Black girdled lizard
| Black girdled lizard | |
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| File:Cordylus niger - Black Girdled Lizard with millipede on its nose.JPG | |
| A black girdled lizard on Table Mountain (with a millipede on its nose) | |
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C. niger
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| Binomial name | |
| Cordylus niger Smith, 1844
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The black girdled lizard, Cordylus niger, is a medium-sized lizard restricted to Table Mountain on the Cape Peninsula and a second, isolated population near Langebaan.
Black girdled lizards inhabit rocky outcrops on Table Mountain, South Africa. Unlike many other lizard species in the area, these particular Cordylus lizards are not social and are usually seen alone. They are spiny, flat, and pitch black in colour.
Their colour helps these unique lizards to absorb sufficient heat from the sun, in what is one of the darkest, least sunny parts of South Africa. [1]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cordylus niger. |
Gallery
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Black Girdled Lizard, Cordylus niger.jpg
Black Girdled Lizard, Table Mountain, Cape Town
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BlackGirdledLizard.JPG
Close up of the head of a Black Gridled Lizard
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Black girdled lizard 2.jpg
Black girdled lizard on a rock, Table Mountain.
References
Further reading
- Branch, B., 1998. Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa: Ralph Curtis Books Publishing, Sanibel Island, Florida, 399 p.
- Fitzsimons, V. F., 1943. The Lizards of South Africa: Transvaal Museum Memoir, Pretoria.
