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Currently, the family Gerrhosauridae Fitzinger, 1843
comprises 35 recognized species with seven of them
assigned to the genus GerrhosaurusWiegmann, 1828
distributed in sub-Saharan Africa (The Reptile Database;
Uetz, Goll and Hallermann, 2007; available through
http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/advanced_search?taxon=Gerrhosauridae&submit=Search;
last access
25.11.2011). Gerrhosaurus favigularis Wiegmann,
1882 (Fig. 1A) is distributed from the Republic of
South Africa and Namibia through eastern Africa to
Ethiopia and eastern parts of Sudan. It is a large (SVL
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Sascha Esser & Dennis Rdder14
mm reported by Kober (1990). Other measurements
are presented in Table 1. All juveniles readily feed on
small insects like crickets and house ies as well as on
yoghurt and smashed fruit.
References
Boycott, R.C., Morgan, D.R. (1988): Reproductive and growth
data of some South African lizards. J. Herp. Assoc. Afr. 35:
15-18.
Branch, W.R., Van Wyk, J.C.P., Kok, D.J., du Preez, L.H.,
Haagner, G.V., McCartney, J.C., Branch, T.C. et al. (1992):
Life History Notes. J. Herp. Assoc. Afr. 41: 40-45.
FitzSimons, V.F. (1943): The lizards of South Africa. Mem.
Transvaal Mus. 1 (528pp).
Kober, I. (1990): Im Terrarium gezchtet: Gerrhosaurus
favigu-
laris. Aquar.- Terrar.-Z. 43: 24-45.
Spawls, S., Howell, K.M., Drewes, R.C., Ashe, J. (2002): A
Field
Guide to the Reptiles of East Africa. San Diego (Academic
Press), 543 pp.
Uetz, P., Goll, J., Hallermann, J. (2007): Die
TIGR-Reptilienda-
tenbank. Elaphe 15: 22-25.
De Waal, S. (1978): The Squamata (Reptilia) of the Orange
Free
State South Africa. Mem. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein 11: 1-160.
Figure 1.Aspects of the reproduction of Gherrosaurus
favigularis. (A) basking female; (B) specimen depositing eggs; (C)
the
second clutch; (D) one day old egg; (E) comparison between the
sizes of an one day old egg (right) with an egg shortly before
hatching (left); (F) group of one month old juveniles of the rst
clutch.
Accepted by Wouter Beukema; Managing Editor: Philipp Wagner
