Added 9 March 2003. Last updated 16 April 2025: corrected format.
The genus Chamaesaura is a small genus centred on southern Africa. All three species are notable in the Cordylidae for their very reduced limbs and elongated bodies, which are adapted for a life of "swimming" through the long grass that forms their habitat. Unlike many other cordylids, these species are not found among rocks. Branch notes that although these lizards can practise autotomy, they only shed the minimum part of the tail necessary as they largely depend upon it for their locomotion: regeneration of the shed part is also quite fast. He also notes that Chamaesaura move with difficulty on smooth or sandy surfaces, etc. The scales of all three species are large, keeled and fairly uniform, being arranged in regular rows along and across the body [Grzimek]. Females are ovoviparous.
For the care of C. anguina, Mattison suggests a roomy cage with a substrate of sand or fine gravel covered in dead leaves, grasses or bracken and some flat stones. A bedding of tall grass would appear to be ideal, although more complicated to plant than normal cage furniture. It should be noted however that Chamaesaura are rarely if ever seen in the pet trade, at least in the UK.
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Scientific Name |
Common Name |
Distribution |
Size |
Notes |
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Chamaesaura |
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Transvaal Grass Lizard |
RSA (Mpumalanga, NE Free State, KwaZula-Natal underberg, to Amatalo mountains in E Cape) |
16-18" |
Slender diurnal lizard with five clawed digits on all four limbs. It lives on grass-covered mountain slopes and plateaus. Movement is snakelike. Diet consists of various arthropods. The populations within its range are scattered across escarpment grasslands. Scalation: body scales are small, in 42-46 transverse body rows. Coloration: head and back dark brown, with 3 light yellow or grey-olive black-edged stripes. Flanks straw-coloured, 2-3 series of dark spots or a reddish-brown lateral stripe. Venter is off-white. Reproduction: up to 12 babies (about 4" total length) born in early summer. |
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Cape Grass Lizard |
RSA, Angola, E Africa and E Congo |
22-23" |
Elongate lizard with 1-2 clawed digits on very minute limbs. It lives on gentle slopes covered in grass or fynbos. Scalation: 26-30 longitudinal and 36-40 transverse body rows. Coloration: similar to C. aenea, but the vertebral stripe is broader and the dorsolateral stripes (if present) are black. Flanks straw-coloured with occasionally a narrow white lateral band. Venter is whitish or golden-yellow. Reproduction: 6-9 babies in summer. |
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C. a. anguina |
RSA (Cape Town, through Cape fold mountains, E Cape and KwaZulu lowlands and along escarpment to Mpumalanga Drakensberg) |
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C. a. oligopholis |
Angola |
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C. a. tenuior |
E Africa, E Congo |
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Large-Scaled Grass Lizard
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RSA, Swaziland, Zimbabwe |
21"
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This species is virtually limbless, with forelimbs absent and hindlimbs only vestigial spikes with a single claw. It lives on grassveld and mountain plateaus. Scalation: scales enlarged: 22 longitudinal and 38-40 transverse body rows. Coloration: overall light brown with two dark brown stripes which are often broken into a series of elongate spots. Flanks straw-coloured, venter off-white. Reproduction: 6-8 babies in March. |
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C. m. macrolepis |
RSA (KwaZulu-Natal, through Swaziland and Mpumalanga to Mokeetsi, N Province); Zimbabwe |
Zimbabwean population is isolated from the others, being found in the Chimanimani mountains. |
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C. m. miopropus |
N & E Zambia |
Branch considers this a relict population. |
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See main Cordylidae page for details.