Lizards > Cordylids > Cape Girdled Lizard

Cordylids (Cordylidae; gordelakkedisse)

Cape Girdled Lizard / Kaapse Gordelakkedis

Cordylus cordylus

Size Adult snout-vent length ranges from 70-87 mm, with males normally reaching slightly larger body and head sizes than females.

Description The head and body are moderately depressed, an indication of its rockdwelling lifestyle. The head shields are fairly rugose, in Cordylus niger they are normally smooth. The subocular scale normally does not reach the lip, but in C. niger and C. oelofseni, it does reach the lip. The dorsal body scales are large and keeled and arranged in 16-20 longitudinal rows and 23-26 transverse rows. The ventral scales are normally arranged in 12 longitudinal series and 21-23 transverse series. The tail and sides of the body are moderately spinose. The tail is slightly longer than the body and the whorls consist of a single row of scales. The number of femoral pores is highly variable, both geographically as well as locally, and ranges from 4-10 on each thigh. Males always have generation glands, but these glands can be absent in females from colder areas. Colour is highly variable over the species' distribution range. Individuals from the warmer southern coastal areas are more brightly coloured than from the interior regions. Coloration varies from a dark reddish-brown to almost black above with the sides a lighter orange to lemon to an almost uniform dark reddish-brown colour. Sometimes there are black blotches on the back giving it a checked appearance. Individuals from the west coast and montane localities can be very dark in colour. The undersides are normally a greyish white.

Biology The Cape Girdled Lizard is one of the best-known South-African lizards, probably because it has such a wide distribution and occurs along the coast which is densely populated by man. It is closely related to the black girdled lizard (C. niger) and Oelofsen's girdled lizard (C. oelofseni). Just north of Saldanha at Jacob's Bay, there is a narrow contact zone between C. cordylus and C. niger. Like all typical cordylids, it is rockdwelling and follows a sit-and-wait foraging strategy. Male and female reproductive cycles are synchronised, mating takes place in spring and two to three babies are born in March to April. Both males and females defend territories. Females from cooler west coast areas and montane localities lack generation glands and it has been postulated that in cool areas females invest less energy in secondary sexual characters such as generation glands. These glands are believed to be used in territorial marking and it is therefore expected that females will be less territorial in cool than in warm areas. Laboratory experiments in which aggression levels of females from cool and warm areas were compared, could not confirm this prediction. It normally occurs in dense populations. The sex ratio appears to be female-biased in most populations. This may be a sampling artifact as adult males typically use deeper crevices than females and are easily overlooked during surveys. Its diet includes small insects and other invertebrates.

Distribution It occurs mainly along the southern coastal regions of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape but also reaches further inland as far as Graaff-Reinet.

Distribution in GCBC Has a patchy distribution in the central parts of the Corridor with records from as far north as Heuningvlei.

Conservation status Because of its wide distribution and dense populations, it is not listed in the latest South African Red Data Book for reptiles and amphibians, or in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Like all other cordylid species, it is listed internationally in Appendix II of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES); legislation which regulates the international trade in these animals.

Threats Coastal developments pose a threat to local populations. The contact zone between C. cordylus and C. niger at Jacob's Bay is seriously threatened by urban development. Along the western coastal regions populations are extremely fragmented through agricultural activities.

Current studies None. Recent studies include:

MOUTON, P.LE F.N. 1985. Comments on the Cordylus cordylus complex in the south-western Cape. Journal of the Herpetological Association of Africa 31: 16-18.

MOUTON, P.LE F.N. 1986. Lizard distribution as palaeoenvironmental indicators in the south-western Cape. Palaeoecology of Africa 17: 231-236.

MOUTON, P.LE F.N. 1987. Phenotypic variation among populations of Cordylus cordylus (Reptilia: Cordylidae) in the south-western Cape Province, South Africa. South African Journal of Zoology 22: 119-129.

MOUTON, P.LE F.N. & OELOFSEN, B.W. 1988. A model explaining patterns of geographic character variation in Cordylus cordylus (Reptilia: Cordylidae) in the south-western Cape, South Africa. South African Journal of Zoology 23: 20-31.

MOUTON, P.LE F.N. & VAN WYK, J.H. 1990. Taxonomic status of the melanistic forms of the Cordylus cordylus complex (Reptilia: Cordylidae) in the south-western Cape, South Africa. South African Journal of Zoology 25: 31-38.

VAN HEERDEN, A.J., MOUTON, P.LE F.N. & VAN WYK, J.H. 1992. Description of a contact zone between Cordylus cordylus and Cordylus niger. Proceedings of the 2nd H.A.A. Symposium, Journal of the Herpetological Association of Africa 40: 26.

BRODY, L.S., MOUTON, P.LE F.N. AND GRANT, W.S. 1993. Electrophoretic analysis of the Cordylus cordylus species group in the southwestern Cape, South Africa. Amphibia-Reptilia 14: 19-33.

COOPER, W.E., JR., VAN WYK, J.H. & MOUTON, P. LE F.N. 1995. Strike-induced chemosensory searching is absent in the cordylid lizard, Cordylus cordylus, a scleroglossan ambush forager. Chemoecology 5/6: 47-52.

CORDES, I.G., MOUTON, P.LE F.N. & VAN WYK, J.H. 1995. Sexual dimorphism in two closely related lizard species, Cordylus niger and Cordylus cordylus. South African Journal of Zoology 30: 187-196.

CORDES, I.G. & MOUTON, P.LE F.N. 1996. The Saldanha-Langebaan area as a refugium for cool-adapted lizard populations: Conservation priorities. Koedoe 39: 71-83.

COOPER, W.E. JR., VAN WYK, J.H. & MOUTON, P.LE F.N. 1996. Pheromonal detection and sex discrimination of conspecific substrate deposits by the rock-dwelling cordylid lizard Cordylus cordylus. Copeia 1996: 839-845.

COOPER, W.E. JR., VAN WYK, J.H. & MOUTON, P.LE F.N. 1999. Discriminations between pheromones produced by self and other individuals of the same sex in the lizard Cordylus cordylus. Journal of Chemical Ecology 25: 197-208.

DANIELS, S.R., MOUTON, P.LE F.N. & DU TOIT, D.A. 2004. Molecular data suggest that melanistic ectotherms at the southwestern tip of Africa are the products of Miocene climatic events, evidence from cordylid lizards. Journal of Zoology (London) 263 : 373-383.

DU TOIT, D.A. 2004. Geographical variation in the number of generation glands in cordylid lizards. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, University of Stellenbosch.

Du Toit, D.A., Mouton, P.le F.N., Flemming, A.F. & Van Niekerk, A. 2005. Climate and the presence of generation glands in female girdled lizards: A case study of the c ordylus-niger-oelofseni complex. Journal of Herpetology 39 : 384-388.