Discovering lizards and green snakes only in Vietnam

Two endemic species of Vietnamese lizard-legged lizard and one species of continental snake Hon Son have just been discovered on the mountains separating the Truong Son range of Binh Thuan, Dong Nai and Kien Giang provinces .

The two species of the above lizard belong to the gecko family - Gekkonidae. Ta Kuu finger lizard Cyrtodactylus takouensis sp. nov. Ngo & Bauer, 2008 is 171.4mm long. The back has 5 lines of light chocolate brown alternating with 5 more narrow yellow lines, the tail has 3 lines. This species is discovered in a shallow cave of Ta Kou Nature Reserve (Binh Thuan).

Huynh-Cyrtodactylus huynhi sp. nov Ngo & Bauer, 2008 was discovered in a shallow cave of Chua Chan mountain (Dong Nai). This new lizard species has a body length of 147.5mm. The dorsal surface of 5-6 irregular lines is dark brown between the shoulder and the caudal peduncle. These lines are outlined before and after by pale white nodules. The tail has 10 dark brown lines interspersed with light brown.

Ta Koe foot lizard was discovered in a shallow cave of Ta Kou Nature Reserve (Binh Thuan).

The name 'Huynh's toe' is named after Prof. Dang Huy Huynh - the first director of the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (Hanoi), one of the people who contributed to training many generations of scientists. study animal studies in Vietnam.

Hon Son-Cryptelytrops honsonensis sp. nov. Grismer, Ngo & Grismer, 2008 of the snake family (Viperidae), were discovered in Hon Son island (Kien Giang). This snake is about 626-648mm long.

The above discovery is the result of an unofficial international cooperation between animal researcher Ngo Van Tri (Department of Technology and Environmental Management, Institute of Tropical Biology in Ho Chi Minh City, under Vietnam Academy of Science) with Prof. Aaron M. Bauer, Jesse .L. Grismer, Villanova University, Pennsylvania State, United States and L.Lee Grismer, La Sierra University, California, USA.

Mr. Ngo Van Tri said, finding the Ta Koa finger-lizard species, Huynh's toe-lizard and Hon Son's new green snake again showed that the resources of animals in Vietnam are not only diversified. face category but also very rich in endemic factors. This discovery has been an important contribution to the inventory and assessment of diversity of forest animals in our country. In particular, endemic animals are one of the high priorities for biodiversity conservation.

For the scientific community in the country, this is a very remarkable discovery, it has great significance in the statistics of natural resources and the conservation of endemic animals, because these are narrow endemic species. (only distributed in a narrow geographical area) only in Vietnam.

As for the world of scientific world, the discovery of the two species of continental Hon Son lizard and snake lizard is one of significant contributions, making 'birth certificate' for the new "citizens" above. Our green planet, especially in the context of global climate changes as strong as today.