Dwarf Karoo girdled lizard
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Endemic, SVL 40 - 60 mm, max SVL 66,2 mm
The smallest girdled lizard, it has a flattened body and a triangular head with rough shields. There are three supraciliaries.The supranasals are in contact, separating the rostral and the frontonasal.The nasals are small and not tubular. There are 5-6, usually 5, upper labials. The anterior parietals are larger than the posterior ones. There are six occipitals, and no enlarged chin shields. The dorsal scales are small, obliquely keeled and in 26 - 28 transverse and 24-26 longitudinal rows. The laterals are spiny and larger than the dorsals. The ventrals are smooth, in 14-16 longitudinal rows. There is a pair of feebly enlarged preanal plates and both sexes have 4-6 femoral pores on each thigh. The tail has whorls of large spines. The back, tail and limbs are dirty brown, with diffuse irregular black markings. The head is dark brown to blackish; the belly and upper labials dirty white. Biology : Shy, lives in vertical rock cracks in low, north-facing Dwyka tillite outcrops. Habitat : Rocky karroid veld. Range : S. Karoo near Prince Alfred.