Reptiles of Somalia: all 224 species on record

In short

On 12 November 2026 the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the international open database of species records, held records of 224 reptile species with Somalia as the country, in 27 families (GBIF occurrence search, Somalia).

The largest families by number of species on record are (GBIF Backbone Taxonomy):

• Gekkonidae: 35
• Colubridae: 24
• Scincidae: 24
• Lacertidae: 23
• Agamidae: 18
• Psammophiidae: 13
• Lamprophiidae: 12
• Typhlopidae: 12
• Atractaspididae: 8
• Chamaeleonidae: 6

Most often recorded

The species with the most GBIF records from Somalia are loggerhead sea turtle (999), Angled Worm Lizard (210), Cross-marked Semaphore Gecko (181), Savage's Least Gecko (127), Common House Gecko (105), Hildebrandt's Skink (87) (GBIF occurrence search, Somalia).

40 of the 224 species have a single record from Somalia (same source).

Named after Somali places

12 species on this list carry Somalia or a Somali place in their scientific name, for example Agama somalica, Ancylocranium somalicum, Eryx somalicus, Hemidactylus somalicus, Lygodactylus somalicus, Tropiocolotes somalicus, Prosymna somalica, Mochlus somalicus, Pristurus somalicus, Letheobia jubana, Letheobia somalica, Pelomedusa somalica (GBIF Backbone Taxonomy).

Species under threat

The IUCN Red List places these species in a threatened category (GBIF species API, IUCN Red List category):

• Critically Endangered: hawksbill turtle (IUCN via GBIF)
• Endangered: Savigny's Fringe-fingered Lizard, African spurred tortoise (IUCN via GBIF)
• Vulnerable: Egyptian Fringe-fingered Lizard, loggerhead sea turtle, Natal hinge-back tortoise (IUCN via GBIF)

How to read this list

A species is on this list when GBIF holds at least one record of it from Somalia. A record can be a museum specimen more than a century old, a sighting shared by an observer, or a specimen cited in a scientific paper. Some records are old and a few may be misidentified, so this is a list of records, not of what lives in Somalia today. Names follow the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, which can lag behind the newest research.

Red List summary

• Critically Endangered (CR): 1
• Endangered (EN): 2
• Vulnerable (VU): 3
• Near Threatened (NT): 3
• Least Concern (LC): 175
• Data Deficient (DD): 26
• Not Evaluated (NE): 14

Categories are from the IUCN Red List as published through GBIF (GBIF species API, IUCN Red List category).

Largest families

• Gekkonidae: 35 species
• Colubridae: 24 species
• Scincidae: 24 species
• Lacertidae: 23 species
• Agamidae: 18 species
• Psammophiidae: 13 species
• Lamprophiidae: 12 species
• Typhlopidae: 12 species
• Atractaspididae: 8 species
• Chamaeleonidae: 6 species

Full list (224 species)

Each name links to its Calankii page where one exists, otherwise to its GBIF species page. "Records in Somalia" is the number of GBIF occurrence records with Somalia as the country, counted on 12 November 2026 (GBIF occurrence search, Somalia). The same rows, with Wikidata ids and more columns, are in the open data file species-recorded-in-somalia.csv.

This list is in 2 parts: 1 · 2

This list is in 2 parts: 1 · 2

Sources

• GBIF occurrence search, country Somalia
• GBIF Backbone Taxonomy
• IUCN Red List of Threatened Species