Reptilia · Squamata
Gerrhosaurus nigrolineatusHallowell, 1857
Black-lined Plated Lizard
Photograph by Ernst R, Lautenschläger T, Branquima MF, Hölting M (2020)…, CC BY, via Wikimedia Commons
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A ground-dwelling, day-active, meat-eating lizard from the Afrotropic region, reaching 183 mm snout to vent.
Reptilia › Squamata › Gerrhosauridae › Gerrhosaurus
- Grows to
- 183mm
- greatest recorded
- Eats
- Carnivorous
- Active
- Diurnal
- Lives up to
- 8.3years
Longer than 79% of all species in Gerrhosauridae anyone has measured.
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
36 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
- 2019
- Population trend
- Stable
The animal itself
- Limbs
- Four legs
- Venomous
- No
- Fangs
- None
- Longest recorded life
- 8.3years
- Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
- 34.2°C94 °F
- Body temp in the wild · mean, when active
- 33.2–35.2°C92–95 °F
Carey and Judge 2000, Slavens and Slavens 1999
mean body temperature of active individuals in nature
body temperature of active animals in nature
Size
- Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
- 183mm7.25 in
- Length snout to vent · adult female mean
- 110.8mm4.25 in
- Largest female · snout to vent
- 87.8mm3.5 in
- Hatchling length · snout to vent
- 51mm2 in
- Largest juvenile · snout to vent
- 51mm2 in
- Body mass · greatestcomputed
- 157.3g5.5 oz
max 183 mm SVL (Feldman et al. 2016)
snout-vent length; the source column mixes this with straight carapace length
computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed
How it lives
- Diet
- Carnivorous
- How it hunts
- Mixed
- Active
- Diurnal
- Where it lives
- Terrestrial
- Habitat
- Grassland, Savanna, Shrubland
- Biome
- Tropical & Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas & Shrublands
- Region
- Afrotropic
- Mainland or island
- Mainland
- Highest it lives · above sea level
- 1700m
- Range size
- 4,359,355km²
Invertebrates (arthropods and snails: Spawls et al. 2018, Branch 2014 for Gerrhosaurus intermedius), arthropods and sees, also fruit in captivity (Broadley 1962), arthropods (van Huyssteen 2023)
Sit and wait (Bowker 1984), active foraging (van Huyssteen 2023, as G. intermedius)
e.g., Spawls et al. 2018, Pietersen et al. 2021 as intermedius, van Huyssteen 2023 as intermedius, Malonza and Bwong 2023: as intermedius
e.g., Spawls et al. 2018, Pietersen et al. 2021 as intermedius, van Huyssteen 2023 & Malonza and Bwong 2023 as intermedius
0-1700 (Spawls et al. 2018)
Breeding
- Reproduction
- Oviparous
- Average clutch
- 6.5eggs
- Eggs or young per clutch
- 4–9eggs
4 (Loveridge 1942), up to 9 (for Gerrhosaurus intermedius, Branch 2014), 4-9 (Kenya Reptile Atlas (http://kenyareptileatlas.com/, Spawls et al. 2018, Pietersen et al. 2021)
Naming and history
- Suborder
- Sauria
- Infraorder
- Scincoidea
- Subspecies
- No
- Described by
- Hallowell
- Moved to another genus · since it was first described
- No
- Described in
- 1857
- Type locality
- Gabon
Keeping one
2 ft 5 in × 2 ft 5 in × 18 in(73 × 73 × 46 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 7.25 in (183 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 94 °F (34.2 °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.
18kJ per day
Worked out for an animal of 157 g, the heaviest recorded for Black-lined 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 · 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
- — Mean clutch · smallest reported
- — Mean clutch · largest reported
- — Clutches in a year
- — 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
- — 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). Gerrhosaurus nigrolineatus. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/gerrhosaurus-nigrolineatus
@misc{gerrhosaurus_nigrolineatus_2026,
title = {Gerrhosaurus nigrolineatus},
author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/gerrhosaurus-nigrolineatus}
}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.