please id 2 lizards

Agamas, geckos, lizards, monitors and skinks indigenous to South Africa.

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please id 2 lizards

Postby warren mckay » Tue Jan 19, 2010 12:08 pm

posted 2 pics today in the galley please help id,i am a bird photographer who comes across reptiles all the time and want to start doing this as well.
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Re: please id 2 lizards

Postby Westley Price » Tue Jan 19, 2010 12:13 pm

Here are Warren's pics

Image

Image

Warren, please give us the area where you found these otherwise giving you an exact species will be hard.

The first one is in the genus Pseudocordylus and the second one is Platysaurus. Crag lizard and Flat Lizard.
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Re: please id 2 lizards

Postby BushSnake » Tue Jan 19, 2010 12:49 pm

As Westley said, the first one is a crag lizard (Pseudocordylus sp), and the next one a flat lizard (Platysaurus sp.). It would definitely help if you posted the localities as well. The flat lizard looks very much like the Waterberg flat lizard (Platysaurus minor), so if the photo was taken in the Waterberg then it would confirm the species.
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Re: please id 2 lizards

Postby Mongoose » Tue Jan 19, 2010 12:53 pm

Locality would help, but that looks like Pseudocordylus melanotus (Drakensberg crag lizard) and Platysaurus lebomboensis (Lebombo flat lizard)
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Re: please id 2 lizards

Postby warren mckay » Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:44 am

thanks guys will give localities with future posts. the first one was suikerbosrand nature reserve near heidelberg in gauteng and the second was in the waterberg.
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Re: please id 2 lizards

Postby warren mckay » Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:47 am

Hi
the flat lizard i saw in the waterberg intrigues me as going through the pics i took i have found that the throat is a different colour from apple green to a deep turquoise.any explanation for this.
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Re: please id 2 lizards

Postby BushSnake » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:30 am

In that case it's the commmon crag lizard (Pseudocordylus melanotus) and the waterberg flat lizard (Platysaurus minor). The flat lizards vary quite a lot, depending on individual specimens but also on when they are found. When they are not in full breeding colours they do not have the green throat colour. From the couple of species I've seen it appears like the throat colouration is the last colour to brighten up, but that just from personal sightings.
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