Tag: new speces

Discovering Van Gogh in the wild: scientists unveil a new gecko species

Males of the species have a yellow head and forebody and light blue spots on the back and they live in low elevation forests of the Southern Western Ghats.

You’ve probably seen nature depicted in art, but how often do you see an artwork hiding in nature?

When they saw the back of a lizard in the Southern Western Ghats, a group of scientists from the Thackeray Wildlife Foundation in India were reminded of Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. As soon as they figured out it was a new species, it was only apt to name it in honour of the famous painter.

“Cnemaspis vangoghi is named for Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) as the striking colouration of the new species is reminiscent of one of his most iconic paintings, The Starry Night,” explains Ishan Agarwal, who took part in the study to describe the new lizard. Males of the species have a yellow head and forebody and light blue spots on the back and they live among rocks and occasionally buildings and trees.

Photo by Akshay Khandekar. License CC-BY 4.0

Together with his fellow researchers Akshay Khandekar and Tejas Thackeray, they found the new species during an expedition in April 2022 to the the Southern Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu, India. Now, they have published their findings in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.

“Tamil Nadu is an exceptionally biodiverse state and we expect to name well over 50 new species of lizards by the time we are done [with our expeditions]!,” Ishan Agarwal says.

From left to right: Akshay Khandekar, Tejas Thackeray, Swapnil Pawar, Ishan Agarwal, Satpal Gangalmale, Vivek Waghe.

“I also had more than 500 tick bites during that summer trip, with the highest densities in the low-elevation, dry forests of Srivilliputhur, where the new species are found,” he adds.

Cnemaspis vangoghi is a small-sized gecko that can reach 3,4 cm in length. It was described as new to science together with another species of its genus, Cnemaspis sathuragiriensis, named for its type locality the Sathuragiri Hills.

*Cnemaspis vangoghi* and *Cnemaspis sathuragiriensis*. Photos by Akshay Khandekar. License CC-BY 4.0

“The two new species are distributed in low elevation (250–400 m asl.), deciduous forests of Srivilliputhur, and add to the five previously known endemic vertebrates from Srivilliputhur-Megamalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India,” Ishan Agarwal explains. They are diurnal and mainly active during the cool hours of the early morning and evening, found largely on rocks. So far, they have only been found in very restricted localities, “an interesting case of micro-endemism in low-elevation species,” he notes.

Research article:

Khandekar A, Thackeray T, Agarwal I (2024) Two new species of the Cnemaspis galaxia complex (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from the eastern slopes of the southern Western Ghats. ZooKeys 1196: 209-242. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1196.117947

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Same and different: A new species of pit viper from Myanmar

In a collaborative study involving institutions from Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, and the UK, scientists have discovered a new species of pit viper from Myanmar that is both similar and different from its adjacent sister species.

Finding and describing new species can be a tricky endeavor. Scientists typically look for distinctive characters that can differentiate one species from another. However, variation is a continuum that is not always easy to quantify. At one extreme, multiple species can look alike even though they are different species—these are known as cryptic species. At the other extreme, a single species can be highly variable, creating an illusion of being different species. But what happens when you encounter both extremes simultaneously?

Herpetologist Dr Chan Kin Onn (previously at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Singapore, now with the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, USA) led a study describing a new species of pit viper from Myanmar that is both similar and different from its sister species. The discovery is published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.

A specimen of Trimeresurus ayeyarwadyensis from the Yangon Region, Myanmar. Photo by Wolfgang Wüster

“Asian pit vipers of the genus Trimeresurus are notoriously difficult to tell apart, because they run the gamut of morphological variation. Some groups contain multiple species that look alike, while others may look very different but are actually the same species,” they say.

The redtail pit viper (Trimeresurus erythrurus) occurs along the northern coast of Myanmar and is invariably green with no markings on its body. A different species called the mangrove pit viper (Trimeresurus purpureomaculatus) occurs in southern Myanmar. This species typically has distinct dorsal blotches, and incredibly variable dorsal coloration including gray, yellow, brown, and black, but never green. Interestingly, in central Myanmar, sandwiched between the distribution of the redtail pit viper and the mangrove pit viper, a unique population exists that is green with varying degrees of blotchiness, which appears to be a blend between the redtail pit viper and the mangrove pit viper.

“This mysterious population in central Myanmar baffled us and we initially thought that it could be a hybrid population,” the researchers said. In a separate paper, Dr Chan used modern genomic techniques and determined that the population in central Myanmar was actually a distinct species and not a hybrid population.

But this was not the end of the story. The researchers discovered another surprise when they examined the snake’s morphological features: they found that the new species was also highly variable. Certain populations are dark green with distinct blotches, easily distinguishable from its closest relative, the redtail pit viper, which is bright green with no blotches. However, some populations of the new species are bright green with no blotches and look virtually identical to the redtail pit viper.

A specimen of Trimeresurus ayeyarwadyensis from Meinmahla Kyun Wildlife Sanctuary, Pyapon District, Ayeyarwady Region in Myanmar. Credit Hla tun

“This is an interesting phenomenon, where one species is simultaneously similar and different from its closest relative (the redtail pit viper). We think that at some point in the past, the new species may have exchanged genes with the redtail pit viper from the north and the mangrove pit viper from the south,” says Dr Chan.

The new species is called the Ayeyarwady pit viper (Trimeresurus ayeyarwadyensis) in reference to the Ayeyarwady River, which is the largest and one of the most important rivers in Myanmar. The river forms an expansive delta that is bounded by the Pathein River to the west and the Yangon River to the east. These rivers and their associated basins also mark the westernmost and easternmost distribution boundaries of the Ayeyarwady pit viper.

Research article:

Chan KO, Anuar S, Sankar A, Law IT, Law IS, Shivaram R, Christian C, Mulcahy DG, Malhotra A (2023) A new species of pit-viper from the Ayeyarwady and Yangon regions in Myanmar (Viperidae, Trimeresurus). ZooKeys 1186: 221-234. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1186.110422

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A new “groins of fire” frog, from the Peruvian Amazon

“When we found this new species in the Amazon lowlands of central Peru, we were quite surprised and kind of speechless.”

Guest blog post by Germán Chávez

As a South American herpetologist, it is inevitable to be absolutely buzzed every time I hear “Germán, you have to go to the Amazon jungle”. Going to the Amazon forest in Peru is perhaps the most joyful way to do your work. The chances to find so many frogs, lizards, snakes, turtles, and even caimans are really high, so one can’t help but get excited.

The Agua Blanca forest. Photo by Germán Chávez

The thing is, to someone like me who focuses their work on describing new species, the expectations shouldn’t be that high. The Amazon has always been a place full of mysteries, so many explorers, seduced by its enigmatic atmosphere, have gone deeper and deeper into the Amazonia. This has resulted in the description of so many species and very few unexplored places left.

So, when Wilmar Aznaran and I found this new species in the Amazon lowlands of central Peru, a well-visited area, we were quite surprised and kind of speechless. I have to confess that my reaction was “Bloody hell!” Externally, the frog is clearly different from any other similar species, and that was evident for us at the very moment we caught it. Indeed, the first option for the title of our new paper in Evolutionary Systematics was “Expect the unexpected: a new treefrog from the Amazon lowlands of Peru.” We could not believe that a medium-sized arboreal frog had passed in front of other researchers’ eyes, and remained unseen.

*Scinax pyroinguinis*. Photo by Germán Chávez

Soon we found out that it is not a common species in the area: after catching two individuals, we were unable to find more. Not ready to give up, we went once more time to that site a few months later and our efforts to find it were unsuccessful, so we suggest it is not a common frog.

At that point, we knew that we had a new species on hands, but describing it with only two specimens was challenging. Luis A. García-Ayachi went to the area and his efforts were also unsuccessful. That is when Alessandro Catenazzi joined us, so we decided to add an integrative approach to our work, basing our research on morphological and genetic differences. I can only say thanks to all our co-authors: from then on, everything started to work out.

We noticed there were wildfires in the area, are a serious threat to the frog’s habitat. So it is really curious that the orange pattern on the groins, thighs and shanks of the new species, resembles flames, like those threatening its habitat. No better name for our frog than Scinax pyroinguinis, which literally means “groins of fire”.

We hope that this discovery encourages people and institutions to protect these remnant forests in central Peru, because they may yet harbour unknown species. If these forests disappear, we will probably lose a diversity that we do not even know now yet, and may never will. It is sort of a race against deforestation and habitat loss, but this doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do. Research like ours is really important to help put the focus on this place, at least in the short term, and try to attract people to join forces in the conservation of Scinax pyroinguinis and its habitat.

Research article:

Chávez G, Aznaran W, García-Ayachi LA, Catenazzi A (2023) Rising from the ashes: A new treefrog (Anura, Hylidae, Scinax) from a wildfire-threatened area in the Amazon lowlands of central Peru. Evolutionary Systematics 7(1): 183-194. https://doi.org/10.3897/evolsyst.7.102425

New perennial brome-grass from the Iberian Peninsula named after Picos de Europa National Park

Picos de Europa National Park has given its name to a new species of perennial bromegrass, discovered in Spain. Bromus picoeuropeanus belongs to a rather underrepresented on the Iberian Peninsula perennial group within the grass genus Bromus, with the new species being just the fourth of all recognised wild species living in the Iberian territory.

Having worked on the systematics of Bromus for a long time, scientists Dr Carmen Acedo and Dr Félix Llamas, members of the Taxonomy and Biodiversity Conservation research group TaCobi of the Spanish University of León, were surprised to collect what seemed a so-far-unrecognised species of the rare for Iberia perennial group. The unlikely discovery of the new species was described and published in the open access journal PhytoKeys, while its type specimen is preserved on Herbarium LEB.

This is the preferred habitat of *Bromus picoeuropeanus* in stony and unstable soils, c. 1900 m elevation.

Failing to understand how it was possible that the new species has never been found in the over-studied territory of Picos de Europa National Park, the two researchers traveled back to the classic locality to confirm its presence and study the habitat. Interestingly, while the new species is located in a typical for the National Park habitat, only a single perennial Bromus species was previously known from the area.

Eventually, having spent more time studying and collecting samples of different taxa in the Park, the authors discovered several more individuals of the new species dwelling in stony areas at an altitude of 1600 – 2200m. While herbarium collections from the National Park revealed that samples were also collected some years ago by another botanist, the scarcity of populations of the new species is still striking given the abundance of other brome-grass species.

Unlike its sister species, the Picoeuropean brome-grass is a small rhizomatous herb up to 70 cm high. Another easy-to-recognize difference is its well-developed subterraneous vegetative organ, forming a long rootstalk called rhizome, which is an easy distinctive trait.

“Given the inaccessibility of the areas, the mountainous topography and the few grass-species-loving botanists, this species was ignored until now. Probably the genus Bromus has undergone some local speciation on this isolated place, but exactly how this occurred requires further investigation,” explain the authors noting the isolation of the new species from its relatives in the area.

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Original Source:

Acedo C, Llamas F (2019) A new species of perennial Bromus (Bromeae, Poaceae) from the Iberian Peninsula. PhytoKeys 121: 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.121.32588