Kimberley District gets newly discovered species of Rock Wallaby, Frog, Lizards and venomous snake!

Media release 29 April 2020.

Last week saw several new species formally discovered and named from the Kimberley district in Western Australia. Included were a new species of Rock Wallaby, a new species of possum, a venomous snake, some species of lizards and even a frog.
The culmination of many years work by Melbourne based Scientist Raymond Hoser saw the publication of 39 new species descriptions last week, coming from all states of Australia as well as New Guinea. As mentioned already, several were from the Kimberley district.
Better known as The Snakeman, Raymond Hoser who specializes in snakes, has spent considerable time in most parts of Australia over some decades doing research on Australian wildlife.
The snake species he formally named, he first caught in 1982, but it took him another 38 years to finally find the time to publish the formal scientific description of the species.
That snake, Brachyurophis richardshearimi was named in honour of a well-known snake catcher from Sydney. It is brightly coloured and venomous, but not a risk to humans.
A dragon lizard from around Lake Argyle was named Ctenophorus jackyhoserae in honour of Hoser’s youngest daughter. The new species of Rock Wallaby, Petrogale martinekae from the Prince Regent River area was named in honour of Maryann Martinek.
She exposed a money scamming fraud involving a pet Koala in the wake of the devastating Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 in Victoria and was honoured for her services to wildlife conservation.
Hoser, who has discovered and named dozens of species of snake, lizard and frog from north-west Australia, and hundreds worldwide, says the Kimberley region still has much undiscovered and unnamed biodiversity. He fears that some species may become extinct before they are formally named. Two species of frog named by Hoser this week from north Queensland may already be extinct, with specimens of both not seen in the wild for some years.
When not discovering new and unnamed species, Hoser runs the wildlife education and conservation business called Reptile Parties. He also operates a 24/7 snake catcher business in Melbourne. Reptile parties does school incursions and kids birthday party shows with live reptiles for educational purposes.
His business has been so successful that the business model of travelling reptile and wildlife shows is now being copied worldwide.
Hoser says that when kids have contact with snakes and lizards they learn they are not the crazy one-dimensional killing machines that people see on TV.
He describes the crocodiles he uses in his displays as being dog-tame and acting no different to dogs and cats.
They are tame, friendly and have absolutely no interest in biting people. In fact they know their names and come to Mr. Hoser when he calls them.
Speaking of crocodiles, Hoser formally named two new species of crocodile in 2012, and was rubbished by a number of rival scientists, including Graeme Webb, Adam Britton and Darren Naish at the time.
However later technology that analyses DNA proved Hoser was correct and so the two species, one from the Northern Territory and the other from southern New Guinea are now officially recognized.
Further details can be found by calling the Snakeman on 0412-777-211