A NEW species of scorpion related to the ghost scorpion has been discovered on Penang Hill by an international group of scientists, science website EurekaAlert reports.

The discovery was made during a two-week survey by the California Academy of Sciences in partnership with The Habitat Penang Hill and a team that included Universiti Sains Malaysia.

The scorpion is said to belong to one of the oldest lineages of scorpions on Earth known as the ghost scorpion that is native to Southeast Asia. It glows very faintly under ultraviolet light, making it difficult to spot.

The discovery was made by arachnologist Dr Lauren Esposito and post-doctorate student Dr Stephanie Loria from the Academy.

They were part of a 117-member team of scientists that conducted a survey of the primary rainforests around Penang Hill from the treetop canopy to the bottom of the forest floor.

The expedition yielded other new finds, such as sighting of species that have never been recorded in Penang before. 

These included birds (Red-rumped Swallow and Stripe-throated Bulbul), spotted-wing fruit bat, an orchid, algae, mammals, frogs, flies, ants and the segmented funnel-web spider, which has not been seen in Penang since it was first discovered there in the late 1800s.

USM zoologists were also able to capture a recording of the flying lemur, an elusive nocturnal creature that moves by gliding.

The Habitat Penang Hill aims to list the iconic hill, with untouched forests said to be 130 million years old, as a Unesco biosphere reserve next year. – December 8, 2017.