Feel the force: Tube-nosed bat which bears striking resemblance to Yoda discovered as scientists find hundreds of new species

[Atasas]

Feel the force: Tube-nosed bat which bears striking resemblance to Yoda discovered as scientists find hundreds of new species

A tube-nosed fruit bat with an appearance reminiscent of the Star Wars Jedi Master Yoda has been discovered in a remote rainforest.

The bat, along with an orange spider and a yellow-spotted frog are among a host of new species found in a region of Papua New Guinea.

More than 200 animals and plants were revealed for the first time after two months of surveying in the rugged and little-explored Nakanai and Muller mountain ranges last year.

A nyctimene tube-nosed fruit bat (left) is one of the exotic discoveries made by scientists in Papua New Guinea

The findings included two mammals, 24 species of frog, nine plants, nearly 100 new insects including damselflies, crickets and ants, and around 100 spiders.

A white tipped-tail mouse, at least one ant and several of the crickets, or katydids, are so different from other known species they each represent an entirely new genus, the scientists said.

They were uncovered by two scientific teams co-ordinated by Conservation International's rapid assessment programme, in partnership with Papua New Guinea's Institute for Biological Research and conservation organisation A Rocha International.

The teams explored different altitudes of the forest-cloaked Nakanai mountains, which host cave systems and some of the world's largest underground rivers, and the Muller range, accessing the remote areas by plane, dinghy, on foot and even by helicopter.

A pink-eyed Caedicia, one of the 42 individuals of the leaf katydids (subfamily Phaneropterinae) in the Muller Range mountains of Papua New Guinea, found by scientists Piotr Naskrecki and David Rentz

Original, continued + few more photos

[Bloomfree]

I felt the Force when they reduced Yoda's Legendary face to a Tube-nosed Fruit Bat ..... :ermm:

He covered up for his face by his cool sword fighting actions..... :boxing:

[Marik]

oh shiat...my body wasn't ready for the 'force' this post brings about :o

[Bizarre™]

@Marik:

Speaking of force, I have a feeling shought a.k.a. PedoBear will ambush this thread :tooth:

[Marik]

@Marik:

Speaking of force, I have a feeling shought a.k.a. PedoBear will ambush this thread :tooth:

the internet will never be the same if he does

[Toshiro]

Oh My God.

[Drolz]

thats a new breed... woooah!!!

when hospitalized oxygen tube will exactly fit into that nose unlike humans... :rofl:

[Tunerz]

Mind-numbing bloodsucking abilities, it has.

[tysroby]

This old news (it's from October) but I still deem it fit to be posted. As mankind is turning it's attention to the next unexplored frontier, Mars, there are still so many unknowns waiting to be discovered here on Earth. I believed, that the only place on our planet that still has secrets to reveal is the oceanic floor. But after reading the following article, I think I was wrong.

In just two months of searching through a remote, mountainous rainforest in Papua New Guinea, scientists discovered 200 new species (!!!) of animals and plants, including spiders, frogs, insects and mammals.

The surveys were done in 2009 in the Nakanai Mountains on the island of New Britain, which the country has nominated for World Heritage status. The new species could offer a boost to that effort.

“While very encouraging, these discoveries do not mean that our global biodiversity is out of the woods," Leeanne Alonso of Conservation International said in a press release Oct. 5. "On the contrary, they should serve as a cautionary message about how much we still don’t know about Earth’s still hidden secrets.”

Here are a few images of the newly discovered species, to browse through the entire gallery please follow this link.

Tube-Nosed Fruit Bat

Mossula Katydid

[tipo]

are u a researcher? :P

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[tysroby]

I wouldn't mind for that to be true :)

[swordman]

It's a world we thougt we had knew much

[DKT27]

I've merged both the threads. :)

Wars not make one great.

- Yoda. :D

[Brrownie]

Cute!...:)

@ Fl0ppy & Drolz too funny LMAO...