Shield lizards

Shield lizards
Sudan shield lizard ( Broadleysaurus major )
Systematics
without rank: Amniotes (Amniota) without rank: Sauropsida Superordinate : Scale lizards (Lepidosauria) Order : Scale reptiles (Squamata) without rank: Scincomorpha (Scincoidea) Family : Shield lizards
Scientific name
Gerrhosauridae
Fitzinger , 1843

Schildechsen (Gerrhosauridae) are a family from the group of lizards Skinkartigen (Scincoidea).

features

They look like armored skinks . Your body is usually more or less flattened, the head barely detached from the neck. The back is covered with thick, rectangular, solid but never thorny scales arranged in longitudinal and transverse rows. The ventral side is soft-skinned. There is a fine-grained, scaled longitudinal fold between the back and the stomach, which allows the body to stretch. Shield lizards are 15 to 70 centimeters long. The tail is usually relatively long.

distribution and habitat

Shield lizards live in Africa , south of the Sahara , and Madagascar . Most of the approximately 35 species live on rocks, in dry, sandy habitats or in open grasslands. The Malagasy genera Tracheloptychus and Zonosaurus also live in forests and often on watercourses.

Systematics

Red-flanked shield lizard ( Gerrhosaurus nigrolineatus )

Rock shield lizard ( Matobosaurus validus )

Tetradactylus seps

Tracheloptychus madagascariensis

Broadtail-girdled lizard ( Zonosaurus laticaudatus )

Shield lizards are close relatives of the belt lizards (Cordylidae) and are sometimes united with them in older classifications as the subfamily Gerrhosaurinae.

• Subfamily Gerrhosaurinae
  • Broadleysaurus Bates & Tolley, 2013
    • Sudan shield lizard ( Broadleysaurus major (Duméril, 1851))
  • Cordylosaurus Gray, 1866
    • Cordylosaurus subtessellatus (Smith, 1844)
  • Gerrhosaurus Wiegmann, 1828
    • Gerrhosaurus bulsi Laurent, 1954
    • Gerrhosaurus flavigularis Wiegmann, 1828
    • Gerrhosaurus intermedius Lönnberg, 1907
    • Gerrhosaurus multilineatus Bocage, 1866
    • Gerrhosaurus nigrolineatus Hallowell, 1857
    • Gerrhosaurus skoogi Andersson, 1916
    • Gerrhosaurus typicus (Smith, 1837)
  • Matobosaurus Bates & Tolley, 2013
    • Matobosaurus maltzahni (De Grys, 1938)
    • Rock shield lizard ( Matobosaurus validus (Smith, 1849))
  • Scourge- shielded lizards ( Tetradactylus )
    • Tetradactylus africanus Gray, 1838
    • Tetradactylus breyeri Roux, 1907
    • Eastwood flagellated lizard ( Tetradactylus eastwoodae Hewitt & Methuen, 1913)
    • Tetradactylus ellenbergeri (Angel, 1922)
    • Tetradactylus seps (Linnaeus, 1758)
    • Tetradactylus tetradactylus (Daudin, 1802)
    • Tetradactylus udzungwensis Salvidio, Menegon, Sindaco & Moyer, 2004
• Subfamily Zonosaurinae
  • Keel-shielded lizard ( Tracheloptychus )
    • Tracheloptychus madagascariensis Peters, 1854
    • Tracheloptychus petersi Grandidier, 1869
  • Ringed-Shielded Lizard ( Zonosaurus )
    • Zonosaurus aeneus (Grandidier, 1872)
    • Zonosaurus anelanelany Raselimanana, Raxworthy & Nussbaum, 2000
    • Zonosaurus bemaraha Raselimanana, Raxworthy & Nussbaum, 2000
    • Zonosaurus boettgeri Steindachner, 1891
    • Zonosaurus brygooi Lang & Böhme, 1990
    • Zonosaurus haraldmeieri Brygoo & Böhme, 1985
    • Zonosaurus karsteni (Grandidier, 1869)
    • Zonosaurus laticaudatus (Grandidier, 1869)
    • Madagascar ringlet lizard ( Zonosaurus madagascariensis Gray, 1845)
    • Zonosaurus maramaintso Raselimanana, Nussbaum & Raxworthy, 2006
    • Zonosaurus maximus Boulenger, 1896
    • Zonosaurus ornatus (Gray, 1831)
    • Zonosaurus quadrilineatus (Grandidier, 1867)
    • Zonosaurus rufipes (Boettger, 1881)
    • Zonosaurus subunicolor (Boettger, 1881)
    • Zonosaurus trilineatus Angel, 1939
    • Zonosaurus tsingy Raselimanana, Raxworthy & Nussbaum, 2000

literature

• Michael F. Bates, Krystal A. Tolley, Shelley Edwards, Zoë Davids, Jessica M. Da Silva & William R. Branch: A molecular phylogeny of the African plated lizards, genus Gerrhosaurus Wiegmann, 1828 (Squamata: Gerrhosauridae), with the description of two new genera. Zootaxa , 3750, 5, pp. 465-493, December 2013 doi: 10.11646 / zootaxa.3750.5.3
• Robert Alexander Pyron, Frank T. Burbrink & John J. Wiens: A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 13, p. 93, 2013 doi: 10.1186 / 1471-2148-13-93
• Manfred Rogner: Echsen 2 , Ulmer Verlag, ISBN 3-8001-7253-4

Web links

Commons : Schildechsen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Gerrhosauridae in The Reptile Database