Lost World discovered (thanks to Google Earth)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1100323/Lost-World-discovered-thanks-Google-Earth.html

Lost World discovered (thanks to Google Earth)

By David Derbyshire

Updated: 11:08 EST, 22 December 2008

In days gone by, explorers seeking a Lost World would spend a lifetime decoding ancient maps, talking to reluctant locals and hacking through dense jungles.
In the digital age, however, the job of an adventurer is more simple.
A team of conservationists from Kew Garden has just returned from an expedition to an uncharted and unexplored Eden in the heart of Mozambique after discovering it on Google Earth.

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Mozambique's Mount Mabu hosts a wealth of species. The idyllic setting was discovered by a team of conservationists from Kew Garden after discovering it on Google Earth

The mountainous area of southern Africa - crammed with colourful birds, unusual insects and rare plants - had been overlooked by wildlife experts and map makers because of its difficult landscape and decades of war.
It only came to light when British researchers spotted an unexpected patch of green forest on the satellite map website.
An expedition visited the untouched paradise surrounding Mount Mabu and discovered a wealth of wildlife including pygmy chameleons, Swynnerton's robin and butterflies such as the Small Striped Swordtail and Emperor Swallowtail.
There were three new species of butterfly, a previously undiscovered adder, a rarely seen orchid, giant snakes - including the gaboon viper -  and colonies of rare birds. More new species are expected to be discovered among the hundreds of plant specimens they brought home.

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A pygmy chameleon (left) and New Atheris snake (right)

Jonathan Timberlake, the expedition leader, admits that he was surprised by the wealth of wildlife they discovered among the 150 feet tall trees.
'That's when the excitement comes out - when you come back home or start reading some of the background and realise you're breaking new ground,' he said.
The Kew team discovered the hidden paradise in 2005. The conservationists were searching for a location for a new project and were scouring Google Earth's images online for areas at least 5,400 feet above sea level.

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The team found a rarely seen orchid

After spotting a green patch of forest in an area that had previously been unexplored by scientists, a British led expedition involving 28 scientists from Britain, Mozambique, Malawi, Switzerland and Tanzania was sent to the region.
They discovered 27 square miles of lush, rich forest crammed with exotic plants, insects and birds. Hundreds of exotic butterflies are there each day in the sunlight above the canopy, while peregrines and swifts flew around the trees.
The trees were home to loud samango monkeys, while the forest floor revealed small klipspringer antelopes - famed for their jumping ability - and blue duiker antelope.
'Nobody knew about it,' said Mr Timberlake. 'The literature I'm aware of doesn't mention the word Mabu anywhere. We have looked through the plant collections of Kew and elsewhere and we don't see the name come up.
'It might be there under another name, but we're not aware of any collection of plant or animals or anything else taking place there.'
He added: 'The phenomenal diversity is just mind-boggling: seeing how things are adapted to little niches, to me this is the incredible thing. Even today we cannot say we know all of the world’s key areas for biodiversity - there are still new ones to discover.
'This is potentially the biggest area of medium-altitude forest I'm aware of in southern Africa, yet it was not on the map, and most Mozambiqueans would not have even recognised the name Mount Mabu.'

Outside the forest the country’s roads and buildings have been devastated by the 1975- 1992 civil war. But inside scientists found the landscape was almost untouched. Locals had kept quite about its location because they used it as a refuge when the fighting was too intense.
Scientists 'describe' around 2,000 new species each year. However, it is unusual to find so new species in one place.

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Base Camp on Mount Mabu: The area came to light when the conservationists from Kew Garden spotted an unexpected patch of green forest on the satellite map website

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'Lost world' discovered in remote Australia

http://news.yahoo.com/lost-world-discovered-remote-australia-024127998.html

'Lost world' discovered in remote Australia        

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Sydney (AFP) - An expedition to a remote part of northern Australia has uncovered three new vertebrate species isolated for millions of years, with scientists Monday calling the area a "lost world".
Conrad Hoskin from James Cook University and a National Geographic film crew were dropped by helicopter onto the rugged Cape Melville mountain range on Cape York Peninsula earlier this year and were amazed at what they found.
It included a bizarre looking leaf-tail gecko, a gold-coloured skink -- a type of lizard -- and a brown-spotted, yellow boulder-dwelling frog, none of them ever seen before.
"The top of Cape Melville is a lost world. Finding these new species up there is the discovery of a lifetime -- I'm still amazed and buzzing from it," said Hoskin, a tropical biologist from the Queensland-based university.
"Finding three new, obviously distinct vertebrates would be surprising enough in somewhere poorly explored like New Guinea, let alone in Australia, a country we think we've explored pretty well."

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Graphic on three new vertebrate species discovered in a remote part of northern Australia (AFP Photo …

The virtually impassable mountain range is home to millions of black granite boulders the size of cars and houses piled hundreds of metres high, eroded in places after being thrust up through the earth millions of years ago.
While surveys had previously been conducted in the boulder-fields around the base of Cape Melville, a plateau of boulder-strewn rainforest on top, identified by satellite imagery, had remained largely unexplored, fortressed by massive boulder walls.
Within days of arriving, the team had discovered the three new species as well as a host of other interesting finds that Hoskins said may also be new to science.
The highlight was the leaf-tailed gecko, a "primitive-looking" 20 centimetre-long (7.9 inches) creature that is an ancient relic from a time when rainforest was more widespread in Australia.
The Cape Melville Leaf-tailed Gecko, which has huge eyes and a long, slender body, is highly distinct from its relatives and has been named Saltuarius eximius, Hoskin said, with the findings detailed in the latest edition of the international journal Zootaxa.

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Image provided by Conrad Hoskin of James Cook University Queensland on October 28, 2013 shows the Ca …

"The second I saw the gecko I knew it was a new species. Everything about it was obviously distinct," he said.
Highly camouflaged, the geckos sit motionless, head-down, waiting to ambush passing insects and spiders.
The Cape Melville Shade Skink is also restricted to moist rocky rainforest on the plateau, and is highly distinct from its relatives, which are found in rainforests to the south.
Also discovered was a small boulder-dwelling frog, the Blotched Boulder-frog, which during the dry season lives deep in the labyrinth of the boulder-field where conditions are cool and moist, allowing female frogs to lay their eggs in wet cracks in the rocks.
In the absence of water, the tadpole develops within the egg and a fully formed frog hatches out.

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Image provided by Conrad Hoskin of James Cook University Queensland on October 28, 2013 shows the Ca …

Once the summer wet season begins the frogs emerge on the surface of the rocks to feed and breed in the rain.
Tim Laman, a National Geographic photographer and Harvard University researcher who joined Hoskin on the expedition, said he was stunned to know such undiscovered places remained.
"What's really exciting about this expedition is that in a place like Australia, which people think is fairly well explored, there are still places like Cape Melville where there are all these species to discover," he said.
"There's still a big world out there to explore."
According to National Geographic, the team plans to return to Cape Melville within months to search for more new species, including snails, spiders, and perhaps even small mammals.
"All the animals from Cape Melville are incredible just for their ability to persist for millions of years in the same area and not go extinct. It's just mind-blowing," Hoskin said.