The Dinghushan National Nature Reserve (鼎湖山国家级自然保护区) in Zhaoqing, Guangdong recorded 346 new wildlife distribution records from 2021 to 2025, according to official statistics.
Established in 1956 as China's first nature reserve, Dinghushan preserves one of the country's best-preserved subtropical monsoon evergreen broadleaf forest ecosystems and is home to 1,948 species of higher plants. Recently, a rare orchid species, Epipogium roseum, was recorded in the reserve for the first time.
The reserve has built a comprehensive monitoring system combining line transect surveys, infrared camera traps and acoustic monitoring. These systems are used to track biodiversity across birds, butterflies, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles, including the Chinese pangolin.
New records identified between 2021 and 2025 include 10 bird species, 3 reptile species, 316 insect species, 1 chilopod species and 16 arachnid species. Among them, 6 are nationally protected species, and 6 represent new records for Guangdong Province. Since 2026, additional species such as the Pseudocalotes microlepis and white-tailed dibamid have also been confirmed.
Author | Huang Xinying
Photo | Zhaoqing Fabu
