cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/11869863

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This spectacular pit viper was among 11 new species that were discovered in Cambodia’s karsts — ancient limestone cliffs with hidden cave systems. While its official name has not been decided, the “pit” refers to the heat-sensitive organ on its head, which it uses to detect and track down warm-blooded prey. Phyroum Chourn/Fauna & Flora

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Conservationists Sothearen Thi and Phyroum Chourn from the charity Fauna & Flora search for reptiles and amphibians deep inside a karst. For two years, the wildlife non-profit surveyed more than 60 caves across western Cambodia in an effort to document life in these unique ecosystems and ensure their protection. Manita Hem/Fauna & Flora

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Named after the Hindu god of destruction, Gekko shiva was another unique reptile found in the surveys. It was discovered in early 2025 in a Thai cave temple dedicated to the deity. Researchers warn that its striking appearance makes it a target for the exotic pet trade, and giving it a formal name is the first step toward legal protection. Manita Hem/Fauna & Flora

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Pablo Sinovas, who led the Fauna & Flora survey team across the karsts, inspects a young reticulated python. This species can grow over 7 metres, making it the world’s longest snake. Manita Hem/Fauna & Flora

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This gecko species, found across different karsts, is new to science. It belongs to the Gehyra genus — geckos with powerful claws and sticky toepads. These help them climb almost any surface. Hun Seiha/Fauna & Flora

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The ornate flying snake glides from tree to tree by flattening its rib cage and twisting through the air like a shimmering ribbon. It is increasingly threatened by illegal trade, as its vivid colors make it popular amongst reptile collectors. Phyroum Chourn/Fauna & Flora

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The Cambodian blue-crested agama was also identified in the surveys. This lizard was only recognized as a new species in 2021, and it can change its vibrant colours when threatened. Phyroum Chourn/Fauna & Flora

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Karsts are not only ecologically rich but also valued by nearby communities as sacred spaces. Many caves have become Buddhist temples, attracting worshippers and tourists alike. Phyroum Chourn/Fauna & Flora

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Despite their extraordinary biodiversity, Cambodia’s karst landscapes are unprotected, often quarried and blasted for their limestone to produce cement. Fauna & Flora warns that because some species exist only in one hill, destroying a single formation can drive species to extinction — including some we know nothing about yet. Phyroum Chourn/Fauna & Flora

Pit viper, flying snake and geckos among new species uncovered in Cambodian caves | CNN

New species uncovered in Cambodian caves

Cambodia’s largely unexplored limestone caves stretch for thousands of miles, are home to countless undiscovered species and host unique ecosystems, with creatures found nowhere else on Earth.

Now, a new survey of caves in the northwestern province of Battambang has uncovered a range of species that are new to science, including a turquoise pit viper, a flying snake, several geckos, two micro-snails and two millipedes.

The viper and three of the newly discovered gecko species are still being formally named and characterized. The other finds have been officially recognized over the course of the biodiversity survey, which explored 64 caves across 10 hills between November 2023 and July 2025, and was published in a report Monday.

Each hill and cave in Cambodia’s rocky karst landscape –– a term for a landscape created when rocks break down, forming large cave springs, sinking streams and sinkholes –– is isolated from the others. Each performs as its own individual “island laboratory” of evolution, holding numerous distinct life forms that have adapted to their niche habitat, according to UK-based conservation charity Fauna & Flora, which led the survey along with Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment and field experts.

A flying snake, documented on the expedition.

“Think of it as their own vignette of biodiversity, where nature is performing the same experiment over and over again independently,” evolutionary biologist Lee Grismer, professor of biology at La Sierra University in California, who supported the survey team, said in a statement.

“We go to these separate places and analyse the DNA of the species, and we see how the experiment has run. Some look alike, some look different, and by analysing this we can get an idea of what the driving forces are behind the way they evolve,” he added.

For instance, while researchers identified one species of the striped Kamping Poi bent-toed gecko, named Cyrtodactylus kampingpoiensis, during fieldwork in 2024, they found four different populations evolving in different ways.

“If we are truly going to conserve the biodiversity on this planet, we need to understand what is there,” Grismer continued. “We can’t protect something if we don’t know it exists.”

Globally threatened species such as the Sunda pangolin, green peafowl, long-tailed macaque and northern pig-tailed macaque were also found in the landscape during the latest survey.

Conservation biologist Pablo Sinovas led the Fauna & Flora team in Cambodia, working with local researchers to get an idea of the terrain during the day and –– the “fun part” –– look for creatures such as snakes and geckos at night, “when they are most active, when they come out of hiding,” he told CNN.

The team would head out after sunset and spend hours traversing “sharp, rocky terrain” with torches, “looking around every crevice, looking around caves in the landscape, rocks, branches, vegetation, really everywhere. It was kind of a nice search party,” said Sinovas, who is now a senior program manager at the charity.

Some caves in the region hold up to one million bats, although the research team did not enter caves with large bat colonies due to health concerns, according to the report.

Karst landscapes make up about 9% of Cambodia’s land area, at 20,000 square kilometers (or 7,722 square miles), said the report, which outlined that “a large portion of this is still unknown to science.”

Fourteen caves that had not previously been surveyed were registered on one karst hill in the Banan district of the Battambang Province.

“There is more exploration to be done,” said Sinovas, adding that they have only “scratched the surface” in terms of the biodiversity that is waiting to be discovered in the ecosystems of the wider landscape in Cambodia.

Laang Spean Cave in Battambang Province, north-western Cambodia.

As well as hosting a range of species, many of the caves are used as shrines, or for meditation and other rituals, and are visited by tourists and pilgrims, according to the report.

Even so, karst habitats are under threat from poorly planned extraction for cement, as well as overtourism, wildlife hunting, logging and wildfires.

“There is growing demand for cement and karst limestone is useful for the making of cement and, so, karst provides a very important raw material,” said Sinovas.

“But, obviously, if you destroy an area where certain species live, and those species don’t live anywhere else, then you would automatically potentially lead to the extinction of species –– in some cases, of species that haven’t even been described yet,” he continued.

“So, we are working with (the) government to ensure that these important areas are better protected,” Sinovas said, adding that there are ongoing discussions regarding “giving this area some sort of protective status, so that they can be preserved into the future.”