Pangolins are the world’s most trafficked mammal. A nearly 200-year-old specimen could help.

They look like a pinecone that sprouted legs and a tail and started to walk. Pangolins have armored bodies covered with overlapping scales that protect the mid-sized mammals that are native to parts of Africa and Asia. These scales also make them highly valuable to poachers. In fact, pangolins are the most highly-trafficked mammals in the world, and are now at risk of extinction.

However, an unrecognized species of Asian pangolin (Manis aurita) has been hidden among the trees of Nepal and Northern India. This new species expands biologists’ understanding of where pangolins live and how they differ from one another. The new species could help prevent poaching and is detailed in a study published today in the journal Communications Biology.

“We can’t protect what we do not know, and now that we have confirmed that this other species of pangolin exists, we can use that information to help protect these endangered animals,” Anderson Feijó, a study co-author and mammologist at the Field Museum in Chicago, said in a statement.

What’s in a name?

Last year, a group of scientists wrote a paper saying that Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) were not all the same. What had long been considered one species, was really two. One mostly lives in China, while the other is found in the foothills of the Himalayas, across parts of Nepal, India, Bhutan, and Myanmar. They subsequently named the mountainous pangolin Manis indoburmanica, or the Indo-Burmese pangolin.

But the second name assigned to a species is key when naming a new species. Feijó and his team were already in the thick of a decade-long analysis of the pangolin family tree. Using physical traits and DNA, they were working to back up their arguments of how many species of pangolin exist and how they’re related. They then read about another pangolin species (Manis aurita) that had been described in 1836. In the decades since, it was downgraded to a subspecies of Chinese pangolin. This left the team with a family tree riddle, what is the relationship between indoburmanica and aurita, and are they the same species?

Digging to a 190-year-old specimen

Fortunately for the team, museum archives came in for the rescue.

“The ultimate, most thrilling piece of the puzzle came from the Natural History Museum [NHM] in London,” added Kai He, a study co-author and researcher at Guangzhou University in China. “Thanks to their incredible expertise and assistance, the NHM team successfully sequenced the DNA directly from the historical type specimen of the Nepalese subspecies (aurita). This specimen dates back to 1836, making it nearly 190 years old.”

Pangolin specimens collected 50 years ago or more at the Field Museum in Chicago. Image: Bella Koscal, Field Museum

This historic DNA tucked away in a London archive provided the definitive proof. Modern specimens from the Himalayas matched aurita. The species that had been described in 2025 as M. indoburmanica should actually be called M. aurita.

According to the team, the differences between Himalayan pangolin M. aurita (the one that was briefly known as M. indoburmanica) and the Chinese pangolin are subtle but noteworthy. Compared with the Chinese pangolin, the Himalayan pangolin has a larger body, a longer tail, and distinctly smaller ears.

“The newly resurrected species name, aurita, even refers to its distinct ears,” said Feijó.

How accurate species names help conservation

The two species also inhabit different geographical regions that don’t overlap. For critically endangered animals and particularly the ones targeted by poachers, a clear and detailed account of species varieties and where they live is vital to their protection.

Pangolin scales are believed to be a powerful aphrodisiac in traditional Chinese medicine. The demand makes illegal poaching lucrative, while it poses an enormous threat to these animals. But putting a stop to poaching is no small task.

“In the marketplaces you basically only find pangolin scales, not the whole animals, which makes it hard to know which species are being hunted and where they are coming from,” says Feijó.

Manis aurita, the newly-designated species of pangolin. Image: Tulshi Laxmi Suwal

New DNA analyses like this one can help scientists precisely identify the species of pangolins that are being poached. Conservationists can then work backwards using poached samples taken from illegal marketplaces to pinpoint which species are being hunted and locate the geographical regions at the highest risk for poaching.

That data can then be used to stop poachers in different regions, and help efforts to re-introduce pangolins to their correct regions.

According to the team, real-world conservation applications like these are not possible without museum collections. Many contain pangolin specimens dating back over 100 years.

“The confirmation of Manis aurita as a valid species demonstrates the importance of long-term research, international collaboration, and museum collections,” added study co-author Narayan Koju, a biologist Pokhara University in Nepal. “Most importantly, it provides a strong scientific basis for conservation planning, wildlife forensics, and efforts to protect one of the world’s most trafficked mammals from extinction.”

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