Recently discovered lizard species tend to be smaller, are more often nocturnal and are at greater risk of extinction than those described previously.
Scientists have been identifying new lizard species at an astonishing rate — with a more than 30% increase in species number recorded since 2000. To find out what these animals have in common, Shai Meiri at Tel Aviv University in Israel studied data on the biology and geography of all 6,321 lizard species known in mid-2015. He found that species described this century tended to be small and to have limited geographical ranges — explaining why they remained undiscovered for so long. Nearly 40% of these lizards were geckos, and 37% were nocturnal.
New species were more likely to have declining populations and face extinction, meaning that many species may be lost soon after — or perhaps even before — being described, Meiri warns.
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New lizards under threat. Nature 536, 252 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/536252c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/536252c
