Van Dam's girdled lizard

Van Dam's girdled lizard (Smaug vandami) is a species of lizard in the family Cordylidae. The species is endemic to South Africa.

Van Dam's girdled lizard
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Cordylidae
Genus: Smaug
Species:
S. vandami
Binomial name
Smaug vandami
(FitzSimons, 1930)
Synonyms[2]
  • Zonurus vandami
    FitzSimons, 1930
  • Cordylus vandami
    — FitzSimons, 1943
  • Cordylus warreni vandami
    — Loveridge, 1944
  • Smaug vandami
    — Stanley et al., 2011

Geographic range

The type locality of S. vandami is Gravelotte, Limpopo, South Africa.[3]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitats of S. vandami are grassland and savanna.[1]

Description

A large lizard, S. vandami may attain a snout-vent length (SVL) of 14.5 cm (5.7 in).[4] It has a triangular shaped head, and spiny dorsal scales. The predominant colour is dark brown with fragmented yellow rings.[5]

Behaviour

S. vandami is largely solitary and hides in cracks in rocks.[6]

Reproduction

S. vandami is ovoviviparous.[2] From two to six young are born alive in summer.[6]

Etymology

The species is named for the collector of the type specimens, Gerhardus Petrus Frederick van Dam (died 1927), who was a South African herpetologist.[2][7][8]

Common names

Other common names for S. vandami include the Afrikaans name ouvolk, meaning "old folk".[9]

References
  1. Bates MF, Mouton PLFN (2018). "Smaug vandami ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T110167848A115680080. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T110167848A115680080.en. Downloaded on 21 September 2020.
  2. Species Smaug vandami at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  3. "Living National Treasures". Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  4. Branch, William R. (1996). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik. ISBN 9781868720408. Plate 70.
  5. Bader, Kenneth. "Van Dam's Girdled Lizard". Website on girdled lizards kept in captivity.
  6. Branch, Bill (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. ISBN 0-88359-042-5. (Cordylus vandami, p. 197 + Plate 70).
  7. "Van Dam, Mr Gerhardus Petrus Frederik (zoology, plant collection)". Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  8. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Cordylus vandami, p. 271).
  9. Ed Stanley. "Smaug Stanley et al. 2011". Retrieved 23 July 2015.

Further reading
  • FitzSimons V (1930). "Descriptions of New South African Reptilia and Batrachia, with Distribution Records of Allied Species in the Transvaal Museum Collection". Annals of the Transvaal Museum 14 (1): 20–48. (Zonurus vandami, new species, pp. 25–27, Figures 6–7).
  • Loveridge A (1944). "Revision of the African Lizards of the Family Cordylidae". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College 95 (1): 1–118. (Cordylus warreni vandami, new combination, pp. 23–24).
  • Reissig J (2014). Girdled Lizards and their relatives: Natural History, Captive Care and Breeding. Frankfurt am Main: Edition Chimaira. 249 pp. ISBN 3899734378.
  • Stanley EL, Bates MF (2014). "Here be dragons: a phylogenetic and biogeographical study of the Smaug warreni species complex (Squamata: Cordylidae) in southern Africa". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 172 (4): 892–909.
  • Stanley EL, Bauer AM, Jackman TR, Branch WR, Mouton PLFN (2011). "Between a rock and a hard polytomy: Rapid radiation in the rupicolous girdled lizards (Squamata: Cordylidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 58 (1): 53–70. (Smaug vandami, new combination).


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