Ten New Anoles and Salamanders Discovered
Posted by: Loren Coleman on January 14th, 2008
A total of ten new herpetology species have been announced from the Central American highlands in recent months, through new 2008 papers. Discussion of three of the new salamanders previously took place here, at Cryptomundo.
Today, five images of four of the six new anoles and one new salamander are shared.
Anolis pseudopachypus
Anolis pseudokemptoni
Anolis gruuo
Anolis datzorum
Oedipina fortunensis, a new salamander.
A new 2008 paper in Herpetologica has announced and described the discovery of new anoles and new salamander species several months ago. Four of the new anoles were found in the Serrania de Tabasara, Panamanian highlands that top at 6000 feet above sea level, making the new anoles residents of the cloud forest. The paper posits that the anoles are endemic, considering their isolated geographical habitat. This makes them the first endemic reptiles for the Serrania de Tabasara, which the report describes as “poorly explored biologically”.
The anoles were not the only discovery made during the four week 2006 expedition. The Serrania de Tabasara highlands are a section of the Cordillera Central highlands chain. In the western highlands of Cordillera Central, close to Costa Rica, the expedition found a new species of salamander and two more new anoles. But even this is not the end of discoveries in the Cordillera Central: recently a different expedition in the Costa Rican portion of the highlands unearthed three more salamander species, as noted here.
Jeremy Hance of Mongabay points out that during the January 2006 biological expedition the four new Panamanian anoles were discovered in a single day. Dr. Gunther Koehler, a member of the expedition, described the finds as “a once in a life time experience; during expeditions before, we had found new species, one at a time—but four species within 24 hours, that was incredible!”
That adds up to ten new species announced from Central America, and the year is so young.
(Thanks for info shared by Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com.)
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I would bet that many more will be “discovered” in years to come. As an old herper, thanks for this article.
Wow, 10 new species, that is amazing! And I think there are already at least 100+ species of anoles. Anoles may not be large, impressive animals, but I think they are fascinating, their courtship and territorial behavior especially. Here in South Alabama we have no shortage of them, I used to keep them as pets. Thanks for the great article.
We have them in South Carolina, too. Not too surprising that they have them down there as well, or in those numbers.
Or that the rocket-scientists running the searches for new species overlooked them for that long.
10 new species! I bet they will make many more discoveres there, maybe they will discover a living dinosaur there!
All of these new species discoveries are very exciting, but in many ways I see it as a sign that we are ever encroaching into areas that once remained isolated. There are simply fewer and fewer places for these species to remain hidden. Of course finding new species is very important, but so is preserving the habitats and protecting the species that are found. I hope that measures are put into effect to ensure the continued survival of these newly discovered species before they become a part of the also fast growing list of newly extinct ones.