A new genomic and morphological study has revalidated Manis aurita, a pangolin species first described in Nepal in 1836 and then forgotten for some 189 years.The species, given the common name the Himalayan pangolin, was among what researchers long assumed was a single, widespread species, the Chinese pangolin.Confirming the species has immediate implications, including prospects of better protection and more nuanced approaches to conservation.
KATHMANDU — The animal Brian Houghton Hodgson saw looked almost like a pangolin, but it didn’t tick all the boxes. It had amor-like scales from head to tail, just as the French zoologist Georges Cuvier had earlier described. But it also had ears and far more scales across its trunk than any recorded species.
The year was 1836. For the 35-year-old British diplomat and pioneering naturalist, who was confined to Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley, this demanded an investigation: Was it a new species, or just an outlier?
Convinced he had come across an undescribed species, he gave the animal a name built entirely on those ears, Manis auritus: The Latin auritus translates to “with large ears.” But he hedged it with a backup name, Plurisquamis, “the many-scaled,” in case the ears turned out later to be an unremarkable feature.
