The list of reptiles of South Africa is a list of species that form a part of the reptilian fauna of South Africa. The list follows the SANBI listing.
Order Crocodylia
Family Crocodylidae
Order Squamata
Family Agamidae
Family Amphisbaenidae
Family Atractaspididae
Family Chamaeleonidae
Family Colubridae
Family Cordylidae
Family Elapidae
Family Gekkonidae
Family Gerrhosauridae
Family Hydrophiidae
Family Lacertidae
Family Leptotyphlopidae
Family Pythonidae
Family Scincidae
Family Typhlopidae
Family Varanidae
Family Viperidae
Order Testudines
Family Cheloniidae
Family Dermochelyidae
Family Pelomedusidae
Family Testudinidae
Lygodactylus is a genus of diurnal geckos with 82 species. They are commonly referred to as dwarf geckos. They are mainly found in Africa and Madagascar although two species are found in South America. Lygodactylus picturatus, the best known species, is found in Kenya and commonly known as the white-headed dwarf gecko. Recently, illegal importation from Tanzania of brightly colored, Lygodactylus williamsi, known as electric blue geckos, has been gaining attention for Lygodactylus geckos in the reptile trade.
Pachydactylus is a genus of insectivorous geckos, lizards in the family Gekkonidae. The genus is endemic to Africa, and member species are commonly known as thick-toed geckos. The genus also displays rich speciation, having 58 distinct species identified when compared to other closely related gecko genera like Rhoptropus, most of which have emerged since 35Ma. It has been suggested that the reason for this rich speciation not from adaptive radiation nor nonadaptive radiation, but that the genus represents a clade somewhere between the two drivers of speciation. P. bibronii geckos have been used by NASA as animal models for experimentation.
The genus Cordylus includes a wide variety of species of small to medium spiny lizards from Africa, collectively called girdle-tailed lizards 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.
Platysaurus is a genus of lizards, commonly known as flat lizards for their flat backs, in the family Cordylidae.
Mochlus is a genus of skinks, lizards in the family Scincidae. The genus is endemic to Africa.
Scelotes is a genus of small African skinks.
Trachylepis is a skink genus in the subfamily Mabuyinae found mainly in Africa. Its members were formerly included in the "wastebin taxon" Mabuya, and for some time in Euprepis. As defined today, Trachylepis contains the clade of Afro-Malagasy mabuyas. The genus also contains a species from the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha, T. atlantica, and may occur in mainland South America with Trachylepis tschudii and Trachylepis maculata, both poorly known and enigmatic. The ancestors of T. atlantica are believed to have rafted across the Atlantic from Africa during the last 9 million years.
Lycophidion is a genus of nonvenomous lamprophiid snakes commonly referred to as the wolf snakes.
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.
