Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

The only two known specimens were collected in
1929 by J. A. Sillem in western Tibet. Described
as a new species in 1992 from skins found at the
Zoological Museum at Amsterdam.
Stresemann’s bush crow. Zavattariornis stresemanni.
Discovered in 1938 in a limited area
around Yabēlo, Ethiopia. Classed with the crows
but looks somewhat like a starling and has a starlinglike
nest. Has a hooked bill and bristles over
the nostrils.
Taiwan bush-warbler. Bradypterus alishanensis.
First collected in the Ali-Shan Mountains of Taiwan
in 1917 as a subspecies of the Russet bushwarbler
(B. mandelli ). Recognized as a separate
species in 2000, when its song was discovered to
be distinct from that of other populations.
Reptiles and Amphibians
Archey’s frog. Leiopelma archeyi. Tiny frog so well
adapted to a terrestrial existence that it lacks webbing
between its toes. Described in 1942, though
reported since the nineteenth century. Endemic to
the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand.
Arnold’s giant tortoise. Dipsochelys arnoldi.
Described in 1982 by Roger Bour from three
misidentified museum specimens. This tortoise
was presumed extinct in its native Seychelles Islands
by 1840, but captive animals with shapes
different from the Aldabran species (D. dussumieri
) turned up in 1997 and apparently represent
survivals of the original giant saddle-backed tortoises.
A total of eighteen are now known.
Black toad. Bufo exsul. Small, dark toad with
white spots and tracings, discovered by Carl L.
Hubbs in 1934 but not described until 1942. Occurs
only in water flowing from springs in the
Deep Springs Valley in Inyo County, California.
Considered by some to be a subspecies of the
Western toad (B. boreas).
Bolsón tortoise. Gopherus flavomarginatus.
Documented in 1888 but recognized as a distinct
species only in 1959, this is the largest land reptile
in North America. Its carapace may reach 18
inches in length. Its range is restricted to the Bolsón
de Mapimí Desert, Coahuila State, Mexico,
though it is known from fossil finds as far north as
Oklahoma.
Catahoula salamander. Plethodon ainsworthi.
Two specimens were discovered in 1964 near Bay
Springs, Mississippi, and misidentified as a similar
Plethodon species. James Lazell described them as
belonging to a distinct species in 1998, but no further
individuals have been collected.
Cerrophidion petlalcalensis. A small pit viper
found in the Cerro Petlalcala south of Orizaba,
Veracruz State, Mexico, and first described in
1999. One of its discoverers, Marco Antonio
López-Luna, was bitten in the hand by this viper.
Cochin Forest cane turtle. Heosemys silvatica.
Known only from one or two specimens obtained
in 1911 from the Cochin State Forests, Kerala
State, India, until it was rediscovered in the Chalakudi
Valley in 1982.
Colombian giant toad. Bufo blombergi. One of
the world’s largest toads, 8–9 inches long, this
species was first described in 1951 from a specimen
taken in Nariño Department, Colombia. Found
from northern Ecuador to western Colombia.
Crocodile lizard. Shinisaurus crocodilurus.
Dark gray-and-red lizard, 8–12 inches long, found
in the Dayao Shan Mountain range, Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Province, China. Discovered
in 1928, though long known to the Chinese
as the “lizard of great sleepiness.”
Delcourt’s giant gecko. Hoplodactylus delcourti.
The only known specimen of this shortheaded,
bulky gecko, measuring 2 feet long, was
obtained sometime in the nineteenth century by
the Marseille Natural History Museum. The herpetology
curator, Alain Delcourt, inspected the
specimen more closely in 1979, which led to its
recognition as a new species in 1986 and its description
by Aaron Bauer and Anthony P. Russell.
Its provenance is unknown, though since other
Hoplodactylus geckos live primarily in New
Zealand, it’s likely to have come from there. Maori
legends of the KAWEKAWEAU may refer to encounters
with this gecko.
Earless monitor. Lanthanotus borneensis. A
nocturnal lizard of Sarawak State on the island of
Borneo in Indonesia that grows to 18 inches, lacks
external ear openings, and has transparent lower
eyelids and a relatively long tail. Said to be the
world’s rarest lizard, it may have evolved from a
lizard group ancestral to the snakes. First described
in 1878, it was placed in a family of its own (Lanthanotidae)
in 1954. In 1961, a live specimen was
finally captured and examined.
Eleutherodactylus iberia. North America’s
smallest frog. Black with orange stripes and only
0.4 inches long, it was discovered in 1996 on
Monte Iberia, Cuba, by Alberto Estrada.
ANIMALS DISCOVERED SINCE 1900 643