52 new species discovered on Borneo: WWF

[jolinar of malkshor]

Scientists have discovered at least 52 new species of animals and plants on the southeast Asian island of Borneo since 2005, including a catfish with protruding teeth and suction cups on its belly to help it stick to rocks, the World Wildlife Fund International said Tuesday.

"The more we look, the more we find," said Stuart Chapman, WWF International co-ordinator for the study of the "heart of Borneo," a 137,000-square-kilometre rainforest in the centre of the island where several of the new species were found. "These discoveries reaffirm Borneo's position as one of the most important centres of biodiversity in the world."

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2.../tech-wwf.html

It completely amazes me that we find so many new species every year on this earth. It is really remarkable.

On a side note....didn't survivor hold one of it's seasons there? I wonder how many species it killed while filming there?

[Mr.Coffee]

52 species... 1 catfish...

51 different insects.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

52 species... 1 catfish...

51 different insects.

Actually there was some other fish aswell.

[Hack&Lube]

This always happens. If you find a new way to classify something or find a new bug, it's a new species.

There's about 2 or 3 announcements like this every year. Most of them in deep oceans and that is still largely unexplored and really great because that's where most of the "old" species thought extinct are rediscovered.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

52 species... 1 catfish...

51 different insects.

You act like insects are boring.... they are millions of times more diverse than all of the vertebrates combined. Even a single subclass of the insects has more diversity. There is probably between 10-15 million left to be describe.

Check out this centipede (they arn't insects, but are closely related)
http://gprime.net/video.php/bateatingcentipede