Martinique curly-tailed lizard | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Iguania |
Family: | Leiocephalidae |
Genus: | Leiocephalus |
Species: | L. herminieri |
Binomial name | |
Leiocephalus herminieri (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1837) |
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Synonyms | |
The Martinique curly-tailed lizard (Leiocephalus herminieri ) is an extinct species of lizard from the family of curly-tailed lizards (Leiocephalidae).
The specific name, herminieri, commemorates the French naturalist Félix Louis L'Herminier.
There are five museum specimens of which three are deposited in Paris, one in London, and another in Leiden.
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.
Its biology, the reasons for its extinction, and the date of extinction are unknown. This species was last collected in the 1830s.
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.