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Basiliscus basiliscus (LINNAEUS, 1758)

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Higher TaxaCorytophanidae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesBasiliscus basiliscus basiliscus (LINNAEUS 1758)
Basiliscus basiliscus barbouri RUTHVEN 1914 
Common NamesE: Common Basilisk
G: Helmbasilisk 
SynonymLacerta basiliscus LINNAEUS 1758: 206
Lacerta basiliscus — SHAW & NODDER 1793: plate 142
Basiliscus basiliscus — WAGLER 1830: 148
Basiliscus basiliscus — LANG 1989

Basiliscus basiliscus basiliscus (LINNAEUS 1758)
Basiliscus americanus LAURENTI 1768: 50
Iguana basiliscus — MEYER 1795: 16
Basiliscus mitratus DAUDIN 1802 (nom. subst. pro B. basiliscus LINNAEUS)
Iguana basiliscus — LATREILLE 1802
Basiliscus mitratus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1837: 181
Ophryessa bilineata GRAY 1839: 94
Thysanodactylus bilineatus — GRAY 1845: 194
Lophosaura goodridgii GRAY 1852: 438
Basiliscus guttulatus COPE 1876: 156
Basiliscus americanus — BOULENGER 1885: 108
Basiliscus americanus — BARBOUR 1905: 100
Basiliscus basiliscus basiliscus — LANG 1989

Basiliscus basiliscus barbouri RUTHVEN 1914
Basiliscus barbouri RUTHVEN 1914: 9
Basiliscus basiliscus barbouri — PETERS & DONOSO-BARROS 1970
Basiliscus basiliscus barbouri — KLUGE 1984
Basiliscus basiliscus barbouri — LANG 1989 
DistributionCosta Rica, Panama,
Colombia (Pacific range through mid Choco biogeografic Región; throughValle del Cauca, elevation 0 to 400 m.; Cordoba, Sucre, Antioquia, Bolivar, Magdalena, Atlantico, Guajira, Cesar, Norte Santander, Santander [0 to 1200 m]; Valle del Río Cauca through Valle and Valle del Río Magdalena through Huila up to 1200 m),
Venezuela (Tachira, Zulia, Trujillo: HR 32: 56)

introduced to Guyana (HOOGMOED, pers. comm.)

barbouri: N Colombia, NW Venezuela; Type locality: Gaira River at Minca, San Lorenzo, Santa Marta Mountains, Colombia (elevation: 2200 feet)

Type locality: “America australi”  
Reproductionoviparous; one of the few parthenogenetic iguanian lizards (KUHN & SCHMIDT 2003). 
TypesHolotype: iconotype, based on Seba 1734, plae 1, Figure 1, which is based on MNHN 780 (fide Taylor 1956, Lang 1989)
Holotype: UMMZ 45411 [barbouri]
Holotype: BMNH (unnumbered) [Ophryessa bilineata]
Holotype: not located fide Lang 1989: 126 [goodridgii]
Holotype: USNM 25164 [Basiliscus guttulatus] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Basiliscus differs from all other corytophanid genera in possessing the following combination of character states: a) a longitudinal, fleshy head flap (variously called fin or crest), growing with age just as the crest of the parietal bone supporting it, most prominent in males and absent in small juveniles; b) longitudinal dorsal and caudal fins (variously called crests) or a serrate crest of greatly enlarged scales separated by 1–2 small scales in males, a vertebral row of moderately enlarged, at least slightly serrate scales in females and juveniles; c) anterior superciliary scales elongate, imbricate; d) lateral body scales homogeneous; e) scaly lateral fringes along toes, at least some of which are articulated and folded against toe most of the time; f) subdigital lamellae with a single keel that may be tuberculate (knob-like) on some lamellae; g) caudal autotomy septa present, caudal autotomy (S. Lotzkat, pers. comm., 2021).


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CommentSynonymy partly after PETERS & DONOSO-BARROS 1970 and LANG 1989.

Distribution: Not listed for Ecuador by TORRES-CARVAJAL 2001 and TORRES-CARVAJAL et al. 2019. Not in Nicaragua fide Sunyer & Martínez-Fonseca 2023 (checklist Nicaragua). See map in Lang 1989: 127, 130.

Type species: Lacerta basiliscus is the type species of the genus Basiliscus WAGLER 1830. 
EtymologyNamed after the genus.

The genus was named after the Greek “basiliskos”, meaning small king, in reference to the expanded parietal blade symbolic of a crown. 
References
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  • Alemán, Billy M. and Javier Sunyer 2015. Notes on an introduced population of Basiliscus basiliscus (Linnaeus, 1758) in Nicaragua. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (4): 574 - get paper here
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