Cordylus niger
Silhouette: Beth Reinke · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Cordylus niger, the black girdled lizard, is a medium-sized lizard restricted to Table Mountain on the Cape Peninsula and a second, isolated population near Langebaan. Black girdled lizards inhabit rocky outcrops on Table Mountain, South Africa. Unlike many other lizard species in the area, these particular Cordylus lizards are not social and are usually seen alone. They are spiny, flat, and pitch black in colour.
Their colour helps these unique lizards to absorb sufficient heat from the sun, in what is one of the darkest, least sunny parts of South Africa. Branch, B., 1998. Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa: Ralph Curtis Books Publishing, Sanibel Island, Florida, 399 p.
Fitzsimons, V. F., 1943. The Lizards of South Africa: Transvaal Museum Memoir, Pretoria. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black Girdled Lizard sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 23 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 30th most-seen of the 35 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May, July–August, October and December–January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black Girdled Lizard in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in February–April, June, September and November, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black Girdled Lizard sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Cape Town, in our data
Cape Town is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Black Girdled Lizard sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Girdled Lizard is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Cape Town (23 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
