All Angles Creatures
Squamata · LiolaemidaeEntry 11,723 of 21,572

Reptilia · Squamata

Liolaemus andinusKoslowsky, 1895

Andes Tree Iguana

No photograph of this species exists under a license anyone may reuse. It gets the same page regardless.

A ground-dwelling, day-active, omnivorous lizard from the Neotropic region, reaching 91 mm snout to vent.

ReptiliaSquamataLiolaemidaeLiolaemus

Grows to
91mm
greatest recorded
Eats
Omnivorous
Active
Diurnal
Lives
Terrestrial
Body length across Liolaemidae

Longer than 65% of all species in Liolaemidae anyone has measured.

65% of 338 species are smaller35% larger
49.7 mmthe whole family, smallest to largest120 mm

The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 49.7 to 120 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.

What is known

38 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
2014
Population trend
Stable

The animal itself

Limbs
Four legs
Venomous
No
Fangs
None
Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
30.6°C87 °F

mean body temperature of active individuals in nature

Body temp in the wild · mean, when active
30.6°C

body temperature of active animals in nature

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
91mm3.5 in

max 91 mm SVL (Feldman et al. 2016)

Length snout to vent · adult female mean
85.6mm3.25 in
Largest female · snout to vent
85.6mm3.25 in

snout-vent length; the source column mixes this with straight carapace length

Hatchling length · snout to vent
28mm1 in
Largest juvenile · snout to vent
28mm1 in
Body mass · greatestcomputed
24.5g0.86 oz

computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed

How it lives

Diet
Omnivorous

(plants and insects Ramirez Leyton and Pincheira Donoso 2005), herbivory increases with age (Waltner 1991 p24), preferably insectivore (Pincheira Donoso and Nunez 2005), diptera (Abdala et al. 2021)

How it hunts
Sit and wait

Sit and Wait

Active
Diurnal
Where it lives
Terrestrial

Pssamophilic, Pincheira-Donoso and Nunez 2005

Habitat
Grassland
Biome
Montane Grasslands & Savannas
Region
Neotropic
Mainland or island
Mainland
Elevation · above sea level
2000–4900m
Range size
63,469km²

Breeding

Reproduction
Viviparous
Average clutch
5.8eggs
Eggs or young per clutch
5–6eggs
Mean clutch
5.8eggs
Clutches a year
1per year
First breeds at
16months

Naming and history

Suborder
Sauria
Infraorder
Pleurodonta
Subspecies
No
Described by
Koslowsky
Moved to another genus · since it was first described
No
Described in
1895
Type locality
Argentina

Keeping one

14.5 in × 14.5 in × 9 in(36 × 36 × 23 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 3.5 in (91 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

Active animals measured in the wild averaged 87 °F (30.6 °C).

Mean body temperature of active individuals measured in nature. 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.

3kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 24 g, the heaviest recorded for Andes Tree Iguana — 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 male · snout to vent
  • Largest female · shell length
  • Largest male · shell length
  • Hatchling length · nose to tail
  • Largest juvenile · shell length
  • Egg length
  • Egg width
  • Body mass · a typical adult
  • Body mass · adult female, mean
  • Body mass at hatching
  • Longest recorded life
  • Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
  • Eats arthropods
  • Eats vertebrates
  • Eats plant matter
  • How the young develop
  • Gestation or incubation
  • Clutches in a year
  • 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
  • Red List criteria
  • Active season · shortest recorded
  • Active season · longest recorded
  • Density · lowest recorded
  • Density · highest recorded
  • Home range · largest recorded
  • Active in

Others in Liolaemidae

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). Liolaemus andinus. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/liolaemus-andinus

@misc{liolaemus_andinus_2026,
  title  = {Liolaemus andinus},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/liolaemus-andinus}
}

Sources

  1. Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
  2. Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
  3. Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.