Up to 87 out of 163 new species found in the Greater Mekong region were discovered in Vietnam, which proves the country is rich in biodiversity and home to a diverse array of species.

In a report called ‘Species Oddity’ released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on December 19, nine amphibians, 11 fish, 14 reptiles, 126 plants and three mammals have been discovered in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Among the highlights are a bat found in the Central Highlands of Vietnam with thick and woolly fur on its head and forearms, a rare banana species from Thailand, a tiny frog from Cambodia and a gecko with pale blue spotted skin and piercing dark eyes found hiding among the remote mountains of Laos.

There were 376 new species discovered in the Greater Mekong region in 2014, of which 99 were found in Vietnam, making up around 27%. This time, 87 out of 163 new species were discovered in the country, accounting for nearly 53%.

Van Ngoc Thinh, country director of WWF Vietnam, said in a statement that the new discoveries proved that Vietnam is one of the most bio-diverse countries in the region, and the discovery of 87 new species in 2015 shows that there are still more amazing discoveries to unlock.

These discoveries were officially described as new species in 2015. However, scientists typically wait to reveal new finds until an animal or plant is officially described and peer reviewed – a time-consuming process – hence the lag between the initial discovery and announcement for some species in the report.

The total number of new species of plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, fish and amphibians discovered in the region stands at 2,409 since WWF began compiling new species reports in 1997.

SGT