NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Large-scaled Girdled Lizard
Cordylus macropholis (Boulenger, 1910)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Large-scaled Girdled Lizard (Cordylus macropholis)
Marius Burger · CC0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Cordylus macropholis, the large-scaled girdled lizard, is a small (55-77 mm) lizard endemic to the west coast of South Africa. They spend most of their time on and around a single plant species, Euphorbia caput-medusae which only occupies around 5% of the vegetation present. It is thought that they restrict themselves to these plants because they provide safer hiding places than most other shrubs, house a large range of invertebrate prey, and provide good thermal microhabitats. They can additionally be found sunbathing on, or hiding in between rocks, as these could provide protection from larger predators from which their physical adaptations might not provided them with adequate protection.
Wikipedia contributors, Cordylus macropholis; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:57:49.721898+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Cordylus macropholis (Boulenger, 1910)
- Name authority
- (Boulenger, 1910)
- Common name
- Large-scaled Girdled Lizard
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Cordylidae
- Genus
- Cordylus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderAutarchoglossa
- familyCordylidae
- genusCordylus
- speciesCordylus macropholis (Boulenger, 1910)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Cordylus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Kaokoveld Girdled LizardCordylus namakuiyus Stanley, Ceríaco, Bandeira, Valerio, Bates & Branch, 2016 | CordylidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mombolo girdled lizardCordylus momboloensis Bates, Lobón-Rovira, Stanley, Branch & Vaz-Pinto, 2023 | CordylidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Angolan Girdled LizardCordylus angolensis (Bocage, 1895) | CordylidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Maasai Girdled LizardCordylus beraduccii Broadley & Branch, 2002 | CordylidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cape Girdled LizardCordylus cordylus (Linnaeus, 1758) | CordylidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Rooiberg Girdled LizardCordylus imkeae Mouton & Van Wyk, 1994 | CordylidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Marungu Girdled LizardCordylus marunguensis Greenbaum, Stanley, Kusamba, Moninga, Goldberg & Bursey, 2012 | CordylidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| McLachlan’s Girdled LizardCordylus mclachlani Mouton, 1986 | CordylidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mecula Girdled LizardCordylus meculae Branch, Rödel & Marais, 2005 | CordylidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cloete’s Girdled Lizard [cloetei]Cordylus minor Fitzsimons, 1943 | CordylidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Oelofsen’s Girdled LizardCordylus oelofseni Mouton & Van Wyk, 1990 | CordylidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Zimbabwean Girdled LizardCordylus rhodesianus (Hewitt, 1933) | CordylidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Zonurus macropholis Boulenger, 1910 Boulenger, 1910 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Cordylus&species=macropholis Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:YD65. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.