Reptilia · Squamata
Podarcis pityusensisBoscá, 1883
Ibiza Wall Lizard
Photograph placed in the public domain, CC0, via iNaturalist
A day-active, omnivorous lizard from the Saharo-Sindian region, reaching 82 mm snout to vent.
Reptilia › Squamata › Lacertidae › Podarcis
- Grows to
- 82mm
- greatest recorded
- Eats
- Omnivorous
- Active
- Diurnal
- Lives up to
- 18years
Longer than 76% of all species in Lacertidae 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 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
- Near Threatened
- Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
- 2008
- Population trend
- Stable
The animal itself
- Limbs
- Four legs
- Venomous
- No
- Fangs
- None
- Longest recorded life
- 18years
- Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
- 34.2°C94 °F
- Body temp in the wild · mean, when active
- 32.6–35.8°C91–96 °F
3 years 4 months (Bogin et al. 1999); Slavens and Slavens 1999: 4 and 7 months; Jesus 2012: 18
mean body temperature of active individuals in nature
body temperature of active animals in nature
Size
- Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
- 82mm3.25 in
- Length snout to vent · adult female mean
- 57.5mm2.25 in
- Largest female · snout to vent
- 57.5mm2.25 in
- Hatchling length · snout to vent
- 29mm1.25 in
- Largest juvenile · snout to vent
- 29mm1.25 in
- Body mass · greatestcomputed
- 12.73g0.45 oz
- Body mass at hatchingmeasured
- 0.74g0.03 oz
max 82 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
- Omnivorous
- Active
- Diurnal
- Where it lives
- Arboreal, saxicolous, terrestrial
- Habitat
- Rocky, Shrubland
- Biome
- Mediterranean
- Active season · months of the year
- 12months
- Region
- Saharo-Sindian
- Mainland or island
- Found only on islands
- Highest it lives · above sea level
- 480m
- Range size
- 661km²
- Density
- 18–30,000per hectare
(Olesen and Valido 2003, Cooper and Vitt 2002, Rogner 1997b, Alvarez 2004, Salvador 2006 - invertebrates and plant material), Maragou et al. 1996
variable (Kwet 2009)
Breeding
- Reproduction
- Oviparous
- Sex decided by
- Genes, ZW/ZZ
- Average clutch
- 2.65eggs
- Eggs or young per clutch
- 1–6eggs
- Mean clutch
- 2.3–3eggs
- Clutches in a year
- 3per year
- Clutches a year
- 1–5per year
- First breeds at
- 18–24months
2-12 (Maso and Pijoan 2011)
Naming and history
- Suborder
- Sauria
- Infraorder
- Laterata
- Subspecies
- Podarcis pityusensis ahorcadosi (EISENTRAUT 1930) Podarcis pityusensis calaesaladae (MÜLLER 1928) Podarcis pityusensis canensis (EISENTRAUT 1928) Podarcis pityusensis canaretensis CIRER 1980 Podarcis pityusensis caragolensis (BUCHHOLZ 1954) Podarcis pityusensis carlkochi (MERTENS & MÜLLER 1940) Podarcis pityusensis characae (BUCHHOLZ 1954) Podarcis pityusensis formenterae (EISENTRAUT 1928) Podarcis pityusensis frailensis (EISENTRAUT 1928) Podarcis pityusensis gastabiensis (EISENTRAUT 1928) Podarcis pityusensis gorrae (EISENTRAUT 1928) Podarcis pityusensis hedwigkamerae (MÜLLER 1927) Podarcis pityusensis hortae (BUCHHOLZ 1954) Podarcis pityusensis kameriana (MERTENS 1927) Podarcis pityusensis maluquerorum MERTENS 1921 Podarcis pityusensis muradae (EISENTRAUT 1928) Podarcis pityusensis negrae (EISENTRAUT 1928) Podarcis pityusensis pityusensis (BOSCÁ 1833) Podarcis pityusensis ratae (EISENTRAUT 1928) Podarcis pityusensis redonae (EISENTRAUT 1928) Podarcis pityusensis schreitmuelleri (MÜLLER 1927) Podarcis pityusensis tagomagensis (MÜLLER 1927) Podarcis pityusensis torretensis (BUCHHOLZ 1954) Podarcis pityusensis vedrae (MÜLLER 1927)
- Described by
- Boscá
- Moved to another genus · since it was first described
- Yes
- Described in
- 1883
- Type locality
- Spain
Keeping one
13 in × 13 in × 13 in(33 × 33 × 33 cm)
Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.
The standard sizes ground species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 and climbing species at 4 × 2.5 × 4 times snout-vent length.
Recorded both on the ground and climbing, so this is the larger of the two rules in every dimension.
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 (82 mm), at 4 × 4 × 4 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.
2kJ per day
Worked out for an animal of 13 g, the heaviest recorded for Ibiza Wall 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
- — Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
- — Eats arthropods
- — Eats vertebrates
- — Eats plant matter
- — How it hunts
- — 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
- — Home range · largest recorded
- — Active in
- — Lowest it lives · above sea level
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). Podarcis pityusensis. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/podarcis-pityusensis
@misc{podarcis_pityusensis_2026,
title = {Podarcis pityusensis},
author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/podarcis-pityusensis}
}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.