Hispaniolan curlytail lizard

{{Speciesbox

|name=Hispaniolan curlytail lizard

|image=Hispaniolan curlytail lizard (Leiocephalus schreibersii).jpg

|image_caption=In captivity

|status=LC

|status_system=IUCN3.1

|status_ref={{cite iucn |author=Landestoy, M. |author2=Inchaustegui, S. |date=2016 |title=Leiocephalus schreibersii |volume=2016 |page=e.T178591A71747439 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T178591A71747439.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}

|genus=Leiocephalus

|species=schreibersii

|authority=(Gravenhorst, 1837)

|synonyms_ref=

|synonyms=*Pristinotus schreibersii {{small|Gravenhorst, 1837}}

Steironotus schreibersiiFitzinger, 1843
Liocephalus [sic] schreibersiiCope, 1868
Leiocephalus schreibersi [sic]Schwartz, 1968

}}

The Hispaniolan curlytail lizard (Leiocephalus schreibersii), also known as the Hispaniolan khaki curlytail, the red-sided curlytail lizard, the red-sided curly-tailed lizard, or Schreibers's curly-tailed lizard, is a common lizard species in the family Leiocephalidae. It is native to Hispaniola (in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in the Caribbean, and an introduced population is found in southern Florida. There are two recognized subspecies.

Taxonomy

=Etymology=

The specific name, schreibersi, is in honor of Austrian naturalist Carl Franz Anton Ritter von Schreibers.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. (Leiocephalus schreibersii, p. 238).

=Subspecies=

Including the nominotypical subspecies, two subspecies are recognized as being valid.

Leiocephalus schreibersii nesomorus {{small|Schwartz, 1968}}
Leiocephalus schreibersii schreibersii {{small|(Gravenhorst, 1838)}}

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Leiocephalus.

Distribution and habitat

L. schreibersii is indigenous to the main island of Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), and Île de la Tortue. It is also found in Florida as an introduced species.{{EMBL species|genus=Leiocephalus|species=schreibersii}} www.reptile-database.org. The preferred natural habitat of L. schreibersii is shrubland at altitudes from sea level to {{convert|500|m|ft|abbr=on}}.

Life cycle and behavior

L. schreibersii is oviparous.

L. schreibersii is active during the day.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} It feeds mainly on insects.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

References

{{Reflist|refs=

Schwartz A, Thomas R (1975). A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 216 pp. ("Leiocephalus schreibersi [sic]", p. 138).

}}