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Black girdled lizard
A black girdled lizard on Table Mountain (with a millipede on its nose)
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Cordylidae
Genus:	Cordylus
Species:	C. niger
Binomial name
Cordylus niger Smith, 1844

Cordylus niger, the black girdled lizard, is a medium-sized lizard restricted to Table Mountain on the Cape Peninsula and a second, isolated population near Langebaan.

Black girdled lizards inhabit rocky outcrops on Table Mountain, South Africa. Unlike many other lizard species in the area, these particular Cordylus lizards are not social and are usually seen alone. They are spiny, flat, and pitch black in colour.

Their colour helps these unique lizards to absorb sufficient heat from the sun, in what is one of the darkest, least sunny parts of South Africa.

Gallery

• Black girdled lizard, Cape of Good Hope
• Close up of the head of a black girdled lizard
• Black girdled lizard on a rock, Table Mountain.

References

1. Bates, M.F.; Mouton, P.L.F.N. (2018). "Cordylus niger". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T110159757A115675004. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T110159757A115675004.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
2. "Cordylus niger". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2010-12-15.

Further reading

• Branch, B., 1998. Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa: Ralph Curtis Books Publishing, Sanibel Island, Florida, 399 p.
• Fitzsimons, V. F., 1943. The Lizards of South Africa: Transvaal Museum Memoir, Pretoria.

• IUCN Red List least concern species
• Cordylus
• Reptiles of South Africa
• Reptiles described in 1844
• Taxa named by Andrew Smith (zoologist)