Spotted flat lizard

{{Short description|Species of lizard}}

{{speciesbox

| name = Spotted flat lizard

| image =

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Tolley, K.A. |author2=Verburgt, L. |author3=Alexander, G.J. |author4=Conradie, W. |author5=Farooq, H. |author6=Raimundo, A. |author7=Sardinha, C.I.V. |date=2019 |title=Platysaurus maculatus |volume=2019 |page=e.T44648006A44942476 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T44648006A44942476.en |access-date=18 November 2021}}

| genus = Platysaurus

| species = maculatus

| authority = Broadley, 1965

}}

The spotted flat lizard (Platysaurus maculatus) is a lizard in the Cordylidae family, which is native to Mozambique.

The spotted flat lizard has two subspecies, P. m. maculatus and P. m. linecauda. Both were described in 1965.

The species is known as the spotted flat lizard because they use narrow cracks in flat rocks to hide and retreat from predators.{{Cite journal |last1=Scott |first1=Ian A. W. |last2=Scott Keogh |first2=J. |last3=Whiting |first3=Martin J. |date=2004-05-01 |title=Shifting sands and shifty lizards: molecular phylogeny and biogeography of African flat lizards (Platysaurus) |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790303003294 |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |language=en |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=618–629 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2003.08.010 |pmid=15062798 |issn=1055-7903}}