Fitzinger's algyroides

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Fitzinger's algyroides
Algyroides fitzingeri 2.JPG
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Lacertidae
Genus: Algyroides
Species:
A. fitzingeri
Binomial name
Algyroides fitzingeri
(Wiegmann, 1834)
Synonyms

Fitzinger's algyroides (Algyroides fitzingeri), also commonly called the pygmy algyroides and the pygmy keeled lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. The species is native to the islands of Corsica and Sardinia in the Mediterranean. There are no subspecies.

Contents

Taxonomy

Fitzinger;s algyroides was first formally described as Notolophis fitzingeri in 1834 by the German herpetologist Arend Friedrich August Wiegmann with its type locality given as Sardinia. [4] This species is classified in the genus Algyroides which belongs to the family Lacertidae, the African and Eurasian "typical lizards". [3]

Etymology

The specific name, fitzingeri, is in honor of Austrian herpetologist Leopold Fitzinger. [5]

Description

Fitzinger's algyroides is up to 130mm in length and is the smallest and most slender member of the genus Algyroides. It can be tod apart from the Greek algyroides, which laso has the scales on the back all being similar, by the sharp demarcation between thescales on the sides and the underside and by the absence of pale lines above the eye. Its hind legs are short in comparison to the Greek Algyroides too. It can be distinguished from the two other Algyroides species, the Spanish algyroides and the blue-throated keeled lizard, by the unreduced scales on its flanks. The head is flattened, with a redulced layer of osteoderms and the supraciliary laminae are only partly ossified, there are no teeth on the pterygoid. This species is the only species of algyroides known to have a hemipenis with epithelium on the crown, the hemipenis of the others have simple extended tips. [3]

Geographic range

A. fitzingeri is found only in Corsica and Sardinia. [1]

Habitat

The natural habitats of A. fitzingeri are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, temperate grassland, rocky areas, arable land, pastureland, and rural gardens, at altitudes from sea level to 1,800 m (5,900 ft). [1]

Reproduction

A. fitzingeri is oviparous. [3] Clutch size is 2–4 eggs. [1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Bowles, P. (2024). "Algyroides fitzingeri". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2024: e.T61464A137846377. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-1.RLTS.T61464A137846377.en . Retrieved 24 April 2025.
  2. ↑ G. A. Boulenger (1887). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III. Lacertidae, Gerrhosauridae, Scinoidae, Anelytropidae, Dibamidae, Chamaeleontidae (2 ed.). London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). pp. 45–46.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Species Algyroides fitzingeri at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  4. ↑ Arend Friedrich August Wiegmann (183). Herpetologia Mexicana, seu descriptio amphibiorum Novae Hispaniae, quae itineribus comitis Sack, Ferdinandi Deppe et Chr. Guil. Schiede in Museum Zoologicum Berolinense pervenerunt. Pars prima, saurorum species amplectens. Adiecto systematis saurorum prodromo, additisque multis in hunc amphibiorum ordinem observationibus (in Latin). Berlin: C.G. Lüderitz. p. 10.
  5. ↑ Bo Beolens; Michael Watkins; Michael Grayson (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 91. ISBN   978-1-4214-0135-5.

Further reading

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Algyroides fitzingeri at Wikimedia Commons

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