Scientists have discovered a striking new species of bald songbird in a limestone region of South East Asia.Its inhospitable habitat, far from any human activity or settlement, may explain why this unusual creature has evaded researchers until now.

The bald-headed bird was spotted by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Melbourne.This is the first new bulbul to have been discovered in 100 years. The newly discovered bulbul is also the first bald songbird to be spotted in mainland Asia.

Source: BBC Science

A newly discovered salamander, which is the second-smallest salamander species in the U.S. and one of the smallest in the world at just two inches long, could change what scientists know about some amphibians, the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources said today.

The new salamander is so distinct that it belongs in its own genus (a grouping of related species), according to Carlos Camp, Piedmont College professor who first recognized it as a news species. "It represents the first new genus of four-footed creature discovered in the United States in 50 years."

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Photo of new salamander courtesy UGA

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced on July 7 the discovery of a new monkey in a remote region of the Amazon in Brazil.

The monkey is related to saddleback tamarins, which include several species of monkeys known for their distinctively marked backs. The newly described distinct subspecies was first seen by scientists on a 2007 expedition into the state of Amazonas in northwestern Brazil.

Researchers have dubbed the monkey Mura's saddleback tamarin (Saguinus fuscicollis mura) named after the Mura Indians, the ethnic group of Amerindians of the Purus and Madeira river basins where the monkey occurs. Historically this tribe was spread through the largest territory of any of the Amazonian Indigenous peoples, extending from the Peruvian frontier today (Rio Yavari) east to the Rio Trombetas.

The monkey is mostly gray and dark brown in color, with a distinctly mottled "saddle." It weighs 213 grams (less than ¾ of a pound) and is 240 millimeters (9 inches tall) with a 320 millimeter (12.6 inch) tail.

The discovery was published in the June online edition of the International Journal of Primatology. Authors of the study include Fabio Röhe of the Wildlife Conservation Society, José de Sousa e Silva Jr. of Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Ricardo Sampaio of the Instituto Nacional de Parquisas de Amaozônia, and Anthony B. Rylands of Conservation International.

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Image credit: Stephen Nash