Podarcis lilfordi rodriquezi

HOME
 
Kingdom Animalia

No Image

Do you have one? Send it!

Phylum Chordata
Class Reptilia
Order Squamata
Family Lacertidae
Genus Podarcis
Species Podarcis lilfordi
Subspecies Podarcis lilfordi rodriquezi
Authority Müller, 1927
 
English Name Ratas Island Lizard
Dutch Name Ratas-eilandhagedis
Italian Name Lucertola di Ratas, Lucertola dell'isola di Ratas
Portuguese Name Lagarto-da-ilha-de-ratas, Lagarto da Ilha de Ratas
Spanish Name Lagartija de Sas Ratas
 
Characteristics The Ratas Island Lizard was a large subspecies of Podarcis lilfordi (Lilford's Wall Lizard). The male had an average length of 76,7 mm and the female 62,5 mm. The back colour was variable, ranging from olive and olive-brown to dark blue. The markings were fragmented and faded. The sides and the tops of the legs were green and grey. The upper tail was dark greenish-grey or blue. The belly was red or yellow. (Pérez-Mellado, 1998; Pérez-Mellado and Salvador, 1988; Salvador, 1986; Salvador, 2008)
 
Range & Habitat The Ratas Island Lizard once lived on Ratas Island, a former rocky island in the bay of Mahón, Minorca, part of the Balearic Islands, Spain. (Day, 1981; Salvador, 2008)

Image: a map with the location of the Spanish island Minorca (coloured red). Created by Peter Maas for The Extinction Website. This image has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Licence.
 
History & Population The last sign of this subspecies was in 1950 and it seems to be extinct (Day, 1981).
 
Extinction Causes Ratas island, which was its habitat, was destroyed when Port Mahon was rebuilt (Day, 1981). 
 
Museum Specimens Four specimens of this European reptile are conserved in museum collections (Day, 1981).
 
Relatives The surviving subspecies of Podarcis lilfordi are the closest living relatives of the Ratas Island Lizard.

Image: Dragonera Island Lizard (Podarcis lilfordi giglioli Bedriaga 1879) on Dragonera Island, Majorca, Spain. Photographed by 'Orchi' in April 2004 and released under the GNU Free Documentation License. A full resolution version of this image can be found at Wikimedia Commons.
 
Links Ratas Island Lizard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

References

(Complete website)

 David Day, 1981, The Doomsday Book of Animals, Ebury Press, London.

Pérez-Mellado, V., Salvador, A. (1988). The balearic lizard: Podarcis lilfordi (Gunther, 1874) (Sauria, lacertidae) of Menorca. Arquivos do Museu Bocage, Nova Série, 1 (10): 127-195.

Pérez-Mellado, V. (1998). Podarcis lilfordi (Günther, 1874). Pp. 272-282. En: Salvador, A. (Coord.). Reptiles. En: Ramos, M. A. et al. (Eds.). Fauna Ibérica. Museo nacional de Ciencias naturales, Madrid.

Salvador, A. (1986). Podarcis lilfordi (Günther, 1874) – Balearen-Eidechse. Pp. 83-110. En: Böhme, W. (Ed.). Handbuch der Reptilien und Amphibien Europas. Band 2/II. Echsen (Sauria) III (Lacertidae III: Podarcis). Aula verlag, Wiesbaden.

Salvador, A. (2006). Lagartija balear – Podarcis lilfordi. En: Enciclopedia Virtual de los Vertebrados Españoles. Carrascal, L. M., Salvador, A. (Eds.). Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid. http://www.vertebradosibericos.org/. Available online: http://www.vertebradosibericos.org/reptiles/pdf/podlil.pdf. 

Last updated: 2nd January 2009.

This page is a part of The Extinction Website. © 2000-2009.