Crocodile Nights

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Crocodile Nights
Crocodile nigh (Lepidophyma flavimaculatum)

Crocodile nigh ( Lepidophyma flavimaculatum )

Systematics
Order : Scale reptiles (Squamata)
without rank: Scincomorpha (Scincoidea)
Family : Night lizards (Xantusiidae)
Subfamily : Lepidophyminae
Genre : Central American Nights ( Lepidophyma )
Type : Crocodile Nights
Scientific name
Lepidophyma flavimaculatum
Duméril , 1851

The crocodile niggle ( Lepidophyma flavimaculatum ) is the largest member of the niggle family . It belongs to the genus Central American Nigths ( Lepidophyma ). The first description of this species was in 1851 by the French zoologist André Marie Constant Duméril (1774-1860).

distribution

Lepidophyma flavimaculatum in Southeast Mexico , Belize , Guatemala , Honduras , El Salvador , Nicaragua , Costa Rica , Panama , and on Fiji endemic . The habitat they inhabit mainly consists of tropical rainforests and wet forests. However, they can also be found in steppe-like regions with lots of stones and scrub. They occur at altitudes between 120 and 940 m above sea level. The temperatures in their countries of origin are between 22 and over 40  ° C during the day and drop to a mild 18 to 22 ° C at night.

Appearance and dimensions

When fully grown, crocodile nighs reach a head-torso length of up to 12.69 cm. Their tail becomes about 1/3 times as long as the body. Almost their entire body is black in base color, with a series of yellow spots on the sides, at the tip of the snout and on their hind legs. The mostly point-shaped spots turn into thin yellow stripes on their tail. Some animals also have yellow areas on their underside. The crocodile nigh has a smooth head that resembles that of a snake. The scales on her body are rather rough. Their pointy teeth are black and they have a milky white tongue. The males and females can hardly be distinguished externally.

Shelter for a crocodile night gawker from Costa Rica

Way of life

The crocodile nigh is mostly active at dusk and at night. In order to keep them as pets in a terrarium , a tropical terrarium with lots of hiding places and places to go, as well as a bathing area is required. The animals that live in terrariums are mostly aggressive and sometimes hand out painful bites. In captivity, they can live to be over 15 years old. In the wild, life expectancy is much lower at around 10 years. L. flavimaculatum feeds mainly on small to medium-sized insects .

Reproduction

The females of some populations, in Panama and Costa Rica, are capable of virgin generation ( parthenogenesis ). This means that they can fertilize their egg cells themselves and therefore do not need any male sperm to reproduce . The males are therefore superfluous in the continuation of the population. Embryonic development in the womb takes place viviparously . L. flavimaculatum therefore also gives birth to its offspring alive. The majority of the 3 to 7 pups per litter are females.

Subspecies

literature

  • Barbour, Thomas 1924. Two noteworthy new lizards from Panama. Proc. New England zool. Club 9: 7-10 ( here )
  • Bezy, Robert L. 1972. Karyotypic variation and evolution of the lizards in the family Xantusidae. Contributions in Science (227): 1-29 ( here )
  • Bezy, RL 1984. Systematics of xantusiid lizards of the genus Lepidophyma in northeastern Mexico. Contr. Sci. (Los Angeles) 349: 1-16 - ( full text )
  • Bezy, RL & Camarillo, JL 2002. SYSTEMATICS OF XANTUSIID LIZARDS OF THE GENUS LEPIDOPHYMA. Contributions in Science (493): 1–41 ( here )
  • Boulenger, GA 1885. Catalog of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 2, Second edition. London, xiii + 497 pp. - ( here )
  • Brygoo, ER 1990. Les types d'Amphisbaenidés, Pygopodidés, Xantusiidés (Reptiles, Sauriens) du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle - Catalog critique. Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. 12 (ser. 4) A (3-4), suppl .: 3-18 ( here )
  • Duellman, WE 1963. Amphibians and reptiles of the rainforest of Southern El Peten, Guatemala. Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist. 15: 205-49. - ( full text )
  • Günther, ACLG 1885. Reptilia and Batrachia. Biologia Centrali-Américana. Taylor, & Francis, London, 326 pp. [published in parts from 1885-1902; reprint by the SSAR 1987] - ( here )

Web links

Commons : Crocodile Nighs ( Lepidophyma flavimaculatum )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files