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Corytophanes cristatus (MERREM, 1820)

IUCN Red List - Corytophanes cristatus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaCorytophanidae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Smooth Helmeted Lizard, Smooth Helmeted Iguana
G: Helmleguan
S: Turipache Selvático 
SynonymAgama cristata MERREM 1820: 50
Corytophanes cristatus — BOIE in SCHLEGEL 1827
Corytophanes cristatus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1837: 174
Corytophanes cristatus — BOULENGER 1885: 101
Corytophanes cristatus — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 69
Corytophanes cristatus — TAYLOR 1956: 161
Corythophanes cristatus — ORTLEB & HEATWOLE 1965 (in error)
Corytophanes cristatus — PETERS et al. 1970: 101
Corytophanes cristatus — LINER 1994
Corytophanes cristatus — KÖHLER 2000: 74
Corythophanes cristatus — RIOS et al. 2011 (in error)
Corytophanes cristatus — MCCRANIE 2018
Corytophanes cristatus — HEIMES 2022 
DistributionMexico (Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Chiapas), Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua (incl. Isla Grande del Maiz), Honduras, El Salvador ?, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia (Chocó); elevation: 600-800 m

Type locality: Ceylon (in error). Restricted to Orizaba, Veracruz by SMITH & TAYLOR 1950.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: unknown fide SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 69 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Corytophanes differs from all other corytophanid genera in possessing the following combination of character states: a) a parietal casque or helmet demarcated laterally by two sharply raised ridges of rectangular scales runing from above nostrils posteriorly and fusing in the occipital region to form b) a longitudinal nuchal serrate crest of greatly enlarged scales continuing as a middorsal crest all along body; c) anterior superciliary scales quadrangular, flat, non-overlapping; d) an extensible, sac-like gular fan; e) lateral body scales heterogeneous; f) no articulated scaly lateral fringes along toes; g) subdigital lamellae with a single keel that may be tuberculate (knob-like) on some lamellae; h) no caudal autotomy septa, no caudal autotomy (S. Lotzkat, pers. comm., 2021)


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CommentDistribution: not in Yucatan state (Mexico) according to GONZÁLEZ-SÁNCHEZ et al. 2017. Not listed for El Salvador by KÖHLER (2000).

Relative abundance in Honduras: infrequent

Type Species: Agama cristata MERREM 1820 is the type species of the genus Corytophanes BOIE 1827.

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. 
EtymologyThe name cristatus is Latin meaning ‘‘tufted, crested’’ and alludes to the distinctive crests in this species.

The genus name is derived from the Greek words korythos, meaning helmet and phaneros, meaning "visible or evident," in reference to the prominent head crest (Lemos-Espinal & Dixon 2013). 
References
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