Dinner-plate Discovery
Photograph courtesy Lee Grismer
Leiolepis ngovantrii was new to science in 2010 but well known to residents of Vietnam's Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province (see map), where the lizards are sold live at restaurants. (See "New Self-Cloning Lizard Found in Vietnam Restaurant.")
Ngo Van Tri, of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, found the lizards on offer at a local eatery. Subsequent study by colleague L. Lee Grismer of California's La Sierra University determined that the animal was an all-female species.
The lizards are capable of reproducing in the absence of males via a self-cloning process that culminates in virgin birth.
Published December 13, 2011
