Chironex

Just received an email from Markku Hakkinen about his 2006 discovery of M. Chunii. Following is a link to his published research article:

http://www.plantsystematics.com/qika...g/jse08020.pdf

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Scot

Worm_Farmer

Very cool, Lavander! That is a cool looking purple flower.

Tog Tan

Very nice plant Scot. The way Markku works, it's a matter of time more new stuff turn up as Southern China is a big place.
The other 2 places worth looking into are Laos and Cambodia. It is weird that in the wild orchid trade, we have gotten many new species from Laos but not Cambodia. Much of her jungles are still heavily mined and probably it lessens the hunting.
Lastly, one place place that comes to mind is the vast area of Kalimantan. I have been told of quite a number of new weird animals there by my contacts. There is even an undescribed species of dwarf wild pig. The locals love to bbg it!

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Bob

The last really large bovine(really the last large land animal at all) ,the "Saola" or "Vu Quang Ox" was discovered in Viet nam on the Laotian border. Like you mentioned there are reputed to be others yet awaiting discovery as well. From what I've read, many are known to the indigenous peoples but ,no one goes there. It wouldn't be surprising at all to have many improtant botanical discoveries as well.

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Tog Tan

Hey Bob, yeah, I am aware of the Saola. In fact, let's get a little off track here from Musa chunii, the wildlife traders, especially the illegal ones get the weirdest things and they are quickly snapped up by collectors. I know because I was in their network once. One thing about them is their distrust of the academics who may reveal them in their writing so most of these new finds go unnoticed. During my time, we were trying to figure out a new hi-yellow tree monitor found in Sabah which sold for $8,000 a head but to no avail. I also came across a new species of cobra in Thailand which is an intermediate between the normal cobra and the king cobra. Lastly there was the talk about a King Cobra with the girth of almost 10" found near the mountainous border of Myanmar and Thailand. I believe this is no myth because it came from a very experience aborigine snake collector who was so startled and scared by the appearance of the snake that he fell and rolled down a slope. Ahh.. there are so many stories I can tell you guys which seem unbelievable!

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Chironex

Do tell, I enjoy these stories. Prhaps they would also be good fodder for a off-banana subject in the Bananas magazine...?

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Scot

Tog Tan

Ok Scot, you asked for it! Here's a true and sad story so far...

The Black Dragon, Varanus sp


In Malaysia, there are 4 known species of monitor lizards and I was always on the lookout for something new. 6 years ago while I was still in the reptile trade I came across a totally black monitor lizard from a very remote place down south.

I have always been fascinated by black monitors and at that time there were only 3 known black monitors, Varanus beccarii from Irian/PNG, Varanus togianus from Togo Island and Varanus komaini from Thailand.

All these are medium size lizards with an svl (snout to vent length) of about 3ft. The one I found had a tl (total length) of about 9ft+. Moreover, the Black Dragon, (I had to give it a commercial name as any attempt to name it before its formal description will make it nomen nudum) is dorsally and ventrally a solid black. The other species had a lighter ventral area. It was just not an ordinary animal, its sheer size made it the 2nd biggest lizard after the Komodo Dragon, Varanus komodensis.

I spent a fortune and collected 86 live specimens. They were kept in my warehouse in a prison like enclosure. I shipped 30 perfect specimens to an 'associate' in Florida. These guys broke their agreement and I never saw a cent. They were selling the animals at $2,000 a head with the big ones going for $8,000. So much for trust.

The academic who was supposed to describe it took a back seat and now time has lapsed and I have not heard from him since even though I tried to contact that guy. This monitor was to be named after me. It would have been the 5th species in Malaysia.

These were among a batch of 24 specimens I loaned to a reptile park. I had to sedate them as they are very strong and aggressive and a living hell to handle!


So when it comes to discoveries there are many pros and cons. Money, time and effort. I have lost interest in trying to recover money from the guys in Florida. My belief in the Four Face Buddha tells me that "the sin be upon them".

Even at that time I already had an interest in plants. So, wherever I went looking for reptiles, I checked for plants too. Right now I am reopening my network to search for wild 'naners, so let's see if I can have a happier ending to my future stories!

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Chironex

Not cool what they did to you. But thanks for the story, those things look frightening to me.

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Scot

Caloosamusa

Good morning Tog Tan,

Was your associate in FL T Cr, out of Ft. M & Lake P?

Michael_Andrew

If you'd send me 30 I'd promise to pay you Tog.

Tog Tan

You two blokes are too much

ClM, they are still in Fl and the biggest dealer there. What they did to me will come around to them.

Hey Michael, on a serious note, they are not fun to be with. In the original collection of 80+ animals, I had an alpha male and an alpha female.They seem to take turns to challenge me whenever I went into the enclosure to feed them. I will use a pole to push them away but them critters just don't understand "no". So what I did was whacked them quite hard right on top of their head and it took a few times before they got the message.
The other thing is after 3 weeks I got them, I became ill and very tired as I caught something from them. I was like that for 6 mths before I got over it. Dealing with wild caught animals mean one thing, getting a new vectors into your body. I am the type who would not take the sanitary precaution as I prefer to get what they have to give and let my body build up the resistance. I had been down but still on the go from various infections I caught from the animals I had. At the height of my business, I work almost 7-24 caring for over 1,000 reptiles and arachnids of all types from around the world. I had the biggest collection in the region more than any zoo.

Right now, I am glad it's only plants I have to care for now.

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Bob

Careful what you ask for Tog. Plants can be just as bad or worse. At least you know what your getting into.

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Chironex

Ok, so any more comment on Musa chunii?

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Scot

Tog Tan

Scot, this thread aquoti gone as the other one..... We Guanta hafta find other Threads to wreck and then tapir off to some other Thread to wreck before Jarred catch up with us...

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Chironex

Lovin' it!!!

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Scot