V. bitatawa has unique markings and an unusual sexual anatomy
PARIS: A brightly coloured giant lizard, taken alive from a local hunter in the Philippines last year, has been dubbed a new species by biologists.
The secretive beast, a monitor lizard, is a close cousin of the Komodo dragon of Indonesia. The new beast is as long as a full-grown man is tall and endowed with a double penis.
But unlike the fearsome dragon, it is not a carnivore, nor does it feast on rotting meat. Instead, it is entirely peaceable and tucks into fruit.
"Unprecedented surprise"
Dubbed Varanus bitatawa, the lizard measures two metres in length. Finding such a distinctive species in a heavily populated, highly deforested location "comes as an unprecedented surprise," note the authors, writing in the journal Biology Letters.
It was found in a river valley on northern Luzon Island in the Philippines, surviving loss of habitat and hunting by local people who use it for food.
How many of the lizards have survived is unclear.
Large male taken from hunter
The species is almost certainly critically endangered, and might well have disappeared entirely without ever being catalogued had a large male specimen not been rescued alive from a hunter last June.
The only finds of comparable importance in recent decades are the Kipunji monkey, which inhabits a tiny range of forest in Tanzania, and the Saola, a forest-dwelling bovine found only in Vietnam and Laos.
V. bitatawa has unique markings and an unusual sexual anatomy, according to the study.
Black and green markings
Its scaly body and legs are a blue-black mottled with pale yellow-green dots, while its tail is marked in alternating segments of black and green.
Males have a double penis, called hemipenes, also found in some snakes and other lizards.
The two penises are often used in alternation, and sometimes contain spines or hooks that serve to anchor the male within the female during intercourse.
