Giant spider among 1,000 species found in Mekong

SCIENTISTS have discovered more than 1,000 species in Southeast Asia’s Greater Mekong region in the past decade, including a spider as big as a dinner plate, the World Wildlife Fund said yesterday.

A rat thought to have become extinct 11 million years ago and a cyanide-laced, shocking pink millipede were among creatures found in what the group called a “biological treasure trove”.

The species were all found in the rainforests and wetlands along the Mekong River, which flows through Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan.