Cordylidae is a family of small to medium-sized lizards that occur in southern and eastern Africa. They are commonly known as girdled lizards, spinytail lizards, or girdle-tail lizards.
The genus Cordylus includes a wide variety of small- to medium-sized spiny lizards from Africa, collectively called girdle-tailed or girdled lizards. All are diurnal and ovoviviparous. Most species are rupicolous (rock-dwelling), while a few species are arboreal or live in burrows. They defend themselves with osteoderms and by quickly retreating into rock crevices or burrows. Many species live in groups and males defend territories.
Pseudocordylus is a genus of small to large girdled lizards from South Africa, commonly known as crag lizards. Six species of Pseudocordylus are known; they are distinguished from girdled lizards of the genus Cordylus by the presence of granular scales on the back instead of osteoderms.
Meroles is a genus of lizards, commonly known as desert lizards, in the family Lacertidae. The genus contains eight species, inhabiting southwestern Africa, especially the Namib Desert.
Legless lizard may refer to any of several groups of lizards that have independently lost limbs or reduced them to the point of being of no use in locomotion. It is the common name for the family Pygopodidae, but often refers to other groups, such as limbless anguids, depending on the region of the world. These lizards are often distinguishable from snakes on the basis of one or more of the following characteristics: possessing eyelids, possessing external ear openings, lack of broad belly scales, notched rather than forked tongue, having two more-or-less-equal lungs, and/or having a very long tail.
The Augrabies flat lizard, also known commonly as Broadley's flat lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Cordylidae. The species is endemic to South Africa.
The Transvaal grass lizard, also known as the coppery grass lizard and Transvaal snake lizard is a species of lizard in the genus Chamaesaura. It is found in southern African grasslands and on slopes. The Transvaal grass lizard is ovoviparous. The scientific name refers to its copper colour.
The Cape grass lizard, also known as the Cape snake lizard or the highland grass lizard, is a species of lizard in the genus Chamaesaura. It widely found in southern Africa, inhabiting grasslands. In one of the countries it lives in, Swaziland, it is listed as a Near Threatened species.
The large-scale grass lizard, also known as the large-scaled snake lizard, Zambian grass lizard, or Zambian snake lizard, is a species of lizard in the genus Chamaesaura. It lives scattered across southern Africa with two subspecies.
Lycophidion is a genus of nonvenomous lamprophiid snakes commonly referred to as the wolf snakes.
Telescopus semiannulatus, commonly known as the common tiger snake, tiger cat snake, or eastern tiger snake is a species of rear-fanged colubrid snake. It is widespread in central, eastern, and southern Africa.
Cordylus cordylus, the Cape girdled lizard, is a medium-sized lizard indigenous to the southern Cape region of South Africa, where it inhabits crags, rocky outcrops and mountain summits. They evade predators by wedging themselves firmly in rock cracks.
Vivian Frederick Maynard FitzSimons, born in Pietermaritzburg, was a notable herpetologist in South Africa. Also, he contributed to the collection of spermatophyte samples for the National Herbarium which has become part of the South African National Biodiversity Institute at the Pretoria National Botanical Garden. In 1937, together with Anna Amelia Obermeyer, he collected some of the earliest plant specimens from the Eastern Highlands of Rhodesia.
Proscelotes arnoldi, also known commonly as Arnold's skink or Arnold's montane skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to Africa. Sometimes called a legless skink, it has tiny reduced limbs. The front limbs are very small, and both fore-limbs and hind-limbs have reduced function and appear to be vestigial attachments for its lifestyle and habitat.
Ichnotropis capensis is a species of African lizard, which is native to the southern Afrotropics. It is the type species for the genus Ichnotropis, and is commonly called the Cape rough-scaled lizard due to them being found in southern Africa's Cape region. They are also called ornate rough-scaled lizard or Smith's rough-scaled sand lizard. The small lizards are terrestrial and occur in grassland, desert and brush areas of southern Africa.
Meroles squamulosa is a species of African lizard originally placed in the genus Ichnotropis, however phylogenetic evidence moves this species to the genus Meroles. The species is commonly called the common rough-scaled lizard or savanna lizard. It is largely found in southern Africa. These lizards are terrestrial and found in the range of mesic savannah. The common rough-scaled lizard is medium in size and well distributed in parts of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Angola, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Turner's thick-toed gecko is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is endemic to southern Africa.
Van Dam's girdled lizard is a species of lizard in the family Cordylidae. The species is endemic to South Africa.
The Zambian grass lizard or Zambian snake lizard is a species of lizard which is found in Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
