Smaug depressus

Taxonavigation

Taxonavigation: Scincoidea
Superregnum: Eukaryota Cladus: Amorphea Cladus: Obazoa Cladus: Opisthokonta Cladus: Holozoa Cladus: Filozoa Cladus: Choanozoa Regnum: Animalia Subregnum: Eumetazoa Cladus: ParaHoxozoa Cladus: Bilateria Cladus: Nephrozoa Superphylum: Deuterostomia Phylum: Chordata Cladus: Olfactores Subphylum: Vertebrata Infraphylum: Gnathostomata Cladus: Eugnathostomata Cladus: Osteichthyes Cladus: Sarcopterygii Cladus: Rhipidistia Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes Cladus: Elpistostegalia Cladus: Stegocephali Cladus: Tetrapoda Cladus: Reptiliomorpha Cladus: Amniota Cladus: Sauropsida Classis: Reptilia Cladus: Eureptilia Cladus: Romeriida Cladus: Diapsida Cladus: Neodiapsida Cladus: Sauria Cladus: Lepidosauromorpha Subclassis: Lepidosauria Ordo: Squamata Subordo: Scincomorpha Superfamilia: Scincoidea

Familia: Cordylidae
Subfamilia: Cordylinae
Genus: Smaug
Species: Smaug depressus

Smaug depressus (FitzSimons, 1930)

Holotype: TM 4621, adult ♀, collected by Austin Roberts.
Type locality: “Newgate, near Louis Trichardt, [Zouipansberg,] Northern Transvaal”, South Africa.

Zonurus barbertonensis depressus FitzSimons, 1930: 24 [original combination]
Cordylus warreni depressus — FitzSimons, 1943: 427 [subsequent combination]
Smaug warreni depressus — Stanley et al., 2011: 64 [subsequent combination]
Smaug depressus — Stanley & Bates, 2014: 14 [subsequent combination, elevated to species]

Zonurus laevigatus FitzSimons, 1933: 276
- Holotype: TM 14229, adult ♀, collected by G. von Son in November 1931.
- Type locality: “Entabeni, Zoutpansberg”, South Africa.

FitzSimons, V. 1930. Descriptions of new South African Reptilia and Batrachia, with distribution records of allied species in the Transvaal Museum Collection. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 14(1): 20–48. hdl: 10520/AJA00411752_640 Reference page.
FitzSimons, V. 1933. Descriptions of five new lizards from the Transvaal and Southern Rhodesia. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 15(2): 273–280. hdl: 10520/AJA00411752_611 Reference page.
FitzSimons, V. 1943. The lizards of South Africa. Transvaal Museum Memoirs 1: 1–528. Reference page.
Stanley, E.L., Bauer, A.M., Jackman, T.R., Branch, W.R. & Mouton, P. Le F.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. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2010.08.024 Reference page.
Stanley, E.L. & Bates, M.F. 2014. Here be dragons: a phylogenetic and biogeographical study of the Smaug warreni species complex (Squamata: Cordylidae) in southern Africa. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 172(4): 892–909. DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12187 Reference page.

Bates, M.F. & Mouton, P.L.F.N. 2022. IUCN: Smaug depressus (Least Concern). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T110167260A197425875. DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T110167260A197425875.en. Accessed on 29 October 2025.