Iberian 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.
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
A territory is a sociographical area that which an animal consistently defends against the conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against anima...
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starts withPodarcis hispanicus adults have a brown or grey-brown skin with darker spots or patterns on their back and side flanks. These lizards can have a range in size due to their varying tail sizes. It is a fairly small, slender, and somewhat flattened species with a snout-to-vent length (SVL) averaging 50–70 mm (2.0–2.8 in) and a tail twice as long as its body.
Podarcis hispanicus have limited color diversity compared to other species. These lizards can also have stripes or reticulations. Striped lizards are darker and have more black coloration than their reticulated counterparts. The background color is usually grey or brown but is occasionally greenish. Most individuals have three narrow longitudinal stripes, one along the spine and the other two more distinct, located on either side. Sometimes these are broken up into a series of streaks or marks. The throat is pale with a scattering of small spots, particularly near the sides, and the belly is usually whitish but may be pink, orange, red or buff. Young lizards may have blue tails.
The morphology of Podarcis hispanicus slightly differs depending on their environment. Lizards in cooler regions are typically heavier, larger and have darker back coloration than lizards in warmer and humid environments. The Podarcis hispanicus is an insectivorous that feeds on insects, worms and other invertebrates. Isolated cases of caudophagy has been observed in the species, where a Pordacis hispanicus was found to feed on a tail of another member of the same species. Pordacis hispanicus is a territorial lacertid lizard where males display territorial tendencies like aggression in their resident territory with sexual partners.
Several different subspecies of the Iberian wall lizard are found in Spain and Portugal (where it is the only small lizard over most of the southern half of Iberia), southwestern France, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
A subspecies of this lizard, Podarcis hispanica atrata, lives in the Columbretes Islands far off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.
Studies of mitochondrial DNA have shown that there is some gene flow between these species and that they hybridise to some extent where their ranges meet.
It is a climbing lizard and is found on rocks, cliffs, walls, parapets, road cuttings and occasionally tree trunks at altitudes of up to 2,500 m (8,200 ft).
The Iberian wall lizard has a wide range and is common over much of that range. It is assumed to have a large total population, it is able to adapt to modifications of its habitat and it faces no particular threats. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".
