Whilst surveying an isolated karst (limestone) hill in western Cambodia's Battambang Province, researchers stumbled across a gecko – a group of small lizards well known to inhabitant this critically important ecosystem.
Its body was dusky brown and it had a mustard-coloured tail, while its forelimbs were "short, robust in stature". Like all geckos, its toe pads were covered in thousands thin hairs known as setae, which help the animals grip to surfaces.
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The team, which included Fauna & Flora Cambodia researchers, Ministry of Environment staff and a group of expert herpetologists led by La Sierra University, used morphological and molecular data to identify the animal, discovering that is was a new species, isolated from other geckos in the genus.
They named the species Hemiphyllodactylus khpoh, after Phnom Khpoh – the hill it was found on.
Just one Hemiphyllodactylus khpoh was spotted during the survey, making it difficult to estimate the species’ population or conservation status, say the team, but they suspect the gecko is endemic to this single karst hill.
This would make its range extremely limited, which puts it at risk from disruptive events, such as the hill being turned into a cement quarry – a current threat facing the location.
Main image: Phnom Khpoh/Hem Manita, Fauna & Flora
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