Ziggy Stardust Snake among 163 new species discovered in Golden Triangle

"Biologists working in the Greater Mekong area have identified a staggering 163 new species, including a horned lizard, a rainbow-headed snake dubbed “Ziggy Stardust,” and a newt that looks like a Klingon from Star Trek."

The “Ziggy Stardust” snake bears the rainbow-like patterns of its namesake and was discovered in Laos.A distinctive gecko with pale blue spotted skin and piercing dark eyes was found in Laos. "Because of the incredibly high diversity of the gecko family, it took sophisticated DNA analysis to differentiate this individual as a new species." It's now known as the Bonkowski gecko.

In total, the WWF found 20 new species in Laos including 5 types of gecko, one snake, and 14 plants. The gecko types include Gekko aaronbaueri, Gekko bonkowskii, Gekko sengchanthavongi, Gekko boehmei, and Cyrtodactylus soudthichaki.