The plant, formally known as Ovicula biradiata, is especially notable for being the simultaneous discovery of a new species and genus. It was found with help from the community science app iNaturalist.

The wooly devil is only the latest in a series of remarkable finds in the park. In recent years, scientists have uncovered fossils of a new duck-billed dinosaur and rediscovered a species of oak once thought extinct.

Meet the wooly devil, a newly discovered plant that was found in Big Bend National Park in Texas in 2024. But it's not just a new species of plant. It's an entirely new genus of daisy not previously documented.

The team sequenced the plant’s DNA and compared it with other specimens in the California Academy of Sciences’ herbarium. The sequencing revealed that this small and fuzzy plant is both a new species within the sunflower group and distinct enough to be a completely new genus.

Spanning 801,165 acres and featuring a mix of riparian ecosystems, desert bajadas, and sky island woodlands, Big Bend National Park is a biodiversity treasure. Other cool finds here recently include the fossil of a new duck-billed dinosaur species ( Malefica deckerti) and the rediscovery of an oak ( Quercus tardifolia) once thought extinct.

A new fuzzy plant species called the "Wooly Devil" has been discovered amongst the arid landscapes of Big Bend National Park in Texas.

The Wooly Devil, or Ovicula biradiata​, was first spotted by botany volunteer Deb Manley and a park ranger in Big Bend National Park in Texas in March 2024.

The small plant, officially named “Ovicula biradiata" and more affectionately called “wooly devil,” was first spotted in March 2024, sprinkled among

Park botanist C. Whiting takes a closer look at wooly devil. Photo credit: NPS / D. Manley

Genetic analysis revealed that not only is it a new species, but it’s also a new genus. It’s in the same family as daisies. Researchers named it Ovicula biradiata. Ovicula is Latin for tiny sheep, for the fuzz that resembles wool covering it.