New one

My Con Bio guys are discussing the fact that, while most new animal species are things like insects and nematodes, there's still the occasional big, new vertebrate. Here's one. A new paper in Biology Letters describes a 6 foot long fruit-eating monitor from the Phillipines. Of course, there's already a sign of trouble. The new lizard, named Varanus bitatawa, was first observed when scientists photographed a local hunter with one he had killed for food. They're apparently an important part of the diet of the indigeneous people in the area.