Discover new lizards in Vietnamese pubs

This new lizard species is named Leiolepis ngovantrii . They are able to reproduce without males. This means that female lizards will produce babies with identical genomes. This is not a rare phenomenon in lizards because about 1% of this species can reproduce themselves.

The lizard Leiolepis ngovantrii has a body length of about 11.5cm. On their backs there are pale brown spots with meshes, evenly spread from the back of the neck and small, fading at the caudal peduncle. Two pale yellow stripes run parallel to the two docks. The above colors help lizard Leiolepis ngovantrii easily blend with the color of the forest floor in the dry season to avoid enemies.

National Geographic magazine quoted Dr. Lee Grismer, a reptile researcher at La Sierra University, saying: ' The Vietnamese people eat loin Leiolepis ngovantrii as a specialty from a long time ago. In the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, lizards appear a lot on the menus of restaurants '.

Ngo Van Tri, a scientist from the Vietnam Institute of Science and Technology, found that asexual reproductive lizards were sold at a restaurant in Ba Ria - Vung Tau. Realizing this was a strange roller, Mr. Tri took pictures of them and sent them to Dr. Grismer.

After viewing the photos, Dr. Grismer and his son - who are studying a doctorate in reptile - discovered that this could be a male reptile and the Leiolepis family. Next, Dr. Grismer and his father flew to Vietnam to study more closely about this lizard species.

After the investigation, the scientists found that the lizard Leiolepis ngovantrii lived mainly in the area between the two distinct terrain of low forest and sandy beaches of Binh Chau - Phuoc Buu nature reserve in the province. BA Ria Vung Tau.

Scientists surmise that the lizard Leiolepis ngovantrii may be the hybrid of two lizard species living on sand and lizards that live in low forest. Therefore, they can adapt to living conditions in the area between the forest and sand dunes.

Mitochondrial DNA test results also show that Leiolepis ngovantrii has a " foreign surname" as subspecies L. guttata. Because the DNA of Leiolepis ngovantrii is only passed on to the females, scientists have not yet identified their " internal ".