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Squamata · OpluridaeEntry 14,428 of 21,572
Grandidier's Madagascar Swift, Oplurus grandidieri

Reptilia · Squamata

Oplurus grandidieriMocquard, 1900

Grandidier's Madagascar Swift

Photograph by amantedarmanin, CC BY, via iNaturalist

A day-active lizard from the Madagascan region, reaching 118 mm snout to vent.

ReptiliaSquamataOpluridaeOplurus

Grows to
118mm
greatest recorded
Active
Diurnal
Lives
Saxicolous, terrestrial
Weighs up to
52.99g
greatest

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
Least Concern
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
2011
Population trend
Stable

The animal itself

Limbs
Four legs
Venomous
No
Fangs
None

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
118mm4.75 in

max 118 mm SVL (Feldman et al. 2016)

Length snout to vent · adult female mean
93.2mm3.75 in
Largest female · snout to vent
93.2mm3.75 in

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

Hatchling length · snout to vent
40mm1.5 in
Largest juvenile · snout to vent
40mm1.5 in
Body mass · greatestcomputed
52.99g1.9 oz

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

Body mass · adult female, meanmeasured
24.49g0.86 oz

How it lives

Active
Diurnal
Where it lives
Saxicolous, terrestrial

Saxicolous and Terrestrial (see Sources (general) column)

Habitat
Forest, Grassland, Rocky, Shrubland
Biome
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Region
Madagascan
Mainland or island
Found only on islands
Elevation · above sea level
200–1200m
Range size
16,125km²

Breeding

Reproduction
Oviparous
Average clutch
2eggs
Eggs or young per clutch
2eggs

Naming and history

Suborder
Sauria
Infraorder
Pleurodonta
Subspecies
No
Described by
Mocquard
Moved to another genus · since it was first described
Yes
Described in
1900
Type locality
Madagascar

Keeping one

18.5 in × 18.5 in × 11.5 in(47 × 47 × 30 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 4.75 in (118 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

No preferred body temperature has been recorded for Grandidier's Madagascar Swift. Rather than repeat a number from a care sheet, this page leaves it out.

Feeding

7kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 53 g, the heaviest recorded for Grandidier's Madagascar Swift — 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 at hatching
  • Longest recorded life
  • Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
  • Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
  • 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
  • Body temp in the wild · lowest mean recorded
  • Body temp in the wild · highest mean 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

Others in Opluridae

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). Oplurus grandidieri. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/oplurus-grandidieri

@misc{oplurus_grandidieri_2026,
  title  = {Oplurus grandidieri},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/oplurus-grandidieri}
}

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.