Tropical thornytail iguana, Amazon thornytail iguana
Uracentron flaviceps, the tropical thornytail iguana or Amazon thornytail iguana is an elusive species of medium-sized arboreal lizard found in the tropical lowlands of the Amazon Rainforest. The species was described by French zoologist Alphone Guichenot in 1855. They are considered to be ant specialists and exhibit communal nesting and a harem-style breeding system in which one male mates with and attends to multiple females. Study of this species has been impeded by difficulties collecting and observing them.
Diurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
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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...
Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some anima...
A territory is a sociographical area that which an animal consistently defends against the conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against anima...
Ambush predators are carnivorous animals that capture or trap prey by stealth, luring, or by (typically instinctive) strategies utilizing an elemen...
Polygyny is a mating system in which one male lives and mates with multiple females but each female only mates with a single male.
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starts withMales can reach up to 13 cm (5.1 in) in snout–vent length, while the smaller females only reach 9.5 cm (3.7 in). They have a large, flat tail covered in scales that ends in a point; the function of these scales is currently unclear. The body is brown in color, speckled with yellow or gold spots. Some specimens found in Ecuador and Peru were noted as having a black collar around their necks. This collar is bordered by narrow, light-colored edges.
The species has been noted in the lowlands of eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, northwestern Brazil, and the extreme southern regions of Colombia; they may be found in Bolivia, as well.
Tropical thornytail iguanas are only found in the Amazon Rainforest, and within it are generally found in lowland tropical rainforest; usually areas with lagoons, rivers, streams, and palm swamps.They are an arboreal species, spending the majority of their lives in high treetops. They prefer trees with high horizontal branches that allow for basking in the sun during the morning hours, and are almost only found in trees that contain hollow areas accessible through entrances in the tree branches and trunks. No specific species of tree has been found to be favored by the lizards; apparently the tree structure, rather than the species, determines what the lizards prefer.
The species is diurnal, active during the daytime. The level of activity exhibited is at least partially dependent on the presence of sunlight. Individuals emerge once the sun comes out, and remain active unless cloud cover reduces sunlight. The rough times of activity are from 8:30 am until 5:00 pm, and males appear to emerge from holes in trees earlier than females and juveniles. Upon emerging from the trees, lizards bask in the sun to raise their body temperature until sufficient heat is absorbed. When approached by humans or startled, the lizards either run into their holes to hide or run out on limbs of the tree to avoid danger.
The tropical thornytail iguana has a resource-defense polygyny social structure with one sexually mature male to a group of females and juveniles of varied stages. Resource-defense polygyny means the females do not necessarily live in extremely close quarters, but the resources the females need are clustered together. This creates a group of females, and the resources they need, that a male can claim as his territory. This allows the male to be polygynous with minimal effort defending a resource-based territory. In the case of tropical thornytail iguanas, usually one group of lizards occurs per tree with one dominant male. In the few cases where two large adult males are found per tree, the older male took the dominant role and displayed the orange head and black body of a sexually mature male, whereas the other male displayed the coloration patterns of an adult female. The lack of coloration shown by the younger male may be because the presence of a large old male suppresses the reproductive receptivity of the younger male. In cases where only one lizard is in a tree, it is generally a male.
Tropical thornytail iguanas are considered a sit-and-wait, or ambush predator. They are considered ant specialists, and various species of ants that wander the limbs and trunks of the trees inhabited by tropical thornytail iguanas make up a large percentage of their diet. Larger lizards eat slightly larger prey, such as stingless bees, true bugs, and beetles. Alates, which have been established as a prey item of the tropical thornytail iguana are not usually present on the limbs and trunks of trees. The lizards possibly break into the alate nests in the trees, or they may only eat the species when releases occur. Breaking into the nests a highly unusual behavior, as rarely does an ambush predator actively seek its prey. In studies investigating the eating behaviors of this species, no difference was found in the amount of prey consumed between male and female specimens. This indicates that resource partitioning is not the reason for the difference in head size between and male and female tropical thornytail iguanas.
The breeding season for this species appears to be extended, based on observations of juveniles of different sizes in a single tree. During the breeding season, males become more territorial and engage in displays of head bobbing and body movements to warn away other males that may try to infringe on their territories. These displays are also used to attract potential mates. Like most reptiles, tropical thornytail iguanas are oviparous and lay clutches of eggs. For this species, clutches are usually two eggs per female, and clutches of one egg are very rare. The eggs are laid in nests deep within the holes of trees inhabited by a group of tropical thornytail iguanas.
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...