Animalia > Chordata > Squamata > Agamidae > Saara > Saara hardwickii

Saara hardwickii (Hardwick's spiny-tailed lizard)

Synonyms: Centrocercus similis; Uromastyx griseus; Uromastyx hardwicki; Uromastyx reticulatus

Wikipedia Abstract

Saara hardwickii, commonly known as Hardwicke's spiny-tailed lizard or the Indian spiny-tailed lizard is a species of agamid lizard found patchily distributed in the Thar desert, Kutch, and surrounding arid zones in India and Pakistan. These lizards are mainly herbivorous are live in numbers in some areas. These lizards are found in loose clusters and attract raptors and predators. They are also hunted by local peoples in the belief that the fat extracted from it is an aphrodisiac.
View Wikipedia Record: Saara hardwickii

Endangered Species

Status: Vulnerable
View IUCN Record: Saara hardwickii

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  130 grams
Gestation [2]  3 months 3 days
Litter Size [2]  12
Reproductive Mode [3]  Oviparous
Snout to Vent Length [2]  7 inches (18 cm)
Habitat Substrate [3]  Terrestrial

Ecoregions

Name Countries Ecozone Biome Species Report Climate Land
Use
Northwestern thorn scrub forests India, Pakistan Indo-Malayan Deserts and Xeric Shrublands
Thar desert India, Pakistan Indo-Malayan Deserts and Xeric Shrublands
Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests India Indo-Malayan Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests

Prey / Diet

Boerhavia diffusa (red spiderling)[4]
Cymbopogon martini (rosha grass)[5]
Portulaca quadrifida (chickenweed)[4]

Predators

Ardeotis nigriceps (Great Indian Bustard)[5]
Leptoptilos dubius (Greater Adjutant)[6]

Consumers

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Length–weight allometries in lizards, S. Meiri, Journal of Zoology 281 (2010) 218–226
♦ 2Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 3Meiri, Shai (2019), Data from: Traits of lizards of the world: variation around a successful evolutionary design, Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.f6t39kj
♦ 4 Das, S.K., S. Dookia, K. Das & S.K. Dutta (2012). Ecological observations on the Indian Spiny-tailed Lizard Saara hardwickii (Gray, 1827) (Reptilia: Squamata: Agamidae) in Tal Chhapar Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(1): 3516–3526
♦ 5Munjpara, S.B., C.N. Pandey & B. Jethva (2012). Habitat use by the Great Indian Bustard Ardeotis nigriceps (Gruiformes: Otididae) in breeding and non-breeding seasons in Kachchh, Gujarat, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(2): 3654–3660
♦ 6Greater Adjutant, BirdLife International (2001) Threatened birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International.
♦ 7Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0