Spanish Wall Lizard

About the Spanish Wall Lizard

Podarcis hispanicus, also known as 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 is very agile and can move rapidly across a rock face. Males are somewhat territorial. Females lay clutches of one to five oval eggs which hatch in about eight weeks. At birth, the juveniles have a snout-to-vent length of 2 to 2.5 cm (0.8 to 1.0 in). The lifespan of this lizard is about four years.

Podarcis hispanicus was first described in Steindachner's works in 1870 and are composed of multiple distinct lineages. Most research has been done on the Spanish Levant form of Podarcis hispanicus. They are commonly found in the Baetic mountains and south of Rio Guadalquivir. The North African Podarcis hispanicus are now ranked as Padarcis vaucheri. They are all conspecifics of Podarcis liolepis.

In Portugal, there are two distinct morphotypes of P. hispanicus, type 1 resides in Northern Portugal and type 2 resides sparsely throughout and also in Southern... Wikipedia →