety fur.Mystacinids are the most...
- † New Zealand graylingNew Zealand graylingThe New Zealand grayling, Prototroctes oxyrhynchus, is an extinct smelt of the genus Prototroctes, which was found only in lowland rivers and streams of New Zealand. Their length was between 20 and 40 cm....
- New Zealand Long-tailed BatNew Zealand Long-tailed BatThe New Zealand Long-tailed Bat, Chalinolobus tuberculata , also known as the Long-tailed Wattled Bat or Pekapeka-tou-roa , is one of 15 species of bats in the genus Chalinolobus variously known as "pied bats", "wattled bats" or "long-tailed bats"...
- † New Zealand Owlet-nightjarNew Zealand Owlet-nightjarThe New Zealand Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles novazelandiae, was a large species of owlet-nightjar formerly endemic to the islands of New Zealand. Fossil remains indicate the species was once widespread across both North Island and South Island...
- † New Zealand SwanNew Zealand SwanThe New Zealand Swan is an extinct swan from the Chatham Islands and the South Island of New Zealand. It was originally described as a separate species from the Black Swan based on the slightly larger size of the fossil bones found and the apparent absence of the Black Swan from New Zealand prior...
- New Zealand WrenNew Zealand wrenThe New Zealand wrens, Acanthisittidae, are a family of tiny passerines endemic to New Zealand. They were represented by six known species in four or five genera, although only two species survive in two genera today...
- TakahēTakaheThe Takahē or South Island Takahē, Porphyrio hochstetteri is a flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand and belonging to the rail family. It was thought to be extinct after the last four known specimens were taken in 1898...
- TuataraTuataraThe tuatara is a reptile endemic to New Zealand which, though it resembles most lizards, is actually part of a distinct lineage, order Sphenodontia. The two species of tuatara are the only surviving members of its order, which flourished around 200 million years ago. Their most recent common...
- WetaWetaWeta is the name given to about 70 insect species endemic to New Zealand. There are many similar species around the world, though most are in the southern hemisphere. The name comes from the Māori word 'wētā' and is the same in the plural...
Middle east
- Ayalon CaveAyalon CaveThe Ayalon Cave is a large underground limestone cave located near Ramla, Israel, discovered in April 2006. The cave, 300 feet deep, with its branch extends almost 2.5 kilometres making it the second largest limestone cave in Israel...
, Israel - limestone cave isolated from outside world. New crustaceans discovered.
South America
- Galapagos IslandsGalápagos IslandsThe Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
, Ecuador - Monte RoraimaMonte RoraimaMount Roraima is the highest of the Pakaraima chain of tepui plateau in South America. First described by the English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh in 1596, its summit area is defended by 400-metre-tall cliffs on all sides...
, shared by Brazil, Venezuela and Guayana - model of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World" - SurinameSurinameSuriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
- 24 new species were discovered in the remote plateaus of eastern Suriname in 2006