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Ancestor: Zootoca vivipara (Common Lizard)

Size: Optimum: 30 cm including tail. Minimum: 15cm including tail.

Dietary Needs: Only needs a few invertebrates to survive, but will reach a much smaller maximum size on such a diet. To grow large they need meat from other lizards such as Grass-tail Lizards or other dietary enrichment, such as river snails crayfish and young trout.

Life Cycle: There are two morphs of lizard , but these are new morphs and are part of a different, unrelated phenomenon from the orange and yellow-bellied female morphs of the ancestral species. Of those two ancestral female morphs, only the high offspring survival rate, low clutch size ovoviviparity morph survived in the V. campuvenator species.

The new morphs are not genetically predetermined, but instead a result of gene expression as a result of the environment the young lizard grows up in. This means that the morph is determined on an individual basis gradually as it grows. A high and diverse enough nutrient intake triggers a metaphorical switch that triggers a further stage of development. A lizard that reaches adulthood without having triggered this phase will remain small for the rest of it's life, even if healthy in all other respects. This suits survival in an environment that has little to give. Small lizards can attain longer lifespans than their well-fed counterparts as their smaller bodies require less energy, they rest more and they spend less time wearing themselves out by ambushing any tiny prey that happens by, rather than foraging or digging constantly for the higher value prizes. They also need to live longer as they encounter other Grass-stalker lizards less often than in richer, lusher areas.

Size attained isn't an important factor in selecting a mate. Instead other factors, such as competitive demonstration, smell and clarity of their scales matters more. Males are smaller than females as the females need to carry offspring internally while protecting herself. They are not much larger than they would be if they had hatched from an egg, as unlike placental mammals the mother is not physically equipped to nourish her offspring beyond hatchling-size. Food comes from the yolk, which is present in the egg from the time of the embryo's conception. That said, they are large offspring compared to other lizard species so she makes fewer of them. The more developed and grown they are at birth, the more chance they will survive when they scatter. The babies must take care of themselves once they scatter. Their mother only defends them for as long as she can see them. Once they leave her sight she will quickly forget about them, and even turn on them if she sees them again.

Reproductive season depends on latitude. Reproduction stops in winter in the North of the range, and stops in the dry season at the South of the range.

Other: Any other information about this species that is important to know.

While the large, dome-shaped and spike-like scales have been selected for by visual attraction in both males and females, they serve a practical function. Beneath the scales a network of blood capillaries dilates to absorb heat from the scale or radiate heat to it, and the scale acts as a heat sink for this thermal blood flow. The bumpiness of the scales creates irregularities in the light cast upon it, creating shadowed areas of the skin. The high surface area causes faster heat transfer between the surface of the lizard and the surrounding air. All these help it regulate temperature in an environment with wild temperature swings.