''Crocodilurus'' is a

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 al ...

genus that belongs to the family

Teiidae Teiidae is a family of autarchoglossan lizards native to the Americas. Members of this family are generally known as whiptails or racerunners; however, tegus also belong to this family. Teiidae is sister to the Gymnopthalmidae, and both familie ...

. It is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

, with only a single described species, ''Crocodilurus amazonicus'', the crocodile tegu. It is locally known as the jacarerana. This

semiaquatic In biology, semiaquatic can refer to various types of animals that spend part of their time in water, or plants that naturally grow partially submerged in water. Examples are given below. Semiaquatic animals Semi aquatic animals include: * Ve ...

lizard has a flattened, paddle-like tail and is found in the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...

and the

Guiana Shield The Guiana Shield (french: Plateau des Guyanes, Bouclier guyanais; nl, Hoogland van Guyana, Guianaschild; pt, Planalto das Guianas, Escudo das Guianas; es, Escudo guayanés) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a ...

in South America. It feeds on

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s, amphibians, reptiles and fish.Martins, M. (2006). ''Life in the water: Ecology of the Jacarerana lizard, Crocodilurus amazonicus.'' Herpetological Journal 16: 171-177. It is not related to

crocodilian Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period ( Cenomanian stage) and are the closest living ...

References

*Avila-Pires, T.C.S. (1995). ''Lizards of Brazilian Amazonia (Reptilia: Squamata)''. Zoologische Verhandelingen 299: 1-706 *Harvey, M.B., Ugueto, G.N. & Gutberlet, R.L. (2012). ''Review of Teiid Morphology with a Revised Taxonomy and Phylogeny of the Teiidae (Lepidosauria: Squamata)''. Zootaxa 3459: 1–156. *Massary, J.C. de & Hoogmoed, M.S. (2001). ''Crocodilurus amazonicus Spix, 1825: The valid name for Crocodilurus lacertinus auctorum (nec Daudin, 1802) (Squamata: Teiidae)''. Journal of Herpetology 35 (2): 353–357. *Spix, J.B. von (1825). ''Animalia nova sive species nova lacertarum quas in itinere per Brasiliam annis MDCCCXVII-MDCCCXX jussu et auspicius Maximiliani Josephi I Bavariae Regis suscepto collegit et descripsit Dr. J. B. de Spix'', Lipsiae: T. O. Weigel; F. S. Hübschmanni, Monachii, 26 pp.
Original description
.

External links

* Teiidae Monotypic lizard genera Reptiles of Brazil Reptiles of Colombia Reptiles of French Guiana Reptiles of Peru Reptiles of Venezuela Taxa named by Johann Baptist von Spix {{lizard-stub

References

Further reading

External links