According to reports, three new species of lizards have been discovered in Andes Mountains of South America. The lizards have been dubbed ‘dwarf dragons’. The new discovered species are of wood lizards and called Enyalioides anisolepis, Enyalioides sophiarothschildae and Enyalioides altotambo.

While revealing the discovery of the new species of lizards, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund said that the location where the new lizards were discovered was the epicenter of biodiversity of the area. The region has about 20,000 plants that are not present anywhere else. In the area, researchers have discovered approximately 1,500 terrestrial vertebrates.

The new species of the lizards have been discovered by researchers from Peru and Ecuador. The researchers were helped by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. According to the researchers, the newly found lizards are unique among their relatives. Their color and scale arrangements are different from other lizards. The uniqueness of the new species was further shown by a DNA analysis.

In a statement, Omar Torres-Carvajal of Ecuador's Museo de Zoologia and lead author of the study said that in last few years, researchers have found many species of woodlizards, which showed that the diversity of the reptiles had been underestimated in the past. “That more than half of the diversity of a group of large, dragon-looking reptiles from South America has been discovered in recent years should be heard by people in charge of conservation and funding agencies”, the author added.

According to Omar Torres-Carvajal, it was exciting and surprising to find such unique species of the lizards. Omar Torres-Carvajal has become more expert in the group and now it is easier for the leader to suspect that something's weird or new, Omar Torres-Carvajal added.

The newly discovered wood lizards have been dubbed dwarf dragons because they are rough-scaled and have the traditional features of a dragon.