Smaug depressus (FITZSIMONS, 1930)

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Higher Taxa	Cordylidae (Cordylinae), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Flat Dragon Lizard, Zoutpansberg Girdled Lizard
Synonym	Zonurus barbertonensis depressus FITZSIMONS 1930: 24 Zonurus laevigatus FITZSIMONS 1933 Cordylus laevigatus — FITZSIMONS 1943 Cordylus warreni depressus — FITZSIMONS 1943 Cordylus warreni laevigatus — LOVERIDGE 1944 Cordylus warreni depressus — PIENAAR 1978 Cordylus warreni laevigatus — PIENAAR 1978 Smaug warreni depressus — STANLEY et al. 2011 Smaug warreni depressus — BATES et al. 2014: 211 Smaug depressus — STANLEY & BATES 2014 Smaug depressus — STANDER 2023: 120
Distribution	Republic of South Africa (Middle and Eastern Soutpansberg [Limpopo] through the northern Krüger National Park and south to Duiwelskloof). Elevation up to 1500 m. Type locality: Newgate, near Louis Trichardt, Northern Transvaal.
Reproduction	Ovoviviparous.
Types	Holotype: DNMNH (= TM) 4621
Diagnosis	Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us if you need any of this material.
Comment	Distribution: see map in STANLEY & BATES 2014: Figure 2.
Etymology	Named after the Latin adjective depressus, referring to the flattening of the head.
References	Bates, M.F.; Branch, W.R., Bauer, A.M.; Burger, M., Marais, J.; Alexander, G.J. & de Villliers, M.S. (eds.) 2014. Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Suricata 1. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, 512 pp. Berghof, H.-P. 2025. Ein Leben mit Gürtelschweifen – fotografische Porträts der von mir gepflegten Arten Teil 1: Smaug depressus und Smaug vandami Reptilia (Münster) (174): 64 - get paper here FitzSimons, V. F. 1930. Descriptions of new South African Reptilia and Batrachia, with distribution records of allied species in the Transvaal Museum collection. Annals Transvaal Mus. 14: 20-48. - get paper here FitzSimons, V.F. 1943. The lizards of South Africa. Transvaal Museum Memoir No.1 (Pretoria), 528 pp. FitzSimons, VIVIAN 1933. Description of five new lizards from the Transvaal and Southern Rhodesia. Annals Transvaal Mus. 15 (2): 273-280. - get paper here Loveridge,A. 1944. Revision of the African lizards of the family Cordylidae. Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harvard 95 (1): 1-118 - get paper here Mouton, P le Fras N; Alexander Flemming; Michael Bates and Chris Broeckhoven 2018. The relationship between generation gland morphology and armour in Dragon Lizards (Smaug): a reassessment of ancestral states for the Cordylidae. Amphibia-Reptilia 39 (4): 445–456 - get paper here Stander, R.I. 2023. The Reptiles of the Limpopo Province and Kruger National Park. Herp Nomad, Polokwane, South Africa, 367 pp. - get paper here Stanley, E. L. and Bates, M. F. 2014. Here be dragons: a phylogenetic and biogeographical study of the Smaug warreni species complex (Squamata: Cordylidae) in southern Africa. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 172 (4): 892–909; doi:10.1111/zoj.12187 - get paper here Stanley, Edward L.; Aaron M. Bauer; Todd R. Jackman, William R. Branch, P. Le Fras N. Mouton 2011. Between a rock and a hard polytomy: rapid radiation in the rupicolous girdled lizard (Squamata: Cordylidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 58(1): 53-70. - get paper here Tolley, K.A., Conradie, W., Pietersen, D.W., Weeber, J., Burger, M. & Alexander, G.J. (eds) 2023. Conservation status of the reptiles of South Africa, Eswatini and Lesotho. Suricata 10. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information Google images

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