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Beelzebub ’s cricket bat , a walk catfish and a frog that sound like a bird are among 126 species introduced to scientific discipline in just a yr in the fabulously diverse Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia , allot to a report released this week by the conservation group World Wildlife Fund ( WWF ) .
The walking catfish — one of the 10 discoveries from 2011 highlighted in the news report — does n’t exactly walk . But the fish ( Clarias gracilentus ) can impressively jiggle across ironic land like a serpent while using its thoracic quintet to push itself unsloped . The fish , discovered in streams on the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc , often lives in moribund urine . When these pool dry out up , it can take the air out to a bed wetter home plate .
Beelzebub’s tube-nosed bat
Among other Pisces find in 2011 were a rosiness - tinge , unsighted carp ( Bangana musaei ) thatlives in ulterior cavesand a miniature fish ( Boraras naevus ) that ’s just 0.75 inch ( 2 centimeters ) in duration and differentiate by a large dark situation on its vivacious soundbox , the news report says .
research worker also name last year a tiny demonic - wait creature fitly named Beelzebub ’s tube - nosed squash racket ( Murina beelzebub ) . [ The 10 Weirdest Animal Discoveries of 2012 ]
" We choose the name Beelzebub to muse the dour ' diabolic ' coloration of the fresh mintage and its fierce protective behavior in the theatre of operations , " Gabor Csorba , of the Hungarian Natural History Museum , said in a assertion . The bat is found only in the tropical forests of Vietnam and is among two othertube - nosed batsidentified in 2011 .
Beelzebub’s tube-nosed bat
And then there ’s Quang ’s tree frog ( Gracixalus quangi ) , whose holler rival those of hiss in their complexness , and the uncommon ruby - eyed dark-green cavity viper ( Trimeresurus rubeus ) , which has come across crimson eyes and a very limited mountain chain that includes Vietnam ’s Cat Tien National Park .
" Very few people in the world have seen this snake in the grass , " Anita Malhotra , a molecular ecologist at Bangor University , said of the species . " We know very little about what it does . "
Conservationists warn that the astonishing biodiversity of the region is under threat because of shrinking habitats . According to the WWF report , 30 percent of the Greater Mekong ’s forests have disappeared in just four decades . Pisces could be specially vulnerable , and the account points to planned construction of the Xayaburi dam in Laos as a major risk .
Walking catfish, Clarias gracilentus
" TheMekong Riversupports levels of aquatic biodiversity second only to the Amazon River , " Nick Cox , director of the WWF species program in the region , pronounce in a command . " The Xayaburi dam would prove an unpassable barrier for many fish species , indicate the demise for wildlife already known and as yet undiscovered . "
More than 1,700 new species have been described by science in the Greater Mekong since 1997 . In 2011 , 82 industrial plant , 13 fish , 21 reptiles , five amphibians and five mammal were discovered .
Ruby-eyed green pit viper
