Saw-tailed Lizard

Appearance

Dorsally the ground colour is black. On the head from the tip of the snout to the nape of the neck there is a yellow to yellow greenish median line. On each side of the back outside the large dorsal scales there runs a turquoise to sky blue longitudinal stripe which fuses on the tail base. From there it travels as a clear blue stripe partly interrupted onto the tip of the tail. The pattern of the flanks differs in the two species: In H. guentheri there are two yellowish brown to greyish lines on the flanks while in H. laevis there runs only one broader yellowish brown to red brown or usually beige stripe from the tip of the snout to the hind limb. The wide tail scales on the sides are yellow to orange-coloured.[8]

The number of light or dark stripes is the only known external morphological difference between the two species. As Arnold (1989) wrote: H. guentheri: "A dark vertebral stripe on body and three dark stripes on each side". H. laevis: "A dark vertebral stripe and two dark stripes on each side".

Ventrally the lizards are coloured yellow or orange to greenish-orange, partly with a mother-of-pearl shimmer. Males are often more brightly coloured. Juveniles resemble their parents but the coloured dorsal stripes are narrower and less intensely coloured. Ventrally the juveniles are pitch-black in contrast to the adults.

Naming

Common names include Saw-tailed Lizard, Neon Blue Tailed Tree Lizard, Gunther's Gliding Lizard, and Neon Blue Gliding Lizard

Distribution

Holaspis guentheri lives in West Africa in the southern parts of Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and Cameroon. In north Cameroon exist relict populations in the Guinea savanna region (30 km northeast of Tignère, 1000 m altitude). In Central Africa it can be found in Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Central African Republic, Congo, northern and western Democratic Republic of Congo and south to northwestern Angola. This species is also known in East Africa from northwestern Tanzania (Bukoba) and southeast Uganda (Budongo Forest) (regions west of Lake Victoria).