Fitzinger's algyroides

Fitzinger's algyroides (Algyroides fitzingeri), also commonly called the pygmy algyroides and the pygmy keeled lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. The species is native to the islands of Corsica and Sardinia in the Mediterranean. There are no subspecies.

Fitzinger;s algyroides was first formally described as Notolophis fitzingeri in 1834 by the German herpetologist Arend Friedrich August Wiegmann with its type locality given as Sardinia. This species is classified in the genus Algyroides which belongs to the family Lacertidae, the African and Eurasian "typical lizards".

The specific name, fitzingeri, is in honor of Austrian herpetologist Leopold Fitzinger.

Fitzinger's algyroides is up to 130mm in length and is the smallest and most slender member of the genus Algyroides. It can be tod apart from the Greek algyroides, which laso has the scales on the back all being similar, by the sharp demarcation between thescales on the sides and the underside and by the absence of pale lines above the eye. Its hind legs are short in comparison to the Greek Algyroides too. It can be distinguished from the two other Algyroides apecies, the Spanish algyroides and the blue-throated keeled lizard , by the unreduced scales on its flanks. The head is flattened, with a redulced layer of osteoderms and the supraciliary laminae are only partly ossified, there are no teeth on the pterygoid. This species is the only species of algyroides known to have a hemipenis with epithelium on the crown, the hemipenis of the others have simple extended tips.

A. fitzingeri is found only in Corsica and Sardinia.

The natural habitats of A. fitzingeri are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, temperate grassland, rocky areas, arable land, pastureland, and rural gardens, at altitudes from sea level to 1,800 m (5,900 ft).

A. fitzingeri is oviparous. Clutch size is 2–4 eggs.

• List of reptiles of Italy

• Arnold EN, Burton JA (1978). A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Britain and Europe. London: Collins. 272 pp. + Plates 1-40.ISBN 0-00-219318-3. (Algyroides fitzingeri, p. 118 + Plate 18, figure 4 + Map 58).
• Duméril AMC, Bibron G (1839). Erpétologie générale ou Histoire naturelle complète des Reptiles. Tome cinquième [Volume 5]. Paris: Roret. viii + 854 pp. (Lacerta fitzingeri, p. 194). (in French).
• Engelman W-E, Fritzsche J, Günther R, Obst FJ (1993). Lurche und Kriechtiere Europas: Beobachten und bestimmen. Radebeul, Germany: Neumann Verlag. 440 pp. (including 324 color plates, 186 figures, 205 maps). (in German).

Media related to Algyroides fitzingeri at Wikimedia Commons