View source for Meroles

{{Short description|Genus of lizards}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image             = Meroles knoxii.jpg
| image_caption     = ''[[Meroles knoxii]]'' in South Africa
| taxon             = Meroles
| authority         = [[John Edward Gray|Gray]], 1838
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision       = Eight species,
see text.
}}

'''''Meroles''''' is a [[genus]] of [[lizard]]s, commonly known as '''desert lizards''', in the [[Family (biology)|family]] [[Lacertidae]]. The genus contains eight species, inhabiting southwestern [[Africa]], especially the [[Namib Desert]].

==Description==
Desert lizards have fine, granular dorsal scales. The hind toes are elongated and possess fringes of scales.<ref>{{cite book|last=Branch, Bill|author-link=William Roy Branch|title=Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa|date=1998|publisher=Struik|location=Cape Town|isbn=1868720403|pages=164–167|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hs9EzcxkCE4C&q=Meroles+fringe+toe&pg=PA160|edition=3rd}}</ref>

==Species==
The following eight species are recognized as being valid.<ref>{{EMBL genus|genus=Meroles}} www.reptile-database.org.</ref>
*''[[Meroles anchietae]]'' {{small|([[José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage|Bocage]], 1867)}} - shovel-snouted lizard, Anchieta's dune lizard
*''[[Meroles ctenodactylus]]'' {{small|([[Andrew Smith (zoologist)|A. Smith]], 1838)}} - giant desert lizard, Smith's sand lizard, Smith's desert lizard
*''[[Meroles cuneirostris]]'' {{small|([[Alexander Strauch (naturalist)|Strauch]], 1867)}} -wedge-snouted sand lizard, wedge-snouted desert lizard
*''[[Meroles knoxii]]'' {{small|([[Henri Milne Edwards|Milne-Edwards]], 1829)}} - Knox's ocellated sand lizard, Knox's desert lizard
*''[[Meroles micropholidotus]]'' {{small|[[Robert Mertens|Mertens]], 1938}} - small-scaled desert lizard
*''[[Meroles reticulatus]]'' {{small|(Bocage, 1867)}} - reticulate sand lizard
*''[[Meroles squamulosus]]'' {{small|([[Wilhelm Peters|W. Peters]], 1869)}} - common rough-scaled lizard, savanna lizard
*''[[Meroles suborbitalis]]'' {{small|(W. Peters, 1854)}} - spotted sand lizard

''[[Nota bene]]'': A [[Binomial nomenclature|binomial authority]] in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Meroles''.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[[John Edward Gray|Gray JE]] (1838). "Catalogue of the Slender-tongued Saurians, with Descriptions of many new Genera and Species". ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'', [''First Series''] '''1''': 274–283, 388–394. (''Meroles'', new genus, p.&nbsp;282).


{{Taxonbar|from=Q592128}}

[[Category:Meroles| ]]
[[Category:Lizard genera]]
[[Category:Lacertid lizards of Africa]]
[[Category:Taxa named by John Edward Gray]]


{{Lacertidae-stub}}