India, July 12 -- There are many unknown jewels studded in the crown of Chandigarh's biodiversity and vast green areas. These are species which are smaller, secretive and not as "handsome" as leopards or as charismatic and eye-catching as birds such as hornbills and pittas.

One of these unknowns, a fan-throated lizard of the Sitana genus, was discovered by scientists of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun. It constitutes a new biodiversity record for UT of Chandigarh and features in the WII report submitted to the forest and wildlife department, titled, 'Status of Wildlife in Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary and Other Forested Areas, Chandigarh, UT'.

The Sitana genus belongs to the Agamidae family and is endemic to South Asia. Male...