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Greater Mekong a biological treasure trove: more than 1000 new species discovered in a decade

Posted on 15 December 2008

The Gumprechts Green Pitviper is but one of 1068 new species discovered in the Greater Mekong in the last decade (1997-2007)

Gumprechts green pitviper Trimeresurus gumprechti 2002 found Greater Mekong wide except Cambodia

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First Contact in the Greater Mekong 7.26 MB pdf

Over a thousand new species have been discovered in the Greater Mekong Region of Southeast Asia in just the last decade, according to a new report launched by WWF.

First Contact in the Greater Mekong reports that among the 1068 species newly identified by science, between 1997 and 2007, were the world’s largest huntsman spider, with a leg span of 30 centimetres, and the startlingly hot pink coloured cyanide-producing “dragon millipede”.

While most species were discovered in the largely unexplored jungles and wetlands, some were first found in the most surprising places. The Laotian rock rat, for example, thought to be extinct 11 million years ago, was first encountered by scientists in a local food market, while the Siamese Peninsula pitviper was found slithering through the rafters of a restaurant in Khao Yai National Park in Thailand.

“This region is like what I read about as a child in the stories of Charles Darwin,” said Dr Thomas Ziegler, Curator at the Cologne Zoo. “It is a great feeling being in an unexplored area and to document its biodiversity for the first time… both enigmatic and beautiful,” he said.

The findings, highlighted in this report, include 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, 4 birds, 4 turtles, 2 salamanders and a toad. The region comprises the six countries through which the Mekong River flows including Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan. It is estimated thousands of new invertebrate species were also discovered during this period, further highlighting the region’s immense biodiversity.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” said Stuart Chapman, Director of WWF’s Greater Mekong Programme. “We thought discoveries of this scale were confined to the history books. This reaffirms the Greater Mekong’s place on the world map of conservation priorities.”

The report stresses economic development and environmental protection must go hand-in-hand to provide for livelihoods and alleviate poverty, and ensure the survival of the Greater Mekong's astonishing array of species and natural habitats.

“This poorly understood biodiversity is facing unprecedented pressure… for scientists, this means that almost every field survey yields new diversity, but documenting it is a race against time,” said Raoul Bain, Biodiversity Specialist from the American Museum of Natural History.

The report recommends what is urgently needed to protect the biodiversity of the region is a formal, cross-border agreement by the governments of the Greater Mekong.

“Who knows what else is out there waiting to be discovered, but what is clear is that there is plenty more where this came from,” said Chapman. “The scientific world is only just realizing what people here have known for centuries.”

Comments

truong quang tam

August 25, 2009 - 07:48

pity! I did not know anything about this workshop! I have with me hundred of species new for science in the karst of Kien Giang, if invited I am happy to contribute for the biodiversity of the region
Tam and his team

Cherry

February 12, 2009 - 15:00

Congratulation! This is a wonderful GMPO output. I love it!

chandresh

February 5, 2009 - 15:17

it's a most wonderful time to me when i saw this....thank's lord rama to u to keep alive such spices and to the whole team who makes available to see to me such species.....i'll pray to lord to protect all such the species.
"nature can satisfy our need but cant't our greed"....be nature-friendly.

Mari Ziegler

February 3, 2009 - 22:15

Oh wonderful life! Oh glorious creation! Oh splendid evolution! Thank you, thank you for your generous sharing!! Do you suppose I would get the annual Darwin Award if I licked the back of a Leptobrachium smithi snacked on Desmoxytes purpurosea and bedded with Trimeresurus gumprechti? Ah Homo sapiens sapiens, always the inveterate vertebrate predator and “conquestor!” May all these lovelies escape us!
Just one new toad found? Look harder, you’ll find more. Here’s a hint from an old naturalist from Wisconsin. Right around dusk, crawl along on your hands and knees and in a sweet and tremulous singsong call “grandma grump… graaaaanmaaa gruuump…” But then again, in that habitat that would more than likely get you the second place Darwin Award.
Oh, and post scriptum, as an “arachnophile,” would love more stuff on the 88 new spiders. Storenomorpha anne is certainly a pretty little thing, isn’t she? And Pseudopoda confusa didn’t look confused at all. But, it did hurt my feelings a bit when it appeared, just to my untrained eye, that two out of the four spiders in the photographs (Heteropoda dagmarae and Heteropoda maxima) had perhaps been detained for the act of photographing in a way that might have been unpleasant to them…?!? But then, I guess that’s how Audubon painted?…hmmm…
By the way, just found this last night from the MSN cover page, glad I didn’t miss it, and again, thank you to the discoverers for sharing… a risky business now-a-days… and may you all be blessed in your sacred work!!

Joe Moag

December 21, 2008 - 01:06

WOW!! What a great chunk of new evidence regarding the insane biodiversity of life to be uncovered!

Man, oh, man, what a planet!!!

Would be nice if we could keep it as such...

Katie

December 17, 2008 - 04:40

beautiful pictures!

John Takoulas

December 17, 2008 - 03:53

Fantastic pictures of our wonderful biodiversity.
Congratulations to the people who helped bring these pictures & discoveries to light, also to the people of the greater Mekong Region, hope they realise their true value & preserve these areas.

Margaret

December 16, 2008 - 22:31

This is amazing! I think its so cool how there are so many animals and plants we have yet to discover!

Andy Chapman

December 16, 2008 - 17:29

Astonished and amazed, just wish i could be there on the next new species find.
Now that would be a drean come true

charles

December 16, 2008 - 11:45

Exceptionally exciting collection.