A previously unknown species of monitor lizard has been discovered in a mountainous region of the Philippines.
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Although familiar to the resident Agta and Ilongot tribes people, scientists were unaware of its existence until an international team of colleagues from the US, Philippines and The Netherlands surveyed a series of lizard specimens in museums both within the US and Philippines.
The 2m-long reptile – which has been described as spectacular by the scientists who found it - has bright yellow, blue and green skin, and survives on a diet of just fruit. It also has unique claws which allow the monitor to spend most of its time in the treetops so it to reach its favorite fruits.
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This is significant as it makes this new animal one of just three species of fruit-eating monitor lizards in the world that are known to science. Unfortunately all of these specialist fruit eating lizards have seen their numbers drop significantly due to habitat destruction, and trapping for the pet trade.
Dr Rafe Brown, one of the scientists who described the new lizard in the journal 'Biology Letters' has called this new monitor ‘… an incredible animal…’, even so, it has still been given the relatively dry name of Varanus bitatawa.
How this particularly large lizard has managed to remain undiscovered by scientists until now is somewhat of a mystery, especially as there has been a significant number of research teams working in the northern Philippines in recent years.
The research team themselves say it may be because the lizard is highly secretive in nature and is rarely seen outside the forest or crosses open country. This is probably in no small part due to the fact that it is meat is highly prized by the local tribe’s people who hunt it for food. Whatever the reason, this significant new find shows the importance of protecting a diminishing, natural environment as we are clearly at risk of losing species to extinction before they are even discovered.
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