Khorat butterfly lizard (Leiolepis glaurung) adapts to rocky habitats for the first time in the genus

NEWS - A new species of rock-dwelling butterfly lizard (Leiolepis Cuvier, 1829) has been described from the Khorat Plateau in northeastern Thailand. This new report of Leiolepis glaurung brings the number of Leiolepis species in Thailand to six and worldwide to 11, and is the first case of an ecological adaptation to survive in a rocky habitat.

L. glaurung can be distinguished from all other sexual species of Leiolepis by its combination of a black gular region with a broad yellow medial stripe, a yellow ventrum with black spots, bright red to orange subcaudal coloration, sides that can expand and retract to none, and only a single black transverse stripe on its sides.

The researchers hypothesize that this morphology is an adaptation to reduce the diameter of its body to better fit into smaller rocky burrows, unlike the larger and deeper burrows built in looser soil by other species.

The new specimen lives on the Khorat Plateau and is phylogenetically, ecologically, and morphologically distinct from all other sexual species of Leiolepis. Morphological adaptation is a process to balance life in a rocky environment with the pressures of sexual selection.

The combination of color and flared flanks of males is important for courtship, antagonistic confrontation and is likely to be under some degree of sexual selection. The general view is that the number and combination of colors on the flared flanks will promote hybridization events that create parthenogenetic species.

Field observations indicate that L. glaurung occurs in close proximity to L. rubritaeniata which occupies sandy savanna habitats and does not appear to interact with each other. The unique ecology and color displays of the two species suggest genetic isolation.

The Khorat Plateau is largely composed of moist deciduous forest and the environment changes drastically from the dry season to the rainy season. During the rainy season, the plateau area is flooded due to the overflow of the Mun and Chi rivers, creating additional unique microhabitats that are only available during the rainy season.

Most of the contemporary endemic species or genetic lineages on the Khorat Plateau belong to groups such as freshwater bivalves, land snails, frogs and water snakes which are most active during the rainy season. However, L. glaurung is most active during the dry season.

This species reflects the lineage of the Sundaland or Indochina populations that remained east of the Chao Phraya River. These conflicting biogeographic patterns suggest that the Khorat Plateau may have been colonized multiple times by species from different regions of Sundaland and Indochina.

Leiolepis was first described by Georges Cuvier in 1843 and as of this new report there are 11 species of which seven are sexual and four are asexual. They are native to Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Ryukyu Islands (Japan), Vietnam, and Hainan (China).

Original research

Wanchai P, Rujirawan A, Murdoch ML, Aksornneam A, Promnun P, Kaatz A, Gregory JJ, Nguyen E, Iderstein WV, Quah ESH, Grismer LL, Grismer JL, Aowphol A (2024). The description of the first rock-dwelling species of butterfly lizard Leiolepis Cuvier, 1829 (Squamata, Agamidae) from the Khorat Plateau in northeastern Thailand. ZooKeys 1210: 299-324. DOI:10.3897/zookeys.1210.127557

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