Report: Ghostly monkey among 224 new Mekong region species

BANGKOK — A monkey with ghostly white circles round its eyes is amongst 224 new species listed within the World Wildlife Fund’s newest replace on the larger Mekong area.

The conservation group’s report, launched Wednesday, highlights the necessity to defend the wealthy biodiversity and habitats within the area, which incorporates Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.

The species listed had been present in 2020 however final yr’s report was delayed. The monkey is known as the Popa langur, for it lives on the steep hillsides of the extinct Mt. Popa volcano in Myanmar. It was the one new mammal. There are additionally dozens of newly recognized reptiles, frogs and newts, fish and 155 plant species, together with the one recognized succulent bamboo species, present in Laos.

The Mekong area is a biodiversity hotspot and residential to tigers, Asian elephants, saola — a particularly uncommon animal additionally known as the Asian unicorn or spindlehorn — and hundreds of different species.

Together with this newest listing, scientists have recognized greater than 3,000 new species within the area since 1997, the WWF mentioned.

Scientists used measurements and samples from museum collections to check and determine key variations with options of the newly found animals and vegetation, the report mentioned.

Finding out such variations may also help decide the vary of species and threats to their survival, Thomas Ziegler, a curator on the College of Cologne’s Institute of Zoology, mentioned in introducing the report.

Figuring out new species is hard, although, and typically can solely be decided utilizing a wide range of strategies, comparable to frog calls and genetic knowledge used to differentiate the Cardamom leaf little frog, discovered excessive up within the Cardamom mountains in a wildlife refuge.

Some species are present in multiple nation, together with the brilliant orange twin slug snake, which consumes slugs.

The Popa langur was recognized primarily based on genetic matching of not too long ago gathered bones with specimens from Britain’s Pure Historical past Museum collected greater than a century in the past, the report mentioned. Two primary distinguishing traits had been the broad white rings round its eyes and its front-pointing whiskers.

The WWF, working with Fauna and Flora Worldwide, caught photographs of the monkeys utilizing digital camera traps in 2018. FFI reported the invention late final yr.

The monkey is a candidate to be listed as a critically endangered species on the Purple Listing of the Worldwide Union for the Conservation of Nature, the report mentioned, since solely 200-250 are thought to outlive within the wild, in a handful of locations.

Underscoring the urgency of such work, greater than 38,000 of the 138,000 species the IUCN tracks are threatened with extinction.

A brand new kind of begonia with reddish flowers and a berry-like fruit additionally was discovered within the uplands of Myanmar, the place unlawful mining and logging have turn out to be an more and more dire risk within the nation, which is within the midst of political turmoil following a navy takeover a yr in the past.

Regardless of human encroachments on tropical forests and different wild zones, a lot of the Better Mekong remains to be little explored and annually dozens of recent species are discovered — a glimmer of hope as so many species go extinct.

Not all new species are discovered deep in jungles. One of many new plant species is a ginger plant known as “stink bug” for its pungent odor much like huge beetles Thais use to make a sort of chili dipping paste served with rice, the report mentioned.

It was present in northeastern Thailand, in a plant store.

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World Wildlife Fund: https://www.worldwildlife.org/