A fanged fish and a fangless snake, five new mammal species, a bald bird and a frog that sounds like a cricket are among the 145 species newly described by science in the Greater Mekong region during 2009, says a WWF report.
The report, New Blood: Greater Mekong new species discoveries 2009, says an average of three new species are recorded by science each week in the Greater Mekong – a rate of discovery that marks this region as one of the frontiers for new species discoveries on our planet. The report comes ahead of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan, later this month.
The Greater Mekong region is home to some of the planet’s most endangered wild species including tiger, Asian elephant, Mekong dolphin and Mekong giant catfish, in addition to hundreds of newly discovered species. Between 1997 and 2008 an incredible 1,231 species were discovered by science across this region alone.
One of the most unique newly described species of 2009 is being called the Dracula minnow (Danionella dracula), discovered in a small stream in Myanmar. It has fangs at the front of each jaw. Information about its full range and endangered status is yet to be ascertained. Despite the fact that it was found in high numbers in a small stream, scientists are yet to conclude whether it is endemic to this single ecosystem.
The bare-faced bulbul (Pycnonotus hualon) is the first bulbul discovered in Asia in a century, and is Asia’s only known species of bald songbird. This species is different from other bulbuls by its appearance and vocalisations. It is known to live only in the sparse, deciduous forest on limestone karsts in central Laos.
Three of the five mammal species newly described in 2009 were white-toothedshrews. Crocidura annamitensis was first seen in Vietnam in 1998. But it has been described as a new species only now. Two new bats were also identified, including Murina eleryi from forest over limestone karst in north Vietnam.
The countrywise break-up: Thailand 58; Yunnan (China) 47; Vietnam 21; Myanmar 16; Laos 9; Cambodia 3. The sum does not equal the total number of new species discovered, as some species have a distribution spanning more than one country. In terms of species, the break-up is: Plants 96; fish 26; reptiles 10; amphibians 6; mammals 5; birds 2.
