150 new species were discovered by scientists last year, as it was announced today. The new species include a rainbow-headed snake, a tiny frog and a lizard with dragon-like horns.
Unfortunately, some species near that famous river might be dying before being discovered, due to rapid development in the world, with little to no monitoring at all.
According to AFP, in total, scientists described 163 new species in 2015 including nine amphibians, three mammals, 11 fish, 14 reptiles and 126 plants. Among the most eye-catching are parafimbrios lao, a snake found in the limestone karsts of northern Laos whose scales reflect rainbow-like colours around its head.
AFP added that, On the Thai tourist island of Phuket, which has seen huge development in recent decades, scientists found a lizard (acanthosaura phuketensis) with a fearsome-looking ridge of horns down its head and back.
And in the country’s northern Chiang Rai province researchers found a newt (tylototriton anguliceps) with dazzling red and black markings that they likened to a Klingon’s head from the Star Trek franchise.
In Cambodia and Vietnam, a new frog species that could fit on a finger tip was also discovered.
At 3cm long, leptolalax isos, can fit on a finger tip. It was first spotted in 2006 but peer-reviewed confirmation that it was indeed a new species took nearly a decade.
Between 1997 and 2015 there have been 2,409 new species described in the Greater Mekong, the equivalent of two new discoveries a week.
