View source for Simony's giant lizard

{{Short description|Species of lizard}}
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|0.85|0}} [[Early Pleistocene]]–Recent
| image = Lagarto_Gigante_de_El_Hierro,_Canarias,_España.JPG
| image_caption = [[El Hierro giant lizard]] (''Gallotia simonyi machadoi'')
| status = VU
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 18 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Bowles, P. |date=2024 |title=''Gallotia simonyi'' |volume=2024 |page= e.T8881A137842652 |access-date=12 August 2024}}</ref>
| status2 = CITES_A1 
| status2_system = CITES 
| status2_ref = <ref>{{Cite web|title=Appendices {{!}} CITES|url=https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php|access-date=2022-01-14|website=cites.org}}</ref>
| genus = Gallotia
| species = simonyi
| authority = ([[Franz Steindachner|Steindachner]], 1889)
| synonyms = See text
}}

'''Simony's giant lizard''' (''Gallotia simonyi'') is a large [[species]] of [[Lacertidae|wall lizard]] [[endemic species|endemic]] to the island of [[El Hierro]] and nearby islet Roque Chico de Salmor in the [[Canary Islands]].

==Etymology==
The [[Specific name (zoology)|specific name]], ''simonyi'', honors [[Vienna|Viennese]] naturalist Oskar Simony (1852–1915),<ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. (''Lacerta simonyi'', p. 244).</ref> who collected the three individuals used to describe the species on Roque Chico de Salmor, in 1889.<ref name = "Mateo">Mateo, J. A., Barone, R., Hernández-Acosta, C. N., & López-Jurado, L. F. (2020) La muerte anunciada de dos gigantes macaronésicos: el gran escinco caboverdiano, Chioninia coctei (Duméril & Bibron, 1839) y el lagarto de Salmor, Gallotia simonyi (Steindachner, 1889). ''Bol. Asoc. Herpetol. Esp.'' Vol. 31 (2), pgs. 3-30.</ref>

==Taxonomy==
===Subspecies===
Two [[subspecies]] are recognised:
* The [[Roque Chico de Salmor giant lizard]], ''Gallotia simonyi simonyi'', [[extinct]] since 1931.<ref name = "Mateo"/>
* The [[El Hierro giant lizard]], ''Gallotia simonyi machadoi'', discovered in 1975 in an area of less than four [[hectare]]s of Fuga de Gorreta, north of the island. Since 1999, it has been introduced to Roque Chico de Salmor and other parts of El Hierro, but is still classified as [[critically endangered]].<ref name = "Salvador">Salvador, A. (2015) [https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/109278/3/galsim_v4.pdf Lagarto gigante de El Hierro – Gallotia simonyi]. In: ''Enciclopedia Virtual de los Vertebrados Españoles.'' Salvador, A., Marco, A. (Eds.). Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid. http://www.vertebradosibericos.org/</ref>

===Evolution===
The genus ''[[Gallotia]]'' appeared on the eastern Canary Islands, older geologically, and expanded west as new islands emerged. Simony's giant lizard evolved from the [[La Gomera giant lizard]] after it colonized El Hierro less than 0,85 million years ago. [[Mitochondrial DNA]] studies suggest that the two subspecies separated recently, due to rising sea levels at the end of the [[Pleistocene]].<ref name = "Salvador"/> Judging from [[subfossil]] remains, Simony's giant lizard was much larger before the [[Guanches]] colonized El Hierro at the end of the [[first millennium BC]], with some individuals estimated to have surpassed one [[meter]] in total length.<ref name = "Mateo"/>

==Description==
[[File:Lacerta_simonyi.jpg|180px|thumb|left|Roque Chico de Salmor giant lizard.]]
The species is very robust. Nasal openings touch the rostral, first supralabial, and postnasal. Five supralabials are usually before the subocular. Large temporal scales, between 25 and 81 in number. Two very large supratemporal scales. Maseteric and tympanic are present but small. The collar is serrated and made of 10 to 17 scales. There are 80-103 dorsal scales, small and on the center of the body. Ventral scales are almost square in shape, and present in 18-22 longitudinal series.<ref name = "Salvador"/>

Adults are black colored, with lighter legs and tail, and some light spots over the lips and the temporal region. The sides of the body have six to eight yellow ocelli, sometimes with a second row below. Ocelli are larger and more numerous in males than in females. The belly is dark brown, somewhat lighter in the external ventral scales and the posterior section of the belly. The submaxilar is black, with light spots and longitudial dark bands in the gular region. Juveniles are lighter colored than adults, with the anterior part of the back brown-reddish and the posterior gray-brown. They also have numerous ocelli on the back: yellow, green, or blueish.<ref name = "Salvador"/>

The species has 40 [[chromosome]]s. Males are generally larger than females, but also have proportionally larger head and longer legs.<ref name = "Salvador"/> The species grows and reproduces for life, which results in decreased size when animals are subjected to predation and prevented from reaching their full adult size.<ref name = "Mateo"/> The extinct nominate subspecies was slightly larger than the one from the mainland, even when the latter is raised in captivity without the action of predators.<ref name = "Salvador"/>

==References==
{{Commons category|Gallotia simonyi|''Gallotia simonyi''}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q268724}}

[[Category:Gallotia]]
[[Category:Reptiles of the Canary Islands]]
[[Category:Reptiles described in 1889]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Franz Steindachner]]
[[Category:Habitats Directive species]]