Images - "Turquoise Dragon" Among 1,000+ New Species Found In New Guinea

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Scientists discovered more than 1,000 previously unknown species during a decade of research in New Guinea (slideshow), says a new report from WWF.

Final Frontier: Newly Discovered species of New Guinea (1998 – 2008) (PDF-4.7MB) is a tally of 10 years' worth of discoveries by scientists working on the world's second largest island.

While the majority of 1,060 species listed are plants and insects, the inventory includes 134 amphibians, 71 fish, 43 reptiles, 12 mammals, and 2 birds.

Among the most notable finds: a woolly giant rat, an endemic subspecies of the silky cuscus, a snub-fin dolphin, a turquoise and black 'dragon' or monitor lizard, and an 8-foot (2.5-m) river shark.


Litoria sauroni tree frog © Stephen Richards


Chrysiptera cymatilis damselfish © Gerald R Allen


Melipotes carolae © Bruce Beehler

EDIT

http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0627-new_guinea_new_species.html