14 New Species Discovered in Brazil
Photos: A Legless Lizard, a Horned Toad and Other Rare and New Species
By Dan Shapley
Pedra de Baliza
The Pedra da Baliza (Beacon Stone) is an isolated block of sandstone at the top of the Serra Geral in Brazil's Cerrado region, where 14 new species have been discovered during an expedition to the wooded savanna.
The team also recorded several threatened species such as the hyacinth macaw, marsh deer, three-banded armadillo (tatu-bola), the Brazilian merganser, and the dwarf tinamou among more than 440 species of vertebrates documented during the 29-day field expedition by Conservation International and Brazilian universities.
Cerrado Map
A hotspot for biodiversity that once covered an area half the size of Europe, the Cerrado is now being converted to cropland and ranchland at twice the rate of the neighboring Amazon rainforest, according to Conservation International.
Among the 14 species newly discovered in the region are a legless lizard and a tiny woodpecker.
Legless Cerrado Lizard
Legless Cerrado Lizard
Legless Cerrado Lizard
Cerrado Lizard
Cerrado Horned Toad
Cerrado Amphibian
Cerrado Mouse Opossum
Cerrado Frog
This species of frog, Phyllomedusa azurea, is found in riparian areas close to water bodies and palm marshes of Brazil's Cerrado. Medications can often be developed from the skin of amphibians, which excrete unique chemical defense substances. Studies of this species may yield compounds useful in fighting chagas disease.
Loss of biodiversity around the world, besides being an ethical and environmental issue, is one critical to medical science. Species lost to the Earth will never be studied, and their unique evolutionary path will never be exploited to aid human health.




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