New Species Research Announced: Snake, Mouse Lemur, Octopus, Shrimp, Fish, Snail, Amphipod, and Sloths
Posted by: Loren Coleman on January 10th, 2012
Several new species have been announced, as the year opens.
A new type of snake, a species of bush viper, was discovered in southern Tanzania during a recent biological survey. The snake’s exact location is being kept secret to protect the visually striking black-and-yellow snake from illegal pet collectors. The new species, named Matilda’s Horned Viper (Atheris matildae), is described as having hornlike scales above its eyes and measuring 2.1 feet (60 centimeters). Read more here.
Photos: Blanchard Randrianambinina.
A new primate, Gerp’s mouse lemur, Microcebus gerpi, has been announced as discovered in the Sahafina forest in Madagascar. It is “a giant” relative to Goodman’s mouse lemur. For more, see here and here.
Then, also, there’s the recent news of a “Pale octopus, hairy-chested yeti crab and other new species found,” in the Southern Ocean, near Antarctica, near hydrothermal vents.
Meanwhile, near the heat vents of the Caribbean, new vent shrimp (Rimicaris hybisae), along with a snake-like fish, previously unseen species of snail, and a flea-like crustacean called an amphipod, have been discovered. See here.
Also genetic work is being conducted to separate more clearly the species of two-toed sloths, Linnaeus’s two-toed sloths (Choloepus didactylus) versus Hoffman’s two-toed sloths (Choloepus hoffmanni). See here.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
It always makes me smile to see more newly documented species being added to the planet’s list of inhabitants. I can only imagine what sort of ‘alien’ creatures we’ll come across as we manage to go deeper into the ocean. The Greenland shark (from a few years ago) was oddly awesome, I just hope they never find an actual living megalodon, although those two frilled sharks that surfaced near Japan were amazing.
And with all the climate changes we’re experiencing I wonder if we’ll start to see new species emerging like those black tipped sharks in Australia. Not to mention more and more out of place animals. This might just be the most interesting year yet. MMXII.