Bizarre New Species Of Legless Amphibian Discovered In Cambodia

It's a bit hard to tell exactly what this new species is. Discovered in Cambodia's Cadamom Mountains, the slimy, stringy creature could easily be mistaken for a big worm or even a snake. Well, turns out, it's neither. It's actually a legless amphibian.

The new species, dubbed Ichthyophis cardamomensis, was found in Cambodia's southwest Cardmom Mountains--an area that's dealt with significant habitat loss over the years from illegal logging and other environmental destruction. 

The discovery was confirmed by scientists earlier in the month, via Cambodian Fauna and Flora International herpetologist Neang Thy, according to Yahoo News. The creature is caecilian or belonging to an order to amphibians that look strikingly similar to earthworms or snakes and generally live underground.

Zoologists and lead paper author, Peter Geissler from the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Germany, recently explained in a FFI release that the "three distinct unstriped Ichthyophiid species... are now described as new species, almost doubling the number of Ichthyophis species known from the Indochinese region."

"These discoveries are important to demonstrate that much of Cambodia's biodiversity remains unknown and unstudied by science, and many more areas need to be searched," Thy added, via the AFP.

However, some fear that the discovery could be short-lived. As the area and surrounding culture is threatened by illegal habitat destruction, conservationists continue to work on saving the remarkable land. 

More information regarding the new species can be seen via the journal Organisms Diversity and Evolution.

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