The Madeiran wall lizard (''Teira dugesii''), being the only species in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Teira'', is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Lacertidae with four recognized

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Madeira Archipelago,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. In the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

, this lizard has become naturalized after an involuntary introduction by the shipping trade between the two

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

s. The species is both

and common, ranging from sea coasts to altitudes of .

Etymology

The specific name, ''dugesii'', is in honor of French

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Antoine Louis Dugès. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Lacerta dugesii'', p. 76; "Joger", p. 135).

Habitat

The Madeiran wall lizard's natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s and

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

s, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, rocky areas, rocky shores, sandy shores, arable land, pastureland,

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

s, rural gardens, and

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

Subspecies

The following four subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the

nominotypical subspecies In biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. ...

. *''Teira dugesii dugesii'' *''Teira dugesii jogeri'' ; named after German

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

Ulrich Joger *''Teira dugesii mauli'' *''Teira dugesii selvagensis'' ; named after the Selvagens Islands ''

Nota bene ( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''. In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...

'': A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than ''Teira''.

Description

The Madeiran wall lizard grows to a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of about with a tail about 1.7 times the length of its body. Females lay two to three clutches of eggs in a year with the juveniles being about when they hatch. Its colouring is variable and tends to match the surroundings, typically a shade of brown or grey with occasionally a greenish tinge. Most Madeiran wall lizards are finely flecked with darker markings and their underparts white or cream, sometimes with dark spots, with some males having orange or red underparts and blue throats. These bright colours may fade if the animal is disturbed. On the island of Madeira, individuals from shingle beaches have been found to be morphologically divergent from adjacent inland individuals from vegetated habitats despite high levels of gene flow. In addition, several genomic loci that appear to be on chromosome 3 appear to show polymorphisms linked to these habitat differences

Behaviour

The Madeiran wall lizard is very common on the island of Madeira where it is the only small lizard, ranging from sea coasts to altitudes of . It is usually found in rocky places or among scrub and may climb into trees, and also found in gardens and on the walls of buildings. The tail is easily shed and the stump regenerates slowly.

Diet

The Madeiran wall lizard feeds on small invertebrates such as ants and also eats some vegetable matter such as bananas.

Reproduction

Adult females of ''T. dugesii'' lay two to three clutches of eggs in a year with the juveniles being about when they hatch.

Ecoepidemiology

''T. dugesii'' is one of many species that may be parasitized by ticks and can act as a secondary or alternative reservoir for

Lyme disease Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is a tick-borne disease caused by species of ''Borrelia'' bacteria, Disease vector, transmitted by blood-feeding ticks in the genus ''Ixodes''. It is the most common disease spread by ticks in th ...

or other tick-borne

zoonoses A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a virus, bacterium, parasite, fungi, or prion) that can jump from a non-human vertebrate to a human. When h ...

. Large

warm-blooded Warm-blooded is a term referring to animal species whose bodies maintain a temperature higher than that of their environment. In particular, homeothermic species (including birds and mammals) maintain a stable body temperature by regulating ...

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s like

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

and

boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

seem to have become the first epidemiologic tank (and/or host) for European ticks.Wodecka B, Rymaszewska A, Skotarczak B (2014)
"Host and pathogen DNA identification in blood meals of nymphal ''Ixodes ricinus'' ticks from forest parks and rural forests of Poland"
''Experimental and Applied Acarology'' 62 (4): 543-555.
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