''Tracheloptychus'' is a small
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of
lizards in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Gerrhosauridae
The Gerrhosauridae are a family of lizards native to Africa and Madagascar.
Habitat
Also known as plated lizards, species in the family Gerrhosauridae live in a range of habitats, from rocky crevices to sand dunes.
Description
Their form is va ...
. The genus 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 else ...
to
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
.
[Raselimanana A, Vences M (2011)]
''Tracheloptychus madagascariensis''.
In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2.[Rakotondravony H, Raselimanana A, Ramanamanjato J-B, Raxworthy CJ (2011)]
''Tracheloptychus petersi''.
In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2.
Species
There are two species which are recognized as being valid.
[''Systematics and the Origin of Species: On Ernst Mayr's 100th Anniversary.'']
National Academy of Sciences. National Academies Press. 2005. pg. 209.
*''
Tracheloptychus madagascariensis'' – Malagasy keeled plated lizard, Madagascar girdled lizard
*''
Tracheloptychus petersi'' – Peters' keeled plated lizard
Etymology
The
specific name, ''petersi'', is in honor of German
herpetologist
Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians ( gymnophiona)) and rep ...
Wilhelm Peters
Wilhelm Karl Hartwich (or Hartwig) Peters (22 April 1815 in Koldenbüttel – 20 April 1883) was a German naturalist and explorer.
He was assistant to the anatomist Johannes Peter Müller and later became curator of the Berlin Zoological Muse ...
, who is the author of this genus.
[Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Tracheloptychus petersi'', pp. 204-205).]
References
Further reading
*
Boulenger GA (1887). ''Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume III. ... Gerrhosauridæ ...'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 575 pp. + Plates I-XL. (Genus ''Tracheloptychus'', p. 129; species ''T. madagascariensis'', p. 129; species "''T. petersii''
ic, p. 130).
*
Grandidier A (1869). "''Descriptions de quelques animaux nouveaux découverts, pendant l'année 1869, sur la côte ouest de Madagascar'' ". ''Revue et Magazine de Zoologie pure et appliquée (Paris)'', Series 2, 21: 337-342. (''Tracheloptychus petersi'', new species, pp. 339–340). (in French).
*
Peters (1854). "''Diagnosen neuer Batrachier, welche zusammen mit der früher (24. Juli und 17. August) gegebenen Übersicht der Schlangen und Eidechsen mitgetheilt werden'' ". ''Bericht über die zur Bekanntmachung geeigneten Verhandlungen der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin'' 1854: 614-628. (''Tracheloptychus'', new genus, p. 617; ''T. madagascariensis'', new species, pp. 617–618). (in German and Latin).
Tracheloptychus
Reptiles of Madagascar
Lizard genera
Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters
{{Lizard-stub