#girdled lizard

Black Girdled Lizard (Cordylus niger), family Cordylidae, found in two isolated populations in South Africa

Image © Paizo Publishing, accessed on Archives of Nethys here

[The last of the monsters I'm converting from Pathfinder 2e Bestiary 3! The zetogeki is a cool monster both for its mechanics and the specifics of its design. How often do you see a cordylid lizard in pop culture?]

Zetogeki CR 7 N Magical Beast This lizard is the size of an ox, with stout legs and a broad tail. It is covered with black and gold scales made of volcanic rock that bristle and shudder.

Zetogakis are oversized relatives of girdled lizards with basalt scales. Zetogakis consume nothing but mineral water, which they drink from geysers and springs and defend zealously from interlopers. The dissolved minerals in the water are secreted into their scales and grant the zetogaki the remarkable ability to absorb and redirect kinetic energy. When a zetogaki hunkers down and raises its scales, it becomes incredibly resistant to physical damage, which it can then redirect into their bites or tails. They have even been known to hurl themselves off short cliffs to absorb damage from the fall for use if they are expecting to be attacked.

Zetogakis live mostly solitary lives, with each female maintaining a territory around a source of mineral water and the males moving between them periodically to mate. Males and females guard the eggs together, which are laid in volcanically heated gravel to incubate. Once the eggs hatch, the male moves on and the female raises their young until they are adult, whereupon they disperse into new territories. Zetogekis can cause problems when they move into a mineral spring that is already occupied by sapient life, as they are so belligerent that they will attempt to chase off or kill any other creature that tries to use the water.

THE CYCLE ENDS WITH YOU

Cordylus namakuiyus • A Review of Cordylus machadoi (Squamata: Cordylidae) in southwestern Angola, with the Description of A New Species from the Pro-Namib Desert [2016]

The girdled lizard genus Cordylus is represented in Angola by two species, Cordylus angolensis and C. machadoi, separated from their nearest congeners by over 700 km.

Here we describe a new species, Cordylus namakuiyus sp. nov., endemic to the arid lowlands west of the southern Angolan escarpment.

Phylogenetic analysis using three mitochondrial and eight nuclear genes shows that the low-elevation forms and the proximate, high-elevation species C. machadoi are genetically divergent and reciprocally monophyletic, and together form the earliest diverging lineage of the northern Cordylus clade...

(Read more: NovaTaxa - Species New to Science)

Reference:

Armadillo Girdled Lizard (Ouroborus cataphractus), HE BITE HIM OWN TAIL!!! family Cordylidae, West Coast, South Africa

Armadillo Girdled Lizard (Ouroborus cataphractus), HE BITE HIM OWN TAIL!!! (defensive position), family Cordylidae, endemic to desert areas along the western coast of South Africa

Waterberg Dragon Lizard or Waterberg Girdled Lizard (Smaug breyeri), family Cordylidae, Limpopo, South Africa

The Sungazer aka Giant Girdled Lizard (Smaug giganteus), family Cordylidae, endemic to Highveld grasslands of South Africa