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Citation: Midtgaard, Rune. RepFocus - A Survey of the Reptiles of the World. (www.repfocus.dk).
Latest update: July 16th, 2024.


Taxonomy of the family Cordylidae
Bibliography of the genus Cordylus
Biodiversity of the family Cordylidae








Genus
Cordylus

Girdled Lizards

Eigentliche Gürtelschweife

Bæltehaler

1768 Cordylus Laurenti (type species: Lacerta cordylus Linnaeus 1758)
1820 Zonurus Merrem (type species: Lacerta cordylus Linnaeus 1758; syn. Wermuth 1968)
Contents: 22 species, of which 16 (72.7%) are endemic.
Endemism: 0% 100%
Remarks: Previously included the species now assigned to the genera Karusasaurus, Namazonurus, Ninurta, Ouroborus, and Smaug. A number of species in this genus were previously regarded as subspecies of C. cordylus.
Distribution: E. and S. Africa.
Reported from: Angola, Botswana, Congo-Kinshasa, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa (Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West Province, Northern Cape, Western Cape), Tanzania (incl. Zanzibar), Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Cordylus angolensis

Angolan Girdled Lizard

Angolische Gürtelschweif

Angolansk Bæltehale

1895 Zonurus angolensis Bocage
Cordylus cordylus angolensis Loveridge 1944
Cordylus angolensis Visser 1971

Distribution: Angola.


Cordylus beraduccii

Maasai Girdled Lizard

Maasai-Gürtelschweif

Masai-bæltehale

2002 Cordylus beraduccii Broadley & Branch

Distribution: Kenya, Tanzania.


Cordylus cordylus

Cape Girdled Lizard

Kap-Gürtelschweif, (Zwerg-Gürtelschweif)

Kap-bæltehale

1758 Lacerta cordylus Linnaeus
Stellio cordylus Daudin 1802
Zonurus cordylus Gray 1845
Cordylus cordylus FitzSimons 1943
1768 Cordylus verus Laurenti (syn. Boulenger 1885)
1829 Cordylus dorsalis Cuvier (syn. Boulenger 1885)
1829 Cordylus griseus Cuvier (syn. Boulenger 1885)
1838 Zonurus vertebralis Gray (syn. Boulenger 1885)
1926 Zonurus cordylus flavus Rose (syn. Loveridge 1944)
1930 Zonurus cordylus tasmani Power (syn. Stanley, Bauer, Jackman, Branch & Mouton 2011)
Cordylus cordylus tasmani FitzSimons 1943
Cordylus tasmani Broadley 1971

Remarks: Taxonomic status of tasmani uncertain. It is regarded as a synonym of cordylus herein, following Stanley, Bauer, Jackman, Branch & Mouton (2011) and Bates, Branch, Bauer, Burger, Marais, Alexander & Villiers [eds.] (2014), pending further studies. No subspecies recognized at present, but several other species of the genus (angolensis, jonesii, lawrenci, minor, niger, pustulatus, rhodesianus, rivae, tasmani, tropidosternum) were previously regarded as subspecies of cordylus.
Distribution: Lesotho, South Africa (Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape).


Cordylus imkeae

Rooiberg Girdled Lizard

Rooiberg-Gürtelschweif

Rooiberg-bæltehale

1994 Cordylus imkeae Mouton & Wyk

Remarks: Revalidated as a separate species by Stanley & al. (2011).
Distribution: South Africa (Northern Cape).


Cordylus jonesii

Limpopo Girdled Lizard

Limpopo-Gürtelschweif

Limpopo-bæltehale

1891 Zonurus jonesii Boulenger
Zonurus cordylus jonesii Power 1930
Cordylus jonesii FitzSimons 1943
Cordylus cordylus jonesii Loveridge 1944
Cordylus tropidosternum jonesii Broadley 1971

Remarks: Revalidated as a separate species by Stanley & al. (2011).
Introduced to: South Africa (Western Cape).
Distribution: Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, South Africa (Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West Province), Zimbabwe.


Cordylus machadoi

Huila Girdled Lizard, (Machado's Girdled Lizard, Kaokoveld Girdled Lizard)

Huila-Gürtelschweif

Huila-bæltehale

1964 Cordylus vittifer machadoi Laurent
Cordylus machadoi Branch 1998

Remarks: Previously included the populations now assigned to namakuiyus (Stanley, Ceríaco, Bandeira, Valerio, Bates & Branch 2016). Records from Namibia (e.g., Stanley, Ceríaco, Bandeira, Valerio, Bates & Branch 2016 [as "cf. machadoi"]) refer to a species of uncertain status (Tolley, Telford, Taft, Bates, Conradie, Makhubo & Alexander 2021). These records are not included herein. Formerly referred to as Kaokoveld Girdled Lizard, a name now used for namakuiyus.
Distribution: Angola.


Cordylus macropholis

Large-scaled Girdled Lizard

Grossschuppige Gürtelschweif

Storskællet Bæltehale

1910 Zonurus macropholis Boulenger
Cordylus macropholis FitzSimons 1943

Distribution: South Africa (Northern Cape, Western Cape).


Cordylus marunguensis

Marungu Girdled Lizard

Marungu-Gürtelschweif

Marungu-bæltehale

2012 Cordylus marunguensis Greenbaum, Stanley, Kusamba, Moninga, Goldberg & Bursey

Distribution: Congo-Kinshasa.


Cordylus mclachlani

Ceres Girdled Lizard, (McLachlan's Girdled Lizard)

Ceres-Gürtelschweif

Ceres-bæltehale

1986 Cordylus mclachlani Mouton

Distribution: South Africa (Northern Cape, Western Cape).


Cordylus meculae

Mecula Girdled Lizard

Mecula-Gürtelschweif

Mecula-bæltehale

2005 Cordylus meculae Branch, Rödel & Marais 2005

Distribution: Mozambique.


Cordylus minor

Dwarf Girdled Lizard, Western Dwarf Girdled Lizard

Zwerg-Gürtelschweif

Dværgbæltehale

1943 Cordylus cordylus minor Fitzsimons
Cordylus minor Mouton & Wyk 1989
1994 Cordylus aridus Mouton & Wyk (syn. Tolley, Telford, Taft, Bates, Conradie, Makhubo & Alexander 2021)
1994 Cordylus cloetei Mouton & Wyk (syn. Tolley, Telford, Taft, Bates, Conradie, Makhubo & Alexander 2021)

Other common names:
aridus: Dwarf Karoo Girdled Lizard, Eastern Dwarf Girdled Lizard
cloetei: Fraserburg Girdled Lizard, (Cloete's Girdled Lizard)
Remarks: According to the original description (Mouton & Wyk 1994), the type locality of cloeteiis in the Northern Cape, however, the first author later placed it in the Western Cape (Mouton in Bates, Branch, Bauer, Burger, Marais, Alexander & Villiers [eds.] 2014). The original description is herein assumed to be correct.
Distribution: South Africa (Northern Cape, Western Cape).


Cordylus momboloensis

Mombolo Girdled Lizard

Mombolo-Gürtelschweif

Mombolo-bæltehale

2023 Cordylus momboloensis Bates, Lobón-Rovira, Stanley, Branch & Vaz Pinto

Distribution: Angola.





Cordylus namakuiyus

Kaokoveld Girdled Lizard

Kaokoveld-Gürtelschweif

Kaokoveld-bæltehale

2016 Cordylus namakuiyus Stanley, Ceríaco, Bandeira, Valerio, Bates & Branch

Distribution: Angola.


Cordylus niger

Black Girdled Lizard

Schwarze Gürtelschweif

Sort Bæltehale

1829 Cordylus niger Cuvier
Zonurus cordylus niger Rose 1926
Cordylus cordylus niger Loveridge 1944
1930 Zonurus cordylus atrus Power (syn. Loveridge 1944)
1968 Zonurus cordylus atratus Wermuth [lapsus for atrus]

Remarks: Revalidated as a distinct species by Mouton & van Wyk (1989).
Introduced to: USA (Florida).
Distribution: South Africa (Western Cape).


Cordylus nyikae

Nyika Girdled Lizard

Nyika-Gürtelschweif

Nyika-bæltehale

2000 Cordylus nyikae Broadley & Mouton

Remarks: First recorded as a population of rhodesianus (Broadley 1971). Subsequently described as nyikae (Broadley & Mouton 2000).
Distribution: Malawi.


Cordylus oelofseni

Porterville Girdled Lizard, (Oelofsen's Girdled Lizard)

Porterville-Gürtelschweif

Porterville-bæltehale

1990 Cordylus oelofseni Mouton & Van Wyk

Distribution: South Africa (Western Cape).


Cordylus phonolithos

N'Dolondolo Girdled Lizard

N'Dolondolo-Gürtelschweif

N'Dolondolo-bæltehale

2019 Cordylus phonolithos Marques, Ceríaco, Stanley, Bandeira, Agarwal & Bauer

Distribution: Angola.





Cordylus rhodesianus

Zimbabwe Girdled Lizard

Zimbabwe-Gürtelschweif

Zimbabwe-bæltehale

1933 Zonurus cordylus rhodesianus Hewitt
Cordylus cordylus rhodesianus FitzSimons 1943
Cordylus rhodesianus Broadley 1971

Remarks: A population in northern Malawi (Broadley 1971) has subsequently been described as a separate species, nyikae.
Distribution: Mozambique, Zimbabwe.


Cordylus rivae

Ethiopian Girdled Lizard

Äthiopische Gürtelschweif

Etiopisk Bæltehale

1896 Zonurus rivae Boulenger
Cordylus cordylus rivae Loveridge 1944
Cordylus rivae Visser 1971

Distribution: Ethiopia.


Cordylus tropidosternum

Tropical Girdled Lizard

Tropische Gürtelschweif, Zwerg-Gürtelschweif

Tropisk Bæltehale

1869 Zonurus tropidosternum Cope
Cordylus tropidosternum Mertens 1938
Cordylus cordylus tropidosternum Loveridge 1944
1889 Zonurus frenatus Pfeffer (syn. Loveridge 1944)
1934 Zonurus parkeri Cott (syn. Loveridge 1944)

Remarks: Treated as a distinct species by Branch (1988). Previously included jonesii.
Distribution: Congo-Kinshasa, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania (incl. Zanzibar), Zambia, Zimbabwe.


Cordylus ukingensis

Ukinga Girdled Lizard, Ukinga Spiny-tailed Lizard

Ukinga-Gürtelschweif

Ukinga-bæltehale

1932 Zonurus ukingensis Loveridge
Cordylus ukingensis Loveridge 1944

Distribution: Tanzania.


Cordylus vittifer

Transvaal Girdled Lizard, Common Girdled Lizard

Transvaal-Gürtelschweif

Transvaal-bæltehale

1887 Zonurus vittifer Reichenow
Zonurus cordylus vittifer Roux 1907
Cordylus vittifer Loveridge 1944
1910 Zonurus tropidogaster Boulenger (syn. Loveridge 1944)

Remarks: Previously included machadoi. Records from Angola and Namibia refer to machadoi (Branch 1998; Griffin 2003; Laurent 1964; Wermuth 1968).
Distribution: Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, South Africa (Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West Province).