Description
Desert lizards have fine, granular dorsal scales. The hind toes are elongated and possess fringes of scales.Species
The following eight species are recognized as being valid. www.reptile-database.org. *''Meroles anchietae'' - shovel-snouted lizard, Anchieta's dune lizard *''Meroles ctenodactylus'' - giant desert lizard, Smith's sand lizard, Smith's desert lizard *''Meroles cuneirostris'' -wedge-snouted sand lizard, wedge-snouted desert lizard *''Meroles knoxii'' - Knox's ocellated sand lizard, Knox's desert lizard *''Meroles micropholidotus'' - small-scaled desert lizard *''Meroles reticulatus'' - reticulate sand lizard *''Meroles squamulosus'' - common rough-scaled lizard, savanna lizard *''Meroles suborbitalis'' - spotted sand lizard ''Nota bene'': A Binomial nomenclature, binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Meroles''.References
Further reading
*John Edward Gray, Gray JE (1838). "Catalogue of the Slender-tongued Saurians, with Descriptions of many new Genera and Species". ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'', [''First Series''] 1: 274–283, 388–394. (''Meroles'', new genus, p. 282). Meroles, Lizard genera Lacertid lizards of Africa Taxa named by John Edward Gray {{Lacertidae-stub