''Leiocephalus etheridgei'',
commonly known as the Morovis curlytail, is an extinct
species of
lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...
in the
family Leiocephalidae (
curly-tailed lizards).
The species was native to
Puerto Rico.
Etymology
The
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
, ''etheridgei'', is in honor of American herpetologist
Richard Emmett Etheridge.
[ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Leiocephalus etheridgei'', p. 86).]
Geographic range
''L. etherigei'' is only known from fossil remains found in a cave in the municipality of
Morovis, Puerto Rico.
[
]
References
Further reading
* Pregill G (1981). ''Late Pleistocene Herpetofaunas From Puerto Rico''. The University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 71. Lawrence: The University of Kansas. 72 pp. (''Leiocephalus etheridgei'', new species, pp. 35–38, Figures 17–18).
*Pregill GK (1992). ''Systematics of the West Indian Lizard Genus ''Leiocephalus'' (Squamata: Iguania: Tropiduridae)''. The University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Miscellaneous Publication No. 84. Lawrence: University of Kansas. 69 pp.
{{authority control
Leiocephalus
Reptiles described in 1981
Reptiles of Puerto Rico
Taxa named by Gregory Pregill