Observatory, New York Times, by Henry Fountain, 4/1217
The
number of lizard species in the world — by most counts, around 4,000 —
has just increased by one, with the announcement of a new species found
on Luzon island in the Philippines.
But
this is not a reptile you’d want in a home terrarium. It’s a 6-foot
monitor lizard, gray with a spectacular pattern of colorful dots and
other markings on its scales.
How
did a species of lizard the size of a human remain undetected all these
centuries? The answer is it didn’t. “It’s only new to science,” said
Rafe M. Brown, an assistant professor at the University of Kansas and
senior author of a paper describing the new species, Varanus bitatawa, in Biology Letters.
Dr.
Brown said the lizard, which has a diet consisting almost entirely of
fruit, was known to native people in the forested northeastern coastal
region of Luzon. “They eat it, and it’s in their vocabulary,” he said.
It first came to the attention of scientists about 10 years ago through a
photograph of a local hunter with one of the lizards slung over his
back. But it was not until last summer that an adult specimen was
obtained from a hunter by two Kansas graduate students, Luke J. Welton
and Cameron D. Silar.
The
lizard is distinct, both in appearance and genetically, from a lizard
of similar size found in southeastern Luzon. Unforested river valleys
between the two areas probably served as a barrier to allow the two
species to diverge, Dr. Brown said.
It’s
not known if the species is threatened, but conservation in general is a
concern in the Philippines. Being so large and colorful, the lizard
could inspire efforts that could protect other animals.
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