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Tropidosaura montana (GRAY, 1831)

IUCN Red List - Tropidosaura montana - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaLacertidae, Eremiadinae, Sauria, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesTropidosaura montana montana (GRAY 1831)
Tropidosaura montana natalensis FITZSIMONS 1947
Tropidosaura montana rangeri HEWITT 1926 
Common NamesE: Common Mountain Lizard, Green-striped Mountain Lizard
montana: Green-striped Mountain Lizard
rangeri: Ranger's Mountain Lizard 
SynonymLacerta (Tropidosaurus) montanus GRAY in GRIFFITH 1831: 35
Tropidosaura montana DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839: 172
Tropidosaura capensis — DUMERIL & BIBRON 1839: 171
Thermophilus capensis — FITZINGER 1843: 21
Tropidosaura Burchelli SMITH 1849 (?)
Tropidosaura capensis STEINDACHNER 1867
Tropidosaura montana montana — FIZSIMONS 1943: 301
Tropidosaura montana — MADDOCK & ZALOUMIS 1987
Tropidosaura montana montana — BATES et al. 2014: 179

Tropidosaura montana natalensis FITZSIMONS 1947
Tropidosaura montana natalensis — BATES et al. 2014: 179
Tropidosaura montana natalensis — CONRADIE et al. 2017

Tropidosaura montana rangeri HEWITT 1926
Tropidosaura montana rangeri HEWITT 1926: 485
Tropidosaura montana rangeri — FITZSIMONS 1943: 303
Tropidosaura montana rangeri — BATES et al. 2014: 179 
DistributionRepublic of South Africa (S/SW Cape province, S Natal, E Cape province)

Type locality: Cape of Good Hope

rangeri: South Africa; Type locality: "farm Gleniffer, near Kei Road"  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 2673 [indicated as syntype in MNHN catalogue] (fide FITZSIMONS 1943: 301, but not listed by Guibé 1954)
Holotype: DNMNH (= TM) 21281, half-grown male, collectedby a Natal University College Zoological Expedition during September 1943. [natalensis]
Holotype: PEM (was AMG = Albany Muzeum) [rangeri] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Head shields normal. Nostril pierced between 2 or 3 nasals, or in a single, nasal but only narrowly separated from the postnasal. First upper labial well separated from or entering nostril. Lower eyelid scaly. No collar. A short fold in front of arm. A gular fold usually present, sometimes ill-defined or absent: Dorsal scales large, rhombic or lanceolate, strongly keeled and imbricate. Digits sub-cylindrical; subdigital lamellae smooth or tubercular. Femoral pores present. Tail long and cylindrical. Terrestrial and monticolous lizards, endemic to South Africa, where the genus is represented by 5 species and subspecies.


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CommentSynonymy: following in part van den Berg 2017. The assignment of Tropidosaura Burchelli to T. montana is not sure (BRANCH & BAUER 2005).

Type species: Lacerta montanus GRAY in GRIFFITH 1831: 35 is the type species of the genus Tropidosaura FITZINGER 1826.

NCBI taxon ID: 1249901 [montana]
NCBI taxon ID: 1249900 [rangeri]

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin “montanus”, meaning “pertaining to mountains.

The genus was named after Greek tropidos (τροπίδος), keel + Greek sauros (σαῦρος), lizard. [?]. 
References
  • Arnold E N 1986. The hemipenes of lacertid lizards (Reptilia: Lacertidae): structure, variation, and systematic implications. Journal of Natural History 20: 1221-1257 - get paper here
  • 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.
  • Bauer, A.M. & Lamb, T. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships of southern African geckos in the Pachydactylus group (Squamata: Gekkonidae). African Journal of Herpetology 54 (2): 105-129 - get paper here
  • Branch, William R. 1993. A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 144 S.
  • CONRADIE, W.; B. DU PREEZ & J. VENTER 2017. LACERTIDAE: Tropidosaura montana natalensis Fitzsimons 1947 Natal Mountain Lizard - NATAL MOUNTAIN LIZARD IN SOUTH AFRICA. African Herp News (65): 40-41 - get paper here
  • CONRADIE, WERNER; WILLIAM R. BRANCH, & GILLIAN WATSON 2019. Type specimens in the Port Elizabeth Museum, South Africa, including the historically important Albany Museum collection. Part 2: Reptiles (Squamata). Zootaxa 4576 (1): 001–045 - get paper here
  • Duméril, A. M. C. and G. Bibron. 1839. Erpétologie Générale on Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Vol. 5. Roret/Fain et Thunot, Paris, 871 pp. - get paper here
  • Fitzinger, L. 1843. Systema Reptilium, fasciculus primus, Amblyglossae. Braumüller et Seidel, Wien: 106 pp. - get paper here
  • FitzSimons, V.F. 1943. The lizards of South Africa. Transvaal Museum Memoir No.1 (Pretoria), 528 pp.
  • Fitzsimons,V.F.M. 1947. Descriptions of new species and subspecies of reptiles and amphibians from Natal, together with notes on some other little known species. Ann. Natal Mus. (Pietermaritzburg) 11 (1): 111-137
  • Gray, J. E. 1831. A synopsis of the species of Class Reptilia. In: Griffith, E & E. Pidgeon: The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organisation by the Baron Cuvier with additional descriptions of all the species hither named, and of many before noticed [Vol. 9]. Whittaker, Treacher and Co., London: 481 + 110 pp. [1830] - get paper here
  • Hewitt, J. 1926. Some new or little-known reptiles and batrachians from South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 20: 473—490
  • Maddock A H; Zaloumis G 1987. Additional and confirming records of the vertebrates and Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve with indications of rodent and ungulate abundances. Lammergeyer 38: 40-54
  • Steindachner, F. 1867. In: Reise der Österreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858,1859 unter den Befehlen des Commodore B. von Wüllerstorf-Urbair (Zoologie), Vol. 1, part 3 (Reptilien p.1-98). K. Gerold's Sohn/Kaiserlich-Königl. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Wien [1869 on title page] - 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
  • Uetz, P.H.; Patel, M.; Gbadamosi, Z.; Nguyen, A.; Shoope, S. 2024. A Reference Database of Reptile Images. Taxonomy 4: 723–732 - get paper here
  • Venter, Jan A.; Werner Conradie 2015. A checklist of the reptiles and amphibians found in protected areas along the South African Wild Coast, with notes on conservation implications. Koedoe 57 (1): 1-25. doi: 10.4102/koedoe.v57i1.1247 - get paper here
 
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