Chinese crocodile lizard

The Chinese crocodile lizard ("Shinisaurus crocodilurus") is a semiaquatic lizard found only in cool forests in the Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou Provinces of southern China, and the Quảng Ninh Province in northern Vietnam. The Chinese crocodile lizard spends much of its time in shallow water or in overhanging branches and vegetation, where it hunts its prey of insects, snails, tadpoles, and worms. Individuals in captivity may be fed baby mice. A rare and little-studied lizard, it is listed in CITES Appendix II, which regulates international trade of specimens. This is the only species in the monotypic genus Shinisaurus.
Taxonomy.
"Shinisaurus" (literally "Shin's lizard") honours the biologist (), a member of a joint Chinese-German expedition that discovered this species (as well as the frog "Quasipaa shini").
Its specific name – like the separate genus "Crocodilurus" – means "crocodile-tail".
"Shinisaurus" was once also regarded as a member of Xenosauridae, but most recent studies of the evolutionary relationships of anguimorphs consider "Shinisaurus" to be more closely related to monitor lizards and helodermatids than to "Xenosaurus". It is now placed in its own family: Shinisauridae.
Two subspecies are recognized:
Description.
The Chinese crocodile lizard is green, colored with reddish neck markings and alternating bands of light and dark marks. Males are more colorful than females, especially during the breeding season. They are 40–46 cm (16–18 in) long. Perhaps its most distinctive features are the rows of enlarged, bony scales down its back and muscular tail that resemble those of a crocodile.
Conservation.
A 2008 study estimated that 950 crocodile lizards left in China, while another study estimated that fewer than 150 adults were left in Vietnam. Habitat loss is a major threat to the species. The population decline of the Chinese crocodile lizard can be explained by a combination of poaching, water flow changes (such as small scale dam construction), mining, electrofishing, and the poisoning of fish supply due to agricultural waste. It has been listed on CITES Appendix II since 1990; there are low levels of legal exports for the pet trade with CITES permits, but it is believed that illegal collection occurs at a higher level. In 2014, it was listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List based on severe population declines and ongoing threats.