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Peru is now the home to a newly discovered lizard species

Peru is now the home to a newly discovered lizard species

By HT School, Oct 19, 2021 18:00

The predecessors of Liolaemus Warjantay lived almost 160 million years ago.

Researcher Jhonatan Alarcon of the Chile University has revealed that these creatures have a wingspan of about two metres.

The National Conservation Agency has recently reported that last month, scientists have discovered a new lizard species in Peru. It has been found with the help from other neighbouring countries like Argentina, Chile and Bolivia. Scientifically named as Liolaemus Warjantay, this lizard species lives in the southwestern tip of South America, in the region between Central Andes and Patagonia. About 280 surviving members have so far been traced, primarily in Cotahuasi Subbasin Landscape Reserve in the country’s Arequipa region. This iguanian lizards were discovered at 4500 metres altitude and are dark grey in colour, with spots and pale-yellow scales on their eyelids. These lizards are similar to the prehistoric winged lizards named pterosaur, the fossils of which were found in the Atacama Desert region of Chile in 2009. The long tails and pointed snouts make these arid creatures unique and they have been confirmed to belong to the same group called rhamphorhynchine pterosaur. Experts say that they had migrated from northern to southern hemisphere and are in fact the first living examples found in the southern hemisphere, previously called Gondwana. Some of these species are also presumed to be existing in Cuba.