Lilford's wall lizard Temporal range: Pleistocene – Recent [1] | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Family: | Lacertidae |
Genus: | Podarcis |
Species: | P. lilfordi |
Binomial name | |
Podarcis lilfordi (Günther, 1874) | |
Geographic range | |
Synonyms [4] | |
Lilford's wall lizard (Podarcis lilfordi) is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. The species is endemic to the Balearic Islands, Spain.
Its natural habitats are temperate Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, rocky areas, and rocky shores. Originally distributed throughout the Balearics, the introduction of alien species which started with the Romans has confined the species to the uninhabited islets around the major islands, on almost each of which a local subspecies has evolved. It is threatened by habitat loss.
P. lilfordi is named in honour of Thomas Powys, 4th Baron Lilford, a British ornithologist who studied the fauna of the Balearics. [5]
Lilford's wall lizard grows to a maximum snout-to-vent length of 8 cm (3 in) but adults are usually a little smaller than this. The tail is about 1.8 times as long as the body. It is a robust streamlined lizard with a short-head and rounded body with smooth, unkeeled scales. The dorsal surface is usually greenish or brownish but varies much between different island subpopulations. There is usually a pale dorso-lateral stripe and there may be several dark streaks or three dark lines running along the spine. The flanks may be slightly reticulated and the underside is white, cream or pinkish. The throat may be blotched with darker colour. Juveniles sometimes have a blue tail. [6]
Lilford's wall lizard is native to the islands of Menorca and Mallorca in the Balearic Islands, the Cabrera Archipelago to the south of Mallorca, and the neighbouring rocky islets. However it has been extirpated from the two large islands and is now only present on the islets.
P. lilfordi is found at low altitudes. [2] It is a mainly ground-dwelling species and largely inhabits rocky areas and scrubland, although it is found in woodland on Cabrera. [6]
Lilford's wall lizard is a relatively tame lizard and easy to approach. It mainly feeds on insects, spiders and other arthropods, snails and some vegetable matter. This includes flowers and fruits, nectar and pollen. Some plants endemic to the Balearic Islands depend on this lizard for pollination. [6] Other plants known to be pollinated by it include the mastic tree Pistacia lentiscus , rock samphire Crithmum maritimum , wild leek Allium ampeloprasum , clustered carline thistle Carlina corymbosa and the sea daffodil Pancratium maritimum . [7] It is opportunistic around birds' nests in the use of scraps of food that have been regurgitated by gulls for their chicks. It also sometimes moves to the vicinity of nests of the Eleonora's falcon (Falco eleonorae) and feeds on the remains of its prey and the flies that accumulate around the nesting site. It is sometimes cannibalistic, eating juveniles and the tails of other lizards of its own species. [6]
Breeding takes place in the summer, and females may lay up to three clutches of one to four eggs with an average mass of 0.63 g, large for a lizard of this size. These hatch in about eight weeks and the emerging young measure about 3 to 3.5 cm (1.2 to 1.4 in) from snout to vent. [8]
The population of this lizard seems to be in decline. It was at one time very numerous on Menorca and Mallorca but is no longer found on either. This extirpation may have been caused by the proliferation of cats and by other introduced predators, possibly the false smooth snake (Macroprotodon cucullatus) and the weasel (Mustela nivalis). Its total area of occupancy on all the small islands on which it is now present is less than 500 km2 (193.1 sq mi) so the IUCN lists it as being "Endangered". [2]
There are twenty-seven recognized subspecies many of which are found on only a single island: [9]
Nota bene : A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in genus other than Podarcis.
The Lacertidae are the family of the wall lizards, true lizards, or sometimes simply lacertas, which are native to Afro-Eurasia. It is a diverse family with at about 360 species in 39 genera. They represent the dominant group of reptiles found in Europe.
Lacerta is a genus of lizards of the family Lacertidae.
Podarcis is a genus of lizards in the family Lacertidae. Its members look very similar to lizards of the genus Lacerta, to which they were considered to belong until the 1970s. While similar externally and ecologically, Podarcis form a distinct group differing from Lacerta by the construction of the skull and the hemipenis, and by the processes of the caudal vertebrae. They are commonly known as wall lizards. They are native to Europe and northern Africa, and most species are restricted to the Mediterranean region. Wall lizards diversified and hybridized during the Messinian salinity crisis. The Italian wall lizard and the common wall lizard have been introduced to North America, where they have become intermediate hosts for some Acuariidae larvae.
Erhard's wall lizard, also commonly called the Aegean wall lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. The species is endemic to Southeast Europe.
The Ratas Island lizard, Podarcis lilfordi rodriquezi, is an extinct subspecies of Lilford's wall lizard that once lived on Ratas Island, a tiny, rocky island in the bay of Mahón, Menorca (Spain). But Ratas island, which was its habitat, was destroyed when Port Mahon was rebuilt. The last sign of this subspecies was in 1950 and is presumed extinct. Four specimens of this European lizard are conserved in museum collections.
The ocellated lizard or jewelled lizard is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. The species is endemic to southwestern Europe.
Boettger's lizard is a species of wall lizard in the family Lacertidae. The species is endemic to the Canary Islands. There are two recognized subspecies.
Lorenz Müller was a German herpetologist.
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The Aeolian wall lizard, also known commonly as Raffone's wall lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. The species is endemic to Italy.
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Illa de l'Aire in an islet on the southeast coast of Menorca, in the Baleric Islands, close to Punta Prima, Sant Lluís. It is administered by the municipality of Sant Lluís.
L'Illa del Rei, also called Hospital Island in English, is a small island in the middle of the main navigable entry channel to Mahon on the northeastern side of Menorca in the Mediterranean Sea.
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