Broadleysaurus majorDuméril, 1851

Rough-scaled Plated Lizard

Photograph placed in the public domain, CC0, via iNaturalist

A day-active, omnivorous lizard from the Afrotropic region, reaching 245 mm snout to vent.

Once published as Gerrhosaurus major, Gerrhosaurus zechi — those names reach this page.

Reptilia › Squamata › Gerrhosauridae › Broadleysaurus

Grows to: 245mm; greatest recorded
Eats: Omnivorous
Active: Diurnal
Lives up to: 24years

Body length across Gerrhosauridae

Longer than 89% of all species in Gerrhosauridae anyone has measured.

89% of 38 species are smaller11% larger

55 mmthe whole family, smallest to largest285 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 55 to 285 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

37 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: Least Concern
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked: 2014

The animal itself

Limbs: Four legs
Venomous: No
Fangs: None
Longest recorded life: 24years
Body temperature when active · measured in the wild: 31.7°C89 °F
Body temp in the wild · mean, when active: 28.9–34.5°C84–94 °F

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded: 245mm9.75 in
Length snout to vent · adult female mean: 199.3mm7.75 in
Largest female · snout to vent: 199.3mm7.75 in
Body mass · greatestcomputed: 386.9g13.6 oz
Body mass · a typical adult: 284g10 oz
Body mass at hatchingmeasured: 17.5g0.62 oz

How it lives

Diet: Omnivorous
How it hunts: Sit and wait
Active: Diurnal
Where it lives: Saxicolous, terrestrial
Habitat: Rocky, Savanna
Biome: Tropical & Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas & Shrublands
Region: Afrotropic
Mainland or island: Mainland
Highest it lives · above sea level: 1700m
Range size: 3,762,423km²

Breeding

Reproduction: Oviparous
Average clutch: 5eggs
Eggs or young per clutch: 1–9eggs
Mean clutch: 3.8eggs
Clutches in a year: 0.42per year

Naming and history

Suborder: Sauria
Infraorder: Scincoidea
Subspecies: No
Described by: Duméril
Moved to another genus · since it was first described: Yes
Described in: 1851
Type locality: Tanzania

Keeping one

3 ft 3 in × 3 ft 3 in × 2 ft(98 × 98 × 61 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.

Lives on rock, so stable hard surfaces and basking ledges suit it.

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 9.75 in (245 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 89 °F (31.7 °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.

39kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 387 g, the heaviest recorded for Rough-scaled Plated 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 · snout to vent
— Hatchling length · nose to tail
— Largest juvenile · snout to vent
— Largest juvenile · shell length
— Egg length
— Egg width
— Body mass · adult female, mean
— Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
— Eats arthropods
— Eats vertebrates
— Eats plant matter
— How the young develop
— Gestation or incubation
— Clutches a year · fewest
— Clutches a year · most
— First breeds from · youngest recorded
— First breeds by · oldest recorded
— 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
— Population trend
— Red List criteria
— Active season · shortest recorded
— Active season · longest recorded
— Density · lowest recorded
— Density · highest recorded
— Home range · largest recorded
— Active in
— Lowest it lives · above sea level

Others in Gerrhosauridae

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). Broadleysaurus major. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/broadleysaurus-major

@misc{broadleysaurus_major_2026,
  title  = {Broadleysaurus major},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/broadleysaurus-major}
}

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.
AnAge, Human Ageing Genomic Resources (de Magalhães et al.), used under CC BY 3.0.