Cape flat lizard
|
|
|
(Endemic) SVL 70-75 mm; max SVL 86 mm male, 80 mm female.
The lower eyelids of this platy are opaque, and each is divided with a
series of vertical septa. the enalrged supranasals are in contact behind the
rostral. The middle row of gulars is not very enlarged. The scales on the sides
of the neck are flattened and not enlarged. There are fewer than 98 transverse
granules across the back. The ventrals are in 18-22 longitudinal rows. Males
have 13-20 femoral pores. Females and juvenils have adark brown back, with three
broad, cream stripes; the tail is straw coloured and the belly is white with
a blackish patch in the middle that may be surrounded by diffuse orange-yellow.
In adult males the head and most of the body are Prussian blue to blue-green
( nortern specimens have nomerous pale spots), and faint dorsal stripes may
persist. The rear of the body is red-brown to pale brown, and the tail is red-brown.
The throut is light blue and lacks a collar. The chest is dark blue, and the
belly is black in the centre. The forelimbs are blue, the hind limbs, tail and
rear of the body are red below. Biology : These
beatiful lizards are common on the granite outcrops in the Richtersveld, but
rarely form dense colonies. The beatyful males are shy and difficult to approach.
A pair of eggs are laid beneath a sunny rock crack in November-December, and
a second clutch may be laid later in the summer. Habitat :
Succulent veld. Range : Lower Orange River from Goodhouse to
the Richtersveld, extending south to Garies in Namaqualand and along Fish River
into S.Namibia.