Armless forest creature found in trap in Indonesia turns out to be a new species
On an island of southeastern Indonesia, scientists dug a hole in the forest and installed a wildlife trap. A while later, they checked the trap and found an armless creature caught inside.
They didn't know it right away, but they'd just discovered a new species.
Researchers spent 'over 13 years' installing and regularly checking wildlife traps on Buton Island. The nonlethal pitfall traps were dug into the ground and intended to catch insects, invertebrates and other burrowing animals, according to a study published April 25 in the peer-reviewed journal Taprobanica.
During the project, researchers found dozens of 'worm-like' lizards that had fallen into the traps, the study said. A few of these lizards were kept as specimens, preserved and sent to a museum. Initially, scientists identified the animals as a widespread species of blind skink, an 'ancient' type of 'limbless burrowing' reptile.
Years later, researchers decided to take a closer look at these little-studied lizards.
Sure enough, the skinks from Buton Island were subtly but consistently different, the study said. Researchers realized they'd discovered a new species: Dibamus oetamai, or the Buton blind skink.
Buton blind skinks can reach just over 6 inches in length, the study said. They have 'worm-like' bodies with no arms and, in males, 'flap-like' legs. Their heads have 'eyes covered by a scale,' 'small' teeth and 'rounded' snouts.
A photo shows the 'pale-chestnut brown' coloring of the new species.
Buton blind skinks are burrowing animals, living in 'monsoonal rainforests,' the study said. They are 'either rare or highly cryptic,' because 'only 28' of the skinks were found in 'over 70,000 pitfall trap nights.' Much about their lifestyle remains unknown.
Researchers said they named the new species 'oetamai' after the late Jakob Oetama, 'a renowned journalist and the co-founder of Kompas Gramedia ― the largest media group in Indonesia, for his enormous contribution to Indonesian Journalism.'
The new species' common name refers to Buton Island where it was discovered and, so far, the only place where it has been found. Buton Island is in southeastern Indonesia and near Sulawesi Island.
The new species was identified by its body shape, size, scale pattern and coloring, the study said. Researchers did not provide a DNA analysis because of a lack of genetic data on blind skinks.
The research team included M. Dwi Prasetyo, D. Satria Yudha, A. A. Thasun Amarasinghe, Ivan Ineich, G. R. Gillespie and Awal Riyanto.
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