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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>Socotra environmental news</title>
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					<title>New reptile discovered in world&#8217;s strangest archipelago</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/04/new-reptile-discovered-in-worlds-strangest-archipelago/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/04/new-reptile-discovered-in-worlds-strangest-archipelago/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Apr 2012 15:37:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
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					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2012/04/new-reptile-discovered-in-worlds-strangest-archipelago/</guid>

					
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							<![CDATA[Indian Ocean, Middle East, Socotra, and Yemen]]>
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											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Environment, Evolution, Governance, Green, Herps, In-situ Conservation, Islands, Lizards, Photos, Plants, Reptiles, Species Discovery, Strange, Tourism, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
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							<![CDATA[Trachylepis cristinae, a newly described skink that is only found on Abd Al Kuri Island. Photo by: Fabio Pupin. Few people have ever heard of the Socotra Archipelago even though, biologically-speaking, it is among the world&#8217;s most wondrous set of islands. Over one third of Socotra&#8217;s plants are found no-where else on Earth, i.e. endemic, [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Trachylepis cristinae, a newly described skink that is only found on Abd Al Kuri Island. Photo by: Fabio Pupin. Few people have ever heard of the Socotra Archipelago even though, biologically-speaking, it is among the world&#8217;s most wondrous set of islands. Over one third of Socotra&#8217;s plants are found no-where else on Earth, i.e. endemic, while 90 percent of its reptiles are also endemic. Adding to its list of unique life-forms, researchers have recently uncovered a new skink species that is found only on the island of Abd al Kuri, which is slightly smaller than New York City&#8217;s Staten Island. Dubbed the &#8220;the other Galapagos,&#8221; the four Socotra islands are under the jurisdiction of Yemen, although geographically speaking the islands are actually closer to Somalia. &#8220;While in Socotra in 2010, we eventually had the chance to organize a short trip to the smaller islands of the archipelago, which are hardly reachable due to heavy seas for most of the year, and pirate activity in the area facing Somalia,&#8221; team member Fabio Pupin, herpetologist and photographer, told mongabay.com. &#8220;[We were] able to spend at least one day and one night in each of the three islands (Samha, Darsa and Abd Al Kuri). While in Abd al Kuri, Cristina Grieco, one of the team members, found a quite huge skink under a bush. We captured it for identification and measurements and we instantly realized that the skink was clearly different from all the others we met before on the islands. However, we&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2012/04/new-reptile-discovered-in-worlds-strangest-archipelago/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-31005</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: new gecko discovered on bizarre and beautiful Socotra island</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2009/09/photos-new-gecko-discovered-on-bizarre-and-beautiful-socotra-island/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2009/09/photos-new-gecko-discovered-on-bizarre-and-beautiful-socotra-island/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2009 16:23:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2009/09/photos-new-gecko-discovered-on-bizarre-and-beautiful-socotra-island/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Middle East, Socotra, and Yemen]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Green, Herps, Islands, Photos, Reptiles, Species Discovery, Strange, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Lying in the Indian Ocean half way between Somalia and Yemen, the strange island archipelagos of Socotra offer a bewildering array of life found no where else on Earth. Thirty seven percent of its plant species, ninety percent of its reptiles, and ninety-five percent of its snail species are endemic. Now biologists can add a [&#8230;]]]>
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							<![CDATA[Lying in the Indian Ocean half way between Somalia and Yemen, the strange island archipelagos of Socotra offer a bewildering array of life found no where else on Earth. Thirty seven percent of its plant species, ninety percent of its reptiles, and ninety-five percent of its snail species are endemic. Now biologists can add a new species to this list. Italian researchers unraveled the mystery of a gecko named Hemidactylus inintellectus (photo below). Inintellectus translates to &#8216;misunderstood&#8217;, since the gecko, which is common on the island, was consistently confused with other species. &#8220;This new discovery raises the number of reptile species of Socotra to 26, with 23 species endemic of the island. And this is not a mere matter of numbers: when a species has no name it doesn’t exist, and it can’t be protected. That’s why biodiversity assessments are such an essential tool for conservation policies,&#8221; writes one of the researchers, herpetologist Fabio Pupin of the University of Pavia. According to Pupin, Socotra is a reptile&#8217;s paradise (there are no amphibians on the island): &#8220;[Reptiles] are everywhere, from the high mountains of Haggeher to the desert lowland of the south coast, basking on tree branches as on nearly every rock around—and Socotra is a rocky place indeed! And even underground: there are, in fact, five worm-like reptiles, suited to a completely ctonian life.&#8221; The new species of gecko prefers rocky areas and is nocturnal. For more information and photos visit Herpfolio. New gecko species from Socotra:Hemidactylus inintellectus. Photo by:&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2009/09/photos-new-gecko-discovered-on-bizarre-and-beautiful-socotra-island/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-36331</doi>				</item>
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