Armored belt tail
| Armored belt tail | ||||||||||||
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Belt tail ( Ouroborus cataphractus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Ouroborus | ||||||||||||
| Stanley , Bauer , Jackman , Branch & Mouton , 2011 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Ouroborus cataphractus | ||||||||||||
| ( Boie , 1828) |
The armored belt tail ( Ouroborus cataphractus , Syn .: Cordylus cataphractus ) belongs to the family of belt tails (Cordylidae) in southern Africa. This lizard has a special defensive behavior: in case of danger it grabs its own tail with its mouth and thus forms an armored ring. This attitude protects the endangered, soft underside of the animals.
features
The animals reach a head-trunk length of 7.5 to 10.5 cm and have a tail of the same length or a little shorter. The body color is dirty yellowish brown to straw colored, sometimes the sides are orange to olive in color. The upper lip of the flattened, broad, triangular head is dark brown. The jaws of the armored belt tails are extremely strong. The neck, torso, tail and limbs are covered with rows of spiky scales, the bone shell consists of osteoderms .
Males grow larger than females. They have wider heads, prominent hemipene bulges, and more femoral pores .
Occurrence and endangerment
The armored belt tail can be found along the west coast of South Africa , from the Orange River in the north to the Piketberg Mountains in the south and far inland to Matjiesfontein in the Central Karoo district .
The population is declining, the species is threatened by illegal catches for the pet trade and by habitat destruction. In the Red Data Book of South Africa and in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN , the species is classified as endangered (" Vulnerable, VU "). The Washington Convention on Endangered Species lists the armored belt tail under Appendix II, the EC Regulation 407/2009 and the Federal Nature Conservation Act list it under Appendix B.
Way of life
Armored belt tails populate the scrubland of the Karoo - a semi-desert landscape , a habitat that is characterized by barren vegetation with perennial , low shrubs. The lizards populate cracks and crevices in the rock, their food consists of termites, beetles, bilipods , scorpions and plant material.
They are social lizards which, unusual for lizards, live permanently in groups of 2 to 60 individuals (on average 2–6). The groups are not exclusively family associations; male, female and juvenile animals change group membership during and outside of the mating season. The males are very territorial, the space between them is divided into groups with several males. At the end of the dry season (March to April), armored belt tails rarely give birth to two fully developed young ( ovoviviparia ).
Armor belt tails are clumsy and move relatively slowly, making them easy to catch by hand. They are potential prey for a number of predators , though their spiky armor can deter potential enemies. As a defense they form an armored ring by grabbing their own tail with their mouths or by throwing their tail off in case of danger. Since the tail is necessary as a defensive position to form a ring, this autotomy is only used as a last resort.
Your jaws are very strong. They can use it to sever small limbs in a fight. Sometimes they roll their bodies when they bite, causing serious damage to the enemy.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f K. Bouchard, J. Harding. 2009: Cordylus cataphractus University of Michigan, Animal Diversity Web (ADW). (English, accessed August 20, 2010)
- ↑ Encyclopedia of Life: Cordylus cataphractus Boie, 1828 (English, accessed August 24, 2010)
- ↑ Louise Visagie, P. Le Fras Mouton N., Alexander F. Flemming: Intergroup movement in a group-living lizard, Cordylus cataphractus, from South Africa. African Journal of Herpetology, 2002 51 (1), pp. 75-80 (76).
- ↑ South African Red Data Book - Reptiles and Amphibians ( Online, PDF )
- ↑ Ouroborus cataphractus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2010. Posted by: World Conservation Monitoring Center in 1996, 1996. Retrieved on August 20 of 2010.
- ^ Scientific information system on international species protection, species protection database of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation in Bonn. Taxon Information Cordylus cataphractus BOIE, 1828
- ↑ Louise Visagie, P. Le Fras Mouton N., Alexander F. Flemming: Intergroup movement in a group-living lizard, Cordylus cataphractus, from South Africa. African Journal of Herpetology, 2002 51 (1), pp. 75-80 (75).
further reading
- Louise Visagie, P. Le Fras N. Mouton, Alexander F. Flemming: Intergroup-movement in a group-living lizard, Cordylus cataphractus, from South Africa. In: African Journal of Herpetology. 51 (1) 2002, pp. 75-80. ( Online, PDF )
- University of Stellenbosch: Effective Conservation of Amphibians and Reptiles in the Greater Cederberg Biodiversity Corridor (SCARCE). ( Online, PDF )
- Alexander F. Flemming, P. Le Fras N. Mouton: Reproduction in a Group-Living Lizard, Cordylus cataphractus Cordylidae), from South Africa. In: Journal of Herpetology. 36 (4) 2002, pp. 691-696. ( Online, PDF )
- Gary Fogel: The Art of Armadillo Lizards (Cordylus cataphractus): Fifteen Years of Captive Observations. In: Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 38 (6) 2003, pp. 113-119. ( Online, PDF )
- Jonathan B. Losos, P. Le Fras N. Mouton, Ryan Bickel, Ian Cornelius †, Lanral Ruddock: The effect of body armature on escape behavior in cordylid lizards. In: Animal Behavior. 64, 2002, pp. 313-321. ( Online, PDF )
