Afroablepharus wahlbergi, Smith, 1849.

It's been longer than I intended; you see, for a couple of weeks, the only pictures I've been wanting to post have been ones of reptiles and amphibians from Lusaka. Which could turn into a bit of a tiring tour of (non-avian) reptiles and amphibians from Lusaka.

Today I had a revelation - it's my blog; it's my decision if I want to occasionally focus on a particular group for a period of time. And as I'm feeling more than a little bit homesick of late, meet today's guest:

Photographed in Chongwe, Lusaka, Zambia in December 2013, using Olympus E-420 DSLR Camera with Zuiko 40-150mm lens and 3 KOOD magnifiers.

 Yes, by the way, that is a lizard perched entirely upon the distal phalanx of a human finger. Here's another picture:

The phalanx in question is approximately 28 millimetres long, so this little customer was a touch over three centimetres including tail, probably just pushing 15 millimetres snout-to-vent length (a standard length measurement for a lot of reptiles). 

It's probably important to note that this isn't an adult. The adults are relative giants, at about the length of an entire finger.

These titchy little Buluzi (remember that generic Chewa word for lizard from this post on Trachylepis striata wahlbergi?) are most commonly noticed as a frantic rustly and a silver squiggle in leaf-litter; although they do have reasonably robust legs, they can escape predators much more effectively by swimming through their rotting playground than they can by running through it.

We'll attempt a translation of their English name to Chewa as Buluzi ndi Maso wa Njoka; paying even less heed to grammatical differences between English and other languages, that could be Njoka-Diso Buluzi.

It's probably easier to tell you that this is, to the English speaking world, a snake-eyed skink, specifically Wahlberg's Snake Eyed Skink. Yes, Wahlberg does pop up a lot in African herpetology.

Perhaps more universally (overlooking uncertain generic placement), it's binomial name is:

Afroablepharus wahlbergi

(Smith, 1849) 

or sometimes 

Panaspis wahlbergi

(Smith, 1849)

 

As I mentioned, the adults are most commonly noticed as they flee through the ground-cover at high speed, and as they are small, well hidden and not given to sticking around when something large approaches, can be difficult to photograph, even when they stop to peer back at the intruder through the leaflitter: 

Photographed in Chongwe, Lusaka, Zambia, in December 2013, using Olympus E-420 DSLR, Zuiko 40-150mm lens and 2 KOOD magnifiers.

They're called snake-eyed skinks, by the way, because they lack a moveable upper eyelid; like snakes, and the majority of geckos, they can't blink. 

With that fascinating tidbit, let's finish with a peek at the taxonomy: 

 - Lygosominae  

See also Trachylepis varia and Trachylepis striata wahlbergi.

- Scincidae          

- Scincomorpha     

See also Zootoca vivipara.

- Scleroglossa          

See also Lygodactylus capensis and Thelotornis capensis.

- Squamata                

See also Agama armata. 

- Lepidosauria             

-  Lepidosauromorpha   

- Sauria                            

See also Caprimulgus pectoralis, Tockus alboterminatus, Larus argentatus, Sterna hirundo, Burhinus vermiculatus, Troglodytes troglodytes, Megaceryle maxima, Ardea goliath, Chalcophaps indica and Stigmatopelia senegalensis.

- Diapsida                           

- Romeriida                          

- Reptilia                                

- Amniota                                

See also Hipposideros vittatus and Syncerus caffer

- Reptiliomorpha                        

- Tetrapoda                                  

See also Rana temporaria, Chiromantis xerampelina, Breviceps poweri and Kassina senegalensis.

- Sarcopterygii                                

- Osteichthys                                    

See also Synchiropus splendidus. 

- Teleostomi                                        

- Gnathostomata                                   
- Vertebrata                                             

- Craniata                                                  

- Chordata                                                  

- Deuterostomia                                           

- Nephrozoa                                                   

See also Burtoa nilotica, Alopecosa barbipes, Ligia oceanica, Dysdera crocata, Phrynarachne rugosa, Hyllus argyrotoxus, Enoplognatha ovata, Argiope bruennichi, Pardosa amentata, Dicranopalpus ramosus, Eremoides bicristatus, Hagenomyia tristis, Dichtha inflata, Oedemera nobilis, Otiorhynchus atroapterus,Malachius bipustulatus , Phyllobius pomaceus, Cheilomenes lunata, Melolontha melolontha, Neojulodis vittipennis, Demetrias atricapillus, Anthia fornasinii, Lophyra cf. differens, Synagris proserpina, Vespula germanica, Astata tropicalis, Anthophora furcata, Andrena nigroaenea, Zebronia phenice, Crambus pascuella, Nemophora degeerella, Sphinx ligustri, Laelia robusta, Acada biseriata, Metisella willemi, Anthocharis cardamines, Papilio demodocus, Panorpa germanica, Chloromyia formosa, Senaspis haemorrhoa, Helophilus pendulus, Episyrphus balteatus, Metadon inermis, Diasemopsis meigenii, Dolichotachina caudata, Megistocera filipes, Pephricus, Grypocoris stysi, Ranatra, Anoplocnemis curvipes, Idolomantis dentifrons, Sibylla pretiosa, Tettigonia viridissima, Stictogryllacris punctata, Enyaliopsis, Humbe tenuicornis, Lobosceliana loboscelis, Cyathosternum prehensile, Heteropternis thoracica, Pseudothericles jallae, Enallagma cyathigerum, Pseudagrion hageni, Lestinogomphus angustus, Rhyothemis semihyalina and Orthetrum brachiale.

- Bilateralia                                                            

- Eumetazoa                                                            

- Animalia                                                                 

- Eukaryota                                                                

Lygodactylus capensis (Smith, 1849)

We're going to start with a taxonomically irrelevant discussion for this one.

Some years ago, a university friend of a friend said, upon learning that my primary interest in vertebrates was amphibians and reptiles, "What, the relict groups?"

I should note that he was British.

It is easy to get the impression, in the temperate zones and particularly in Western Europe, that amphibians and reptiles as world-wide groups are insignificant and composed entirely of a few species that are clinging on. Bearing in mind that each group on its own is more diverse than the mammals, and the amphibians almost rival the birds in terms of sheer number of species, this is clearly a false impression. Having considered this, I believe that it can only be perpetuated because of two euro-centric factors:

1) Both groups are composed primarily of ectothermic species, which are usually dependant upon periods of warm weather for breeding, so relatively few species have colonised our cold and geographically (but NOT historically) insignificant peninsula since the beginning of this most recent interglacial.

2) Members of both groups suffer disproportionately (among vertebrates) around human settlements, as they lack the dispersive ability of many birds, and unlike mammals, which have popular appeal, amphibians and reptiles both suffer (quite unjustified) persecution at the hands of many ill-informed persons who variously think they are unsightly, dangerous or even evil.

Which is why snakes could make a very good case suing the Vatican for slander.

Before this becomes a religious argument, though, onto the good news: the kind of news that has large, unblinking eyes, a scaly tail and four (often adhesive) feet.

Geckos. (Eukaryota, Animalia, Eumetazoa, Bilateralia, Nephrozoa, Deuterostomia, Chordata, Craniata, Vertebrata, Gnathostomata, Teleostomi, Osteichthys, Sarcopterygii, Tetrapoda, Reptiliomorpha, Amniota, Reptilia, Romeriida, Diapsida, Sauria, Lepidosauromorpha, Lepidosauria, Squamata, Scleroglossa, Gekkota, Gekkonidae)

Many geckos, particularly in the tropics, enjoy a much greater respect from the human population than their less adhesive relatives elsewhere, and a number of species have come to thrive not only on the edges of human settlements, but actually within the concrete hearts, where their habits of eating various pest insects earns them a welcome place in the disused corners of the human home.

Today's species is an imperfect synanthrope, meaning that it can do well out of a certain level of human settlement, but eventually (usually at the point at which people start poisoning ants), it can no longer survive in that environment (in case you didn't work it out, it eats ants. Poisoning ants kills the individuals that then eat those ants, and starves the survivors, who have nothing left to eat. Don't poison ants if you have lizards, frogs or threadsnakes in the area).

Anyway, without further ado;

Lygodactylus capensis

(Smith, 1849)

(Photographed wild in Chongwe District, Lusaka, Zambia in September 2011, Using an Olympus E-420)