The Limpopo girdled lizard (''Cordylus jonesii''), also known commonly as Jones's armadillo lizard and Jones's girdled lizard, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Cordylidae 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. Cordylidae is closely related to the family Gerrhosauridae ...

. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

Etymology

The specific name, ''jonesii'', is in honor of a "Mr. C. R. Jones" who collected the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Cordylus jonesii'', p. 136). The type locality is the Murchison Range in

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

Geographic range

''C. jonesii'' is found along

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

's border with

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, and

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Behavior and habitat

The Limpopo girdled lizard is

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the Animal locomotion, locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. Th ...

and inhabits dry forests, especially

mopane ''Colophospermum mopane'', commonly called mopane, mopani, balsam tree, butterfly tree, or turpentine tree, is a tree in the legume family (Fabaceae), that grows in hot, dry, low-lying areas, in elevation, in the far northern parts of southern A ...

woodland. It hides under loose bark and in hollow tree limbs.

Description

The

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal co ...

pattern of ''C. jonesii'' varies from red to brown to gray, with dark spots or lines. On some individuals, the lines fuse into a black-bordered white stripe along the midline of the back. The Limpopo girdled lizard has a distinct dark dorsolateral stripe running from the head to the hips. The belly, throat, and lips are cream to yellow. The tail is very spiny and about 45% the total length of the animal. The maximum total length (including tail) is about .

Taxonomy

The Limpopo girdled lizard is sometimes classified as a subspecies of the

tropical girdled lizard The East African armadillo lizard, dwarf sungazer, or tropical girdled lizard (''Cordylus tropidosternum'') is a species of arboreal or rupicolous (rock-dwelling) lizard endemic to East Africa. Habitat The preferred habitat of the East African ...

(''Cordylus tropidosternum''). When both species are held together, the Limpopo girdled lizard has a noticeably shorter snout. In ''C. jonesii'' the nostril pierces the center of the nasal scale (the lower posterior corner of the nasal in ''C. tropidosternum''). Scales on the throat and belly of ''C. jonesii'' are smooth instead of keeled. ''C. jonesii'' is exported from Mozambique for the pet trade, where it is often mislabeled as '' Cordylus vittifer''.

Etymology

Geographic range

Behavior and habitat

Description

Taxonomy

References

Further reading