New species of giant fruit-eating lizard discovered in the Philippines

The newly discovered Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor displays bright yellow and black stripes and spots across its back and eats mainly fruit and snails. Credit Joseph Brown.

The Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor is new to science

April 2010. One of the largest terrestrial vertebrate species to be discovered in a century has been found in the forests of the Philippines. Scientists have discovered and documented a new species of monitor lizard that can grow up to 2 metres long.

The new lizard appears to be very wary of humans and spends much of its time in the forest tress of the Northern Sierra Madre mountain range of Luzon, which may explain why it has not been recognised before.

First seen in 2001
Although the species had been seen as early as 2001, it was only last year that a joint Kansas University (KU)-National Museum of the Philippines expedition to Aurora Province yielded a large, adult specimen and good DNA samples.

Luke Welton, a Kansas University graduate student and one of the co-authors of the scientific description, was one of the first biologists to see a living Northern Sierra Madre Monitor Lizard in Aurora Province.

"I knew as soon as I saw the animal that it was something special," says Welton. "I had seen specimens of the other two species of fruit-eating monitors, but neither of the other known species are nearly as spectacular as the Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor."

Giant fruit-eating monitor lizards
Giant fruit-eating monitor lizards are found only in the Philippines. It is one of three giant fruit-eating monitor lizard species that are threatened by destruction of their forest habitats and, to a lesser degree, by hunting for their meat and the pet trade.

"We hope that by focusing on protection of this new monitor, conservation biologists and policy makers can work together to protect the remaining highly imperilled forests of northern Luzon" said Rafe Brown, assistant professor of biology at KU and curator of the Herpetology Division at the KU Biodiversity Institute.

"The new species can serve as a convenient ‘Flagship Species' for conservation, focusing the attention of the public and affording protection to many unrelated species if its habitat is preserved," said Brown, who led the research team that discovered the new species.

Brown also said that it was extremely rare to discover a new, large vertebrate species.

The scientific description of the reptile has been published in Biology Letters, an international journal published by the Royal Society of London.

Photos courtesy of Joseph Brown