By Elahe Izadi April 8 at 9:04 AM
Researchers have discovered three new species of woodlizards -- relatively large lizards resembling mini-dragons -- living in the Andean cloud-forests of Peru and Ecuador. They published their findings Monday in the journal ZooKeys.
The three new species -- Enyalioides altotambo, Enyalioides anisolepis and Enyalioides sophiarothschildae -- brings the total number of known woodlizards to 15. That's quite a leap from less than 10 years ago, when study co-author Omar Torres-Carvajal was completing his post-doctoral work. At that time, there were just seven such woodlizards known to science.
"They look like tiny dragons. That makes them really attractive for some people," Torres-Carvajal told The Post by phone. "They are, to me, one of the most wonderful lizards in South American forests."
They are also among the largest lizards in South America, and these newly-identified species brings the total number of reptile species in Ecuador to 450, according to Museo de Zoología in Ecuador, where Torres-Carvajal works.
Woodlizards are big, reaching a length of 30 to 40 centimeters, and have huge heads relative to their body size. These bright and colorful creatures roam around during the day and sleep at night, which is when researchers caught them, as they snoozed on tree trunks, branches and atop of ferns. But little is known about their behavior. Some of these species can change colors, fading in tones from green to brown over a relatively-short period of time when under stress, Torres-Carvajal said.
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