📸 PhotoPhoto: frank wouters · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Armadillo Girdled Lizard
Ouroborus cataphractus (Armadillo Girdled Lizard · アルマジロトカゲ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A maximum length of 16 cm is slightly longer than a ballpoint pen (about 14–15 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 Because this species gives birth to few young, capturing individuals from groups for trade causes severe damage, so international trade is regulated under CITES Appendix II (SANBI).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Armadillo Girdled Lizard is a small lizard that lives in groups in rock crevices of southwestern South Africa and bites its tail to roll into a ball when threatened.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
It measures 12–16 cm from snout to tail tip, and males are larger than females. When threatened, it grasps its own tail in its mouth and curls into a ball, exposing its spiny scales, and may drop its tail as a last resort.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It mainly eats harvester termites (Hodotermes mossambicus), as well as beetles, millipedes, scorpions, and sometimes plants. Active by day, up to 60 individuals live together in a single rock crevice, and it is ovoviviparous, giving birth to 1–2 young at a time.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List NT (2022) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/5333/197397829
- • IUCN Red List category NT — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 4B9F9
- • iucnredlist.org — 197397829
- • wikidata.org — Q777490
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Armadillo girdle-tailed lizard.jpg
- • sanbi.org — armadillo-girdled-lizard
- • reptile-database.reptarium.cz — species
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Jose Carlos Arenas-Monroy · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.