It looks like 2008 will have as many new species finds as other recent years. The Darwin Institute has announced that eleven new species of animals and plants have been discovered in Costa Rica. Two frogs and six plant species, including a mistletoe with a “spectacular flower,” were among the finds never before seen by scientists. The three salamanders, one of them a dwarf species little more than an inch long, were discovered after zoologists spent nights stripping tree trunks of moss and other vegetation in the cloud forest in La Amistad National Park in Costa Rica. Finds Salamanders: Two [...]
Prehistoric Christmas Present
Two amateur fossil hunters from the outback town of Andamooka in the far north of South Australia say they have been given the Christmas present “from hell.” A few years ago Tom and Sharon Hurley found the fossil remains of a prehistoric fish, resembling a swordfish with teeth, near Boulia in Queensland. The fish is a previously unknown genus and species, and has now been officially named the Australo-pachy cormus hurleyi. Tom Hurley says it’s both an honor and a curse to have the fish carry the name Hurley. “Well basically I got the Christmas present from Hell. Immortality. The [...]
New Discovery: Giraffes May Be 11 Species
The rare Nigerian giraffe, known currently as Giraffa camelopardalis peralta. Photo: Michel Carossio Last night, for whatever reason, after watching a bit of film showing the megafauna of Africa, I found myself trying to sort out the many subspecies of one animal – the giraffe. No, I wasn’t even looking at the zebras. I ignored the gnus, antelopes, rhinos, and elephants. But, I had to concentrate on the giraffes. I pulled out two field guides, Jean Dorst’s and Pierre Dandelot’s A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Africa (1969) and Jonathan Kingdon’s The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals [...]
Two New Poison Dart Frogs Discovered
Two new species of frog, both so-called poison dart frogs because they are the colorful variety possessing toxics used by native peoples on the arrows of their darts, have been located in Colombia. Specifically, they were found in the Central Cordillera of Colombia by Alonso Quevedo from ProAves and Oscar Gallego from Tolima University. The frogs, just formally announced, were first discovered in July, 2006, when the research team was looking for endangered bird species in the Central Mountain Range. The new frogs have been given the names Ranitomeya tolimense and Ranitomeya doriswansoni. Ranitomeya doriswansoni is black and red. Ranitomeya [...]
Ten Notable 2007 Cryptozoology Deaths
Ten Notable 2007 Cryptozoology Deaths by Loren Coleman, author of the biography, Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology . Who did we lose this year in the field of cryptozoology? In 2006, I easily assembled a list of 25 notables, but it is obvious that far fewer people connected to cryptozoology passed away in 2007. The following is a roundup of ten significant personalities who died this year. It includes two Mystery Cat investigators, two Bigfoot researchers, two cryptofiction authors (one of whom made coelacanth-related findings), three involved in discovering or rediscovering new or formerly extinct species, and one [...]
Foja Mountains’ “Lost World” Mammals
Martua Sinaga holds this 1.4 kg giant rat that is probably a species new to science. Photo by Bruce M Beehler On Sunday night, December 16, 2007, the CBS program “60 Minutes” ran a segment on the research discoveries of Bruce M. Beehler in Indonesia’s remote Foja Mountains of western New Guinea. The discovery of this so-called “lost world” was a media event earlier on February 7, 2007 (see here). A probable new species of pygmy possum in the genus Cercartetus (Pygmy Possum). Photo by Bruce M Beehler The earlier media treatments of the findings had gotten somewhat overblown (see [...]
Croft’s New Glyptodont
The extinct armored mammals known as “glyptodonts” are an intriguing group of giant armadillos. They are found as replicas easily from Schleich (above) labeled simply as Glyptodon, and from Safari (below), as Doedicurus. Bernard Heuvelmans writes in On the Track of Unknown Animals of the discoveries of glyptodont carapaces being used as shelters or for tombs of Pleistocene humans in South America. He notes that great controversy surrounds whether such demonstrates that the humans were there earlier than expected, or the glyptodonts survived later than they were thought to be extinct. The obvious notion that the humans of 15,000 years [...]
First Film of Long-Eared Jerboa
Long-eared Jerboa (Euchoreutes naso). An “extraordinary” desert creature has been caught on camera for what scientists believe is the first time. The long-eared jerboa, a tiny nocturnal mammal that is dwarfed by its enormous ears, can be found in deserts in Mongolia and China. Zoological Society of London (ZSL) scientist Jonathan Baillie said the footage was helping researchers to learn more about the mysterious animal. The species is classified as endangered on the IUCN Red list. The unusual animals were filmed in the Gobi desert during an expedition led by Dr Baillie. Until now, the creatures had proven extremely difficult [...]
Giant Spitting Cobra Discovered
Richard Leakey has given an excellent quotation for reflection when thinking about the foundation pursuits of cryptozoology. With regard to this new discovery, Leakey has said: “There have to be many other unreported species.” True, indeed. A new giant species of spitting cobra — about 2.6 metres (8.5 feet) long and with enough venom to kill up to 20 people in one bite — has been discovered in Kenya, a study said Friday. The large brown spitting cobra, initially included under the black-necked spitting cobra species, was discovered at a snake farm in June 2004, but confirmed as a separate [...]
New Species Discovered in Ghana
A new species of tickspider (Ricinoides sp. n.). Photo by Piotr Naskrecki (CI) Conservation International has announced findings from their 2006 expedition to Ghana’s Atewa Range Forest Reserve (Atewa) led by CI’s Rapid Assessment Program (RAP), which include news of nine new species discoveries. The report was released to the public on December 6, 2007. Chameleon Chamaeleo gracilis. Photo by Piotr Naskrecki (CI) The RAP discoveries include a Critically Endangered frog species (Conraua derooi) whose presence in Atewa may represent the last viable population in the world; an unusually high 22 species of large mammals and six species of primates [...]
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