A new species of a legless amphibian that looks similar to a hybrid worm and snake was just discovered in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia.

It was discovered as conservationists attempt to observe and record many previously unknown species from the country's unique biodiversity.

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This new species is called Ichthyophis cardamomensis. It appears like a giant earthworm with a peculiar head of a snake. It measures nearly one foot long and its body is a shiny dark brown.

There were two others recently discovered I. caecelians in Vietnam however. This is the second one in Cambodia.

These amphibians have the usual bands or stripes associated with snakes that lead people to mistake most caecilians as snakes. It is also because of this that scientists usually overlook these creatures.

These caecilians are so similar in appearance to worms and other snakes in that they have scaleless skin and possess different sizes. To determine if the creature is a caecilian, scientists have to run comprehensive DNA tests to confirm the new species.

Lead author Peter Geissler from the State Museum of Natural History in Germany said these three unstriped Ichtyophiid species are now considered a new species, in addition to the others found in Indochina.

Herpetologist Neang Thy said these discoveries are pivotal to the region's biodiversity as this area was formerly closed by the former Khmer Rouge government, which also banned the mountains to scientists and researchers until the 1990s.

This study was published in the journal, Organisms Diversify and Evolution.

TagsBizarre New Species of Legless Amphibians Discovered in Cambodia, Cambodia, indochina, legless amphibian, new species legless amphibian strange weird bizarre cambodia