Kathmandu, Aug 10 - Almost 50 years after an expedition by Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary to track down the elusive yeti of the Himalayas failed, there is fresh hope for the existence of the mythical half ape, half man with the discovery of 350 new species, 94 of which are in Nepal alone.

The World Wildlife Fund Nepal Monday said that a biological treasure trove has been unearthed in the eastern Himalayas that includes the world's smallest deer, a `flying frog' and a 100 million-year old gecko.

A decade of research carried out by scientists in remote mountain areas endangered by rising global temperatures found 94 new species in Nepal.

Though they comprise 40 plants, 36 invertebrates, seven fish, two amphibians and nine reptiles and not the snowman itself, yet the discovery of fresh species raises the hope that further explorations could unearth newer wonders.

One of the most remarkable discoveries in Nepal was the Heterometrus nepalensis, a scorpion discovered in the Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal. It is the first species of scorpion ever to be discovered in the country.

In a report, The Eastern Himalayas - Where Worlds Collide, the WWF has detailed the discoveries made by scientists from various organisations between 1998 and 2008 in a region reaching across Bhutan and north-east India to the far north of Myanmar as well as Nepal and southern parts of Tibet.

The Eastern Himalayas are now known to harbour a staggering 10,000 plant species, 300 mammal species, 977 bird species, 176 reptiles, 105 amphibians and 269 types of freshwater fish.