Manis mysteria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Manis mysteria Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Known scales belonging to M. mysteria | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Pholidota |
| Family: | Manidae |
| Genus: | Manis |
| Species: | M. mysteria |
| Binomial name | |
| Manis mysteria Tong-Tong et al., 2023 | |
Manis mysteria, the cryptic pangolin, is a pangolin in the family Manidae that is native to an unknown location within Asia.[1] It is only known from partial specimens and the species has never been observed alive.[2]
Manis mysteria is known from twenty-seven scales confiscated in 2012 and 2013 in Hong Kong,[3] and a further six scales confiscated during 2015 and 2019 in Yunnan, China.[2]
The scales were first identified as belonging to a new pangolin species by Zhang (2015), who identified a genotype lineage which could not be identified as belonging to any of the Asian pangolin species known at the time.[3]
Tong-Tong (2023) described the scales and assigned them to a new species named Manis mysteria.[2]