Six centimeters of new: a lizard nobody knew lived at 4,800 meters

High in Peru's Arequipa region, where the air is thin enough to make your lungs ache, scientists have found a lizard no one had ever described. Liolaemus archipensis is just six to eight centimeters long — females wear neat square spots on their backs, males slanted ones with white scales that melt into the rocky ground. It munches on mountain plants, spiders and beetle larvae at altitudes above 4,800 meters, higher than almost any reptile dares to live. Biologist Ling Huamani-Valderrama, who led the team from San Marcos University's natural history museum, calls each new species 'a very important advance for biodiversity in our country' — one more name on Peru's roster of 296 lizards, and proof the Andes are still keeping secrets.