Komodo dragon collision between Australia and Southeast Asia allowed these larger varanids to move back into what is now the Indonesian archipelago, extending their range as far east as the island of Timor. The Komodo dragon was believed to have differentiated from its Australian ancestors 4 million years ago. However, recent fossil evidence from Queensland suggests the Komodo dragon actually evolved in Australia before spreading to Indonesia. Dramatic lowering of sea level during the last glacial period uncovered extensive stretches of continental shelf that the Komodo dragon colonised, becoming isolated in their present island range as sea levels rose afterwards. Extinct Pliocene
Rock horned lizard Rock horned lizard The rock horned lizard or Ditmars' horned lizard ("Phrynosoma ditmarsi") is a species of phrynosomatid lizard endemic to Sonora in northern Mexico, south of the Arizona border. Bearing the shortest horns of all the horned lizards, it lives in thorn-scrub and deciduous Sinaloan woodlands. The rock horned lizard was "lost" to science for about 65 years. It has a unique habitat preference and limited distribution. It also had a very imprecise holotype locality record which made it difficult to locate. An extraordinary effort by based on a cross-correlational analysis of gut contents from only three specimens led