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Squamata · LacertidaeEntry 12,938 of 21,572
Desert Lacerta, Mesalina guttulata

Reptilia · Squamata

Mesalina guttulataLichtenstein, 1823

Desert Lacerta

Photograph by Klara Matusevich (Klaram), CC BY-SA, via Wikimedia Commons

A ground-dwelling, day-active, meat-eating lizard from the Saharo-Sindian region, reaching 60 mm snout to vent.

Also called Small-spotted Lizard.

Once published as Eremias guttulata — those names reach this page.

Reptilia › Squamata › Lacertidae › Mesalina

Grows to
60mm
greatest recorded
Eats
Carnivorous
Active
Diurnal
Lives up to
4.4years
Body length across Lacertidae

Longer than only 26% of all species in Lacertidae anyone has measured.

26% of 372 species are smaller74% 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

43 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
2012
Population trend
Stable

The animal itself

Limbs
Four legs
Venomous
No
Fangs
None
Longest recorded life
4.4years
Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
31.3°C88 °F

mean body temperature of active individuals in nature

Body temp in the wild · mean, when active
31.3–34.9°C88–95 °F

body temperature of active animals in nature

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
60mm2.25 in

Shai Meiri, unpublished

Length snout to vent · adult female mean
45.5mm1.75 in
Largest female · snout to vent
45.5mm1.75 in

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

Hatchling length · snout to vent
21mm0.8 in
Largest juvenile · snout to vent
21mm0.8 in
Body mass · greatestcomputed
5.06g0.18 oz

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

Body mass at hatchingmeasured
0.18g0.01 oz

How it lives

Diet
Carnivorous

Arthropods ("It feeds on insects (beetles, orthopterans, ants, termites) and spiders." Szczerbak 2003, insects: Masood and Asiry 2012), arthropods (del Marmol et al. 2019, Spawls et al. 2023)

How it hunts
Active foraging

Sit and Wait (Banfi et al. 2023)/Active (Cavalcanti et al. 2023)

Active
Diurnal

e.g., del Marmol et al. 2019, Masood and Asiry 2012; bimodal in June, Moravec and Modry 1994b, Spawls et al. 2023

Where it lives
Terrestrial

e.g., del Marmol et al. 2019, Spawls et al. 2023

Habitat
Desert, Rocky, Shrubland
Biome
Deserts & Xeric Shrublands
Active season · months of the year
8–12months
Region
Saharo-Sindian
Mainland or island
Mainland
Elevation · above sea level
300–2000m

300-2000 (del Marmol et al. 2019)

Range size
9,617,409km²

Breeding

Reproduction
Oviparous
Sex decided by
Genes, ZW/ZZ
Average clutch
4.6eggs
Eggs or young per clutch
1–10eggs

2-10, usually 5-7 (Szczerbak 2003), 2-7, mean 4.4 (In den Bosch 2001), 2-7 (del Marmol et al. 2019, Spawls et al. 2023)

Mean clutch
4.2–5eggs
Clutches in a year
1.5per year
Clutches a year
1–2per year
First breeds at
8–12months

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

9.5 in × 9.5 in × 6 in(24 × 24 × 15 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 2.25 in (60 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 88 °F (31.3 °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.

1kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 5 g, the heaviest recorded for Desert Lacerta — 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
  • — 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
  • — Red List criteria
  • — 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). Mesalina guttulata. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/mesalina-guttulata

@misc{mesalina_guttulata_2026,
  title  = {Mesalina guttulata},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/mesalina-guttulata}
}

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.