Species Encyclopedia: White-lipped Tree Lizard

The white-lipped tree lizard, commonly known as the arrow-maned horse, is a scaly lizard suborder Iguana family tree lizard. It is distributed in Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Yunnan, China, and inhabits forest margins in mountainous areas and around cultivated fields. The body is slender and the tail length is about 2-3 times the length of the head and body. The male head is 9-14 cm long and the tail is 20-25 cm long; the female head is 7-11 cm long and the tail is 15-20 cm long. Generally active during the day, especially when the sun goes down or when it is just dawn. It mainly feeds on arthropods such as Lepidoptera. It is relatively rare in China, and has been included in the "Three Animals" protection list.

The body is slightly flattened, the throat pouch is small, and the limbs are strong. The whole body is covered with tiny scales, arranged like an imbricate. The ridges of the dorsal scales face back, and there is a row of sharp-toothed hyena scales in the middle of the back, with about 35-52 segments, and the ridges are upward and rearward. The tail is roughly flattened laterally, the base of the male tail is significantly enlarged, and the tail scales are slightly ribbed. The top of the head is gray-black, and the upper lip scales are white or slightly yellowish and extend to the side of the body; 2 black stripes are vaguely visible under the eyes to the maxillary margin. The body is gray-brown on the back, with dark brown and indistinct stripes extending to the back of the tail. The throat is brown-black in both sexes, while the male is slightly darker. Ventral surface gray-yellow with dark spots.

Blue body color is a sign of sexual maturity in the white-lipped tree lizard. During the breeding season, the body color of the adult body will be bluish to varying degrees, the most obvious places are on the head and throat, and the head of the male will be bluer and more vivid than the female. According to changes in the environment, temperature and other factors, the blue-pigmented white-lipped tree lizard also has the ability to change color. When they are in a state of excitement, their body color will gradually deepen with the excited state; if they are frightened, they will turn into an earthy brown that can hide themselves; when they sleep at night, their body color will also be mainly dull brown. However, unlike chameleons, which can actively change body color due to emotional changes, they mainly rely on absorbing high heat to occur, which is a passive color-changing behavior.