![]() ![]() Mera county alone has 581 species of trees, 2.23 times that of the entire continent of Europe.The significance of “greatest biodiversity in the world” may not resonate at first, so a few quick facts to help hammer home that prestigious title: The same climate every day, all year long. Sumak Kawsay in Situ, which roughly translates to “good living in the natural/original place,” is a research, environmental education and ecological tourism center nestled in a remote region of the Amazon just south of the equator with precisely 12 hours of daylight at 70 degrees Fahrenheit right above the infectious disease boundary with rain on a daily basis. ![]() “This is somebody who would’ve killed that snake, but after seeing the work that we do, decided ‘I should put it in a bottle and bring it to Alex.’”Īnd there is plenty to bring to Alex. “A big part of our mission is sharing the work that we do, doing research and sharing that with the people and involving them in it so they start to see that impact,” said Bentley, 28. Here it isn’t all that hard to find a ‘new species.’ It’s the formal description that really takes time and is required for the official ‘discovery’ of a new species.” Ones that have not been formally described or pertain to species complexes that have yet to be divided taxonomically. The 15 species that we have ‘discovered’ are species not known to science. Of these 15 species, the majority are frogs, two are salamanders, one lizard and one snake.īentley says by email: “There’s a big difference between finding an undescribed species and describing a new species. Months, even years, of very methodological testing from morphological comparisons (size, color pattern, other physical characteristics, bone shape), osteological comparison (examining the cranial structure through CT scans) as well as comparing the distribution and natural history with the most similar species, must take place.Īlex and colleagues at the Ecominga Foundation and the National Institute of Biodiversity have collected and identified approximately 15 undescribed species of reptiles and amphibians in the headwaters of the Anzu River. The next is to analyze the genetic material, specifically sequencing two or three genes, and compare this data to that of the most closely related known species. ![]() However, determining and describing a completely new species in the scientific community is slightly more complex and tedious than simply crying “Eureka!”Īcquiring both sexes of the species is the first step. The scientists quickly realized they now had male and female specimens of an undescribed snake on hand. Sign up for Cardinal’s free daily newsletter.īentley sent out images of the snake to several local colleagues, and Omar Entiauspe-Neto, a graduate student at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and Butantan Institute in Brazil, made the connection with an unidentified type of dwarf boa that was collected by the Ecuadorian Museum of Natural Sciences a few years prior, close to where the second one was found. The snake Sanchez found was, at first glance, just another in a long line of biological specimens he examines on a daily basis, except this dwarf boa didn’t match any previously known species. After studying the unknown creature for a few moments, he knew exactly what to do.Īlex Bentley of Salem has been the research coordinator at Sumak Kawsay in Situ, located in Mera county of the Pastaza province of Ecuador, since he moved there in January 2019. It wouldn’t have been too long ago – just four years – when Sanchez would have glanced at the small, coiled snake and done what he always did when coming across these slithery reptiles: kill it. Spending the entirety of one’s life in the most biologically diverse place on Earth can dull one’s astonishment to every creature that crosses one’s path. ![]() Marco Sanchez never would have considered himself a “snake guy.” Want more news from Southwest and Southside? Sign up for our free daily email newsletter. ![]()
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