Mitchell's flat lizard (Platysaurus mitchelli) is a species of lizard in the family Cordylidae. The species is native to Southeast Africa.

Etymology

The specific name, mitchelli, is in honor of naturalist Bernard Lindley Mitchell of the Department of Game, Fish, and Tsetse Control in Nyasaland (now Malawi) in the 1940s.

Geographic range

Platysaurus mitchelli is found in Malawi and Mozambique.

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of Platysaurus mitchelli is rocky areas, in both forest and grassland, at elevations of 700–2,800 m (2,300–9,200 ft).

Behavior

Platysaurus mitchelli shelters in cracks and crevices of rocks, emerging to forage.

Reproduction

Platysaurus mitchelli is oviparous.

Further reading

  • Adolphs, Klaus (2006). Bibliotheca Cordyliformium: Neues Quellenverzeichnis der Gürtelschweife und Schildechsen (Reptilia, Cordylidae und Gerrhosauridae). Sankt Augustin, Germany: Squamata Verlag für Herpetologie. ISBN 9783980508612. 303 pp. (in German)
  • Broadley, D.G. (1978). "A revision of the genus Platysaurus A. Smith (Sauria: Cordylidae)". Occasional Papers of the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia, Series B, Natural Sciences. 6 (4): 129–185.
  • Loveridge, A. (1953). "Zoological Results of a Fifth Expedition to East Africa. III. Reptiles from Nyasaland and Tete". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College 110 (3): 142–322. (Platysaurus mitchelli, new species, pp. 234–237).
  • Stanley, Edward L.; Bauer, Aaron M.; Jackman, Todd R.; Branch, William R.; Mouton, P. Le Fras N. (2011). "Between a rock and a hard polytomy: Rapid radiation in the rupicolous girdled lizards (Squamata: Cordylidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 58 (1): 53–70.

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