New Species Photos: Slug-Sucking Snake, Mini-Gecko, More

Slug-Sucking Snake

Photograph by Paul S. Hamilton, RAEI

Just 20 minutes of nighttime searching in a rare patch of coastal dry forest in Ecuador enabled scientists to spot this new species of snake—on a branch just above biologist Paul Hamilton’s head.

"That just goes to show how little we know about what's out there," said Hamilton, who led the Reptile & Amphibian Ecology International team.

The slug-sucking snake is one of a small group that feasts on gastropods such as slugs and snails. Not only is the snake an unknown species, but its closest relative lives almost 350 miles (560 kilometers) away in Peru.

January 20, 2010

Tree Frog With Red Iris

Photograph by Paul S. Hamilton, RAEI

A new species, announced January 2010, of rain frog crouches on a leaf in its forest home in Ecuador.

The frogs' lifestyle is so thoroughly arboreal that, instead of laying eggs in water, the frogs deposit their eggs in trees. And instead of hatching as tadpoles, the offspring emerge as miniature versions of their parents—some not much larger than pinheads.

January 20, 2010

New Species of Stick Insect

Photograph by Paul S. Hamilton, RAEI

The RAEI team uncovered four intriguing stick-insect species—including the above animal—which boast some of the animal kingdom’s best camouflage.

Scientists searching for reptiles and amphibians captured the photogenic insects on film—and later were surprised to learn they'd discovered four new species of the genus Xylospinodes.

(Also see: "Top New Species of 2009: Nat Geo News's Most Viewed.")

January 20, 2010

Scaly-Eyed Gecko

Photograph by Paul S. Hamilton, RAEI

The scaly-eyed gecko (Lepidoblepharis buchwaldi)—also a new species—can perch comfortably atop a pencil eraser, even as an adult.

"They crawl around in leaf litter on the forest floor, and they are so small they are very hard to find," biologist Hamilton explained. "All of these things take a lot of time to find, and if we don't get to work and put in a lot of hours we're going to miss ever seeing a lot of these little things."

January 20, 2010

Lungless Salamander

Photograph by Paul S. Hamilton, RAEI

This lungless salamander, which breathes through its skin, is one of three similar species RAEI scientists spotted in Ecuadorian forests. (Related: "First Lungless Frog Found.")

Like nearly half of the new species announced by RAEI in January 2010, the salamander—which is not a new species—dwells on Cerro Pata de Pájaro. The cloud forest-capped mountain straddles the Equator six miles (ten kilometers) from the Pacific Ocean.

The few square miles of forest here are home to 14 new species found nowhere else. "These populations have probably been limited to these refugia since the Pleistocene," Hamilton said, "about 11,000 years ago [prehistoric time line]."

January 20, 2010

Heart of Glass

Photograph by Paul S. Hamilton, RAEI

This so-called glass frog's transparent body lacks pigmentation and reveals its organs in action—including a beating heart.

More than 150 species of glass frogs are found in rain forest trees across Central and South America, RAEI says (pictures of tropical rain forests). But many are feeling pressures like those that threaten their frog relatives worldwide.

January 20, 2010

Dwarf Iguana

Photograph by Paul S. Hamilton, RAEI

A male O'Shaughnessy's Dwarf Iguana (Enyalioides oshaughnessyi) can cut an imposing figure. But the animal may be helpless in the face of threats to its cloud forest home, RAEI says.

"These species face a double whammy," RAEI's Paul Hamilton said, referring to habitat loss and global warming.

Cerro Pata de Pájaro is being deforested on all sides for the expansion of cattle grazing, RAEI says. Climate change may also heat up—and dry up—cloud forests, which could leave animals unable to adapt with nowhere to go.

January 20, 2010