Avila professor credited with discovery of new lizard

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - What's black, white, red and green all over?

It's something Avila University professor Robert Powell will announce sometime in December.

Powell, a biologist who has been at the Kansas City-based university for 30 years, and Robert Henderson, a curator at the Milwaukee Public Museum, have discovered a new species of lizard in the south Caribbean that Powell will get to name in the December issue of the Caribbean Journal of Science.

Powell, who recruits students from around the country each summer to take a research excursion with him to the Caribbean, found the new lizard in June after being tipped off about its existence.

The Rev. Bob de Silva, an amateur naturalist from St. Vincent who had visited Union Island, had been the only person to ever report seeing the geckolike lizard, and told Powell about it.

"It is indeed spectacular in its appearance," Powell told The Kansas City Star by telephone from Guana Island in the British Virgin Islands, where he is studying other reptiles. "The lizard is greenish with bright red, black and white spots that seem to jump out at you when he is placed against a plain background. But in its natural habitat, it is hard to see."

Powell said the tiny lizard, which is about the size of a large caterpillar or half a cigarette, probably has been seen before and mistaken for a bug.

He said he was excited about his discovery, but his reaction was muted somewhat because he knew the lizard existed, and where to look for it.

"I scooped up a handful of leaves and debris, then carefully sifted through looking for the lizard," Powell said. "The hardest thing was holding it so as not to tear its soft skin."

He said he isn't sure, but thinks the lizard fits the criteria for an endangered species. One of the still-nameless vertebrates has been preserved at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum.

"The wonderful thing about Bob Powell is what he does with his research," said Sister Marie Joan Harris, Avila provost. "He takes that energy and enthusiasm gained because he found something new and uses it to motivate students. It gets them excited about science."

Link to Story

I saw that story in my local paper! It was published along with a picture of the lizard. Very cool-looking in my opinion.

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Posted on Mon, Oct. 10, 2005


Species of lizard is discovered in the Caribbean

Avila professor finds creature he sought

‘It is indeed spectacular in its appearance’

By MARÁ ROSE WILLIAMS

The Kansas City Star


On hands and knees, biologist Robert Powell dug through the leaf-littered floor of dry forest on Union Island in the south Caribbean for a creature he had never seen.

Keeping a cautious eye out for venomous scorpions, he turned over rocks and ripped open rotting logs filled with crawling critters.

Powell, a 30-year tenured professor at Kansas City’s Avila University was on the hunt for a geckolike little lizard. An amateur naturalist who had visited the island told Powell he had spotted the lizards in these parts of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

As Powell suspected, no record existed of the diminutive reptile. Experts around the world had never heard of it.

But Powell’s find on that morning last June meant he and his hunting companion, Robert Henderson, a curator at the Milwaukee Public Museum, could claim discovery of a new species of lizard — a first for Powell. And according to university officials, it’s a first lizard find for Avila, too.

“The wonderful thing about Bob Powell is what he does with his research,” said Sister Marie Joan Harris, Avila provost.

“He takes that energy and enthusiasm gained because he found something new and uses it to motivate students. It gets them excited about science.”

Powell and Henderson will have their discovery published in the December issue of the Caribbean Journal of Science, and a specimen of the still nameless lizard is preserved at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum.

In the journal, Powell will announce the scientific name he has chosen for their discovery.

Until Powell, who holds a doctorate in zoology from the University of Missouri-Columbia, officially shares the experience in the journal, he is telling anyone who asks about his “spectacular” find.

“It is indeed spectacular in its appearance,” Powell said by telephone from Guana Island in the British Virgin Islands, where he is now studying other reptiles.

Every summer, through an Avila program funded by the National Science Foundation, Powell recruits students who want to be scientists from around the country to take a research excursion with him to the Caribbean. He was setting up such a trip when he learned about the mysterious vertebrate from the Rev. Bob de Silva, a St. Vincent amateur naturalist who was the only person to ever report seeing it.

“The lizard is greenish with bright red, black and white spots that seem to jump out at you when he is placed against a plain background,” Powell said. “But in its natural habitat, it is hard to see.”

Powell guesses the lizard, which belongs to a genus of lizard called Gonatodes, has always lived on the island. In fact, Powell said, “I think that people may have seen them and thought they were some kind of bug.”

Powell’s lizard is tiny — about an inch and a half long from snout to tail tip.

“It’s the size of a big caterpillar or half a cigarette,” Powell said.

There are only about 25 species in this Gonatodes genus, compared with hundreds in most others. For the most part, they are found in southern Central America and northern South America. Powell’s lizard is the first in this group to be found living in some quantity in the West Indies. Still, Powell said he thought, but did not know for certain, that his lizard fit the criteria for endangered species.

He captured two.

“I scooped up a handful of leaves and debris, then carefully sifted through looking for the lizard,” Powell recalled. “The hardest thing was holding it so as not to tear its soft skin.”

The moment of discovery was exciting but, “It wasn’t, ‘Eureka!’ because we knew it was there, and we went looking for it,” Powell said. “But, still it was so cool and very satisfying.”


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If someone can scan or find the picture online that would be really cool

Originally Posted by Clay Davenport

He said he isn't sure, but thinks the lizard fits the criteria for an endangered species. One of the still-nameless vertebrates has been preserved at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum.

It may fit the criteria for an endangered species and there may only be a handfull of them left on the face of the planet but one of them still had to be killed in the name of science.

Here's a picture taken off of the Avila site.

That's one pretty lizard. Thanks for posting the picture.

Originally Posted by Karen Hulvey

It may fit the criteria for an endangered species and there may only be a handfull of them left on the face of the planet but one of them still had to be killed in the name of science.

Such is the way of classification. Under the formal rules of naming a species a type specimen must be preserved and be available for examination later by future taxonomists or scientists. The main reasons are any written type description has inherent short comings. They will, to a degree, be subjective and cannot predict and provide answers for all possible questions that may be raised by future biologists.
Normally multiple specimens are preserved. One is designated the holotype, which is the main representative of the species, then one or more syntypes, paratypes, or isotypes, depending on the specific case, to cover the event of loss or destruction of the holotype.

It is a beautiful little lizard. I would hope there are actually more of them than is realized.