Kimberley - A team of scientists has recently discovered a spectacularly coloured new species of flat lizard, native to the Northern Cape, and named it after the world-famous naturalist, Sir David Attenborough.
The team, led by Dr Martin Whiting, from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia recently described the new species of the flat lizard, Platysaurus attenboroughi, from the Richtersveld and Fish River Canyon region of southern Namibia.
This species was formerly confused with P. capensis from the Kamiesberg region in Namaqualand.
Genetic DNA analysis, however, found Platysaurus attenboroughi to be genetically divergent from P. capensis.
These species can also be differentiated by a number of scalation characters, coloration and their allopatric distributions. Platysaurus attenboroughi will also be known as the Attenborough’s flat lizard.
Whiting said the team named the new specie of flat lizard in honour of Sir David Attenborough, in recognition of his immense contribution to the public understanding and appreciation of animals, plants, ecosystems and nature in general.
“Attenborough made flat lizards, specifically the closely related Platysaurus broadleyi, famous in the BBC documentary series Life in Cold Blood. Attenborough has, and continues to have, a remarkable career making documentaries about the natural world. To this end, he has inspired generations of biologists. We were very pleased when he turned his attention to amphibians and reptiles for the making of the series Life in Cold Blood. And we were particularly happy when he chose to include the Augrabies flat lizard (Platysaurus broadleyi),” Whiting said.
“Team members were privileged to spend time with Attenborough in the field at Augrabies Falls National Park in South Africa where the BBC filmed Augrabies flat lizards in action. Flat lizards feature in the episode Dragons of the Dry and are shown performing incredible 360 degree aerial flips while catching flies. This footage propelled them to stardom and we think it’s only fitting to name a new species of flat lizard (very closely related to the Augrabies flat lizard) in his honour,” Whiting added.
Platysaurus attenboroughi occurs in the arid-subtropical region of the Northern Cape and southern Namibia and specifically within the Gariep Desert Bioregion. This is an arid area characterised by low and erratic summer rainfall. Summers are typically hot and dry.
Like all flat lizards, they are dependent on rock (mostly granite in this area) and take refuge in narrow rock fissures where they can escape suboptimal temperatures and predators. These areas are largely devoid of significant vegetation bar the occasional fig tree or succulent.
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