Rowley’s litter frog (leptolalax rowleyae) is a new amphibian species found in the Son Tra Nature Reserve in Da Nang (Photo courtesy of Nguyen Thanh Luan of the Asian Turtle Programme)Da Nang (VNS/VNA) - A new amphibian wasdiscovered by a group of scientists and biologists in the Son Tra NatureReserve in the central city of Da Nang following researches between 2012 and 2018. Ascientific report of the new species was released in the scientificmagazine Zootaxa – a peer-reviewed scientific mega journal for animaltaxonomists, on March 1.
Nguyen Thanh Luan, scientific officer of theAsian Turtle Programme-Indo-Myanmar Conservation confirmed to VietnamNews on March 1 that the species – Rowley’s litter frog (leptolalax rowleyae)was found by Vietnamese Dr Phan Thi Hoa from Da Nang College for teachers’training in 2012 when she was completing her thesis on reptile and amphibianspecies in the Son Tra Nature Reserve.
Luan said Hoa found a population of the frog inthe forest 400m above sea level, but the species had not yet been identified.
He said he and Hoa together with Vietnamesescientists and colleagues from Russia and Canada continued research on thespecies.
Luan, who authored the newly published reportin Zootaxa magazine, said the group then identified Rowley’s litterfrog as the new species through research and photos.
Researchers said the new frog was named after DrRowley Jodi from Australia who spent a long time researching and working on theconservation of amphibian species in Vietnam from 2007.
Luan said the frog measures only 3cm and livesupstream in evergreen forests. The frog can not be easily found in the forestas it often hides deeply in thick layers of dead leaves and its sound wasbelieved to be insects’.
Scientists said the discovery of the new frogshowed that the Son Tra Nature Reserve is one of the most bio-diverse areas inVietnam and needs more research in the near future as well as strictconservation and protection measures.
Luan said the new frog had not yet beenclassified as endangered, but he warned that human activities and wastedischarge in streams in the reserve must be banned.
In 2016, the Southern Institute of Ecology alsodiscovered three new plant species of the ginger family that were unknown tothe world.
A corner of the Son Tra Nature Reserve, 10km from Da Nang. The reserve is seen as one of the most biodiverse areas in Vietnam (Photo: VNA)According to the latest report from theinstitute, the 4,439ha Son Tra Reserve, 600 metres above sea level, listed 370animal species and 1,010 plant species.
The reserve, 10km away from Da Nang, has 43plant species listed as endangered in Vietnam’s Red Book and the InternationalUnion for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
More than 237 herds of the endangeredred-shanked douc langurs (Pygathryx nemaeus) with over 1,300 individuals areliving in the Son Tra Nature Reserve.
In 2016, IUCN agreed to promote the red-shankeddouc langur as a Critically Endangered (CR) species, granting it termlessprotection status in the world.
The Da Nang-based centre for biodiversityresearch and conservation, GreenViet, warned that the development of concretebuildings around the reserve, mostly holiday beach resorts, would soon push theendangered primates into extinction. - VNA
VNA
