All species in the genus Platysaurus live in isolated populations in southern Africa. They are found in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, eastern Botswana, southern Namibia and northern and western South Africa.^[1]

The species of Platysaurus exhibit sexual dimorphism. Females and juveniles often have black or brown backs with white stripes, while males are much more colored. Also, males are somewhat larger than females.

The described species are:^[2]

• Platysaurus attenboroughi Whiting, Branch, Pepper & Keogh, 2015 – Attenborough's flat lizard
• Platysaurus broadleyi Branch & Whiting, 1997 – Broadley's flat lizard or Augrabies flat lizard
• Platysaurus capensis A. Smith, 1844 – Cape flat lizard
• Platysaurus guttatus A. Smith, 1849 – dwarf flat lizard
• Platysaurus imperator Broadley, 1962 – emperor flat lizard
• Platysaurus intermedius Matschie, 1891 – common flat lizard
• Platysaurus lebomboensis Jacobsen, 1994 – Lebombo flat lizard
• Platysaurus maculatus Broadley, 1965 – spotted flat lizard
• Platysaurus minor V. FitzSimons, 1930 – Waterberg flat lizard
• Platysaurus mitchelli Loveridge, 1953 – Mitchell's flat lizard
• Platysaurus monotropis Jacobsen, 1994 – orange-throated flat lizard
• Platysaurus ocellatus Broadley, 1962 – ocellated flat lizard
• Platysaurus orientalis V. FitzSimons, 1941 – Sekukune flat lizard
• Platysaurus pungweensis Broadley, 1959 – Pungwe flat lizard
• Platysaurus relictus Broadley, 1976 – Soutpansberg flat lizard
• Platysaurus torquatus W. Peters, 1879 – striped flat lizard

• Cordylidae
• Pseudocordylus
• Cordylus

• Boulenger GA (1885). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume II. ... Zonuridæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 497 pp. + Plates I-XXIV. (Genus Platysaurus, p. 261).
• Branch, Bill (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. ISBN 0-88359-042-5. (Genus Platysaurus, p. 198).

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