The Maltese wall lizard

Abstract

The Republic of Malta has a national plant (the Maltese Centaury - 'Widnet il-Bahar') and a national bird (the Blue Rock-thrush - 'il-Merill'). If we were to choose another national animal, the Maltese Wall Lizard ('Gremxula ta' Malta') would be a strong contender for the post. This is not only because this lizard is a common, colourful and conspicuous member of our fauna, but also because it is unique to our Islands and found nowhere else in the world. The wall lizard of Malta was originally thought to be a variety of the Common Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis) of mainland Europe. For example, the naturalist Andrew Leith Adams writing in 1870 reported "the common lizard (Podarcis mura/is)" as occurring on the Islands. In 1876, Dr. J. Bedriaga named this Maltese variety filjolensis since the animals he studied came from the islet of Filfla. Later studies, however, showed that the lizards of the Maltese Islands were actually quite different from the Common Wall Lizard or any other species in the region and therefore Bedriaga's filjolensis became established as a distinct species whose full modern name is Podarcis filjolensis - the Maltese Wall Lizard.