Many New Species Discovered in Greater Mekong

Posted on December 15, 2008

Over a thousand new species have been discovered over the last decade in the Greater Mekong region. Some of the more bizarre creatures include a dinner-plate sized spider and a hot pink dragon millipede. The Telegraph says the millipede can produce cyanide to protect itself from predators.

At least 1,068 new species were identified in the Greater Mekong from 1997 to 2007 along with several thousand tiny invertebrates, the Times reports.
Annamite striped rabbits, or Nesolagus timminsi, with black and brown fur, were discovered in Vietnam and Laos in 2000 and are only the second species of striped rabbit to be identified.
Among the most bizarre to be discovered was a hot-pink, spiny dragon millipede, Desmoxytes purpurosea.
The millipedes have glands that produce cyanide to protect them from predators.

Another amazing discovery is the Laotian Rock Rat thought to have died out 11 million years ago. The Telegraph has eleven pictures of the new species here.

ANIMALS