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The Roque Chico de Salmor giant lizard (''Gallotia simonyi simonyi'') was the
nominate subspecies of the
lacertid (wall
lizard) ''
Gallotia simonyi
''Gallotia simonyi'', also known as Simony's lizard, is a species of lacertid (wall lizard) that was found on many of the Canary Islands. The species was once present throughout much of the islands, but one of the two subspecies is extinct, whil ...
''. It was once present on a small islet near
El Hierro
El Hierro, nicknamed ''Isla del Meridiano'' (the "Meridian Island"), is the second-smallest and farthest-south and -west of the Canary Islands (an autonomous community of Spain), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a populatio ...
in the
Canary Islands.
''Gallotia simonyi simonyi'' was only known from Roque Chico de Salmor off northwestern
Valverde municipality, El Hierro. It disappeared around the 1930s through unsustainable collecting of animals for scientific institutions and commercial interests, as well as predation by feral cats and possibly
herring gulls (Diaz & Bischoff 1994, Miras & Pérez-Mellado 2005).
See also
*
List of extinct animals of Europe
This list of European animals extinct in the Holocene features animals known to have become extinct in the last 12,000 years on the European continent and its surrounding islands.
Dependent territories of European countries in other continents, l ...
References
* Blanco, Juan Carlos & González, José Luis (eds.) (1992):
Libro rojo de los vertebrados de España'. ICONA, Madrid.
* Böhme, W. & Bings, Werner (1975): Zur Frage des Überlebens von ''Lacerta s. simonyi'' Steindachner. ''Salamandra'' 11(1): 39–46.
rticle in German* Diaz, Carlos Naeslund & Bischoff, Wolfgang (1994): Studien am Roque Chico de Salmor bei El Hierro (Kanaren): 1. Mögliche Ursachen für das Aussterben von ''Gallotia simonyi'', 2. Die Artzugehörigkeit seiner Geckos (''Tarentola''). ''Salamandra'' 30(4): 246–253. [Article in German
HTML abstract* European Environment Agency (2006)
European Nature Information System (EUNIS)Species Factsheet: ''Gallotia simonyi simonyi''
Downloaded on 24 Feb 2007.
* Maas, Peter H.J. (2006)
The Extinction Website
Extinctions in Europe. Downloaded on 18 May 2006.
* Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this species is critically endangered
Footnotes
External links
* lacerta.de
Contains several good photos of habitat on Roque Chico de Salmor. Retrieved 2007-FEB-25.
Gallotia
Extinct reptiles
Reptile extinctions since 1500
Lizards of Europe
Reptiles of the Canary Islands
El Hierro
Taxa named by Franz Steindachner
{{lacertidae-stub