Visible lizards

Last time I wrote about the discovery of a new lizard, it was a little tiny chameleon found in Madagascar. Now some interesting species have been found in other parts of the world:

• Vietnam: Calotes bachae (IMAGE ABOVE) was mistaken for similar blue lizards in Burma and Thailand, but genetic testing confirms they are their own species. "I am sure that in Southeast Asia in general there are still many more new lizard species to discover," says researcher Timo Hartmann.
• India: Geckoella Jeyporensis (IMAGE HERE) is a gecko rediscovered through the persistence of doctoral candidate Ishan Agarwal, who was determined to locate living lizards known only from a single male specimen collected in 1877 by a British Colonel. “In many ways, the rediscovery of Geckoella jeyporensis is symptomatic of herpetological research in India. There are a number of species that have not been recorded since their original descriptions or are known from few localities. While some of these species may be intrinsically rare, range-restricted or infrequently encountered due to ecological traits...many so-called lost species have simply not been searched for by trained field biologists,” reads the published report.
• Peru: Enyalioides azulae and Enyalioides binzayedi (IMAGES HERE AND HERE) were discovered in the Andes, the most recent of five woodlizard species to be found since 2008. Researcher Pablo Venegas states, "Thanks to these discoveries, Peru becomes the country holding the greatest diversity of woodlizards. Cordillera Azul National Park is a genuine treasure for Peru and it must be treated as a precious future source of biodiversity exploration and preservation."

Foreshadowing things to come…

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