Reptilia · Squamata
Basiliscus galeritusDuméril, 1851
Western Basilisk
Photograph by Florencia Grattarola, CC BY, via iNaturalist
A day-active, omnivorous lizard from the Neotropic region, reaching 240 mm snout to vent.
Reptilia › Squamata › Corytophanidae › Basiliscus
- Grows to
- 240mm
- greatest recorded
- Eats
- Omnivorous
- Active
- Diurnal
- Lives up to
- 4.7years
What is known
32 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.
Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.
Standing in the world
- Still living
- Extant
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
- Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
- 2013
The animal itself
- Limbs
- Four legs
- Venomous
- No
- Fangs
- None
- Longest recorded life
- 4.7years
- Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradientmeasured
- 31.2–31.9°C88–89 °F
- Body temp in the wild · mean, when active
- 25.6–29.4°C78–85 °F
Slavens and Slavens 1999
body temperature of active animals in nature
Size
- Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
- 240mm9.5 in
- Length snout to vent · adult female mean
- 101mm4 in
- Body mass · greatestcomputed
- 485.3g1.1 lb
max 240 mm SVL (Feldman et al. 2016)
computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed
How it lives
- Diet
- Omnivorous
- How it hunts
- Active foraging
- Active
- Diurnal
- Where it lives
- Semi-aquatic
- Habitat
- Forest, Wetlands
- Biome
- Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
- Region
- Neotropic
- Mainland or island
- Mainland
- Highest it lives · above sea level
- 2140m
- Range size
- 323,161km²
Arthropods and small vertebrates, "omnivorous forager that feeds on invertebrates, fishes, seeds and fruit" (Arteaga et al. 2013), "Small fish, numerous invertebrates, Seeds, fruits and leaves." (Castro-Herrera et al. 2012)
Active (Arteaga et al. 2013)
e.g., Ortega-Andrade et al. 2010, Castro-Herrera et al. 2012; heliotherm, Rodriguez-Miranda et al. 2021, Zuluaga-Isaza et al. 2022
Semi Aquatic and Arboreal / Terrestrial (Dunham et al. 1988), semi aquatic, arboreal and terrestrial (Arteaga et al. 2013, Castro-Herrera et al. 2012), semi aquatic (Zuluaga-Isaza et al. 2022)
0-1200 (Cardona-Botero et al. 2013), 777-1281 (study sites, Rodriguez-Miranda et al. 2021), 0-980 (Zuluaga-Isaza et al. 2022), 2135 m (Almendariz and Brito 2012)
Breeding
- Reproduction
- Oviparous
- Average clutch
- 7.5eggs
- Eggs or young per clutch
- 5–10eggs
5-8 (Arteaga et al. 2013), 5 (Suarez-Varon et al. 2019), Almendariz and Brito 2012(5, n = 1)
Naming and history
- Suborder
- Sauria
- Infraorder
- Pleurodonta
- Subspecies
- No
- Described by
- Duméril
- Moved to another genus · since it was first described
- No
- Described in
- 1851
- Type locality
- Colombia
Keeping one
3 ft 2 in × 3 ft 2 in × 23.5 in(96 × 96 × 60 cm)
Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.
The standard sizes ground-dwelling species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times snout-vent length.
Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.
From this animal’s own snout-vent length of 9.5 in (240 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.
In a laboratory thermal gradient this species settled at 88–89 °F (31.2–31.9 °C).
Preferred body temperature, recorded in a laboratory gradient where the animal could choose freely. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.
Feeding
A prey item should be no wider than the space between the animal's eyes.
Widely used across reptile husbandry references. The stated reason is that the gap approximates the width of the throat, so wider prey is associated with impaction. This is established practice, not a measurement.
48kJ per day
Worked out for an animal of 485 g, the heaviest recorded for Western Basilisk — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.
An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.
What nobody knows
These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.
- — Length snout to vent · adult male mean
- — Length snout to vent · adult mean
- — Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
- — Female length · mean, nose to tail
- — Length nose to tail · adult male mean
- — Length nose to tail · adult mean
- — Largest female · snout to vent
- — Largest male · snout to vent
- — Largest female · shell length
- — Largest male · shell length
- — Hatchling length · snout to vent
- — Hatchling length · nose to tail
- — Largest juvenile · snout to vent
- — Largest juvenile · shell length
- — Egg length
- — Egg width
- — Body mass · a typical adult
- — Body mass · adult female, mean
- — Body mass at hatching
- — Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
- — Eats arthropods
- — Eats vertebrates
- — Eats plant matter
- — How the young develop
- — Gestation or incubation
- — Mean clutch · smallest reported
- — Mean clutch · largest reported
- — Clutches in a year
- — Clutches a year · fewest
- — Clutches a year · most
- — First breeds from · youngest recorded
- — First breeds by · oldest recorded
- — Hatchling length · smallest recorded
- — Hatchling length · largest recorded
- — Age at first breeding · female
- — Mature from · youngest recorded
- — Mature by · oldest recorded
- — Size at maturity · smallest recorded
- — Size at maturity · largest recorded
- — Colour on the back
- — Pattern on the back
- — Pupil
- — Sex decided by
- — Population trend
- — Red List criteria
- — Active season · shortest recorded
- — Active season · longest recorded
- — Density · lowest recorded
- — Density · highest recorded
- — Home range · largest recorded
- — Active in
- — Lowest it lives · above sea level
Others in Corytophanidae
Take this data
Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.
This species as JSON · the whole dataset
Cite this page
The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Basiliscus galeritus. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/basiliscus-galeritus
@misc{basiliscus_galeritus_2026,
title = {Basiliscus galeritus},
author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/basiliscus-galeritus}
}Sources
- Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
- Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
- Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.