Victoria GillBBC News Science Correspondent
Quentin MartinezScientists have discovered five new species of soft-haired hedgehogs in Southeast Asia.
The discovery required multiple scientific missions to study the animals’ tropical forest homes.
Researchers are also re-evaluating mammal specimens that have been in museum collections for decades.
This detailed biological gap study shows that the two animals in the museum are species new to science.
Three additional species classified as subtypes of a species were shown to be sufficiently distinct from each other to be officially recognized as a single species.
David OcockOne of the lead researchers, Dr Melissa Hawkins of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (SMNH), told BBC News the discovery showed the “amazing” diversity of life on our planet still has to be revealed.
Dr Hawkins said: “We think we understand the natural world, but even for groups like mammals – especially small animals that live in hard-to-reach habitats – we really know very little.
“The discovery of such an animal may cause concern [rainforest] The ecosystem is seriously threatened,” she said.
What is a soft-coated hedgehog?
Charoenchai Tothaisong/CC BY-NC 4.0 ContractThe animals belong to a species of hedgehog called Hylomys, and they all live in Southeast Asia. There were previously only two known species, and this discovery brings the total to seven.
They are small, long-nosed mammals, and although they belong to the same family as the more familiar hedgehogs, they are furry rather than spiny.
Dr Arlo Hinckley, also from SMNH, said such findings are “particularly important for Southeast Asia, where deforestation rates are among the highest in the world”.
How do you discover a new species?
Daniel HinckleyThat’s a challenge when you study what Dr. Hawkins describes as “the little brown things” that live in dense forests.
To the layman, these small mammals look similar, but the team found significant differences in their genetic codes, as well as differences in the shape of their bodies, especially their heads and teeth.
Dr Hawkins said: “Their skulls are really cool – they’re small but their teeth are very sharp.”
“If they were larger animals, they would be very scary.”
Scientists discovered a particularly long-tusked species in one of the museum’s collections and named it Hylomys macarong, a name derived from the Vietnamese word for “vampire.”
ANSP Archives Collection/Frederick A. Ulmer JrIn addition to studying wildlife, the researchers also examined specimens from 14 different natural history collections in Asia, Europe and the United States.
The two newly discovered species—Hylomys vorax and Hylomys macarong—were discovered in collections at the Smithsonian and Drexel University in Philadelphia, where they have been kept in drawers for decades.
“We can say that we can time travel as museum curators,” Dr. Hawkins said.
“We can walk into the lobby, look at the collection, and go anywhere in the world.”
The researchers collected enough genetic material from three other species previously classified as subspecies to reveal that they are biologically distinct.
Daniel HinckleyEach different Hylomys species appears to live in a slightly different habitat – some in lowland forests, some at higher altitudes.
Finding animals that are the result of millions of years of evolution and are endemic to a certain area of a tropical forest is “a bit like showing a Picasso in an art gallery, or discovering archaeological sites in a city,” Dr. Hinckley said.
“It brings extra value to these places and hopefully there will be funding to protect such important heritage.”
The findings were published in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
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