NEW SALAMANDERS AND OTHER BIOTREASURES DISCOVERED IN AN INCREASINGLY TOXIC COSTA RICA.

Costa Rica has added three more to the 40 species of salamander already known to live in this awesomely biodiverse country. Two of the newly debuted amphibians are pinky-sized members of the nocturnal Bolitoglossa genus, the third is a Nototriton, a dwarf, measuring only 3 cm (just over an inch) in length. They are all pretty small, but the discovery is big.

"Finding so many new species in one area is exciting, particularly as this is probably the only place in the world you can find these animals," said Alex Monro, who led three expeditions of scientists from London's Natural History Museum to La Amistad National Park, where the creatures were found.

La Amistad is a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Costa Rica's border with Panama. In all, the salamanders were among some 5,000 plants and animals the researchers recorded, and the investigators are far from finished. "It shows we still have a lot to learn about the variety of wildlife in this region. We have four more expeditions planned this year. Who knows what we could find when we go back?" said Monro.

In all the world, there are around 300 species of salamanders, most living in the Northern Hemisphere, but precious few have turned up since five new ones were found in east-central Mexico in 1998.

La Amistad has few roads, difficult terrain, and is therefore relatively unexplored. It has been estimated that the area is home to two-thirds of all Costa Rica's native species. La Amistad is the largest rain forest reserve in Central America. The small probability that the new salamanders exist anywhere else on earth owes, said Monro, to the fact that "these particular species will have very small ranges. This area hadn't been explored, so they just weren't known before."

Ballistic tongues

All the new creatures are striking, the Nototriton for its tiny size, the others for their coloration. One, measuring around eight cm, is deep brown with a pale cream underside, the other has a bright red back and yellow splotches on a band of black running along the sides. They are slow moving, "but they have this ballistic tongue that shoots out at incredible speeds and wraps around prey," the scientist said.

These tongues have achieved a fame of their own. In March, scientists announced that the tongue of the giant palm salamander Bolitoglossa dofleini produces the greatest burst of power, over 18,000 watts per kg of muscle, of any animal muscle in the world. The Central American salamander shattered the...

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