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Researchers tracking rare Guatemalan tree lizard find limited movement, urge habitat structure and assisted‑movement planning
Summary
Researchers presenting to the Greenville Zoo described new radio‑telemetry data showing a tiny, canopy‑dwelling lizard (referred to in the talk as Abonia cambula) has very small routine ranges and fragmented habitat; they said corridors must include specific tree species and epiphytes and that assisted translocation may be required for recovery.
A team of conservationists described multi‑year field work and early radio‑telemetry data on a tiny, tree‑dwelling lizard endemic to a small mountain range in eastern Guatemala, saying the species’ restricted forest remnants and limited routine movement raise difficult management choices for recovery.
"This is the dragon. This is the Abonia cambula," said Thomas Shri, field director for the Foundation for the Endangered Species of Guatemala (Fundesqua), as he opened a Greenville Zoo conservation lecture on the species and its cloud‑forest habitat. Shri said the lizard lives almost entirely in the canopy, is cryptically colored and hard to observe, and was only described to science in 1992 — when authors warned the species “may soon become extinct.”
Shri and collaborators, including Dr. Brad Lockach (co‑founder of Fundesqua and coordinator of Guatemalan conservation programs at the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens), said the species’ range is limited to an isolated mountain range (Potero Caro) and that much of that landscape has been converted to agriculture, plantations and pasture. "We estimate that only about 3% of the area can still be classified as natural forest," Shri said.
The resea…
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