''Uromastyx alfredschmidti'', commonly known as the ebony mastigure, Schmidt's mastigure, or Schmidt's spiny-tailed 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 ...

Agamidae Agamidae is a family (biology), family of over 300 species of iguanian lizards indigenous to Africa, Asia, Australia, and a few in Southern Europe. Many species are commonly called dragons or dragon lizards. Overview phylogenetics, Phylogenetic ...

. www.reptile-database.org. The species is

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

Etymology

The specific name, ''alfredschmidti'', 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 rept ...

Alfred A. Schmidt. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Uromastyx alfredschmidti'', pp. 5, 236).

Geographic range

''U. alfredschmidti'' is found in

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

and

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

Habitat

The natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s of ''U. alfredschmidti'' are subtropical or tropical dry

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 ...

, rocky areas, and hot

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

Conservation status

''U. alfredschmidti'' is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

Diet

Like other species in the genus ''

Uromastyx ''Uromastyx'' is a genus of African and Asian agamid lizards, the member species of which are commonly called spiny-tailed lizards, uromastyces, mastigures, or dabb lizards. Lizards in the genus ''Uromastyx'' are primarily herbivorous, but occasi ...

'', ''U. alfredschmidti'' is

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

Reproduction

''U. alfredschmidti'' 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 ...

Taxonomy

The

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

name (''Uromastyx'') is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

words ''ourá'' (οὐρά) meaning "tail" and ''mastigo'' (Μαστίχα) meaning "whip" or "scourge", after the thick-spiked

tail The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, r ...

characteristic of all ''Uromastyx'' species.

References

* Sindaco R, Jeremčenko VK (2008). ''The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic. 1. Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Turtles, Crocodiles, Amphisbaenians and Lizards of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia''. (Monographs of the ''Societas Herpetologica Italica''). Latina, Italy: Edizioni Belvedere. 580 pp. . *Sindaco R, Wilms TM, Venchi A (2012). "On the distribution of ''Uromastyx alfredschmidti'' Wilms & Böhme, 2000 ic(Squamata: Agamidae: Uromastycinae)". ''Acta Herpetologica'' 7 (1): 23-28. * Tamar K, Metallinou M, Wilms T, Schmitz A, Crochet P-A, Geniez P, Carranza S (2017). "Evolutionary history of spiny-tailed lizards (Agamidae: ''Uromastyx'') from the Saharo-Arabian region". ''Zoologica Scripta'' 47 (2): 159-173. * Trape J-F, Trape S, Chirio L (2012). ''Lézards, crocodiles et tortues d'Afrique occidentale et du Sahara''. Paris: IRD Orstom. 503 pp. . (in French). *Wilms T, Böhme W (2001). "''Revision der'' Uromastyx acanthinura - ''Artengruppe, mit Beschreibung einer neuen Art aus der Zentralsahara (Reptilia: Sauria: Agamidae)'' "Revision of the ''Uromastyx acanthinura'' species group, with description of a new species from the Central Sahara (Reptilia: Sauria: Agamidae). ''Zoologische Abhandlungen Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde, Dresden'' 51 (8): 73-104. (''Uromastyx alfredschmidti'', new species). (in German, with English abstract). Uromastyx Reptiles described in 2001 Taxa named by Thomas Wilms Taxa named by Wolfgang Böhme (herpetologist) Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{agamidae-stub