Armadillo girdled lizard
Scientific name: Ouroborus cataphractus (Boie, 1828)
Overview
The armadillo girdled lizard, also commonly known as the armadillo lizard, the armadillo spiny-tailed lizard, and the golden-armadillo lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Cordylidae. The species is endemic to desert areas along the western coast of South Africa. In 2011, it was moved to its own genus based on molecular phylogeny, but formerly it was included in the genus Cordylus. It has the largest known genome of all squamates.
From the Wikipedia article “Armadillo girdled lizard”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Conservation status
Near threatened on the IUCN Red List, as recorded on Wikidata, citing The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2.
Where it lives
The Catalogue of Life records it in: SW Republic of South Africa.
Common names
Names in other languages (9)
- Arabic
- سحلية مدرعة
- Chinese
- 犰狳环尾蜥
- German
- Panzergürtelschweif
- Indonesian
- Kadal armadillo
- Japanese
- アルマジロトカゲ
- Portuguese
- Cordylus cataphractus
- Russian
- Малый поясохвост
- Spanish
- Cordylus cataphractus
- Turkish
- Armadillo girdled lizard
Related animals
Sources
-
Catalogue of Life — scientific name, classification, common names and range.
Version 2026-09-11, CC BY 4.0.
This species in the Catalogue of Life.
Citation
Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Aedo, C., Aescht, E., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (Version 2026-09-11). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgz5n Source database: The Reptile Database.
- GBIF — species page and recorded occurrences.
- Wikidata — conservation status, names in other languages. Q777490, CC0 1.0.
- Wikipedia — overview, from the article “Armadillo girdled lizard”, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo — frank wouters, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
- Range map — Maqdisi, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
Last updated: 4 October 2026