Acanthodactylus pardalisLichtenstein, 1823

Egyptian Fringe-fingered Lizard

Photograph by Aissa Djamel Filali, CC BY-SA, via iNaturalist

A ground-dwelling, day-active, meat-eating lizard from the Saharo-Sindian region, reaching 77 mm snout to vent.

Reptilia › Squamata › Lacertidae › Acanthodactylus

Grows to: 77mm; greatest recorded
Eats: Carnivorous
Active: Diurnal
Lives up to: 4years

Body length across Lacertidae

Longer than 70% of all species in Lacertidae anyone has measured.

70% of 372 species are smaller30% larger

35 mmthe whole family, smallest to largest444 mm

The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 35 to 444 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.

What is known

42 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.

Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.

Standing in the world

Still living: Extant
Conservation status: Vulnerable
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked: 2006
Population trend: Decreasing
Red List criteria: A2c; B1ab(i,ii,iii)

The animal itself

Limbs: Four legs
Venomous: No
Fangs: None
Longest recorded life: 4years
Body temperature when active · measured in the wild: 35.3°C96 °F
Body temp in the wild · mean, when active: 32.8–37.8°C91–100 °F

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded: 77mm3 in
Length snout to vent · adult female mean: 61mm2.5 in
Largest female · snout to vent: 61mm2.5 in
Hatchling length · snout to vent: 30mm1.25 in
Largest juvenile · snout to vent: 30mm1.25 in
Body mass · greatestcomputed: 10.57g0.37 oz

How it lives

Diet: Carnivorous
How it hunts: Sit and wait
Active: Diurnal
Where it lives: Terrestrial
Habitat: Grassland, Shrubland
Biome: Deserts & Xeric Shrublands
Region: Saharo-Sindian
Mainland or island: Mainland
Elevation · above sea level: 270–900m
Range size: 179,019km²
Density: 218–689per hectare

Breeding

Reproduction: Oviparous
Average clutch: 3.65eggs
Eggs or young per clutch: 2–7eggs
Mean clutch: 2.5–4.8eggs
Clutches in a year: 4per year
Clutches a year: 1–7per year
First breeds at: 22months

Naming and history

Suborder: Sauria
Infraorder: Laterata
Subspecies: No
Described by: Lichtenstein
Moved to another genus · since it was first described: Yes
Described in: 1823
Type locality: Egypt

Keeping one

Egyptian Fringe-fingered Lizard is assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Species at risk in the wild are often covered by CITES and by national law, which decide what may be bought, sold, moved across a border or kept at all — and captive-bred and wild-caught animals are usually treated differently. Check the rules where you are before acquiring one. Nothing below is a judgement about keeping this species; it is what a published welfare standard says about space, and what the animal itself was measured doing.

12 in × 12 in × 7.5 in(31 × 31 × 19 cm)

Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.

The standard sizes ground-dwelling species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times snout-vent length.

Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.

From this animal’s own snout-vent length of 3 in (77 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

Active animals measured in the wild averaged 96 °F (35.3 °C).

Mean body temperature of active individuals measured in nature. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.

Feeding

A prey item should be no wider than the space between the animal's eyes.

Widely used across reptile husbandry references. The stated reason is that the gap approximates the width of the throat, so wider prey is associated with impaction. This is established practice, not a measurement.

2kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 11 g, the heaviest recorded for Egyptian Fringe-fingered Lizard — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.

An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.

What nobody knows

These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.

— Length snout to vent · adult male mean
— Length snout to vent · adult mean
— Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
— Female length · mean, nose to tail
— Length nose to tail · adult male mean
— Length nose to tail · adult mean
— Largest male · snout to vent
— Largest female · shell length
— Largest male · shell length
— Hatchling length · nose to tail
— Largest juvenile · shell length
— Egg length
— Egg width
— Body mass · a typical adult
— Body mass · adult female, mean
— Body mass at hatching
— Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
— Eats arthropods
— Eats vertebrates
— Eats plant matter
— How the young develop
— Gestation or incubation
— Hatchling length · smallest recorded
— Hatchling length · largest recorded
— Age at first breeding · female
— Mature from · youngest recorded
— Mature by · oldest recorded
— Size at maturity · smallest recorded
— Size at maturity · largest recorded
— Colour on the back
— Pattern on the back
— Pupil
— Sex decided by
— Active season · shortest recorded
— Active season · longest recorded
— Home range · largest recorded
— Active in

Others in Lacertidae

Take this data

Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.

This species as JSON · the whole dataset

Cite this page

The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Acanthodactylus pardalis. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/acanthodactylus-pardalis

@misc{acanthodactylus_pardalis_2026,
  title  = {Acanthodactylus pardalis},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/acanthodactylus-pardalis}
}

Sources

Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.