52 New Species Found in Borneo - FaunaClassifieds
FaunaClassifieds  
  Tired of those Google and InfoLink ads? Upgrade Your Membership!
  Inside FaunaClassifieds » Photo Gallery  
 

Go Back   FaunaClassifieds > Reptile & Amphibian - General Discussion Forums > Herps In The News

Notices

Herps In The News Local or national articles where reptiles or amphibians have made it into the news media. Please cite sources.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-20-2006, 09:08 AM   #1
Cat_72
52 New Species Found in Borneo

Well, this isn't exclusively herps, but includes some..and I found it fascinating. I hope this is the proper place for this.

(AP) Scientists have discovered at least 52 new species of animals and plants on the southeast Asian island of Borneo over the last year, WWF International said Tuesday.

The discoveries made between July 2005 and September 2006 include 30 fish species, such as a miniature fish, which is the world's second-smallest vertebrate, two tree frogs and several plant species, the Gland-based conservation organization said in a statement.

"The more we look, the more we find," said Stuart Chapman, WWF International coordinator for the "Heart of Borneo," a 85,000-square-mile rain forest in the center of the island where several of the new species were found. "These discoveries reaffirm Borneo's position as one of the most important centers of biodiversity in the world."

Among the many creatures that were new to science were six Siamese fighting fish, whose unique colors and markings distinguish them from close relatives, and a catfish with protruding teeth and an adhesive belly with miniature suction cups enabling it to stick to smooth stones and maintain its position facing into the current of Indonesia's turbulent Kapuas River system.

The catfish, which can be identified by its pretty color pattern, is named glyptothorax exodon, a reference to the teeth that can be seen even when the creature's mouth is closed.

While those species were spotted in Indonesian waters, the 0.35 inch-long paedocypris micromegethes was discovered in Malaysia's slow-flowing blackwater streams and peat swamp forests that are shielded from light.

The creature, which gets its name from the Greek words for children and small in size, is tinier than all other vertebrae species except for its slightly more minuscule cousin, a fish found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, according to WWF.

The discoveries further highlight the need to conserve the habitat and species of Borneo, where the rain forest continues to be threatened with large areas of forest being destroyed for rubber, oil palm and pulp production, WWF said.

Much of Borneo, which also is home to the sultanate of Brunei, is covered by one of the world's last remaining rain forests. However, half of the forest cover has been lost due to widespread logging, down from 75 percent in the mid-1980s.

The new discoveries brings the total amount of species newly identified on the island to over 400 since 1996, according to WWF, known in North America as the World Wildlife Fund.

"The remote and inaccessible forests in the Heart of Borneo are one of the world's final frontiers for science, and many new species continue to be discovered here," said Chapman.

He added that the forests were also vital because they were the source the island's major rivers acting as a natural break to fires that have broken out in the lowlands this year.

Jane Smart, who heads the World Conservation Union's species program, also based in Gland, said that the discovery of 52 species within a year in Borneo was a "realistic" number given that scientists' guess there are about 15 million species on Earth. "There are still many more species that remain to be discovered there."

Borneo is particularly important for biodiversity because the island has a high number of endemic species, creatures which only occur in that one place, she told The Associated Press. "So if you wipe out a small area you're going to wipe out a lot of the species' habitat," she said, adding that once these creatures are destroyed, they are gone forever.

"This is a real concern when forests are ripped out for rubber plantations or oil palm plantations," Smart said.

LINK:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...ciTech_2280230
 
Old 12-21-2006, 09:48 AM   #2
INSANE CANES
Wow learn new stuff everyday.....
 
Old 12-23-2006, 09:55 AM   #3
Rattlesnake
This is EXCELLENT news. Especially the part about the newly discovered Amphibian species. Just EXCELLENT.
It is one of the best X-Mas presents I have ever received.
 
Old 12-23-2006, 10:28 AM   #4
shrap
Awesome Cat, thanks for sharing!!
 

Join now to reply to this thread or open new ones for your questions & comments! FaunaClassifieds.com is the largest online community about Reptile & Amphibians, Snakes, Lizards and number one classifieds service with thousands of ads to look for. Registration is open to everyone and FREE. Click Here to Register!

 
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
A new snake species has been found in Fiji wcreptiles Herps In The News 0 08-30-2008 09:44 AM
New plant and animal species found in Vietnam - (new snake species) wcreptiles Herps In The News 0 09-28-2007 09:00 AM
New species of taipan found Clay Davenport Herps In The News 0 03-13-2007 12:09 AM
NEW SPECIES FOUND: Chameleon Snake in heart of Borneo k0unt_zer0 General Herp Talk 1 06-27-2006 01:41 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 11:29 AM.







Fauna Top Sites


Powered by vBulletin® Version
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Page generated in 0.03734803 seconds with 10 queries
Content copyrighted ©2002-2022, FaunaClassifieds, LLC