‘Cryptic’ creature at city park went overlooked — until now. It’s a new species
In a capital city of southwestern China, a “cryptic” creature with a “long” tail tucked itself under some “decaying wood” in a forested park. Its presence had long gone unnoticed — until some determined scientists visited.
The overlooked animal turned out to be a new species.
A team of researchers visited a park in Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou Province, in March as part of a project to survey the region’s biodiversity, according to a study published Aug. 13 in the peer-reviewed journal Zoosystematics and Evolution.
At the park, researchers found four unfamiliar-looking lizards under rocks and wood, the study said. Intrigued, they took a look at the animals and quickly realized they’d discovered a new species: Scincella qianica, or the Guizhou ground skink.
Guizhou ground skinks are considered “medium”-sized, reaching about 5 inches in length, the study said. They have “elongated” heads with “large” eyes and eyelids with a “window”-like “transparent disc.” Their limbs are “short,” and their tails are “relatively long.”
Photos show the coloring of the new species. Seen from above, the skinks are “copper-colored” with several darker stripes running down their backs, researchers said.
Seen from below, the skinks have “pale yellow” stomachs with “discontinuous” black stripes, fading to a grayish hue on their tails, the study said and photos show.
Guizhou ground skinks were found “during the daytime under rocks or decaying wood,” researchers said. Most skinks were found at a forested park in Guiyang, but one was found dead “in a river valley” and “had already been gnawed by other animals.”
“Cryptic biodiversity in urban environments has often been overlooked,” the study said. The discovery of a new species in a park of Guiyang shows that “despite being surrounded by urban infrastructure, this area supports a population of a previously undescribed skink species, highlighting that some small vertebrates can persist in human-modified landscapes.”
Researchers said they named the new species after “the traditional abbreviation for Guizhou Province,” the region in southwestern China where it was first discovered.
So far, Guizhou ground skinks have been found at two sites in Guizhou Province over 180 miles apart, “suggesting that the new species may have a broader distribution than currently recorded,” the study said.
“The discovery of the new species demonstrates the potential of urban environments to support native species and suggests that (Guiyang’s) biodiversity may be far greater than previously reported,” researchers said.
The new species was identified by its coloring, body proportions, scale pattern and texture, limb length and other subtle physical features, the study said. DNA analysis found the new species had at least 15% genetic divergence from related species.
The research team included Yuhao Xu, Shiyang Weng, Nikolay Poyarkov, Tierui Zhang, Zeyu Li, Jundong Deng and Lifang Peng.
This story was originally published August 13, 2025 at 12:53 PM with the headline "‘Cryptic’ creature at city park went overlooked — until now. It’s a new species."
