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Squamata · LiolaemidaeEntry 11,800 of 21,572
Fabian’s lizard, Liolaemus fabiani

Reptilia · Squamata

Liolaemus fabianiYáñez & Núñez, 1983

Fabian’s lizard

Photograph by Jonas Kraft, CC BY, via iNaturalist

A ground-dwelling, day-active, omnivorous lizard from the Neotropic region, reaching 90 mm snout to vent.

Also called Yanez's Tree Iguana.

Reptilia › Squamata › Liolaemidae › Liolaemus

Grows to
90.3mm
greatest recorded
Eats
Omnivorous
Active
Diurnal
Lives
Terrestrial
Body length across Liolaemidae

Longer than 64% of all species in Liolaemidae anyone has measured.

64% of 338 species are smaller36% 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

34 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
Endangered
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
2015
Red List criteria
B1ab(iii)

The animal itself

Limbs
Four legs
Venomous
No
Fangs
None
Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradientmeasured
31.5–33°C89–91 °F
Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
31.25°C88 °F

mean body temperature of active individuals in nature

Body temp in the wild · mean, when active
29.8–32.7°C86–91 °F

body temperature of active animals in nature

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
90.3mm3.5 in

max 90.28 mm SVL (Feldman et al. 2016)

Length snout to vent · adult female mean
68.5mm2.75 in
Largest female · snout to vent
68.5mm2.75 in

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

Body mass · greatestcomputed
23.9g0.84 oz

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

How it lives

Diet
Omnivorous

Insects (e.g., Pincheira-Donoso and Nunez 2005, Demangel 2016) / omnivorous (Pincheira-Donoso et al. 2008, Ocampo et al. 2022)

Active
Diurnal
Where it lives
Terrestrial

Pssamophilic, Pincheira-Donoso and Nunez 2005, Ibarguengoytia et al. 2021

Habitat
Wetlands
Biome
Montane Grasslands & Savannas
Region
Neotropic
Mainland or island
Mainland
Elevation · above sea level
2000–3000m

2305 (Ibarguengoytia et al. 2021)

Range size
1918km²

Breeding

Reproduction
Viviparous

either Oviparous (Yanez and Nunez 1983?, Ramirez Leyton and Pincheira Donoso 2005?), or Viviparous (Pincheira-Donoso et al. 2008, Pincheira-Donoso and Nunez 2005, Ibarguengoytia et al. 2021)

Average clutch
2.5eggs
Eggs or young per clutch
2–3eggs
Mean clutch
2.5eggs

Naming and history

Suborder
Sauria
Infraorder
Pleurodonta
Subspecies
No
Described by
Yáñez & Núñez
Moved to another genus · since it was first described
No
Described in
1983
Type locality
Chile

Keeping one

Fabian’s lizard is assessed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Species at risk in the wild are often covered by CITES and by national law, which decide what may be bought, sold, moved across a border or kept at all — and captive-bred and wild-caught animals are usually treated differently. Check the rules where you are before acquiring one. Nothing below is a judgement about keeping this species; it is what a published welfare standard says about space, and what the animal itself was measured doing.

14 in × 14 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 (90.3 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 89–91 °F (31.5–33 °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.

3kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 24 g, the heaviest recorded for Fabian’s lizard — 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 · 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
  • — Longest recorded life
  • — Eats arthropods
  • — Eats vertebrates
  • — Eats plant matter
  • — How it hunts
  • — How the young develop
  • — Gestation or incubation
  • — 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
  • — 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 fabiani. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/liolaemus-fabiani

@misc{liolaemus_fabiani_2026,
  title  = {Liolaemus fabiani},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/liolaemus-fabiani}
}

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.