Meroles

Meroles
Meroles knoxii in South Africa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Lacertidae
Subfamily:	Lacertinae
Genus:	Meroles Gray, 1838
Species
Eight species, see text.

Meroles is a genus of lizards, commonly known as desert lizards, in the family Lacertidae. The genus contains eight species, inhabiting southwestern Africa, especially the Namib Desert.

Description

Desert lizards have fine, granular dorsal scales. The hind toes are elongated and possess fringes of scales.

Species

The following eight species are recognized as being valid.

• Meroles anchietae (Bocage, 1867) - shovel-snouted lizard, Anchieta's dune lizard
• Meroles ctenodactylus (A. Smith, 1838) - giant desert lizard, Smith's sand lizard, Smith's desert lizard
• Meroles cuneirostris (Strauch, 1867) -wedge-snouted sand lizard, wedge-snouted desert lizard
• Meroles knoxii (Milne-Edwards, 1829) - Knox's ocellated sand lizard, Knox's desert lizard
• Meroles micropholidotus Mertens, 1938 - small-scaled desert lizard
• Meroles reticulatus (Bocage, 1867) - reticulate sand lizard
• Meroles squamulosus (W. Peters, 1869) - common rough-scaled lizard, savanna lizard
• Meroles suborbitalis (W. Peters, 1854) - spotted sand lizard

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Meroles.

Further reading

• Gray JE (1838). "Catalogue of the Slender-tongued Saurians, with Descriptions of many new Genera and Species". Annals and Magazine of Natural History, [First Series] 1: 274–283, 388–394. (Meroles, new genus, p. 282).