New Species of Lizard

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Researchers await DNA testing to confirm new, tiny lizard species
By PATRICIA TOWNSEND
ptownsend@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 20, 2005
No, it isn't a piece of jewelry, but a new, tiny - and colorful - lizard species from the Caribbean has caught the eye of biologists.

New Lizard


A Milwaukee biologist is among researchers trying to prove that a colorful lizard found on Union Island in the Caribbean is a new species.

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Father Mark de Silva, an amateur naturalist, discovered the lizard in May on Union Island in the St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

He sent photographs to researchers Bob Henderson of the Milwaukee Public Museum and his colleague, Robert Powell of Avila University in Kansas City.

"When we both saw the photograph, we both knew right away that this was something new," said Henderson, the curator of amphibians and reptiles at the museum.

Henderson and Powell have spent years studying reptiles in the West Indies and already were planning a trip to the area when they saw the photograph.

De Silva met them at the airport with live and preserved specimens, Henderson said.

In the 1960s, researcher James Lazell visited Union Island to look for lizards and missed this one.

The new lizard appears to be restricted to a specific area, said Lazell, president of the Conservation Agency in Jamestown, R.I., and a staff member of Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology and Yale's Peabody Museum.

The small island is just over 3 square miles and is being developed rapidly, as are many of the Grenadines.

"It is a unique species that perhaps only occurs on this island, and we really need to protect the habitat," Henderson said.

The new lizard was found in rotten wood and leaf litter in the dry forests on the island. Henderson speculates that the lizard eats ants, termites, and larvae.

The new species belongs to the gecko family and is small. At only 1.5 inches long, it is not much bigger than the world's smallest lizard, which is 0.5 inches, said Henderson.

So far researchers have only found male lizards. Henderson said the males probably are brightly colored to attract females.

In June, the researchers will go back to the island to look for females with a team of undergraduates. Henderson expects that the females will be drab brown, which is typical of this genus of gecko.

Dwarf geckos such as this species have a great deal of "personality" and may "tilt their head straight up and stare at you as you are trying to take their picture," said Blair Hedges, a professor of evolutionary biology at Pennsylvania State University.

The researchers believe that the new species belongs to the genus Gonatodes, which appears in northern South America and southern Central America.

They are waiting for DNA results to confirm whether this is another species of Gonatodes or belongs to a new genus.

If it's part of the Gonatodes genus, the lizard is the first to be found only in the West Indies.

The lizard's description and name will be published in the December issue of the Caribbean Journal of Science, Henderson said.

He hinted the lizard is named for a conservation-minded person on the island.

"This new species is absolutely spectacular," Hedges said. "The beautiful colors on this new species make it a real gem of a find."



From the Nov. 21, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel