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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
  • Acuña-Vargas, J. C. 2016. Anfibios y Reptiles asociados a cinco coberturas de la tierra, municipio de Dibulla, La Guajira, Colombia. Acta Zoológica Mexicana (n. s.), 32(2): 133-146 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Arias, Erick; Federico Bolaños 2014. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of San Isidro de Dota, Reserva Forestal Los Santos, Costa Rica. Check List 10 (4): 870-877 - get paper here
  • Barbour, T. in: Bangs, Outram; Brown, Wilmont W.; Thayer, John E.; Barbour, Thomas 1905. The Vertebrata of Gorgona Island, Colombia. 1 Introduction. Mammalia. 2. Physical aspect and climate; Fauna. 3 Aves. 4 Reptilia; Amphibia. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 46 (5): 87-102 - get paper here
  • BARRIO-AMOROS, C. L 2020. Basiliscus basiliscus. (Common Basilisk). Behavior. Herpetological Review 51: 594-595.
  • Blanco-Torres, Argelina; Lina Báez S., Edgar Patiño-Flores, Juan M. Renjifo-R. 2013. Herpetofauna from the middle valley of the Ranchería river, La Guajira, Colombia. Rev. Biodivers. Neotrop. 3 (2): 113-22 - get paper here
  • Böhme, W. 1975. Indizien für natürliche Parthenogenese beim Helmbasilisken, Basiliscus basiliscus (Linnaeus 1758). Salamandra 11: 77-83 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 2, Second edition. London, xiii+497 pp. - get paper here
  • Cole, Charles J.; Carol R. Townsend, Robert P. Reynolds, Ross D. MacCulloch, and Amy Lathrop 2013. Amphibians and reptiles of Guyana, South America: illustrated keys, annotated species accounts, and a biogeographic synopsis. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 125 (4): 317-578; plates: 580-620 - get paper here
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  • Cope,E.D. 1875. On the Batrachia and Reptilia collected by Dr. John M. Bransford during the Nicaraguan Canal Survey of 1874. Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 8 (2): 155-157 + 6 plates [presumably published in 1875, not 1876] - get paper here
  • Daudin, F. M. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, génerale et particulièredes reptiles, ouvrage faisant suite, a l'histoiure naturelle, générale et particulière composée par LECLERC DE BUFFON, et redigée par C. S. SONNINI, vol. 3. F. Dufart, Paris, 452 pp. - get paper here
  • Elizondo, Luis, Maykell Morales and Sean Romaña. 2015. Basiliscus basiliscus (common basilisk) predation. Herpetological Review 46 (4): 624 - get paper here
  • Elizondo, Luis, Maykell Morales and Sean Romaña. 2016. Basiliscus basiliscus (Common Basilisk) Predation. Herpetological Review 47 (1): 133 - get paper here
  • Fuentes, Rogemif; Aschcroft, Jesse; Erick Barría, Helio Quintero-Arrieta, Alexis Baules, Abel Batista, Eduardo Zambrano, Marcos Ponce 2023. Herpetological diversity in forests of Portobelo National Park, Colón Biological Corridor, Panama. Reptiles & Amphibians 30 (1): e18434 - get paper here
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  • Gray, J. E. 1845. Catalogue of the specimens of lizards in the collection of the British Museum. Trustees of die British Museum/Edward Newman, London: xxvii + 289 pp. - get paper here
  • Gray, J. E. 1852. Description of several new genera of reptiles, principally from the collection of H.M.S. Herald. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) 10: 437-440 - get paper here
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  • Kluge, Arnold G. 1984. Type-specimens of reptiles in the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. [type catalogue] Miscellaneous publications, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (167): 1-85 - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 1993. Basiliscus basiliscus (LINNAEUS, 1758). Sauria 15 Suppl.: 283–288 - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2000. Reptilien und Amphibien Mittelamerikas, Bd 1: Krokodile, Schildkröten, Echsen. Herpeton Verlag, Offenbach, 158 pp.
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  • Kuhn, M. & Schmidt, D. 2003. Parthenogenese beim Dunklen Tigerpython (Python molurus bivittatus). Reptilia (Münster) 8 (44): 78-82 - get paper here
  • La Marca, E. & J.J. García Milano. 1995. Geographic Distribution (Lacertilia): Basiliscus basiliscus barbouri. Herpetological Review 26(2):108 - get paper here
  • La Marca, Enrique;Milano, Juan José García 1994. Basiliscus basiliscus barbouri (NCN). Venezuela: Estado Merida. Herpetological Review 25 (4): 164 - get paper here
  • Lang, M. 1989. Phylogenetic and Biogeographic Patterns of Basiliscine Iguanians (Reptilia: Squamata: "Iguanidae"). Bonner Zool. Monogr. 28: 1-172 - get paper here
  • LARA RESENDIZ, Rafael Alejandro 2020. ¿QUÉ IMPLICACIONES ECOFISIOLÓGICAS TIENE LA ACTIVIDAD NOCTURNA EN REPTILES "DIURNOS"? UNA REVISIÓN. Acta Biológica Colombiana, 25(2), 314-326 - get paper here
  • Latreille, P.A. 1802. In: C.N.S. Sonnini de Manoncourt and P.A. Latreille. Histoire Naturelle des Reptiles, avec Figures Déssinnées d'après Nature. Vol. 3. Détérville, Paris [1802] - get paper here
  • Laurenti, J. N. 1768. Specimen medicum, exhibens synopsin reptilium emendatam cum experimentis circa venena et antidota reptilium austracorum, quod authoritate et consensu. Vienna, Joan. Thomae, 217 pp. - get paper here
  • Linnaeus, C. [= Linné, C. von] 1758. Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii, Holmiæ. 10th Edition: 824 pp. - get paper here
  • Maturana, H. R. 1962. A study of the species of the genus Basiliscus. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 128: 1-34 - get paper here
  • Meyer, F.A.A. 1795. Synopsis Reptilium, novam ipsorum sistens generum methodum, nec non Gottingensium huius ordinis animalium enumerationem. Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, Göttingen, 32 pp [for current names see Rösler & Böhme 2021] - get paper here
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  • Wirth, Michael 2012. Ökologie der Basilisken und Freilandbeobachtungen in Costa Rica. Terraria-Elaphe 2012 (2): 24-35 - get paper here
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