Leiocephalus

Leiocephalus, also known as the curlytail lizards or curly-tailed lizards, is a genus of iguanian lizards restricted to the West Indies. It is the only genus in the family Leiocephalidae. One of the defining features of these lizards is that their tail often curls over. They were previously regarded as members of the subfamily Leiocephalinae within the family Tropiduridae. There are presently 30 known species in the genus

Leiocephalus

Handrieu · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
curly-tailed lizardPBDB
Sits inside
IguanidaePBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Iguanidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Iguanidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Amniota

Time the record covers

At least 31 million years on record.

The record covers at least 31.8 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 22 occurrencesOligocene — about 1 of 22 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 5 of 22 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 22 occurrencesPleistocene — about 6 of 22 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 16 occurrences31.8 Mya11.7 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

22 occurrences of Leiocephalus on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

22 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

2 formations

Valentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.49°N, 98.11°WTorreya — 30.50°N, 84.50°W

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The named rock units Leiocephalus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 18 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

476 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 22 sites for Leiocephalus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

14 references

Each of the 22 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 2 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Leiocephalus

Credit
Handrieu
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Leiocephalus inaguae · mcz:R-154263

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itIguanidae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1827