''Karusasaurus'', commonly known as Karusa lizards, is a genus of lizards in the family

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 ...

. Its species were previously considered to be included in the genus ''

Cordylus The genus ''Cordylus'' (Sauria: Cordylidae) 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 (live-bearing, without she ...

'', but more recent studies have shown that they are distinct enough to have their own genus.

Description and distribution

''Karusasaurus'' contains two species, which are widely distributed across the southern part of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, specifically, in the semi-arid areas of

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 ...

and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. Like all girdled lizards, they are

insectivore A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores wer ...

s. They come in a great range of colors, including black, red, and turquoise.

Species

*''

Karusasaurus jordani ''Karusasaurus jordani'', Jordan's girdled lizard or the Namibian girdled lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Cordylidae. It is a small, spiny lizard found in Namibia. Etymology The specific name, ''jordani'', is in honor of German-bor ...

'' – Jordan's girdled lizard, Namibian girdled lizard *''

Karusasaurus polyzonus ''Karusasaurus polyzonus'', commonly known as the Karoo girdled lizard or the southern karusa lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Cordylidae. Etymology ''Karusasaurus'', the genus name, is derived from the Khosian word "Karusa" and ...

'' – Karoo girdled lizard, southern Karusa lizard ''

Nota bene (, or ; plural form ) is a Latin phrase meaning "note well". It is often abbreviated as NB, n.b., or with the ligature and first appeared in English writing . In Modern English, it is used, particularly in legal papers, to draw the atten ...

'': A

binomial authority In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Karusasaurus''.

Description and distribution

Species

References

Further reading