A research team, led by herpetologist Rafe Brown of the Biodiversity Institute at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, has confirmed the existence of a new species of lizard which lives in the trees on Luzon, an island in northern Philippines.

Sporting bright-yellow speckles, the, dragon-sized, fruit-eating lizard - named Varanus bitatawa – can grow up to 2 meters long, and weighs around 22 pounds. Despite its big size, the skittish reptile is difficult to spot in the forest, as it hides into the vegetation on seeing humans.

Describing the ‘new’ species of lizard in a research paper published in a recent online edition of the Royal Society Journal Biology Letters, Brown said that though the species is “new to us,” the Agta and Ilongot peoples inhabiting the forests of the Sierra Madre range are familiar with it – and its meat is actually a delicacy for them.

The Varanus bitatawa eats fruit – it is only the third fruit-eating lizard in the world - and reportedly features identifying anatomical characteristics like the distinct little horns on the end of its double-barreled male reproductive organs, which Brown says are the usual “paired copulatory organs” generally found in snakes and lizards.

Noting that the discovery of a large vertebrate species, like the Varanus bitatawa, is an ‘extremely rare’ occurrence, Brown said that the huge lizard is a cousin to the giant Komodo dragon.