Podarcis hispanica
| Podarcis hispanica | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Lacertidae |
| Genus: | Podarcis |
| Species: | P. hispanica |
| Binomial name | |
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Podarcis hispanica Steindachner, 1870 |
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P. bocagei = dark green P. vaucheri = mid green P. muralis = pale green P. carbonelli = reddish-brown P. hispanica = other colours |
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Podarcis hispanica (Iberian wall lizard) is a small wall lizard species of the genus Podarcis. It is found in the Iberian peninsula, in northwestern Africa and in coastal districts in Languedoc-Roussillon in France. In Spanish, this lizard is commonly called lagartija Ibérica.
The Iberian wall lizard varies considerably in size and colouring across its range. It is a fairly small, slender, somewhat flattened species with a snout-to-vent length (SVL) averaging 50–70 mm (2.0–2.8 in) and a tail twice as long as its body. The background colour is usually grey or brown but is occasionally greenish. Most individuals have three narrow longitudinal stripes, one along the spine and the other two more distinct and on either side. Sometimes these are broken up into a series of streaks or marks. Some males instead have a reticulated (netlike) pattern and others are more uniform in colour. The throat is pale with a scattering of small spots, particularly near the sides, and the belly is usually whitish but may be pink, orange, red or buff. Young lizards may have blue tails.
The Iberian wall lizard forms part of a species complex of Podarcis wall lizards occurring in the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb region of North Africa. The range map shows the boundaries between the species and includes P. bocagei, P. vaucheri, P. muralis, P. carbonelli and several different subspecies of P. hispanica.
Several different subspecies of the Iberian wall lizard are found in Spain and Portugal (where it is the only small lizard over most of the southern half of Iberia), southwestern France, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. A subspecies of this lizard, Podarcis hispanica atrata, lives in the Columbretes Islands far off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.
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Wikipedia