Clawed black-eyed creature found hiding under rock in Zambia. It’s a new species
In a woodland of southern Africa, a clawed creature with “large” black eyes tucked itself under a rock and waited. Something about the hiding place caught the attention of nearby scientists searching for insects.
They turned over the stone to reveal the lurking animal — and discovered a new species.
A team of researchers visited a woodland in northeastern Zambia in 2005 for “an ant survey,” according to a study published May 8 in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa. But during the visit, researchers moved a stone and found an unfamiliar-looking lizard underneath.
Intrigued, the team caught the lizard and showed it to some reptile researchers who analyzed it and tested its DNA, the study said. The lizard clearly belonged to a “poorly studied” group of reptiles, but it didn’t match any known species.
Researchers realized they’d discovered a new species: Nucras margaritae, or Margarita’s scrub lizard.
Margarita’s scrub lizard is considered “moderately sized,” reaching less than 6 inches in length, the study said. It has a “large” head with a “blunt” snout, “scaly” eyelid and “large” black eyes. Its limbs are “short” with clawed fingers and toes.
Photos show the brownish-orange hue of the new species. Some vague stripes run down its spine, blurring together toward its tail. Its sides are a mixture of darker brown and creamy yellow blotches. Its stomach is paler.
The Margarita’s scrub lizard “was found under a stone on sand in degraded Miombo Woodland” during “the course of an ant survey conducted by Brian L. Fisher of the California Academy of Sciences,” the study said. Much about its lifestyle and behavior remains unknown.
Researchers said they named the new species after the late Margarita Metallinou, “our friend and colleague … whose untimely passing during fieldwork in Zambia was a great loss to systematic herpetology and to all who knew her.”
So far, only one Margarita’s scrub lizard has been found near Senga Hill in northeastern Zambia and near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Zambia, a country in southern Africa, also borders Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
The new species was identified by its scale pattern, pores, body size, coloring and other subtle physical features, the study said. DNA analysis found the new species had at least 13% genetic divergence from related lizard species.
The research team included Aaron Bauer, Jackie Childers and Marius Burger.
This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 10:13 AM with the headline "Clawed black-eyed creature found hiding under rock in Zambia. It’s a new species."
