Common name: Lisneja
Scientific name: Chalcides simonyi
Status: Very rare and localized. Species threatened by the increase in aridity caused by climate change, abandonment of agriculture and loss of soil due to erosion.
Habitat and distribution: Canarian endemism is scarce in Fuerteventura and very rare in Lanzarote. In Fuerteventura it has been cited in northern areas such as La Oliva or Vallebrón, as well as in Antigua, Tuineje, the Betancuria and Jandía massifs. Lisneja populations are usually associated with cool and humid terrain in valleys and hillsides subject to traditional agricultural practices with stone walls.
How to recognize it: Species of lizard with small legs that can make us confuse it with a snake. Fragile and elusive in appearance, it can measure up to seventy-two millimeters in males and even more in the case of females.
Curiosities: It is considered one of the most elusive and unique species of those that make up the wide range of native Canarian fauna. Due to its rarity and because it spends most of its life under stones or in underground galleries, it is very difficult to see.
The discovery of the species is attributed to Oskar Simony, Professor of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics in Vienna, who lived in Tenerife for three years between 1888 and 1890.
