Navassa curlytail lizard
The Navassa curly-tailed lizard or Navassa curlytail lizard (Leiocephalus eremitus ) is an extinct lizard species from the family of curly-tailed lizard (Leiocephalidae). It is known only from the one female specimen from which it was described in 1868. A second specimen which was collected by Rollo Beck in 1917 was identified as a Tiburon curly-tailed lizard (Leiocephalus melanochlorus ) by herpetologist Richard Thomas in 1966.
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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starts withThe size of the holotype is given as 64 mm (2+1⁄2 in) snout–vent length (SVL). The head and ventral scales are smooth. The dorsal scales are larger than the scales on the flanks and the ventral scales. The dorsum is dark gray with nine dark transverse bars. The tail is pale with transverse bars on the basal half and uniformly dark gray to black on the posterior half. Throat, breast, belly and the extremities are brown with pale-tipped scales.
Leiocephalus eremitus was endemic to Navassa Island.
Navassa has xeric forest vegetation, but nothing specific is known about biology of this species. The reason for its extinction is unknown too, but predation by cats is a possible reason.
