Two New Species of Woodlizards Discovered in Peru
Posted on March 20, 2013
Two new species of woodlizards have been discovered in Peru. The two newly described lizards were found in Cordillera Azul National Park, the 3rd biggest national park in Peru. A male Enyalioides binzayedi - with green spikes on its back - is pictured above and male and female Enyalioides azulae lizards are pictured below.
The Enyalioides azulae can only be found in a single locality in the mountain rainforest of the R�o Huallaga basin in northeastern Peru. E. azulae is about 10 centimeters long and was named after the Spanish word azul, which means blue. E. binzayedi is 12 centimeters long and named after Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE, the sponsor of the field survey. The new lizards were reported in the journal ZooKeys.
Lead author Dr Pablo Venegas from Centro de ornitolog�a y Biodiversidad (CORBIDI) in Lima, Peru said in a statement, "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!"
