Martinique curly-tailed lizard

Martinique curly-tailed lizard
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Sauria
Infraorder: Iguania
Family: Leiocephalidae
Genus: Leiocephalus
Species: L. herminieri
Binomial name
Leiocephalus herminieri
(A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1837)
Synonyms
  • Holotropis herminieri
    A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1837
  • Leiocephalus herminieri
    Gray, 1845
  • Liocephalus [sic] herminieri
    Boulenger, 1885
  • Leiocephalus herminieri
    Schwartz & Thomas, 1975

The Martinique curly-tailed lizard (Leiocephalus herminieri ) is an extinct species of lizard from the family of curly-tailed lizards (Leiocephalidae).

Etymology

The specific name, herminieri, commemorates the French naturalist Félix Louis L'Herminier.[1]

Extant specimens

There are five museum specimens of which three are deposited in Paris, one in London, and another in Leiden.

Geographic range

Though Martinique is assumed as the geographic range of this species, there was some confusion about the type locality in the past. While André Marie Constant Duméril and Gabriel Bibron stated Martinique and Trinidad and Tobago as type locality, George Albert Boulenger has given only Trinidad and Tobago as terra typica.

Biology and extinction

Its biology, the reasons for its extinction, and the date of extinction are unknown. This species was last collected in the 1830s.

Description

Of the three specimens in Paris the largest female is measured at 139 mm (5.5 in) snout to vent length (SVL), and the largest male at 126 mm (5.0 in) SVL. The large head scales are more or less distinctly striate. The large dorsal scales are keeled and forming continuous oblique series. The smaller lateral and ventral scales are keeled too. The back is greenish brown with or without irregular yellowish crossbands. The head is yellowish with four or five black bars on the sides. The venter is yellowish. The throat has oblique black transverse bands.

References

  1. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Leiocephalus herminieri, p. 122).

Further reading

External links


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