A tiny new lizard hides on the roof of the Andes — 4,800 meters above the sea

Biologists at Peru’s San Marcos University Natural History Museum, led by researcher Ling Huamaní-Valderrama, have described a new lizard species living above 4,800 meters (15,750 feet) in the high puna grasslands of Arequipa — one of the coldest, thinnest-aired places lizards are known to survive. Named Liolaemus arequipensis, it was hiding in plain sight among lookalike relatives until DNA analysis and careful scale measurements revealed it as distinct; males wear oblique spots and pale scales that melt into the rock, females square spots. The peer-reviewed description was published in the journal Diversity. Peru is now known to host more than 296 lizard species.