2008: Discovered 26 animal species in Vietnam

Vietnamese and American scientists have discovered an additional species of deep-caked toe lizard in Hon Tre Island, the buffer zone of Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve. In the past 1 year, Vietnam has had 26 new vertebrate species published in international journals.

Fingerless lizard in Hon Tre island, Kien Giang (Photo: B. Ngan)

The upper lizard species has the scientific name Cyrtodactylus hontreensis sp. nov. Ngo, Grismer & Grismer, 2008.

This is the discovery of animal researchers including Ngo Van Tri, Department of Technology and Environmental Management, Institute of Tropical Biology in Ho Chi Minh City, GS. L. Lee Grismer, Department of Biology, La Sierra University, California, USA, and Jesse L. Grismer, Biology, Villanova University, Pennsylvania, USA.

This work was published in the special edition of Zootaxa Magazine 1967 dated December 20, 2008.

The Hon Tre toe lizard species has an average head size of about 72.4–88.9mm. The Hon Tre lizard is a typical cave animal with a slender body, large eyes, long muzzle, slender limbs adapted to deep cave life in Hon Tre Island, the buffer zone of Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve.

The body color looks beautiful and the body has a light pinkish-brown head with a line that is bordered by white behind the nape, the back has 3 big brown bars with a dark border of pale white on the back between the front and hind legs. A wide brown line is framed by white on the front on the tail.

This is the 5th endemic lizard species of the Gecko - Gekkonidae family discovered in Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve after white-tailed lizard-like species - Cnemaspis caudanivea sp. nov. Grismer & Ngo, 2007, round-toe stone lizard - Cnemaspis aurantiacopes sp. nov. Grismer & Ngo, 2007, Eisenmani finger lizard - Cyrtodactylus eisenmani sp. nov. Corn, 2008, snakes of the Hon Son continent - Cryptelytrops honsonensis sp. nov. Grismer, Ngo & Grismer, 2008.

This is also the 10th lizard species discovered by Ngo Van Tri and other researchers in Vietnam over the past year.

In the past 1 year, Vietnam has had 26 new vertebrate species published in international journals. In which, there are 11 species of lizard belonging to Gecko family - Gekkonidae, 2 species of lizard gecko belonging to the Gecko family - Eublepharidae, 1 snake species of the Green snake family - Viperidae, 1 species of cheek snake - Xenodermatidae, 4 species of family Water snake - Colubridae, 3 species of frog family - Ranidae, 2 species of tree frog family - Rhacophoridae, 2 species of fried fish stream - Sisoridae.

According to scientists, these are practical evidence that Vietnam's biodiversity resources are still a mystery to domestic and foreign animal researchers. The discovery of 26 new species for science has positively contributed to the inventory of Vietnam's animal resources, while contributing to the establishment of a future national conservation strategy.