Species Fact Profile: Sudan Plated Lizard (Broadleysaurus major)

                                              Sudan, or Greater, Plated Lizard

                                           Broadleysaurus major (Dumeril, 1851)

Range: Eastern and Central Africa 

Habitat: Semi-Arid Savannah, Woodland

Diet: Invertebrates, Fruits, Vegetables, Small Vertebrates

Social Grouping: Semi-Social.  Males may be territorial

Reproduction: Females lay 4-6 large eggs (each approximately 12 centimeters), buried in loose sand or soil.  Incubation period 3-4 months, hatchlings 10-15 centimeters long.  No parental care

Lifespan: 10-20 Years

      Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern

• Body length 45-70 centimeters, about half of which is made up by the broad tail.  Males are slightly larger than females.  Stout bodies with short limbs.
• Gray-brown scales over the body (sometimes also called the tawny plated lizard), paler on the underside.  Males tend to have paler throats than females, which become more brightly colored during breeding season.  Juveniles tend to be darker and more spotted than adults
• The most heavily armored of the plated lizards, covered with square-shaped armored plates, which are fused into a "helmet" on the top of the head.  There is a scale-free fold on skin running along either side of the body, which allows the body to expand for breathing
• Diurnal, spending the nights sheltering in burrows or termite mounds.  May share these refuges with other species
• Primary defense mechanism is to wedge themselves in rock crevices, which they can be difficult to extract from.  Will also whip their tails at predators.  Rarely bite.
• Previously in a genus with several other plated lizards, since split off into its own genus.  Two subspecies recognized.