Incredible Lizards One hundred species from around the world

This book is a celebration of lizard-hood. It salutes a diversity of form and function unparalleled among terrestrial vertebrates, from apex predators capable of swallowing goats to limbless subterranean insectivores. In equal measure they thrive in a tropical paradise, a waterless terrain so bleak one wonders how anything survives, and the human domain, including domestic gardens and the ruins of past civilizations. The book ventures into how lizards exploit those disparate places, and author and photographer Steve Wilson’ s attempts to document them around the world. This book is born from journeys of discovery by the author. Quests for lizards and other reptiles have taken him to some of the world’ s extraordinary biodiversity hot-spots in Borneo, Madagascar, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands. He has also crisscrossed his native Australia many times, searching for lizards in deserts, rainforests and even peoples’ back yards. From mighty Komodo Dragons in Indonesia to tiny anoles in the Americas, every lizard has a tale to tell, making this a must-read title for anyone who is passionate about reptiles or about wildlife in general.

Steve lifelong love affair with reptiles has taken him to some of Australia most remote places. For the past 30 years he has been working to compile a comprehensive photographic documentation of Australia reptiles. He has authored/co-authored more than 5 books, including A Field Guide to Reptiles, What Snake is That, and What Lizard is That and has written many magazine articles on reptiles. For the past 20 years Steve has worked at the Queensland Museum, educating the public, identifying their specimens and (hopefully) instilling a desire to conserve our unique biological heritage. Gerry Swan kept geckos while at school and after moving to Australia from New Zealand in the 1960s a chance encounter with a blue tongue lizard rekindled his interest in reptiles. An Associate of the Australian Museum and past editor of the journal Herpetofauna, Gerry has written and co-authored more than 9 books about reptiles, including What Snake is That, What Lizard is That, and Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia. He also works as a reptile consultant and has a particular interest in the reptiles of the arid and semi-arid regions of New South Wales. Steve Wilson's lifelong love affair with reptiles has taken him to some of Australia's most remote places. For the past 30 years he has been working to compile a comprehensive photographic documentation of Australian reptiles. He has authored/co-authored more than 5 books, including A Field Guide to Reptiles, What Snake is That, and What Lizard is That, and has written many magazine articles on reptiles. For the past 20 years Steve has worked at the Queensland Museum, educating the public, identifying their specimens, and (hopefully) instilling a desire to conserve our unique biological heritage.

Acknowledgments 7 Introduction 9 Chameleons – Family Chamaeleonidae 10 Dragons – Family Agamidae 24 Iguanas – Family Iguanidae 60 Malagasy Iguanas – Family Opluridae 68 Casque-headed Lizards – Family Corytophanidae 70 Wood Lizards – Family Hoplocercidae 72 Lava Lizards – Family Tropiduridae 74 Horned and Spiny Lizards – Family Phrynosomatidae 78 Anoles – Family Anolidae 86 Knob-tailed and Leaf-tailed Geckos – Family Carphodactylidae 92 Cosmopolitan Geckos – Family Gekkonidae 98 Leaf-toed Geckos – Family Phyllodactylidae 114 Austral Geckos – Family Diplodactylidae 116 American Day Geckos – Family Sphaerodactylidae 130 Eyelid Geckos – Family Eublepharidae 132 Flap-footed Lizards – Family Pygopodidae 134 Plated Lizards – Family Cordylidae 138 Girdled Lizards – Family Gerrhosauridae 142 Skinks – Family Scincidae 144 Lacertas – Family Lacertidae 170 Whiptails and Caiman Lizard – Family Teiidae 182 Anguids – Family Anguidae 188 Gila Monster – Family Helodermatidae 194 Monitors – Family Varanidae 196 References 210 Index 214