Posted tagged ‘New Guinea’

New Species in New Guinea

September 7, 2009

extinct vulcano— It’s getting increasingly hard to find anywhere in the world where the foot of man has not trod, and erected a Starbucks…but even in today’s world, explorers are still able to find a few undiscovered places and new species along with it!

One such place is Papua, New Guinea where scientists in a remote mountainous region (pictured) have discovered more than 50 new animal species that include spiders, tree frogs, and a striped gecko that appear to have never been described in scientific literature before.  One of the spiders is shiny and pale green, and there’s a bug-eyed bright green tree frog.  Frogs are often regarded as a great bioindicator of environmental health, with declines in frogs pointing to an affected or changing environment.

My favorite discovery, however, was described as being a giant but friendly vegetarian rat, who may turn out to be the largest in the world.   A tree-dwelling marsupial was found that looks like a bear, and also discovered  was a frog with fangs (should be perfect for the upcoming Halloween)!    kanga_new_guinea