Reptilia · Squamata
Liolaemus kunzaAbdala, Semhan, Paz, 2021
Identification not confirmed. One observer recorded this animal as this species and no one has since agreed, so the photograph may show a different animal.
Photograph by Gonzalo Martinez, CC BY, via iNaturalist
A day-active, plant-eating lizard from the Neotropic region, reaching 78 mm snout to vent.
No English name has been recorded for this species.
Reptilia › Squamata › Liolaemidae › Liolaemus
- Grows to
- 77.5mm
- greatest recorded
- Eats
- Herbivorous
- Active
- Diurnal
- Lives
- Saxicolous, terrestrial
Longer than only 46% of all species in Liolaemidae anyone has measured.
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
25 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
The animal itself
- Limbs
- Four legs
- Venomous
- No
- Fangs
- None
Size
- Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
- 77.5mm3 in
- Length snout to vent · adult female mean
- 59.4mm2.25 in
- Body mass · greatestcomputed
- 14.88g0.52 oz
Abdala et al. 2021b
computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed
How it lives
- Diet
- Herbivorous
- Active
- Diurnal
- Where it lives
- Saxicolous, terrestrial
- Active season · months of the year
- 12months
- Region
- Neotropic
- Mainland or island
- Mainland
- Elevation · above sea level
- 3330–4340m
- Density
- 1200–7400per hectare
"the greater part of the diet consists of plant matter (fruits, leaves, and flowers) of the a~nagua (Adesmia spinosissima Meyen, 1835), complemented by arthropods (ants, arachnids, diplurans, and beetles)."
"numerous individuals were observed during the midday hours both basking on rocks and in the shade under plants" (Abdala et al. 2021b)
"numerous individuals were observed during the midday hours both basking on rocks and in the shade under plants" and "During the summer months, active individuals can be seen from approximately 08:00–08:30 h until 19:00 h. In the winter months, lizards were only observed on very sunny days and between 13:00–14:30 h." (Abdala et al. 2021b)
Abdala et al. 2021b (3337-4333)
Breeding
- Reproduction
- Viviparous
- Eggs or young per clutch
- 2eggs
- Mean clutch
- 2eggs
Naming and history
- Suborder
- Sauria
- Infraorder
- Pleurodonta
- Subspecies
- No
- Described by
- Abdala, Semhan, Paz
- Moved to another genus · since it was first described
- No
- Described in
- 2021
- Type locality
- Argentina
Keeping one
12 in × 12 in × 7.75 in(31 × 31 × 19 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.
Lives on rock, so stable hard surfaces and basking ledges suit it.
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 in (77.5 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.
No preferred body temperature has been recorded for Liolaemus kunza. Rather than repeat a number from a care sheet, this page leaves it out.
Feeding
Prey size does not apply. A herbivore's diet is judged on fibre, on the ratio of calcium to phosphorus, and on avoiding plants high in oxalates.
The animal does not take prey items. This is established practice, not a measurement.
2kJ per day
Worked out for an animal of 15 g, the heaviest recorded for Liolaemus kunza — 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
- — Longest recorded life
- — Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
- — Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
- — Eats arthropods
- — Eats vertebrates
- — Eats plant matter
- — How it hunts
- — How the young develop
- — Gestation or incubation
- — Average clutch
- — 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
- — Body temp in the wild · lowest mean recorded
- — Body temp in the wild · highest mean recorded
- — Colour on the back
- — Pattern on the back
- — Pupil
- — Sex decided by
- — Conservation status
- — Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
- — Population trend
- — Red List criteria
- — Biome
- — Home range · largest recorded
- — Habitat
- — Active in
- — Range size
Others in Liolaemidae
- Agua Negra Chuckwalla
- Agueda’s Rocky Lizard
- Aluminé River Smooth-throated Lizard
- Andes Tree Iguana
- Antofagasta Chuckwalla
- Antonieta’s lizard
- Antuco Chuckwalla
- Arambaré Smooth-throated Lizard
- Auca Mahuida Volcano Chuckwalla
- Austral Smooth-throated lizard
- Austromendocino Tree Iguana
- Awsanqati Smooth-throated Lizard
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 kunza. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/liolaemus-kunza
@misc{liolaemus_kunza_2026,
title = {Liolaemus kunza},
author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/liolaemus-kunza}
}Sources
- Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
- Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.
- Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.