Desert plated lizard
| Desert plated lizard | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Gerrhosauridae |
| Genus: | Gerrhosaurus |
| Species: | G. skoogi
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| Binomial name | |
| Gerrhosaurus skoogi Andersson, 1916
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| Synonyms | |
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The desert plated lizard (Gerrhosaurus skoogi) is a reptile species endemic to the northern Namib Desert in Namibia and Angola.[2] Also known as the sand plated lizard,[3] It is diurnal.[4]
Etymology
[edit]The specific name, skoogi, is in honor of Hilmer Nils Erik Skoog (1870–1927), who was Curator of the Götesborgs Naturhistoriska museum from 1904 to 1927.[5]
Taxonomy
[edit]In 1916 Andersson described this lizard as a new species, naming it Gerrhosaurus skoogi. In 1953 FitzSimons assigned the species to a new genus Angolosaurus. Recent studies[3] suggest that this monotypic genus is synonymous to Gerrhosaurus and makes it paraphyletic; therefore A. skoogi was reclassified as Gerrhosaurus skoogi.
Ecology
[edit]Gerrhosaurus skoogi mostly eats plants, but it also forages for beetles and other small arthropods that live within the sand dunes that the lizard inhabits.[6] G. skoogi is considered to be a sand-diving lizard and can move efficiently through sand dunes.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Conradie, W.; Bauer, A.M.; Becker, F. (2020). "Gerrhosaurus skoogi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020 e.T178229A120595016. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T178229A120595016.en.
- ^ "Gerrhosaurus skoogi". The Reptile Database. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
- ^ a b Lamb, T; Meeker, AM; Bauer, AM; Branch, WR (2003). "On the systematic status of the desert plated lizard (Angolosaurus skoogi ): phylogenetic inference from DNA sequence analysis of the African Gerrhosauridae". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 78 (2): 253–261. doi:10.1046/j.1095-8312.2003.00168.x.
- ^ Nagy, KA; Clarke, BC; Seely, MK; Mitchell, D; Lighton, JRB (1991). "Water and Energy Balance in Namibian Desert Sand-Dune Lizards Angolosaurus skoogi". Functional Ecology. 5 (6): 731–739.
- ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Gerrhosaurus skoogi, p. 245).
- ^ a b Robinson, M.D.; Barrows, C.W. (2013). "Namibian and North American sand-diving lizards". Journal of Arid Environments. 93: 116–125.
Further reading
[edit]- Andersson LG (1916). "Notes on the reptiles and batrachians in the Zoological museum at Gothenburg with an account of some new species". Göteborgs Kungliga Vetenskaps och Vitter-Hets Samhalles Handlingar, Series B, 4, 17 (5): 1-41. (Gerrhosaurus skoogi, new species).
- Branch, Bill (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition, Second Impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. ISBN 0-88359-042-5. (Angolosaurus skoogi, p. 177 + Plate 64).
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