Description was extracted from Branch (1998): A medium-sized crag lizard that has the scales on its flanks separated by granular interspaces. There is usually a single row of 4-6 elongate temporal scales. The nasals are in contact, separating the rostral and the frontonasal, which is undivided and touches the anterior loreals. There are usually three upper labials anterior to the subocular, and six lower labials. Occipitals number up to 13 but may be absent. There are 5-13 femoral pores (but these are undeveloped in P.m. melanotus females). Coloration is complicated; regional differences occur, and breeding males are more colourful (see Subspecies) and also develop bigger heads. In females, the luck is greyish to olive-brown, with extensive, irregular pale spots. The sides of the head, neck and body are yellowish-green, yellow or orange, often with dark dorsal coloration extending as bars onto the flanks. There are 1-2 black spots on the side of the neck. The belly is off-white, suffused with pale orange at the edges. Pseudocordylus melanotus melanotus has a divided frontonasal; femoral pores in females are only shallow pits. Breeding males have 1-17 glandular femoral scales; a broad dark brown to black band on the back (sometimes with small, pale flecks); bright orange on the flanks and sides of the neck; a red-brown temporal region; and a diffuse blue-grey patch on the throat. This larger northern race extends from Gauteng and Mpumalanga escarpment east to N. KwaZulu-Natal and north to NE Free State.

No separate diagnostic description was provided. Refer to the morphological description.

Type locality: South Africa [= hills between the main branches of the Orange River east of Philippolis, Orange Free State, restricted to Ficksburg District by De Waal (1978)].

This information was extracted from Tolley et al. (2023): Genetic and morphological data suggest that there are species-level differences between P. m. melanotus and P. m. subviridis and possibly within P. m. melanotus (Bates, 2007). A multi-locus phylogeny also shows that the subspecies of P. melanotus are paraphyletic, with P. m. subviridis falling in the P. spinosus clade, rather than the P. m. melanotus clade (Stanley et al., 2011).

South Africa

This species is widespread in eastern South Africa, also ranging across most of Lesotho and western Eswatini. Most of the distribution is within the Drakensberg and associated mountains, but it is patchy and limited to higher elevations (1 100–3 200 m a.s.l.). There appear to be two additional isolated populations. One in the Magaliesberg in Gauteng and North West provinces (Bates and Whittington-Jones, 2009); and the other in the Amatola and adjacent Great Winterberg mountains in the Eastern Cape province. There are a few isolated records that require confirmation (Tolley et al. 2023).

In general, lizards can sprint, crawl, climb, jump, and glide. When sprinting on four legs, lizards often move their fore feet diagonally in unison—the right fore foot with the left hand and the left fore foot with the right hand. The body's bent is simultaneously reversed. The shoulders, hips, and other joints in the legs as well as the bending of the back all contribute to moving the feet forward. Leg and back muscles work together to power running (Alexander, 2012).

Omnivore (eats plants, animals, fungi, bacteria)

These lizards are ambush predators, sitting on a vantage point looking for prey. They feed on small beetles and flying insects and berries in season (Branch, 1998).

This lizard is viviparous, giving birth to one to six babies in December- January, after a three- to four-month gestation period (Branch, 1998).

No data.

Grassland