Tropical triangle reveals rare living treasures

New Guinea has some of the most beautiful freshwater fishes found anywhere, including gobies, gudgeons and rainbow fish. Photo / WWF

A new type of tree kangaroo, a 2.5m-long river shark, a frog with vampire-like fangs and a turquoise lizard are among hundreds of creatures found and being documented in a report by conservationists working in New Guinea.

Some 1060 previously unknown species of mammals, fish and birds have been spotted in the volcanic island over 10 years.

The Final Frontier report, which was put together by WWF as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, marks a brief respite from the escalating rate of animal and plant extinctions which is taking its toll across the planet and has left a quarter of all known mammals on the endangered list.

The species have all been discovered, at a rate of two each week, in the period from 1998 to 2008 by the various teams and researchers who have visited the region and its extensive forests, waters and wetlands.

One team discovered a new bird, the wattled smoky honeyeater, within seconds of leaving their expedition helicopter.

Perhaps the most extraordinary freshwater discovery is the species of river shark which, given its size, has done well to evade discovery until now. The shy fish has been named the Glyphis garricki after the New Zealand zoologist Jack Garrick, who identified it. Because of its rarity it has immediately gone on to the endangered list.

In the salt waters a snub-fin dolphin that comes in a delicate shade of pink was spotted in 2005 and, after much scientific measuring and debating, now qualifies as the first new dolphin species to be found in more than three decades.

New Guinea is in an area known as the "coral triangle", a region with the most diverse marine eco-systems on earth. In the 10-year period in question, 33 new fish species have been found in the waters around the island, including the damselfish, a strikingly brilliant blue wrasse and seven species of zig-zag rainbow fish, an 11cm-long creature which lives in shallow waters.

New Guinea is the second largest island on earth.

It holds the third largest tract of rainforest in the world and is home to around 8 per cent of the world's species.

But while its relatively low population protected its species, illegal logging is projected to strip half of its forest cover by 2020.

NEW GUINEA NEWBIES

* 33 fish species

* 218 kinds of plants

* 43 reptiles

* 12 mammals

* 580 invertebrates

* 134 amphibians

- OBSERVER