Van Dam's girdled lizard
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Cordylidae
Genus: Smaug
Species:
S. vandami
Binomial name
Smaug vandami
(FitzSimons, 1930)
Synonyms[2]
  • Zonurus vandami
    FitzSimons, 1930
  • Cordylus vandami
    — FitzSimons, 1943
  • Cordylus warreni vandami
    — Loveridge, 1944
  • Smaug vandami
    — Stanley et al., 2011

Van Dam's girdled lizard (Smaug vandami) is a species of lizard in the family Cordylidae. The species is endemic to South Africa.

Geographic range

The type locality of S. vandami is Gravelotte, Limpopo, South Africa.[3]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitats of S. vandami are grassland and savanna.[1]

Description

A large lizard, S. vandami may attain a snout-vent length (SVL) of 14.5 cm (5.7 in).[4] It has a triangular shaped head, and spiny dorsal scales. The predominant colour is dark brown with fragmented yellow rings.[5]

Behaviour

S. vandami is largely solitary and hides in cracks in rocks.[6]

Reproduction

S. vandami is ovoviviparous.[2] From two to six young are born alive in summer.[6]

Etymology

The species is named for the collector of the type specimens, Gerhardus Petrus Frederick van Dam (died 1927), who was a South African herpetologist.[2][7][8]

Common names

Other common names for S. vandami include the Afrikaans name ouvolk, meaning "old folk".[9]

References

  1. 1 2 Bates, M.F.; Mouton, P.L.F.N. (2018). "Smaug vandami". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T110167848A115680080. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T110167848A115680080.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Species Smaug vandami at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  3. ↑ "Living National Treasures". Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  4. ↑ Branch, William R. (1996). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik. ISBN 9781868720408. Plate 70.
  5. ↑ Bader, Kenneth. "Van Dam's Girdled Lizard". Website on girdled lizards kept in captivity.
  6. 1 2 Branch, Bill (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. ISBN 0-88359-042-5. (Cordylus vandami, p. 197 + Plate 70).
  7. ↑ "Van Dam, Mr Gerhardus Petrus Frederik (zoology, plant collection)". Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  8. ↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Cordylus vandami, p. 271).
  9. ↑ Ed Stanley. "Smaug Stanley et al. 2011". Retrieved 23 July 2015.

Further reading

  • FitzSimons V (1930). "Descriptions of New South African Reptilia and Batrachia, with Distribution Records of Allied Species in the Transvaal Museum Collection". Annals of the Transvaal Museum 14 (1): 20–48. (Zonurus vandami, new species, pp. 25–27, Figures 6–7).
  • Loveridge A (1944). "Revision of the African Lizards of the Family Cordylidae". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College 95 (1): 1–118. (Cordylus warreni vandami, new combination, pp. 23–24).
  • Reissig J (2014). Girdled Lizards and their relatives: Natural History, Captive Care and Breeding. Frankfurt am Main: Edition Chimaira. 249 pp. ISBN 3899734378.
  • Stanley EL, Bates MF (2014). "Here be dragons: a phylogenetic and biogeographical study of the Smaug warreni species complex (Squamata: Cordylidae) in southern Africa". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 172 (4): 892–909.
  • Stanley EL, Bauer AM, Jackman TR, Branch WR, Mouton PLFN (2011). "Between a rock and a hard polytomy: Rapid radiation in the rupicolous girdled lizards (Squamata: Cordylidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 58 (1): 53–70. (Smaug vandami, new combination).


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