These smuggled scales are all we know about the new pangolin species

Recently, scientists discovered a new species of pangolin .

However, no one knew what this pangolin looked like, where it lived or how large its population was - because the new species was discovered in illegally traded pangolin scales .

Scales and claws of a new species seized in Hong Kong | Yang Feng

New species on the smuggling market

Previously, there were eight known pangolin species in the world, four of which are distributed in Asia, namely the Chinese pangolin, the Malayan pangolin, the Indian pangolin and the Philippine pangolin; the other four are distributed in Africa, namely the South African pangolin, the giant pangolin, the white-bellied long-tailed pangolin and the black-bellied long-tailed pangolin.

In fact, as early as ten years ago, researchers were aware of the existence of new species of pangolins . In 2012 and 2013, researchers found two special scales in 27 samples of pangolin smuggled in Hong Kong. Genetic information showed that they did not belong to the existing pangolins. However, due to limited samples, researchers did not have enough evidence to determine that this was a new species .

The new evidence this time also comes from illegally traded pangolin scales.

Scales of a new species of pangolin | References

Among the smuggled pangolin scales seized in Yunnan in 2015 and 2019, researchers found that the mitochondrial haplotypes of six scales were different from the eight existing pangolin species, but were closer to two samples previously discovered .

Smuggled scales seized in different years and locations all showed genetic information different from that of known pangolins, which further confirmed the existence of the new species .

The research was conducted by Yunnan University, Kadoorie Farm in Hong Kong, Peking University and other institutions, and the paper was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

Can't piece together a complete pangolin

The researchers analyzed the scales seized in Hong Kong and Yunnan and found that they had the morphological characteristics of Asian pangolins. The genome information also confirmed this: the new species belongs to the Asian pangolin , and is more closely related to the Philippine pangolin and the Malayan pangolin, and separated from these two species about 5 million years ago.

The researchers named this mysterious new species Manis mysteria. The specific epithet mysteria means mysterious, because the limited scale samples are almost all we know about the new species of pangolin .

Pangolin scales seized in Cameroon. Oftentimes, what is seized is not a complete pangolin, but only scales, which are not enough to help us restore the complete pangolin form. | Kenneth Cameron / USFWS

We don't know what this pangolin looked like. The samples we have so far are all smuggled scales - only scales . Some of these scales come from the skin, claws, and some are individual scales from the tail, back, abdomen, head, but none of them are enough to piece together a complete pangolin .

We also don’t know where this pangolin lives. Researchers speculate that their distribution may overlap with that of the Chinese pangolin and the Indian pangolin, or that they may live on an isolated island in South Asia, but these are just speculations based on the limited information currently available.

The most smuggled animal in the world

In the past, Chinese medicine believed that pangolin scales had the effect of promoting blood circulation and promoting lactation because pangolins are good at digging holes to pass through. However, modern research has long proved that pangolin scales are just ordinary keratin, with a composition similar to human nails , and have no special function. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia, which was updated in 2020, has also removed pangolins from its list .

However, because of these unfounded claims, pangolins have become the most illegally traded mammal, accounting for 20% of the illegal wildlife trade . As the populations of several Asian pangolin species have plummeted, African pangolins are now increasingly appearing on the smuggled market.

According to statistics, a total of about 330 tons of smuggled pangolins were seized between 2015 and 2021, mainly in China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. In addition to some complete individual pangolins, many of these pangolins that entered the smuggling chain were piles of scales. For example, in April 2019, Singapore Customs seized 12.9 tons of pangolin scales, the largest single smuggling case in recent years.

The evidence for this study also comes from the smuggling of pangolins with only scales. It is difficult for us to know how many new species of pangolins there are in these scales.

The 12.9 tons of pangolin scales seized in Singapore were declared as "frozen beef" and came from Nigeria. The scales came from four species of pangolins living in Africa. After averaging the size of different species, the dry weight of each pangolin scale is about 460 grams, so 12.9 tons is about 27,000 pangolins | Singapore Customs

Now, all eight pangolin species are listed as threatened species on the IUCN Red List, with the Chinese pangolin, Malayan pangolin and Philippine pangolin being critically endangered . They are all listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which means that all international trade in pangolins is prohibited.

The new species confirmed this time is also threatened by illegal trade - the new species was found in the smuggled scales seized, which is the most direct and tragic evidence. In other words, poachers found and killed them before scientists and conservation workers knew about this new species . Of course, poachers may not care what new species it is, they only see the scales and the lucrative business.

Get ahead of poachers

According to current samples, the genetic diversity of the new species is lower than that of other pangolins. This means that this almost completely mysterious new species is more vulnerable than other pangolins , and its population is more likely to collapse due to disease or environmental changes. The existing illegal trade will undoubtedly make them worse.

The researchers hope that the new species of pangolin can be found in the wild as soon as possible .

This not only helps us to truly understand this mysterious pangolin and its diversity, but is also very important for pangolin protection . Knowing where they live and what the population is like will allow us to take appropriate protective measures. And knowing where the poached animals come from and what species they are is also important for intercepting illegal trade and improving legal regulations.

The new species of pangolin may look similar to several other pangolins in Asia, so it may have been mistaken for other pangolins and existed in museums. The picture shows a Chinese pangolin in a museum. The Chinese pangolin is now a critically endangered species. Verdammelt / Wikimedia Commons

However, no one knows how much time is left for pangolins and researchers, and whether we can still get to know this pangolin - to know it as a complete, living pangolin, not just a fragment of broken scales and a frozen, bleached corpse after being descaled.

For the pangolins hiding in the forests somewhere, who will arrive first: researchers and conservationists, or the catastrophe brought about by poaching and illegal trade?

References

Tong-Tong Gu et al, Genomic analysis reveals a cryptic pangolin species, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2304096120

Author: Mai Mai

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Title image source: Yang Feng

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)

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