(CNN) -- A frog that eats birds and a gecko with leopard stripes
are among the 163 new species discovered last year in the
Greater Mekong region of southeast Asia, according to a report
by the World Wildlife Fund. The Cat Ba leopard gecko is found
exclusively in Cat Ba Island National Park in northern Vietnam.
The discovery of 100 new plants, 28 fish, 18 reptiles, 14
amphibians, two mammals and one bird species highlights the
extent of the biodiversity in the region, said Barney Long, head
of the WWF's Asian Species Conservation program. "It's a melting
pot of diverse habitats. It has some of the wettest forests on
the planet, high mountains, and a diverse array of terrestrial
and marine habitats, including the Mekong River," he said. "We
continue to find new species of fish, primates and mammals, and
nowhere else compares to the amount of large mammals that have
been discovered in the region. It shows how little we know about
species in the region," he said. "From a biodiversity
perspective, there are still