VietNamNet Bridge – A group of three Vietnamese and two German scientists discovered a new species of lizard in the Truong Son mountain range.
The new animal (Cyrtodactylus pseudoquadrivirgatus or sp. n. Rösler, Nguyễn, Vũ, Ngô & Ziegler, 2007) belongs to the Gekkonidae family.
This lizard lives in the forests of the Truong Son mountain range, stretching between the Kon Plong District in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum through Ba Na National Park in the central city of Da Nang to Bach Ma National Park and A Luoi forest in the central province of Thua Thien – Hue and Huong Hoa District in Quang Tri Province.
The discovery was reported in Hamadryad Magazine in December 2007.
The group of scientists who discovered the lizard include Nguyen Quang Truong from the Hanoi Institute for Ecology and Fauna Resources, Ngo Van Tri from the HCM City Institute for Tropical Biology, Vu Ngoc Thanh from the Hanoi National University, Herbert Rosler from Tierkunde Museum and Dr. Thomas Ziegler from Cologne Zoo.
This discovery and recent others proves that the Truong Son mountain range is a center of biodiversity in Vietnam which needs to be preserved, protected and discovered.
According to Ngo Van Tri, a scientist from the HCM City Institute for Tropical Biology, 2008 may be the year for lizards and geckos as over ten new species will soon be announced.
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