Members of the genus Cordylus are relatively robust and well-armored lizards, possessing distinctive, spiny tails and large, keeled dorsal scales. The genus is now divided into two major clades: one group (C.cordylus, C.aridus, C.cloetei C.imkeae, C.mclachlani, C.macropholis, C.minor, C.niger and C.oelofseni) is entirely endemic to South Africa, the second group (C.angolensis, C.beraduccii, C. jonesi, C.machadoi, C.marunguensis, C.nyikae, C.rhodesianus, C.rivae, C.tropidosternum, C.ukingensis and C.vittefer) occurs from Swaziland as far north as Angola and Ethiopia. While the Southern clade contains some of the most common and well-studied lizards in Southern Africa, the northern forms have received little attention until recently, resulting in the recognition of several new species from Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.