First added 19 June 2001. Last updated 4 May 2025: added details of genus and updated species entries and Bibliography.
The Algyroides genus constitute the smallest lacertids in Europe and have a somewhat disjointed distribution. These lizards prefer scrubland with evergreen vegetation, terraced vineyards and stone walls and buildings. They like to hibernate in ruins. They are excellent climbers. After emerging from hibernation they usually mate in April, during which time the males have a bright blue throat and orange-red belly. The females lay 2 (sometimes 3) eggs in May and possibly another clutch in late summer. They are diurnal but in summer shelter during the hottest part of the day.
The genus is characterised as follows: head-shields normal. Nostril pierced between three nasals and the first labial. Lower eyelid scaly. Collar well marked. Dorsal scales very large, imbricate, strongly keeled; ventrals squarish, feebly imbricate, smooth. Digits feebly compressed, with smooth or tubercular lamellae inferiorly. Femoral pores. Tail long, cylindrical.
Unique among Lacertini in its very large dorsal body scales with oblique keels and a distinctive microornamentation of raised cell borders and pustules: also exceptional in sulcal lips on hemipenial lobes being very small. Other features found only in a minority of other Lacertini include: often small body size, usual number of presacral vertebrae 25–26 in males, and sombre dorsal colouring. Other more widely distributed features include: head and body depressed or not, supraocular osteoderms fenestrated in adults of some species, 7–9 premaxillary teeth in adults, inscriptional ribs sometimes present, tails of hatchlings not brightly coloured, hemipenial microornamentation of crown-shaped tubercles or hook-shaped spines. [Boulenger, Arnold et al, 2007].
I have never seen any of this genus in captivity in the UK. Rogner gives general details for captive care in Eidechsen (2002), with the examples of A. fitzingeri and A. marchi, and for all four species in Echsen 2 (1994). Zimmermann suggests that A. marchi can be kept under the same conditions as Podarcis sicula, giving specific details for the recommended winter hibernation and subsequent egg incubation period.
This page will be further updated.
|
Algyroides fitzingeri, Pygmy Algyroides |
Algyroides marchi, Spanish Algyroides |
Algyroides moreoticus, Greek Algyroides |
|
Algyroides nigropunctatus, Dalmatian Algyroides |
|
|
|
Scientific Name |
Common Name |
Distribution |
Size |
Notes |
|
Pygmy Algyroides [D: Zwerg-Kieleidechse, Tyrrhenische oder Sardische Kieleidechse] |
Corsica, Sardinia inc. small island of La Maddalena |
SVL max 4 cm, TL max 13 cm |
Found in various biotopes, but preferably within the vicinity of water. Preys on small arthropods. Hibernation is from end of September to end of March or beginning of April. Coloration: dorsally and laterally variable, from various shades of brown to blackish olive; irregularly arranged small black dots, sometimes forming a short mid-dorsal line, may occur on the back; ventrally likewise variable: bluish, grey, yellow or orange. Reproduction: mating takes place in second half of May: clutch of 2-4 eggs laid probably in June. The young hatch between July and end of August/beginning of September. [SOURCE: Engelmann et al] |
|
|
Spanish Algyroides [D: Spanische Kieleidechse] |
Isolated area of SE Spain |
TL max 15 cm, SVL max 5 cm |
First described in 1958. Scalation details: nasal orifice situated between 4 scales; prefrontals; frontal 1-2½ times as ; 4 supraoculars; row of granules between supraoculars and supraciliaries; rostal separted from nasal orifice; 2 postnasals; generally 5 supralabials in front of subocular; temporals are small and irregular, tympanum large; large supratemporal in contact with 4th supraocular; maseterica small or absent; gular scales imbircated; collar smooth, consisting of 5-9 scales. Dorsal scalation: scales in hexagonal form, at least twice as large as those of the sides, obliquely keeled Ventral scalation: 6 longitudinal rows; transverse rows 24-27 in males and 26-30 in females. Coloration: ground colour of coffee-brown: a varying number of small black flecks found on the back; lateral band of blackish or grey band, spotted with pale and sometimes also dark spots and with a brilliant upper edge; ventrally a shade of bright yellow; males may have whitish to blue-grey chin and throat. Reproduction: first clutches probably laid in May, a second and third then in June and July respectively: clutch likely of 2-3 eggs: incubation period about 35 days. [SOURCE: Engelmann et al] |
|
|
Greek Algyroides [D: Peloponnesische Kieleidechse] |
S. Greece (Peloponnese, Ionian islands of Kephalonia, Ithaca and Zakynthos) |
SVL 5 cm, TL 15 cm |
A hard to observe species, shy and retiring, albeit found in a variety of biotypes like its congenerics. Coloration: male upper body is dark- or reddish-brown, the sides being generally darker or blackish and flecked with white; underside is whitish to yellow-green, often with black flecks. Female is generally overall brown. Reproduction: few details known until recently: hatchlings observed around the end of July and beginning of August [SOURCE: Engelmann et al] |
|
|
Dalmatian Algyroides [D: Pracht-Kieleidechse] |
NW Africa: Dalmatian coast (extreme NE Italy to Greece including Ionian islands.) |
SVL 7cm, TL 22½cm |
Found in a variety of biotopes, including old olive trees, and preferring the vicinity of human settlements. In addition to insects and spiders, this species also preys on earthworms. The range of this species overlaps with that of the Greek Algyroides A. moreoticus in the Ionian islands of Kephalonia, Ithaca and Zakynthos: they can be distinguished from each other by A. nigropunctatus having strongly keeled dorsal scales that are significantly larger than those of its flanks, in contrast to A. moreoticus having dorsal and lateral scales of roughly equal size. Coloration: upper body brown, grey-brown, olive-green to blackish; usually an irregular or sometimes regular pattern of black dots present; sexually mature males have underneath of head and throat a bright shade of blue to violet, sometimes reaching as far as the flanks, with belly, underside of tail, inner surfaces of limbs and sometimes the flanks being orange- to brick-red; ventrally the females are yellowish- to greenish-white. Reproduction: mating begins end of April: 2-3 eggs laid end of May; probably a second clutch in summer. Adult males appear to have large territories and at least in the early part of the year live with one female. This species is harder to find in the summer than in spring or autumn. [SOURCE: Engelmann et al] B I |
|
Back to Lacertidae | Back to European Herps | Lizard Families | Main Lizards Page | Reptiles | Home Page