Weapontail


The weapontail or Brazilian spiny-tailed lizard is a lizard belonging to the monotypic genus Hoplocercus. It is found in the Cerrado and adjacent Cerrado–Amazon mosaics in Brazil and Bolivia. It is a quite distantly related of the other members of Hoplocercidae, as it is believed to have diverged from these about 35 million years ago.
The weapontail has a total length of about. As suggested by its name, it has a short, highly spiny tail ; when disturbed, it retreats to its burrow with the tail orientated towards the entrance. It is nocturnal, and feeds on arthropods.