Podarcis guadarramae - Guadarrama Wall Lizard
The Guadarrama Wall Lizard is specialized on the granite rock substrates of central and north-western Iberia. No granite rocks - no Podarcis guadarramae! These lizards even occur in rocky habitats with hardly any vegetation. Some populations have flat heads and strongly elongated snouts which allow them to hunt for insects in small crevices. In these cases, they resemble to rock specialists like Archaeolacerta bedriagae. This demonstrates the high morphologic plasticity of the genus Podarcis.
The nominate subspecies occurs in the Sistema Central – from Sierra de Peña de Francia (Salamanca) in the west to the Sierra del Alto Rey (Guadalajara) in the east.
Besides of the nominate subspecies, another subspecies - Podarcis guadarramae lusitanicus - has been described. It occurs from the Cantabrian Mountains over Galicia and Northern Portugal
to the Serra da Estrela in the South. Genetic analysis indicates that subsp. lusitanicus even could be regarded as a separate species. However, the transition zone between the two morphs in the
Salamanca area is poorly known.
Podarcis guadarramae differs from all neighbouring Iberian Podarcis species by its flattened head and elongated snout. It has contact zones or overlapping ranges with the following species:
- Podarcis virescens, Podarcis carbonelli and Podarcis liolepis: These species frequently show bluish outer ventral scales which lack in Podarcis guadarramae and have shorter heads.
- Podarcis bocagei: This species has deeper heads and blunter snouts than Podarcis guadarramae.
Podarcis guadarramae may also co-occur with Podarcis muralis (e.g. Sierra de Guadarrama / Madrid). The latter one is much bigger than Podarcis guadarramae and frequently shows blue outer ventral scales and orange throats.
