Discovering tiny species of legless lizard and woodpecker in Brazil

Scientists have found a species of legless lizards and a tiny woodpecker and 12 other species that are thought to have appeared in Cerrado - Brazil, one of 34 hot spots for biodiversity conservation. study in the world.

Cerrado, a pasture-rich pasture, once covered an area of ​​half the size of Europe, but is now being converted into farmland and livestock land at twice the rate of the Amazon rainforest, which has lost many dense species. Organic and local vegetation.

Join the expedition with scientists from the International Conservation Agency (CI) and Brazilian universities. They found 14 new species including 8 species of fish, 3 reptiles, 1 amphibian, 1 mammal and 1 bird in and around Serra Geral by Tocantins Ecological Station - protected area The area of ​​716,000 hectares (1,769,274 acres) is the second largest in Cerrado. The lizard Bachia looks like a snake because it has no legs and a sharp head that makes it easy to move on gravel from the natural erosion of the Serra Geral high wall. Other newly emerging species include the tiny woodpecker (Picumnus) and the horned toad (Proceratophrys).

The lizard Bachia is one of the newly discovered species in the expedition.Although there are many other species in the Cerrado (mostly recently discovered or published), this new lizard species has just been registered at the Ecological Station.No legs plus a sharp nose help the lizard to move on the surface of gravel, predominating in the environment in Jalapao - formed by the natural erosion process of the Serra Geral plateau walls.(Photo: Copyright CI / Cristiano Nogueira)

Biologist Cristiano Nogueira of CI - directing the expedition - said: 'Finding new species and data on abundance, and the distribution of hoand flora fauna at Cerrado - one of the secret lands The most dangerous, the widest, the most complex is indeed an interesting thing. Protected areas such as Ecological Station are home to some of the last remaining healthy ecosystems in a land area that is seriously threatened by the speed of mechanized agricultural urban development. '

The group also recorded information on several endangered species such as macaws, swamp deer, armadillo 3 belts (tatu-bola), Brazilian mallards, and dwarf birds among 440 vertebrate species. recorded within 29 days of exploration. Occupying 21% of Brazil's national area, the Cerrado is South America's largest savanna grassland. Large mammals such as giant anteater, armadillo, jaguar, or wolf with mane must fight to survive in a fast-changing environment considered to be Brazil's stomach.

The expedition consisted of 26 researchers from São Paulo University and the Zoological Museum of the school, the federal universities of São Carlos and Tocantins, CI-Brazil. The Natural Conservation Fund O Boticário sponsors the expedition, with the support of the non-governmental organization Pequi - Pesquisa e Conservação by Cerrado (Research and preservation of Cerrado).

Luís Fabio Silveira of São Paulo's Department of Zoology said: 'Geographical distribution of some of the recorded species is restricted to ecological conservation areas, so their existence depends. into the management mode of protected areas as well as the surrounding environment. From the survey we obtained information regarding anatomy, reproduction, life cycle and distribution of each species. All of this information helps us a lot in future conservation programs. '

The final results of the study, including the external description of the new species, will be used to support the development of the Ecological Station management strategy established in 2001. Nogueira said: 'We need to know more about protected areas, especially ecological areas, with the key goal of propagating the biological knowledge of ecological diversity in Brazil that has been studied very little but is being seriously threatened. Unfortunately, large areas of the Cerrado such as the Ecological Station are becoming scarce, so collecting information becomes more important. Most importantly, you need to know how to preserve '.