Smaug warreni (BOULENGER, 1908)
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Smaug warreni
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| Higher Taxa | Cordylidae (Cordylinae), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Lebombo Dragon Lizard, Warren’s Girdled Lizard |
| Synonym | Zonurus warreni BOULENGER 1908 Cordylus warreni warreni — FITZSIMONS 1943 Cordylus warreni warreni — BOYCOTT 1992 Smaug warreni warreni — STANLEY et al. 2011 Cordylus warreni — PYRON & BURBRINK 2013 Smaug warreni — STANLEY & BATES 2014 Smaug warreni warreni — BATES et al. 2014: 210 |
| Distribution | NE Republic of South Africa (from Ubombo Mountains in Zululand trough Transvaal Drakensberg, Soutpansberg), Swaziland, Botswana, Mozambique (up to Gorongoza Mountains) |
| Reproduction | Ovoviviparous |
| Types | Holotype: BMNH 1946.8.8.1 (Note:Boulenger's description states two individuals both male but only one registered and only one in the jar) |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Distinguished from all other cordylids by its unique combination of dorsal, lateral and ventral colour patterns (see descriptions and figures). A medium to large species of Smaug distinguishable by the following combination of characters: (1) back usually sandy brown with 5–6 bands (usually interrupted) between fore- and hindlimbs, each band consisting of pale, dark-edged markings; (2) pale band on nape behind occipitals; (3) flanks pale with brown markings; (4) belly with brown (often pale) markings on most scales; (5) throat usually mostly pale with scattered small brown spots; (6) usually six enlarged, moderately to non-spinose, occipital scales, middle pair the smallest, outer occipitals usually equal in length to the adjacent inner ones; an additional small median occipital is often present; (7) dorsolateral and lateral scales weakly spinose; (8) tail moderately spikey; (9) dorsal scale rows transversely 31–41; (10) dorsal scale rows longitudinally 22–28; (11) ventral scale rows transversely 23–27; (12) ventral scale rows longitudinally 14 (rarely 12 or 13); (13) femoral pores per thigh 7–13; subdigital lamellae on 4th toe 15–20. It differs from other species of Smaug as described above in the diagnosis of S. swazicus sp. nov. (but maximum SVL in S. warreni is 141 mm, and femoral pores in males are 7–13). Most similar to S. swazicus sp. nov. and S. barbertonensis but easily distinguished by its colour pattern (see comparisons in diagnosis of S. swazicus sp. nov. above); by usually having shorter and blunter scales at the edges of the ear openings compared to S. barbertonensis; and quadrates without a pronounced ridge and concave region at the lateral edge of the adductor musculus mandibulae posterior origin (with a pronounced ridge and concave region in S. swazicus sp. nov.). Also differs as follows: outer occipitals and scales adjacent to them of about equal length (outer occipitals usually shorter than the adjacent inner ones in the other two species); head narrower than S. barbertonensis (head width/head length = 73–83% vs. 80–92% in adults); generally higher numbers of transverse dorsal scale rows (32‒38 in 92% of specimens) than S. barbertonensis (29‒32 in 81%); and greater numbers of longitudinal dorsal scale rows (22‒28, mean 23.6) than S. barbertonensis (20‒24, mean 21.7) [from Bates & Stanley 2020: 29] |
| Comment | Distribution: see map in STANLEY & BATES 2014: Figure 2. Not listed by AUERBACH 1987. Subspecies: Cordylus warreni mossambicus, breyeri, regius, and vandami have been elevated to full species status and to a new genus, Smaug. Niels Jacobsen, in his unpublished 1989 thesis, wrote that the diagnostic characters of laevigatus were clinal with repect to eastern depressus, and that it should be synonymized [Ed Stanley, pers. comm., 31 Oct 2011]. |
| Etymology | Named after Mr. E. Warren. |
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