Smaug barbertonensis
A shy denizen of well-shaded, bouldered hills and mountains with plentiful crags and fissures, the diurnal Barberton Girdled Lizard feeds on invertebrates, frogs and small geckos. Excluding their tails, adults can measure up to 13cm in length. Females give birth to 2-6 babies in late summer. Considered by some authorities to be a subspecies of Warren’s Girdled Lizard (S. warreni), the Barberton Girdled Lizard has a very limited distribution around the borders of South Africa’s southern Mpumalanga and northern Kwazulu-Natal Provinces with eastern Swaziland, and is considered to be of least concern by the IUCN. Ntshondwe Camp in Ithala Game Reserve is a very reliable spot to search for these attractive lizards.
Barberton Girdled Lizard
Barberton Girdled Lizard
Barberton Girdled Lizard
Barberton Girdled Lizard
Barberton Girdled Lizard
Barberton Girdled Lizard
DeWetsWild 
Very beautiful! 🙂
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Dis ‘n pragtige mooi akkedis, Dries!
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Stap so bietjie deur Ntshondwe wanneer julle Ithala toe gaan en julle sal hul beslis opmerk, Dina.
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Dankie Dries…sal dit beslis onthou!
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Barberton … used to be our nearest town when I was young … a beautiful lizard.
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I saw your post about the cotton farm near Barberton this morning Anne and thought this was a lovely coincidence!
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Very beautiful little lizard.😊 It look a bit like a baby crocodile, I think. You have so many pretty lizards and snakes in South Africa, do you know how many?
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We have over 350 species of reptiles in South Africa, John, and by far the majority of these are from the order squamata – snakes and lizards. Only Australia has more kinds.
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Wow! We got only 7 here in Sweden!😁
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he looks very healthy
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A ready supply of juicy insects will do that! 😀
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Such a good-looking lizard, why so shy? 🙂
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I think their shy nature is probably precisely because of their conspicuous colouration making it easier for predators to detect them.
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Handsome/pretty!
janet
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We agree wholeheartedly!
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Very pretty lizard!
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They definitely are!
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I seem to remember seeing them occasionally in the Dargle area. The head is distinctive.
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The closely related and very similar-looking Transvaal Girdled Lizard occurs in the Midlands, Leslie, and might be the species you recall seeing: http://www.reptarium.cz/content/photo_rd_10/Cordylus-vittifer-03000040234_01.jpg
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Could be, though they seemed brighter in colour.
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