All Angles Creatures
Squamata · LacertidaeEntry 10,240 of 21,572
Galan’s Rock Lizard, Iberolacerta galani

Reptilia · Squamata

Iberolacerta galaniArribas, Carranza, Odierna, 2006

Galan’s Rock Lizard

Photograph by Martiño Cabana Otero, CC BY, via iNaturalist

A rock-dwelling, day-active lizard from the Palearctic region, reaching 85 mm snout to vent.

ReptiliaSquamataLacertidaeIberolacerta

Grows to
85mm
greatest recorded
Active
Diurnal
Lives
Saxicolous
Weighs up to
14.15g
greatest
Body length across Lacertidae

Longer than 80% of all species in Lacertidae anyone has measured.

80% of 372 species are smaller20% 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

32 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
Near Threatened
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
2008

The animal itself

Limbs
Four legs
Venomous
No
Fangs
None
Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradientmeasured
28.8–36.8°C84–98 °F
Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
30.2°C86 °F

mean body temperature of active individuals in nature

Body temp in the wild · mean, when active
29.5–30.9°C85–88 °F

body temperature of active animals in nature

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
85mm3.25 in

max 85 mm SVL (Feldman et al. 2016)

Length snout to vent · adult female mean
66.1mm2.5 in
Largest female · snout to vent
64.6mm2.5 in

snout-vent length; the source column mixes this with straight carapace length

Body mass · greatestcomputed
14.15g0.5 oz

computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed

How it lives

Active
Diurnal
Where it lives
Saxicolous
Habitat
Rocky
Biome
Mediterranean
Region
Palearctic
Mainland or island
Mainland
Elevation · above sea level
1000–2500m
Range size
859km²

Breeding

Reproduction
Oviparous
Sex decided by
Genes, ZW/ZZ
Average clutch
4.5eggs
Eggs or young per clutch
4–5eggs

4-5 (Maso and Pijoan 2011)

Naming and history

Suborder
Sauria
Infraorder
Laterata
Subspecies
No
Described by
Arribas, Carranza, Odierna
Moved to another genus · since it was first described
No
Described in
2006
Type locality
Spain

Keeping one

13.5 in × 13.5 in × 8.5 in(34 × 34 × 21 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 3.25 in (85 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

In a laboratory thermal gradient this species settled at 84–98 °F (28.8–36.8 °C).

Preferred body temperature, recorded in a laboratory gradient where the animal could choose freely. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.

Feeding

2kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 14 g, the heaviest recorded for Galan’s Rock 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 · a typical adult
  • Body mass · adult female, mean
  • Body mass at hatching
  • Longest recorded life
  • Diet
  • Eats arthropods
  • Eats vertebrates
  • Eats plant matter
  • How it hunts
  • 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
  • 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

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). Iberolacerta galani. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/iberolacerta-galani

@misc{iberolacerta_galani_2026,
  title  = {Iberolacerta galani},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/iberolacerta-galani}
}

Sources

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