Over 1,000 new species found in greater mekong

The Greater Mekong Region covers China, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Burma.

"The discovery of these new species is very much like finding a new land on Earth," Stuart Chapman, director of WWF's Greater Mekong Program, said at a press conference yesterday.

The event was held to announce the release of a special report by WWF, "First Contact in the Greater Mekong".

According to the report, the new species include a Laotian rock rat thought to have become extinct 11 million years ago, a Huntsman spider with legs stretching up to 30 centimetres, as well as a cyanidelaced, shocking pink millipede.

The new discoveries also include 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, four birds, four turtles, two salamanders and a toad.

The report said that "between 1997 and 2007, at least 1,068 have been officially described by science as being newly discovered species," which means two previously undiscovered species were on average found every week for the past 10 years.

"The Greater Mekong Region is very important to biological diversity," Chapman said.

Not all species were found in remote jungles  the Laotian rock rat, which the study said was thought to be extinct about 11 million years ago, was first encountered by scientists in a local food market in 2005, it said.

One species of pit viper was found by scientists in the rafters of a restaurant at the headquarters of Thailand's Khao Yai National Park in 2001.

"This region is like what I read about as a child in the stories of Charles Darwin," said Dr Thomas Ziegler, who was involved in the research.

"It is a great feeling being in an unexplored area and to document its biodiversity for the first time both enigmatic and beautiful," he said.

The report warned, however, that many of the species could be at risk from development and called for a crossborder agreement between the countries in the Greater Mekong area to protect them.

Dr Chavalit Vidthayanon, an expert in freshwater fish, also reckoned that politicians' neglect of natural resources could endanger biological resources in the Greater Mekong region.