El Hierro giant lizard
| Hierro giant lizard | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Lacertidae |
| Genus: | Gallotia |
| Species: | G. simonyi |
| Binomial name | |
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Gallotia simonyi (Steindachner, 1889) |
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| Synonyms | |
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See text |
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See text
Gallotia simonyi is a species of lacertid (wall lizard) that can be found on the island of El Hierro, one of the Canary Islands. The species was once present throughout much of the island and on the small offshore Roque Chico de Salmor, but is now confined to a few small areas of cliff with sparse vegetation. It is currently restricted to the southern end of the Risco de Tibataje in la Fuga de Gorreta, located between Guinea and the so-called Paso del Pino (an area of about four hectares). The species was also successfully reintroduced to the Roque Chico de Salmor in 1999, and subsequent reintroductions have taken place at Julan and at la Dehesa.(Miras & Pérez-Mellado 2005b)
About 60 centimetres (2.0 ft) long, the Hierro giant lizard is a thickset reptile with a broad head. Adults are dark grey to brown in colour, with two rows of pale orange patches running along its sides. Its belly is mostly brown, but has an orange to red colouration towards the middle. Older El Hierro giant lizards are mainly black with some grey. Males are larger than females. It is the animal symbol of the island of El Hierro.
The Hierro giant lizard is omnivorous. It eats plants - notably verode and Lavandula abrotanoides - as well as insects (ARKive 2006). Mating begins in May and 5 to 13 eggs are laid from June until the end of August. Their eggs hatch after 61 days.
The specific name, simonyi, is in honor of Viennese naturalist Oskar Simony (1852–1915).
Two subspecies are recognised:
Previously, Gallotia simonyi included the La Palma giant lizard and the La Gomera giant lizard as subspecies too (Miras 2005, Miras & Pérez-Mellado 2005a); the latter is known to be very closely related to the extant population (Maca-Meyer et al. 2003) and its specific distinctness is not universally accepted (e.g. Bischoff 2000). Subfossil remains from El Hierro that were assigned to the prehistorically extinct Gallotia goliath apparently belong to the present species (Barahona et al. 2000), but the population referred to G. goliath from Tenerife was distinct (Maca-Meyer et al. 2003).
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