University of York scientist Dr Andrew Marshall finds new lizard species in Tanzania’s Magombera forest (From York Press)

University of York scientist Dr Andrew Marshall finds new lizard species in Tanzania’s Magombera forest

11:38am Tuesday 24th November 2009

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A YORK conservationist has described his bizarre discovery of a new species of chameleon in an African forest.

The tiny lizard came out of the mouth of a twig snake disturbed by Dr Andrew Marshall in Tanzania’s Magombera forest.

Dr Marshall, from the University of York, was in the threatened forest surveying monkeys.

He said: “I was out there doing conservation research when I came across this snake. It saw me and fled, and as it did so it spat out a chameleon.

“I took photos and showed them to a local herpetologist, who instantly recognised that it was a new species.”

The creature, small enough to sit in the palm of a hand, was named as Kinyongia magomberae by scientists writing in the African Journal of Herpetology.

Shortly after the first discovery, a second Kinyongia chameleon was found by one of Dr Marshall’s colleagues about six miles away.

Unlike the first specimen, this one was very much alive.

“It’s amazing and wonderful to find a new species like this,” said Dr Marshall, from the university’s Environment Department.

“I’ve been working in Tanzania for around 11 years now and have identified a couple of new tree species, but to find a vertebrate is pretty special. Obviously chameleons are very well camouflaged. You walk through the forest and tend not to see them.”

On average two new species of chameleons are discovered in the world each year.

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