Discover new lizards in Western Australia

A group of scientists led by Dr Stephen Donnellan of the University of Adelaide (Australia) has discovered a new species of lizard at Dampier, Kimberley, Western Australia.

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The lizard Dampier Peninsula goanna.(Photo: sci-news.com)

New lizards belong to Varanus genus, often called goannas or monitors. This group is quite diverse with 77 species distributed in Africa, Asia and the most abundant in Australia with 31 species.

The newly discovered species is named Dampier Peninsula goanna (Varanus sparnus) , confirmed to be the smallest of this lizard genus. Varanus includes large species such as the giant desert daisy in Australia (Varanus giganteus), body longer than 2m, and the dragon Komodo (Varanus komodoensis) famous from Indonesia longer than 3m and weighs over 80kg. Meanwhile, Dampier Peninsula goanna is only 23cm in size and weighs 16g.

Dr Stephen Donnellan, Ph.D., said the new species works very hard, albeit small, but it can dig through pieces of hardwood or slabs. Recording them is quite difficult because this species often moves.