New rainforest species revealed

An expedition to the rainforests of Guyana has discovered species new to science.
BBC News 30 Jul 08;

A team of researchers and wildlife film-makers spent six weeks searching the pristine forest as part of a BBC documentary.

The group believes it has revealed two fish species, one frog species and a number of bat flies that have not been described previously.

The finds are detailed in the BBC series Lost Land of the Jaguar.

The three-part documentary includes footage of the elusive South American cat.
Dr George McGavin (BBC)

"In a short time, we caught hundreds of species, 10% of which may be new to science. It was unreal, unbelievable," exclaimed Dr George McGavin, a zoologist and one of the four presenters of the documentary.

He added: "Catching is the easy bit, the hard bit is going back to the lab and examining the species, comparing them to collections and books - seeing if they are new to science. One hour in the field can equal hundreds of hours in the lab.

Dr McGavin told the BBC News Website: "The expedition captured on film the discovery of the strongest candidates for new species - two fishes."

These are a small banded fish (Hemiodus sp.) netted near the expedition's base camp, and a parasitic catfish (Vandellia sp.) that fell out of the gills of a larger catfish.

The expedition also filmed the world's heaviest snake, the anaconda, "which looked like a pile of tractor tyres," said Dr McGavin. It also shows the world's largest eagle, the harpy eagle.

Dr McGavin's highlight, however, was holding the Goliath spider. "It was quite a thrill, luring this spider, the size of a soup plate, out of its hole and holding it. Although I can see that this wouldn't be everyone's idea of fun," he laughed.

The film aims to highlight the need to save this truly unique rainforest.

"We have a choice, we really are at the cross-roads now. We can decide to keep these rich hotspots of nature or see them razed to the ground," said Dr McGavin.

He added: "If we lose the species at the rate we are going, we will be losing untold riches."