<- Back To Species Index

Ancestor: Bee-raiding Lizard

Size: Largest species: 65cm long, Smallest species: 30cm long.

Dietary Needs: They are good at converting sugar into fat. Thus they gorge on sugar whenever they can. They can fast from sugar but enter a very sluggish mode when they do. They raid the nests of less aggressive bee species or vulnerable nests for the honey and pollen reserves, but also for the juicy bee larvae and any adult bees unfortunate enough to get between the lizard and the beehive meal. This rich mixture of nutrients, including bee parts helps keep their thick skin and scales in good shape. The bees can still deliver quite a few stings despite the overlapping armour. This lizard's skin and scales regenerate and heal quickly but it needs to rest for this to be effective.

At other times they forage for invertebrates like beetles and mealworms, earthworms, woodlice, caterpillars, waxworms and even small, vulnerable vertebrates such as nestlings and eggs. Newborn lizards that naively scurry in their path also get taken.

They eat a few soft choice fruits, but avoid many kinds that are poisonous to them. They do not rely on this food source but benefit opportunistically when availability arises.

Most species have a somewhat textured tongue tip to help them lap up honey at a faster rate before it soaks into substrate or drips down the tree branch. In a few species this tongue is brushy for added soaking-up effect. Some species will even dip their tongues in flowers for the nectar. Many flowers have sweet, non-toxic nectar, but only if the flower is not broken. Some flowers release poison when the petals or stems are broken. The brushy tongue allows the lizard to delicately access the nectar. They contribute to pollination, but unwittingly compete with the bees they would be harvesting from later.

Life Cycle: Eggs are incubated and hatched internally (ovoviviparity) and the offspring are live-birthed. They can run, climb and feed immediately. During their first few months they grow on small insects and sometimes fruit and nectar. They move on to bee-raiding and consuming small vertebrates when they reach around a year old, two for some of the larger species. While they can reproduce all year due to the moderate climate, more females will give birth during the most productive seasons. They have a low clutch size of no more than 15, usually fewer.  This is so that when offspring are born they are larger in size and less vulnerable. Their mother doesn't feed them but she does recognise them, and will chase away predators of their offspring for the first few days.

Other: Despite efforts to avoid plant toxins their bodies have to work hard to process some of the toxins passively ingested in honey, nectar and fruit. Their high energy diet also gives them a lot of freely accessible calories to burn. This causes them to generate a lot of heat for a lizard, making them partially endothermic. They don't generate this heat at all times unless pregnant, when their bodies demand the energy more intensely to generate consistent heat to incubate the eggs.

They can be found on both the ground and in the trees, but prefer the elevation and safety of trees. Good climbers that use their long toes and sharp claws to grip onto vertical bark and in some species, even upside down.