Chinese crocodile lizard

Chinese crocodile lizard (plural Chinese crocodile lizards)

1. A semiaquatic anguimorph lizard, of species Shinisaurus crocodilurus, found only in cool forests in southeastern China and northeastern Vietnam.
   • 2009, Laurie J. Vitt, Janalee P. Caldwell, Herpetology, 3rd edition, Elsevier, Academic Press, page 544:

     From left: Chinese crocodile lizard Shinisaurus crocodilurus (L. W. Porras); flathead knob-scaled lizard Xenosaurus platyceps, Xenosauridae (L. J. Vitt).

   • 2013, George R. Zug, Reptiles and Amphibians of the Pacific Islands, University of California Press, page 203:

     The Anniellidae (North American Legless Lizards), Helodermatidae (Gila Monster), Lanthanotidae (Earless Monitor), and Shinisauridae (Chinese Crocodile Lizard) have only one or two species; Xenosauridae (Knob-scaled Lizards) has six species in Mexico and northern Central America.

   • 2019, Hans-Dieter Sues, The Rise of Reptiles, Johns Hopkins University Press, page 136:

     McDowell and Bogert (1954) argued that the present-day Xenosaurus (knob-scaled lizards) and Shinisaurus (Chinese crocodile lizard) are closely related to each other even though they differ considerably in overall appearance (Fig. 7.40A).

   • 2020, Patora Fuyuhara, In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 21, unnumbered page:

     I saw a Japanese skink, a Chinese crocodile lizard, and a leopard gecko... They were all pretty docile.

• Shinisaurus crocodilurus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Shinisaurus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons