The Pungwe flat lizard (''Platysaurus pungweensis'') 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
Cordylidae family.
Description
Females and juveniles of the Pungwe flat lizard are black and striped on their backs. Males vary by subspecies. The species resembles the
common flat lizard
The common flat lizard (''Platysaurus intermedius'') is a species of lizard in the Cordylidae family. This lizard has 9 subspecies, all living in southern Africa.
Description
The females and juveniles of all subspecies of ''P. intermedius'' have ...
, ''Platysaurus intermedius''.
Geography
Pungwe flat lizards live in eastern
Zimbabwe and adjacent
Mozambique.
[ The type was obtained at the Pungwe River at 730 m (2,400 ft) above sea level, near the eastern border of ]Rhodesia
Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
(current Zimbabwe).[
]
Habitat and ecology
Pungwe flat lizards inhabit low rock outcrops and large hills in mesic
Mesic may refer to:
* Mesic, North Carolina, a town in the United States
* Mesic habitat, a type of habitat
See also
*Mesić (disambiguation)
*Mešić Mešić is a Bosnian surname, a patronymic derived from the masculine given name '' Meša'', it ...
savanna.beetles
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
.
Subspecies
Two subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
are accepted:[
* ''P. p. pungweensis'' – Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe and adjacent Mozambique
* ''P. p. blakei'' Broadley, 1964 – outcrops and inselbergs in the lowlands of southern Manica Platform, central Mozambique. Type locality southeast of Vila de Manica.]
References
External links
More Information
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3004542
Platysaurus
Lizards of Africa
Reptiles of Mozambique
Reptiles of Zimbabwe
Reptiles described in 1959
Taxa named by Donald George Broadley