Subphylum Vertebrata | Phylum Chordata Class Reptilia Suborder Sauria Rank Species | |
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Similar Gerrhosaurus, Cordylosaurus subtessellatus, Scaled reptiles, Tracheloptychus, Tetradactylus | ||
The desert plated lizard (Gerrhosaurus skoogi) is a reptile species endemic to the northern Namib Desert in Namibia and Angola. Also known as the sand plated lizard, it is diurnal.
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Etymology
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.
Taxonomy
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 suggest that this monotypic genus is synonymous to Gerrhosaurus and makes it paraphyletic; therefore A. skoogi was reclassified as Gerrhosaurus skoogi.
References
Desert plated lizard Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA