Spanish wall lizard
| Spanish wall lizard | ||||||||||||
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Spanish wall lizard ( Podarcis hispanicus ) |
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| Podarcis hispanicus | ||||||||||||
| ( Steindachner , 1870) |
The Spanish wall lizard ( Podarcis hispanicus ) or Iberian wall lizard belongs to the family of real lizards (Lacertidae) and to the genus of the wall lizards ( Podarcis ).
features
The Spanish wall lizard reaches a total length of 18 to 20 centimeters. It is a typical slim wall lizard with a brownish base color and a pointed snout.
distribution and habitat
The lizard lives on the Iberian Peninsula , in north-west Africa and in the extreme south-west of France in Languedoc-Roussillon , there only directly in the coastal area of the Mediterranean. It mainly inhabits dry, rocky, only sparsely vegetated biotopes, including tree trunks. It occurs up to an altitude of 1,800 meters and also dares to go near human settlements. In northern Spain it lives with the wall lizard ( Podarcis muralis ). In warm climates, the Spanish wall lizards are active all day and do not hibernate. The inverted-nosed viper ( Vipera latastei ) is a predator of the lizards. The Spanish wall lizard can perceive the presence of this predator chemosensory.
nutrition
The Spanish wall lizard eats insects such as flies , butterflies , crickets and grasshoppers , but also woodlice , spiders and millipedes . After eating, they wipe their mouths clean on objects with sideways movements.
Web links
- Podarcis hispanicus in The Reptile Database
- Photos of the Spanish wall lizard on www.herp.it
- Podarcis hispanicus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Jose Antonio Mateo Miras, Marc Cheylan, M. Saïd Nouira, Ulrich Joger, Paulo Sá-Sousa, Valentin Pérez-Mellado, Iñigo Martínez-Solano, 2008. Retrieved September 24, 2013.