This pangolin split 5,000,000 years ago - and we’re just finding out now?

This is the scale of an unknown, mysterious pangolin species, one that we know is out there but has never been photographed or described scientifically. It was revealed by genetic studies done in 2023. Researchers analyzed the mitochondrial DNA from shipments of pangolin scales confiscated in Hong Kong, believed to have originated in Southeast Asia. They compared the genomes from the scales to all known pangolin species and found that the genetic material did not match any existing species. Instead, it represents did a deeply divergent lineage, one that split from other Asian pangolins around 5 million years ago. No live individual has ever been observed scientifically, and the animal remains undescribed apart from its genetic signature and a handful of scales. Scientists have tentatively named the species Manus mysteria. It's so cool that there's a cryptic, mysterious pangolin species just waiting to be discovered, and it's so sad that it might be haunted to extinction before we ever get the chance.