''Nucras boulengeri'', also known
commonly as the Uganda savannah lizard and Boulenger's scrub lizard, is a
species of
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 Lacertidae
The Lacertidae are the family (biology), family of the wall lizards, true lizards, or sometimes simply lacertas, which are native to Afro-Eurasia. It is a diverse family with at least 300 species in 39 genera. They represent the dominant group o ...
("wall lizards" or "true lizards"). The species is native to
East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa:
Due to the historical ...
.
Etymology
The
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
, ''boulengeri'', is in honor of Belgian-born British herpetologist
George Albert Boulenger
George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botani ...
.
Geographic range
''N. boulengeri'' is found in
Kenya,
Tanzania,
Uganda, and
Zambia.
[
]
Habitat
The preferred natural habitats of ''N. boulengeri'' are shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...
, savanna, and forest.
Description
''N. boulengeri'' may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of about , with a tail about twice SVL.[ Loveridge A (1922). "New Reptiles from Tanganyika Territory". ''Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London'' 1922: 313–315. (''Nucras kilosae'', new species, pp. 314–315).]
Reproduction
''N. boulengeri'' is oviparous
Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...
.[
]
References
Further reading
* Boulenger GA (1907). "Descriptions of new Lizards in the British Museum". ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Seventh Series'' 19: 486–489. (''Nucras emini'', new species, p. 488).
* Müller J (1998). "''Zur besseren Kenntnis von ''Nucras boulengeri'' (NEUMANN, 1900), einer wenig bekannten Eidechse aus Ostafrika''". ''Die Eidechse'' 8 (3): 88–96. (in German).
* Neumann O (1900). "Description of a new Lizard of the Genus ''Nucras'' from Usoga, British East Africa". ''Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Seventh Series'' 5: 56. (''Nucras boulengeri'', new species).
* Spawls S, Howell K, Hinkel H, Menegon M (2018). ''Field Guide to East African Reptiles, Second Edition''. London: Bloomsbury Natural History. 624 pp. . (''Nucras boulengeri'', p. 192).
Nucras
Lacertid lizards of Africa
Reptiles described in 1900
Taxa named by Oscar Neumann
{{Lacertidae-stub