New to science:
While many mammal species are being wiped out by people, new ones are still being discovered.
This week, Snakeman Raymond Hoser published a peer reviewed scientific paper formally announcing the discovery of a new species of Tree Kangaroo from West Papua.
Named in honour of Hoser’s wife Shireen Hoser, the species Dendrolagus hoserae Hoser, 2019 is found in a remote montane forests of West Papua.
Until now this species had been confused with another rare species found several hundred km to the east in Papua New Guinea, or alternatively another found about 300 km to the north-west.
The new species was shown by Hoser to be distinct both genetically and morphologically and separated from the other two species by wide zones of unsuitable habitat.
A new subspecies of Tree Kangaroo was also identified and named in the same paper.
The need to document and name animals is the first and most important step in their conservation and Snakeman Raymond Hoser has noted that there are other as yet unknown to science species of mammals to be found in New Guinea.
At the same time that Hoser published his paper naming a new species of Kangaroo, he published another major paper naming 45 species of lizard.
This is the greatest number of reptile species formally named in a single paper in more than 30 years and a significant milestone in itself. Many of those species are already endangered and others may already be extinct. The relevant species within a genus Emoia, and associated genera are found also in New Guinea, as well as islands to the east, including Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomons, where they are threatened by various introduced species including the Mongoose, which appears to have already wiped out some species on some islands.

The two relevant papers are as follows:

Hoser, R. T. 2019. A new species of Tree Kangaroo, Genus Dendrolagus Müller, 1840 from Tembagapura, Mimika, Irian Jaya, Indonesia.
LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:80A052AC-4B41-455D-93BF-40C5C0BD6F35
Australasian Journal of Herpetology 40:50-55.
Published 10 July 2019.

and

Hoser, R. T. 2019. Eight new skink genera and 45 newly named species associated with Emoia Gray, 1845 sensu lato that reflects ancient divergence and recent speciation within the assemblage (Reptilia: Squamata).
LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:88C0C262-ABA2-4878-80D9-F85838DB90DD Australasian Journal of Herpetology 40:3-49.
Published 10 July 2019.

Raymond Hoser is the Snakeman. Details of his work here.

14 August 2018 - Zoologist, Scientist, Taxonomist, Conservationist, Powerhouse, Snakeman, Raymond Hoser. ...