Ecuadorian team rediscovers the thought-to-be extinct Pinocchio Lizard

A Pinocchio Lizard, or Anolis proboscis, was spotted by a team of Ecuadorian biologists for just the third time in the last 15 years. Researchers from reptiles and amphibians advocacy group Tropical Herping documented and photographed the long-nosed lizard in January of this year.

Paolo Escobar, Lucas Bustamante, Diana Troya and Alejandro Arteaga were part of the team that rediscovered the Pinocchio Lizard. Although it might seem counter-intuitive, the team searched for the lizards at night because they are easier to spot after dark. Their effective daytime camouflage is exposed at night because they turn a pale, white color when lit with a headlamp.

“We wanted to find it because it is a fantastic and mysterious creature that has remained unknown for almost all human beings for decades,” Arteaga said. “Also, we needed pictures of the species for a book about the Amphibians and Reptiles of the Mindo region. It was the only lizard we were missing.”

The team learned a few new things about the Pinocchio Lizard after the discovery.

“We discovered this lizard occurs in habitats very different to what has been suggested in the literature. No one had ever found the lizard in deep cloud forest away from open areas. The other sightings were in forest border,” Arteaga said. “Besides learning this we learned that a highly unlikely but not completely impossible event (like finding the rarest lizard in Ecuador), becomes likely if enough time passes. In this case, three years passed.”