| Podarcis
sicula sanctistephani
|
HOME |
| |
| Kingdom |
Animalia |
No
Image
Do
you have one? Send it!
|
| Phylum |
Chordata |
| Class |
Reptilia |
| Order |
Squamata
|
| Family |
Lacertidae
|
| Genus |
Podarcis |
| Species |
Podarcis
sicula |
| Subspecies |
Podarcis
sicula sanctistephani |
| Authority |
(Mertens, 1926) |
| |
| English
Name |
Santo
Stefano Lizard |
| Dutch
Name |
Santo
Stefano Hagedis |
| Italian Name |
Lucertola
di Santo Stefano, Lucertola dell'isola di Santo Stefano |
| Portuguese
Name |
Lagarto-de-santo-stefano |
| |
| Characteristics |
This
subspecies was distinguished by larger markings (Hellmich, 1962). |
| |
| Range
& Habitat |
The Santo Stefano
Lizard was endemic on Santo Stefano, a small island (less than 500 metre
in diameter) located two kilometres east from the nearby island of Ventotene.
Santo Stefano is located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the west coast of Italy, and part of the Pontine
Islands. (Day, 1981; Wikipedia
contributors, 2008)
Images: the
left-hand photo shows the island of Santo Stefano as seen from Ventotene,
see also Wikimedia
Commons. The right-hand map shows the location of Santo Stefano (the
red coloured island east of Ventotene). The map is adapted by Peter Maas
from a map created by Norman Einstein for
Wikimedia
Commons. Both images have been released under the
GNU
Free Documentation License.
|
| |
| History
& Population |
It became extinct in
1965 (Day,
1981). |
| |
| Extinction
Causes |
This
subspecies' extinction was probably caused by feral cats and a snake species. These animals destroyed almost the whole population and any survivors seem to have interbred with an introduced subspecies. An epidemic of an unknown pathogen that followed wiped out the majority of the population and contributed to this subspecies' extinction. (Day,
1981)
|
| |
| Museum
Specimens |
Do
you know museum specimens? Contact
this website. |
| |
| Relatives |
 The
surviving subspecies of the Italian Wall Lizard or Ruin Lizard (Podarcis
sicula) are the closest living relatives of the Santo Stefano lizard.
Image: An Italian Wall Lizard (Podarcis
sicula campestris) resting on a dry branch near Urbino, Italy.
Photographed by Florian Prischl in 25 July 2007. This
image has been released under
the Creative
Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Licence. A
full resolution version of this image can be found at Wikimedia
Commons.
|
| |
| Links |
Santo Stefano Lizard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
| |
|
References
(Complete
website)
|
Day,
D. (1981). The Doomsday Book of Animals, Ebury Press, London.
Hellmich, W. (1962). Reptiles and
Amphibians of Europe, Blandford Press, London.
Wikipedia contributors (2008).
"Santo Stefano Island," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santo_Stefano_Island&oldid=261443465
(accessed January 2, 2009).
|
|
Last
updated: 2nd January 2009.
This
page is a part of The
Extinction Website.
© 2000-2009. |