A nose-horned dragon lizard lost to science for over 100 years has been found

Nearly 130 years ago, Italian explorer Elio Modigliani arrived at a natural history museum in Genoa with a lizard he’d reportedly collected from the forests of Indonesia.

Based on Modigliani’s specimen, the striking lizard — notable for a horn that protrudes from its nose — got its official taxonomic description and name, Harpesaurus modiglianii, in 1933. But no accounts of anyone finding another such lizard were ever recorded, until now.

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Credit: C.A. Putra

Notable for the horn that emerges from its nose, a living Modigliani’s lizard was found in 2018 in the forests of North Sumatra in Indonesia. The species was last spotted in 1891.

Indonesia’s Modigliani’s lizards are bright green but can shift shades like a chameleon.

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Credit: C.A. Putra

This illustration of Modigliani’s nose-horned lizard was made in 1933 based on the original lizard first found in 1891. That specimen turned pale blue due to how it was preserved.

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