Rapid forest clearing in a Myanmar proposed national park threatens two newly discovered species of geckos (Gekkonidae: Cyrtodactylus)

Abstract

Myanmar’s recent transition from military rule towards a more democratic government has largely ended decades of political and economic isolation. Although Myanmar remains heavily forested, increased development in recent years has been accompanied by exceptionally high rates of forest loss. In this study, we document the rapid progression of deforestation in and around the proposed Lenya National Park, which includes some of the largest remaining areas of lowland evergreen rainforest in mainland Southeast Asia. The globally unique forests in this area are rich in biodiversity and remain a critical stronghold for many threatened and endangered species, including large charismatic fauna such as tiger and Asian elephant. We also conducted a rapid assessment survey of the herpetofauna of the proposed national park, which resulted in the discovery of two new species of bent-toed geckos, genus Cyrtodactylus. We describe these new species, C. lenya sp. nov. and C. payarhtanensis sp. nov., which were found in association with karst (i.e., limestone) rock formations within mature lowland wet evergreen forest. The two species were discovered less than 35 km apart and are each known from only a single locality. Because of the isolated nature of the karst formations in the proposed Lenya National Park, these geckos likely have geographical ranges restricted to the proposed protected area and are threatened by approaching deforestation. Although lowland evergreen rainforest has vanished from most of continental Southeast Asia, Myanmar can still take decisive action to preserve one of the most biodiverse places on Earth.

Troublesome Trimes: Potential cryptic speciation of the Trimeresurus (Popeia) popeiorum complex (Serpentes: Crotalidae) around the Isthmus of Kra (Myanmar and Thailand)

“…Therefore, it is likely that these populations represent a cryptic, yet undescribed species. Recent studies focusing on the Isthmus of Kra region of Myanmar and Thailand have discovered several endemic reptile species (Vogel et al 2012;Pauwels et al 2016;Zug et al 2017;Connette et al 2017). As yet, we have discovered no diagnostic character that separates the northern clade of T. popeiorum from the southern one.…”

The discovery of Rock Geckos Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in the Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar with the description of two new species

“…Our collective knowledge of Myanmar's herpetofauna remains incomplete. Because major portions of the country remain unexplored, there is tremendous potential for both new species discoveries and range extensions (Wogan et al 2008;Wilkinson et al 2012;Lee et al 2015Lee et al , 2018Connette et al 2017;Grismer et al 2017a,b;Grismer et al 2018a,b,c;Mulcahy et al 2017Mulcahy et al , 2018Zug et al 2017;Zaw et al 2019). Recent surveys in remote and understudied areas of Myanmar, such as the Tanintharyi, have yielded numerous herpetofaunal specimens that increase our knowledge of biodiversity in that region (Zug et al 2017;Lee et al 2018;Mulcahy et al 2018), a region under studied since the late 19 th century (Theobald 1868).…”

“…The Tanintharyi along with adjacent peninsular Thailand make up the Isthmus of Kra region, a biogeographic transition zone separating the Sundaic subregion from the Indochinese subregion (Pauwels et al 2003;Parnell 2013). At present, the Tanintharyi supports large tracts of tropical rainforest and karst outcrops, although the former is disappearing rapidly due to clear-cutting for palm-oil plantations (Connette et al 2017) and karstic regions across Myanmar are threatened by cement mining (Grismer et al 2018b). Contemporary herpetological surveys in…”

Peer Review #1 of "A new limestone-dwelling species of Micryletta (Amphibia: Anura: Microhylidae) from northern Vietnam (v0.1)"

“…South-east Asia harbours more limestone karsts than anywhere else on earth (Day & Urich, 2000) with numerous new species including relic lineages of amphibians and reptiles being discovered from limestone areas (e.g. see discussions in Milto et al, 2013;Grismer et al, 2014;Grismer & Grismer, 2017;Grismer et al, 2016aGrismer et al, , 2016bGrismer et al, , 2017Grismer et al, , 2018Nazarov et al, 2014Nazarov et al, , 2018Connette et al, 2017;Suwannapoom et al, 2018 and references therein). Ironically, though acting as major biodiversity hotspots, limestone karsts are critically endangered due to unregulated quarrying mostly for cement manufacturing, which is the primary threat to the survival of karst-associated species (Grismer et al, 2018); their continued exploitation for limestone cannot be stopped (Clements et al, 2006).…”